by WorldTribune Staff, May 3, 2017
The Palestinian Authority (PA) praised a newly passed UN resolution which denies Israel’s rights to Jerusalem, a report said.
The UN’s cultural agency, UNESCO, passed a resolution on May 2 that declares “all legislative and administrative measures and actions taken by Israel, the occupying Power, which have altered or purport to alter the character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem, and in particular the ‘basic law’ on Jerusalem, are null and void and must be rescinded forthwith.”
In a statement, the PA’s foreign affairs bureau said: “We reiterate the single most important threat confronting Jerusalem and other important heritage sites in Palestine continues to be the Israeli occupation and its illegal practices, as well as its intransigence and refusal to respect international law and the obligations it must honor in accordance with these laws,” the Ma’an news agency.
Related: Jordanian official on U.S. embassy being relocated to Jerusalem: Not a problem, May 2, 2017
The resolution also condemns Israel for the military conflicts with the Hamas terrorist organization, which rules Gaza. The resolution was supported by 22 countries while 10 voted against it and 23 abstained.
While hailing those who voted in favor of the resolution, the PA expressed “disappointment” in the “small minority that succumbed to the cynical campaign of political manipulation against Palestine’s resolution.”
“The State of Palestine will continue to work with the international community to advance respect for international law and ensure that this respect is universal,” the statement added.
Late last year, UNESCO passed a series of resolutions which attempted to erase the connection of the Jewish people to the holy places in Jerusalem and to present those places as holy to Muslims only, Arutz Sheva reported.
Those resolutions maintained that the Western Wall and Temple Mount will be referred to by their Arabic names and the Hebrew terms for the sites will only appear in quotation marks in UN references.