Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki today stated that the adoption by a UN majority of a resolution reaffirming the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination as a failure to the Israeli occupation.
Al-Malki made it clear in a press statement today the adoption by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) of a draft resolution on the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination as nothing but an affirmation of Israel’s failure, an international response to Israel’s crimes and settler violence as well as of the Palestinian people’s sovereignty over their territories.
The top Palestinian diplomat commended the states that voted in favor of the draft resolution while calling on the international community to put in place practical mechanisms that would enable Palestinians to restore and exercise their rights.
He added that the countries that abstained from voting on the resolution or voted against it cannot continue to support the colonial occupation and its crimes that violate all international resolutions and covenants and even be complicit in Israeli settler-colonialism, recalling that the Charter of the United Nations stipulates the right of peoples to freedom and self-determination.
He stressed the need to implement the rules of international law, including the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion, which affirms that the apartheid wall and colonial system deprive the Palestinian people of their right to self-determination, calling on the UN to assume its responsibilities to safeguard this inalienable and non-negotiable right and take practical steps that would end the occupation and dismantle Israel’s settler-colonialist system.
Last night, UNGA voted by a majority of 168 countries on a resolution supporting the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, urging all states and UN specialized agencies and organizations to continue to support the Palestinian people in the early realization of their right to self-determination and reaffirming the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, including to their independent State of Palestine.
Five countries (Israel, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, United States) votes against, and 10 others abstained (Australia, Cameroon, Honduras, Kiribati, Lithuania, Palau, Rwanda, Solomon Islands, South Sudan, Tonga).
