US mobilizes allies to reject UN resolution against Israeli occupation of Palestine
The UN General Assembly is set to vote on the landmark resolution days after Palestine was granted additional rights at the organization
The US government is lobbying its western allies to reject a draft resolution set to be presented at the UN on 18 September calling on Israel to end its illegal occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
“Joe Biden’s government is urging Australia to say no to a draft UN resolution by the Palestinian Authority (PA),” Sky News Australiareported on Tuesday, adding that Washington is calling on its allies “to either reject or abstain from the vote.”
The UN General Assembly (UNGA) will vote on Wednesday on the landmark resolution that demands Israel end “its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory” within 12 months.
The text of the resolution is based on an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued in July that said Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories since 1967 is illegal and called for hundreds of thousands of Jewish settlers to be withdrawn.
Palestine’s UN envoy Riyad Mansour on Tuesday told members of the UNGA with a speech stressing Palestinians face an “existential threat” and accusing Israel of holding his people them “in shackles.”
“Each country has a vote, and the world is watching us. Please stand on the right side of history. With international law. With freedom. With peace,” Mansour added.
The draft resolution is the first to be formally presented by Palestine after being granted additional rights and privileges at the UN earlier this month, including a seat among UN member states in the assembly hall.
Washington’s UN envoy Linda Thomas-Greenfield on Tuesday urged UN members to vote against the resolution, telling reporters in New York that the Palestinian document has “a significant number of flaws,” claiming it goes “beyond the ICJ ruling” and does not recognize that “Hamas is a terrorist organization.”
Similarly, Israel’s envoy to the UN, Danny Danon, urged member states to vote against the resolution, calling it “an attempt to destroy Israel through diplomatic terrorism” and “ignores the truth, twists the facts and replaces reality with fiction.”
“Instead of a resolution condemning the rape and massacre committed by Hamas on 7 October, we gather here to watch the Palestinians’ UN circus – a circus where evil is righteous, war is peace, murder is justified and terror is applauded,” the Israeli official said.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz recentlythreatened to “break and dissolve” the PA if it proceeds with diplomatic measures at the UN to end Israel’s illegal occupation of the West Bank and establish a Palestinian state.
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