India voted in favour of a resolution in the UN General Assembly reaffirming Israeli settlement activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as “illegal”. The draft resolution titled ‘Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the Occupied Syrian Golan’ was approved by the Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee) by a recorded vote of 145 in favour, 7 against and 18 abstentions.
India was among the 145 nations that voted in favour of the resolution along with Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, France, Japan, Malaysia, Maldives, Russia, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the UK. Those voting against the resolution were Canada, Hungary, Israel, the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru and the United States.
The resolution condemned “settlement activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan and any activities involving the confiscation of land, the disruption of the livelihood of protected persons, the forced transfer of civilians and the annexation of land, whether de facto or through national legislation.”
It also reaffirmed that the “Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan are illegal and an obstacle to peace and economic and social development.”
'Glad that India voted against Israeli settlements in Palestine', 18 abstained from UN resolution
India voted in favour of four other resolutions relating to the situation in the Middle East and abstained on one – a draft resolution ‘Work of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories’.
{{/usCountry}}India voted in favour of four other resolutions relating to the situation in the Middle East and abstained on one – a draft resolution ‘Work of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories’.
{{/usCountry}}The resolution, however, was approved by a recorded vote of 85 in favour to 13 against, with 72 abstentions.
This resolution “deplores those policies and practices of Israel that violate the human rights of the Palestinian people and other Arabs of the occupied territories, as reflected in the report of the Special Committee covering the reporting period.”
The resolution also “Expresses grave concern about the critical situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, as a result of unlawful Israeli practices and measures, and especially condemns and calls for the immediate cessation of all illegal Israeli settlement activities and the construction of the wall, the lifting of the blockade of the Gaza Strip, as well as the complete cessation of the excessive and indiscriminate use of force and military operations against the civilian population..."