UN human rights committee for Israel's withdrawal from the Golan
Syria-Israel-UN, Politics, 4/18/2000

The UN Human Rights Committee, in a draft bill approved by a great majority on Monday, called on Israel to withdraw out of the occupied Syrian Golan Heights and to cancel all decisions Israel had made to annex the Golan.

AFP stated that some 31 countries of 53 members voted for the bill which was opposed only by the USA.

The bill binds Israel to give up amending the demographic and physical conditions of the Golan and its establishments' structure.

The agency added that another 19 states abstained from voting. They included the seven European Union states as members of the committee, and two other states did not participate in voting.

The committee also approved another draft bill which strongly criticized Israel for its violation of human rights in the Golan and other occupied Arab lands.

Backed by EU states with 50 votes, the committee also approved another bill expressing deep concern over Israel's settlement activities in the occupied Arab territories and urging the Israeli government to halt settlement expansion operations and turn its peace obligations into tangible action.

The US delegate at the UN committee alleged that the draft bills do not help the Middle East peace process, while the Israeli delegate, who is participating in the committee as an observer, attacked the bill, alleging that they prejudge the outcome of the Middle East peace talks.

Previous Stories:
  Le Monde and the failure of Geneva summit   (4/17/2000)
  G-77 summit calls for Jerusalem as Palestine's capital   (4/15/2000)
  Al-Hoss hold talks in Damascus with al-Shara   (4/4/2000)

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