GA
Resolution: Israel must withdraw from E.J'lem, Golan
Decisive majority in UN General Assembly approves six
pro-Palestinian resolutions, including calls for Israel to
dismantle settlements, withdraw from territory captured in '67,
including E. J'lem, Golan Heights despite heavy opposition by
Israel, US
Associated Press
The General Assembly approved six pro-Palestinian resolutions over
United States and Israeli objections, culminating the annual United
Nations debate aimed at showing the world body's solidarity with
Palestinian demands for an independent homeland.
At the end of three days of speeches, the 192-member world body on
Friday reaffirmed the UN's responsibility regarding the Palestinian
question and stressed the Palestinian peoples' right to
self-determination and an independent state.
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In the key resolution on the "Peaceful Settlement of the Question
of Palestine," the General Assembly welcomed the Nov. 26 cease-fire
in Gaza and urged both sides to maintain the truce which it said
could pave the way for negotiations towards a solution to the
conflict.
The Palestinian UN Observer, Riyad Mansour, said the vote - 157 to
7 with 10 abstentions - showed massive support in the international
community for moving forward on the peace process.
Advancing peace?
"The only way to reverse all the ills that we are witnessing in the
Middle East is to accept the fact that there can only be a
negotiated solution to the question of Palestine and the
Arab-Israeli conflict," Mansour told the assembly on Thursday. "It
is unfortunate to say, at the least, that each time the Arabs have
extended their hand, it was violently rejected by Israel."
The resolutions are not legally binding - as Security Council
resolutions are - but they are a reflection of world opinion. Each
of the six resolution received more than 100 "yes" votes. The
United States, Israel, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and Palau
voted against all six resolutions.
The only other resolution to top 150 "yes" votes declared any
attempt to impose Israel's laws, jurisdiction and administration on
Jerusalem illegal, and therefore null and void. It was approved by
a vote of 157-6 with 10 abstentions.
The other resolutions demanded that Israel withdraw from the Golan
Heights and supported the UN Committee on the Exercise of the
Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, the UN Secretariat's
Division for Palestinian Rights, and the UN's special information
program on the question of Palestine.
US opposition
US Diplomat Ned Siegel opposed the Golan Heights resolution, saying
it prejudged the outcome of negotiations between Israel and
Syria.
He accused Syria of using the General Assembly "to direct
accusations at Israel even as it flaunts a number of Security
Council resolutions ... With its refusal to treat Lebanon as a
genuinely sovereign country."
"We would like to reiterate our alarm at indications that Syria is
working with Hizbullah and other Lebanese allies to destabilize the
democratically elected Government of Lebanon," Siegel said.
Syria's UN Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari accused the US Of using its
veto in the Security Council to protect its Israeli friends and
prevent them from complying with UN Resolutions.
After the vote in favor of the Golan Heights resoution - 107-6 with
60 abstentions - Ja'afari thanked members for their support for
Syria's right to retrieve its land occupied by Israel in 1967. He
appealed for a just peace and for the liberation of the Golan
Heights.
It should be noted that these resolutions are not binding since
they were decided in the General Assembly.
'Resolutions don't promote peace'
The Foreign Ministry said in response to the resolutions made
Friday night: "Unfortunately, for a number of decades, the UN
General Assembly tends to automatically pass a series of one-sided,
unbalanced, anti-Israel resolutions from year to year."
"These resolutions don't promote peace and don't contribute
anything to the Israelis or the Palestinians. The resolutions
damage the status of the UN and its capacity to be involved in the
Arab-Israeli conflict," the Foreign Ministry said in
response.
Vice Premier Shimon Peres, who is visiting New York, met Friday
night with incoming UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and discussed
the situation in the Middle East with him.
After the meeting, Peres said, "The Muslims and the Palestinians in
the UN are presenting a one-sided and distorted picture. If the
situation continues, UN forces in the region will weaken." Peres
gave the example of the commission of inquiry into the Israeli
shelling of Beit Hanoun, saying that whoever wants to investigate
needs to start with the Palestinian aggression, and not the Israeli
response to it.