{"id":173661,"date":"2020-11-30T12:00:18","date_gmt":"2020-11-30T12:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=173661"},"modified":"2020-11-25T11:32:15","modified_gmt":"2020-11-25T11:32:15","slug":"un-panel-votes-163-5-in-support-of-palestinian-statehood-end-of-occupation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2020\/11\/un-panel-votes-163-5-in-support-of-palestinian-statehood-end-of-occupation\/","title":{"rendered":"UN Panel Votes 163-5 in Support of Palestinian Statehood, End of Occupation"},"content":{"rendered":"

20 Nov 2020 – Draft calling for two-state solution passes General Assembly\u2019s Third Committee in large package of annual pro-Palestinian resolutions that Israel argues shows bias against it.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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In this UN Photo, Volkan Bozkir, President of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, is shown on video monitors as he makes closing remarks, September 29, 2020, at UN headquarters.
(Loey Felipe\/UN Photo via AP)<\/p><\/div>\n

The United Nations voted overwhelmingly to approve a draft resolution in favor of Palestinian self-determination, with Israel and the United States voting against.<\/p>\n

The proposal on Thursday in the UN General Assembly\u2019s Third Committee \u2014 the committee that deals with human rights and humanitarian affairs \u2014 passed 163 to 5, with 10 abstentions. Canada, which typically votes alongside Israel in such resolutions, stood with the majority.<\/p>\n

The resolution emphasized \u201cthe right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, including the right to their independent State of Palestine\u201d and \u201cstressed the urgency of achieving without delay an end to the Israeli occupation that began in 1967 and a just, lasting and comprehensive peace settlement between the Palestinian and Israeli sides,\u201d based on a two-state solution.<\/p>\n

It is part of a large package of 20 pro-Palestinian resolutions that are passed by the General Assembly every year, which the Israeli Mission to the UN has long argued proves the bias of the international forum.<\/p>\n

In addition to Israel and the US, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Nauru also voted against the resolution. Australia, Cameroon, Guatemala, Honduras, Kiribati, Palau, Papa New Guinea, Rwanda, Togo and Tonga all abstained.<\/p>\n

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US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman (L) and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (2nd L) during a visit to the Psagot Winery in the West Bank, on November 19, 2020. <\/strong><\/div>\n
(State Department\/Twitter)<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Last year, Canada voted in favor of a nearly identical resolution, with its envoy justifying the move as a response to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo\u2019s decision to repudiate a State Department legal opinion that deemed Israeli settlements to be illegal. In previous years, Canada had voted alongside Israel, but refusing to do so for a second straight year indicated that the vote was a principled stand.<\/p>\n

\u201cCanada\u2019s vote today is a reflection of our longstanding commitment to the right of self-determination for both Israelis and Palestinians,\u201d Canadian envoy Bob Rae said in an address to the General Assembly, noting the draft\u2019s support for a two-state solution \u2014 a framework that the Israeli government has not officially rejected.<\/p>\n

Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki praised the vote, calling it \u201ca natural response from the international community to the Israeli occupation\u2019s violations, as well as a response to the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo\u2019s visit to the colonial Israeli settlements.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pompeo visited a winery near the settlement of Psagot on Thursday, the first such visit by a top US diplomat. There, he announced new US guidelines<\/a> requiring all US exports from Israeli controlled areas of the West Bank to be labeled as \u201cmade in Israel,\u201d in a reversal of decades-old policy that differentiated between both sides of the Green Line.<\/p>\n

Until now, US policy has required products made in the West Bank to be labeled as such. But with Pompeo\u2019s newly announced rules, which he said were \u201cconsistent with\u202four\u202freality-based foreign policy approach,\u201d all producers within\u202fareas where Israel exercises authority \u2014 most notably\u202fArea C\u202funder the Oslo Accords\u202f\u2013\u202fwill be required to\u202fmark\u202fgoods as\u202f\u2019Israel,\u2019\u202f\u2019Product of Israel,\u2019 or \u2018Made in Israel\u2019\u202fwhen exporting to the United States.<\/p>\n

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Wine labels named after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo await to be put on a bottle at Israeli winemaker Yaakov Berg\u2019s Psagot Winery, in the industrial park of Sha\u2019ar Binyamin near the Psagot settlement in the West Bank on November 18, 2020 (Emmanuel DUNAND \/ AFP)<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Pompeo insisted that the US still remains committed to achieving \u201csustainable peace\u201d and will \u201ccontinue to oppose those countries and international institutions\u202fwhich delegitimize or penalize Israel and Israeli producers in the West Bank through malicious measures\u202fthat fail to recognize the reality on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

The concluding remark of the statement appeared to take a direct shot at the European Union, which has led a policy obliging all 28 member states to label exports produced in Israeli towns beyond the Green Line as having been made in the settlements.<\/p>\n

_________________________________________________<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jacob Magid is <\/em>The Times of Israel‘s US correspondent based in New York<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Go to Original – timesofisrael.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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