UN Forum upholds Palestinian right to statehood
Palestine, Politics, 4/9/2001

The main UN human rights forum on Friday overwhelmingly reaffirmed the Palestinian's people right to self-determination and statehood, calling it a basic condition for achieving a lasting Middle East peace, Reuters reported.

The United States and Guatemala were the only countries to vote against the resolution, put forward by Arab and Islamic states at the UN Commission on Human Rights.

The other four permanent Security Council members - Britain, China, France and Russia- voted in favour while Canada abstained.

Under the resolution, the commission upheld the 'inalienable, permanent and unqualified right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, including their right to establish their sovereign and independent Palestinian State.

The resolution was submitted by Arab and Islamic powers - including Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Syria- to the 53-member state forum, now mid-way through its annual six-week session.

"The vote was 48 in favor, two against, two abstentions and one delegation was absent. The resolution is therefore adopted, " Commission chairman Leandro Despouy, Argentina's ambassador, announced after the public roll-call vote.

US envoy Shirin Tahir-Kheli and Israeli ambassador Yaakov Levy both took the floor at the Geneva forum to condemn the resolution as pre-empting the outcome of negotiations and undermining peace efforts.

Israel, present at the forum only as an observer state, was not given a vote but was allowed to speak.

"The resolution we have before us pre-empts the outcome of the permanent status negotiations and will only undermine the attempts to reach a successful conclusion of these negotiations," Levy said.

US delegate said such UN texts, repeated year after year, "risk diminishing the prospects for peace in the Middle East."

'The United States opposes this resolution, as we opposed similar ones in previous sessions of the Commission, because it attempts to prejudge Final Status issues that the parties have agreed will be reserved for their negotiations,' she added.

On the other hand, 369 Palestinians, 71 Israelis and 13 Israeli Arabs have been killed in a Palestinian uprising for independence that erupted in September after peace talks deadlock.

Previous Stories:
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  Israel bombards Gaza from the air, land and sea, 40 Palestinians wounded   (4/7/2001)
  Arab group proposal to protect the Palestinians   (4/7/2001)

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