Over 90 UN member countries slam Israel’s sanctions against PA
New York (QNN)- More than 90 United Nations member states rejected on Tuesday Israel’s sanctions imposed against the Palestinian Authority, which were enacted earlier this month following a UN request for an advisory opinion on Israel’s occupation by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
In a statement, the UN member countries called for an “immediate reversal” of Israeli measures, saying regardless of their position on the General Assembly’s resolution, “we reject punitive measures in response to a request for an advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice”.
The statement issued by the PA on its Twitter account was signed by representatives of Arab nations and the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, as well as 37 other countries, including Germany, France, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa.
Breaking News: pic.twitter.com/YajuBfhYm7
— State of Palestine (@Palestine_UN) January 16, 2023
On December 31, the United Nations General Assembly approved a request for an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories. It voted 87-26 with 53 abstentions in favour of the resolution.
At the time, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the decision as “despicable”.
“The Jewish people are not occupiers in their own land nor occupiers in our eternal capital Jerusalem, and no UN resolution can distort that historical truth,” Netanyahu said in a video message.
Israel’s new far-right government kicked off the new year by slapping a series of sanctions on the PA following the passing of the resolution, including the freezing of Palestinian construction plans in the West Bank and the withholding of $39m from the Palestinian Authority and transfering the funds instead to a compensation programme for the families of Israelis of Palestinian attacks.
Moreover, Israeli occupation also banned the Palestinian foreign minister, Riyad Maliki, this month from leaving the occupied West Bank to stop him from meeting foreign dignitaries, as part of the punitive measures.
Meanwhile, Minister Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the UN declared that “any country that believes in multilateralism and is committed to the international-law based order can not but oppose such punitive measures that target and affect the Palestinian people, leadership and civil society”.
In the wake of the statement, the UN Security Council is reportedly set to meet on Wednesday to discuss the Israeli occupation of Palestine, and they are expected to bring up Israel’s sanctions against the PA.
