The United Nations General Assembly Fourth Committee votes on measures addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, at the United Nations in New York, November 11, 2022. Credit: Luke Tress/Times of Israel
The UN General Assembly Fourth Committee voted in favor of a resolution titled “Israeli practices and settlement activities affecting the rights of the Palestinian people and other Arabs of the occupied territories” and requested that The Hague-based ICJ “render urgently an advisory opinion in accordance with international law and the UN charter” on Israel’s “prolonged occupation, settlement and annexation of Palestinian territory”.
The resolution also says Israel has adopted “discriminatory legislation and measures” and refers to the Temple Mount as part of “Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem” and calls on the court to weigh in on the conflict.
The countries voting against the resolution included Australia, Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Italy, Germany, Estonia, Hungria, Lithuania, several Pacific island nations and the United States. The countries that abstained were the United Kingdom, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Rep Korean and others.
Portugal, China, Russia, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, among 98 countries in total voted in favor of the resolution. Israeli ambassador to Portugal Dor Shapira wrote in his twitter “Countries such as Syria and Iran voted in favour. It’s a pity that Portugal did not make the moral choice.”
The Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan blasted the measure at the committee hearing, calling it part of a “long line of anti-Israel resolutions. The only purpose is to demonize Israel and exempt the Palestinians from responsibility,” Erdan said, adding that the resolution was “destroying any hope for a resolution.”
The resolution gives the Palestinians “the perfect excuse to continue boycotting the negotiating table,” Erdan said, highlighting the Palestinians’ rejection of previous peace offers.
He also lashed the resolution for referring to Jerusalem’s Temple Mount only by its Arabic name, Haram al-Sharif. “Freedom of worship is a value they refuse to uphold,” Erdan said, accusing the UN of peddling in “destructive falsehoods that will only perpetuate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
The United States representative to the committee, Richard Mills, expressed “serious concerns” about the resolution, saying that the Temple Mount phrasing was “intended to denigrate Israel.”
The resolution will now head to the General Assembly plenary for official approval, likely next month.
Source: Times of Israel
