RAMALLAH, May 2, 2017 (WAFA) - Foreign Minister Riyad Malki Tuesday welcomed the results of the vote of the Executive Council of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on the adoption of the two resolutions on Palestine: Occupied Palestine and cultural and educational institutions.

Twenty countries voted in favor of the resolutions, while 10 opposed and 23 abstained.

In a press statement, Maliki thanked the countries that voted in favor of the resolutions and their role in preserving the holy places in Palestine.

He stressed that “despite the desperate attempts of the Israeli government to undermine Palestine resolutions at UNESCO, the world nevertheless voted in favor of our resolutions, choosing to stand on the side of what is right in the face of injustice, occupation and its illegitimate policies.”

He pointed to the failure of the intense Israeli campaign against the draft resolutions on Palestine and Jerusalem in UNESCO, and the failure of all those who supported undermining these resolutions from countries, groups, institutions and individuals.

He said the resolutions refer to the historical, cultural and heritage aspects of the city of Jerusalem and emphasize the necessity of sending a representative of UNESCO to be permanently present in Jerusalem to monitor the violations, Judization and destructive actions by Israel, the occupying power, through which it seeks to obliterate the city’s historical, religious and cultural heritage and to change its character.

The Foreign Minister expressed his dissatisfaction with those countries that did not vote in favor of the resolutions, considering their move as an encouragement to the occupation authority to continue its illegal practices in the occupied city of Jerusalem and a retraction in the positions and principles of these countries, some of which claim to defend the principles of international law and human rights.

"We will defend our heritage and culture, our past and our present. We will face all the campaigns of distortion and destruction led by the Israeli occupation authority, armed with the tools of international law and the will of our Palestinian people who are capable of creating a future free from occupation,” said Malki.

He called on world governments to shoulder their responsibility and not to politicize the work of UNESCO nor to encourage Israel, as the occupying power, for its crimes. He called upon the United Nations organizations, particularly UNESCO, to protect the heritage, culture and history of Jerusalem, the capital of the State of Palestine, from distorting the civilized face of the Holy City.

M.K.