UN General Assembly Resolutions in Support of the Palestinian Cause

-        The President of the current 75th session (2020) of the General Assembly, Mr. Volkan Bozkır, said: "The issue of Palestine was presented to the General Assembly for the first time in 1947, and the General Assembly adopted several resolutions in this regard over the past seven decades, but nothing has changed..! .."There is an ongoing attempt to deny the historical and legal rights of the Palestinian people"!

-        I followed the details of the news regarding the voting on the six resolutions based on the statements of Wafa Agency and Anadolu Agency; the six resolutions are as follows:

·       Resolution One: concerning the continued provision of assistance to Palestinian refugees, for which 169 countries voted in favor; two countries, Israel and the United States, opposed it, and 7 countries abstained.

·       Resolution Two: concerning the operations of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which called for "inviting donor states to step up assistance to UNRWA to meet the expected needs." It was voted for by 162 countries; 4 countries opposed it, led by the United States and Israel, and 9 countries abstained.

·       Resolution Three: concerning the properties of Palestinians (which they left as a result of the Israeli occupation in 1948), which affirms their ownership of them and the revenues derived from them to date. This resolution received 160 votes in favor, 5 countries opposed it including the United States and Israel, and 12 countries abstained.

·       Resolution Four: concerning the illegality of Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, including Jerusalem and the occupied Syrian Golan. It received the support of 156 countries; 7 countries, including the United States and Israel, opposed it, and 17 countries abstained.

·       Resolution Five: concerning Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territories. It was voted for by 147 countries; 10 countries, including the United States and Israel, opposed it, and 16 countries abstained.

·       Resolution Six: concerning the work of the special committee entrusted with investigating Israeli practices that affect the human rights of the Palestinian people and other Arab inhabitants of the occupied territories. It received the support of 76 countries, 14 countries opposed it, and 83 countries abstained from voting. (The names were not mentioned in the press report, unlike the first five resolutions, and we tried hard to obtain the voting table from the United Nations page for the General Assembly and its meetings, United Nations Meetings Coverage & Press Releases, but we were unable to do so).!

-        It may be said that current and past General Assembly resolutions did not and will not achieve anything regarding the Palestinian cause!.. Many resolutions in its arsenal previously and currently were in favor of the cause.. but they have not been effective throughout the past period.! They are non-binding in principle and are repeated annually at the same time!.. Despite the fact that the resolution establishing Israel was a decision issued by the United Nations General Assembly in 1947.!

-        Moreover, despite the presence of vague terminology and weak wording, as in Resolution Five which stated that all Israeli settlement activities constitute violations of (international) (humanitarian) law... which is interpreted (if I am not mistaken)!... to mean that the settlement issue has humanitarian repercussions. Whereas the proper consideration should be to regard them as violations (of international law) rather than international humanitarian law... and thus they are then interpreted as being unlawful and stemming from the seizure of land by occupation and military force — i.e., they are not an act of compassion or humanitarian consideration toward the occupied people but rather inherent rights.!

-        Despite the observations, references and interpretations noted, I say here that any achievement of draft resolutions at the United Nations in favor of the Palestinian cause constitutes a positive push forward for the cause, regardless of the failures and frustrations experienced by the Palestinians from here and there, including from Arab countries..! Despite the vote of the three Arab countries that recently normalized relations with Israel in favor of the aforementioned resolutions... Also, what is achieved in terms of accomplishments and the majority of the international community standing with the Palestinian people is an achievement and a victory for Palestinian diplomacy on the international stage...! We also record here our popular appreciation and happiness for the vote of most of the international community in favor of resolutions concerning the Palestinian cause with this overwhelming majority of votes adopted in the General Assembly composed of 193 states..... This is considered a referendum and an indicator of the continued support of the international community, and that the Palestinian cause has not been relegated from the priorities of the international community. It is not to be underestimated; it is an achievement of the active Palestinian diplomacy and its campaign on the international stage...!

-        What drew my attention in reviewing the countries that opposed or abstained from voting on these resolutions is the appearance of names of countries I had not heard of before; a brief introductory note about them follows, such as:

1-     First country: the Republic of Nauru (republic of Nauru), or as it was called "the Happy Island"..! It is a country without an official capital, with an area of approximately 21 square kilometers and a population of about 14,000 people. It is located in the Pacific Ocean in the northeastern part of Australia. It was occupied by Germany in the late 19th century, then governed by Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom during World War I, and by China in ancient times, and Japan in World War II... then it gained its independence in 1968 after a period of trusteeship following the Japanese occupation... It is known for phosphate, and more than 30% of its population have diabetes.! More than 90% of its population are overweight, and the country's currency is the Australian dollar...! ..I do not know if its inhabitants know about the Palestinian cause...!. Nauru abstained from voting on the first and second resolutions, while it opposed the third, fourth, and fifth resolutions; the names of countries either opposing or abstaining in the sixth resolution did not appear in the news report...!

2-     Second country: the state of Kiribati (Kiribati), which is located in the Pacific Ocean and consists of 32 islands. Its population is estimated at about 116,000 people, and its area is about 811 square kilometers. It gained independence in 1979 and joined the United Nations in 1999. Kiribati abstained from voting on Resolution One and Resolution Two of the General Assembly under discussion!

3-     Third country: the state of Palau (Belau), an island in the Pacific Ocean located about 800 kilometers east of the Philippines. The island is touristy, with a population of about 20,000 people and an area of about 465 square kilometers. It receives annual assistance from the United States; it joined the United Nations in 1994 and enjoys scenic and coral-populated surroundings. Palau (Belau) abstained from voting on Resolution One.

4-    Fourth country: the Solomon Islands, which are located in the South Pacific, northeast of Australia. The Solomon Islands consist of more than 990 islands, with a total area of about 28,450 square kilometers and a population of about 611,000 people. It gained independence in 1978 and is a Commonwealth country. It was previously occupied by Japan. Its inhabitants are considered among the most unusual and beautiful of human ethnicities...! Their skin is dark brown, but their eyes are blue or colored and their hair is blond...! The Solomon Islands abstained from voting on Resolution Two of the resolutions adopted by the recent General Assembly..!

5-     Fifth country: the Marshall Islands, located in the western Pacific Ocean, which obtained internal self-government in 1979 and was granted sovereignty in 1986. The United States trusteeship over it ended in 1990, after about four decades of trusteeship. The Marshall Islands depend on assistance from the United States as a major supporter of their economy; they host the most important American military bases in the Pacific and were also a center for nuclear tests. Their area is about 181 square kilometers, and their population is about 53,000 people.! The Marshall Islands abstained from voting on Resolution One, but they were among the countries opposing Resolutions Two, Three, Four and Five of the recent General Assembly concerning the Palestinian issue, as we noted...!

·       Such countries, which can be counted on the fingers of one hand, that opposed the recent General Assembly resolutions or abstained from voting, as noted, do not constitute a worrying phenomenon and do not have decisive value either by their number... or by the population they represent..., despite the United States and Israel considering these countries a victory for their course at the United Nations...!!

·       On 12-12-2020