NEW YORK, Saturday, November 17, 2018 (WAFA) – The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) voted early Saturday in favor of eight resolutions on Palestine and a ninth on the Syrian Golan Heights.
Commenting on the voting, Palestine’s Permanent Observer to the UN Riyad Mansour said that the votes are proof that the international community stands behind and supports the Palestinian cause despite of efforts by the United States to change that.
He told Voice of Palestine radio that the General Assembly voted in favor of four resolutions related to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and four more on the practices of the Israeli occupation authorities in the occupied territories.
He said the General Assembly is going to vote in two weeks on six more resolutions on the Question of Palestine.
A draft resolution “Assistance to Palestine refugees” got 161 votes in favor, 2 against (Israel, United States), and 8 abstentions (Cameroon, Canada, Côte d’Ivoire, Guatemala, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, Solomon Islands).
The draft resolution “Persons displaced as a result of the June 1967 and subsequent hostilities” got a recorded 155 votes in favor to 5 against (Canada, Israel, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, United States), with 10 abstentions (Australia, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Palau, Rwanda, Solomon Islands, Togo) —.
By a recorded vote of 158 in favor to 5 against (Canada, Israel, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, United States), with 7 abstentions (Australia, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Guatemala, Palau, Rwanda, Solomon Islands), the draft resolution “Operations of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East” was approved.
The draft resolution “Palestine refugees’ properties and their revenues” was approved by a recorded vote of 155 in favor to 5 against (Canada, Israel, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, United States), with 10 abstentions (Australia, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Palau, Rwanda, Solomon Islands, Togo).
Next, a series of resolutions related to the report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories were approved.
Taking up the draft “Work of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories”, the General Assembly approved it by a recorded vote of 77 in favor to 8 against (Australia, Canada, Guatemala, Honduras, Israel, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, United States), with 79 abstentions.
It went on to approve — by a recorded vote of 154 in favor to 5 against (Canada, Israel, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, United States), with 8 abstentions (Australia, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Guatemala, Palau, Rwanda, Solomon Islands, Togo) — the draft “Applicability of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949, to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the other occupied Arab territories”.
It then approved the draft “Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the occupied Syrian Golan” by a recorded 153 votes in favor to 5 against (Canada, Israel, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, United States), with 10 abstentions (Australia, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Guatemala, Honduras, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Solomon Islands, Togo).
Taking up the draft “Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem”, the UNGA approved it by a recorded vote of 153 in favor to 6 against (Australia, Canada, Israel, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, United States), with 9 abstentions (Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Guatemala, Honduras, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Solomon Islands, Togo).
It then approved — by a recorded vote of 151 in favor to 2 against (Israel, United States), with 14 abstentions, the draft “The occupied Syrian Golan”.
By its terms, the General Assembly calls upon Israel to desist from changing the physical character, demographic composition, institutional structure and legal status of the occupied Syrian Golan, and, in particular, to desist from establishing settlements. It also calls upon Israel to desist from imposing Israeli citizenship and identity cards on Syrian citizens in the occupied Golan.
M.K.
