Israel: UN resolutions don’t advance peace

Jerusalem claims anti-Israel resolutions passed by UN General Assembly damage organization's status in Arab-Israeli conflict. Foreign Ministry official: Countries paying lip service to Arab issue

Ronny Sofer

Published: 12.02.06, 12:06 / Israel News

The Foreign Ministry wasn't surprised by the anti-Israeli resolutions made by the UN General Assembly. "These resolutions don't promote peace and don't contribute anything to the Israelis or the Palestinians. The resolutions damage the status of the UN and its capacity to be involved in the Arab-Israeli conflict," said the Foreign Ministry in response to the resolutions.

"Unfortunately for us, for a number of decades, the UN General Assembly tends to automatically pass a series of one-sided, unbalanced, anti-Israel resolutions from year to year," continued the Foreign Ministry's response.

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The resolutions, which were accepted by a decisive majority, called Israel to dismantle the settlements, withdraw from East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights as well as all territories captured in 1967. The GA also called for the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

Deputy Director General of International Organizations in the Foreign Ministry Ronny Lashno said to Ynet that the Foreign Ministry isn't phased by the anti-Israeli resolutions passed by the GA, saying that similar resolutions are made every year.

"Last year there were 18 resolutions. This year there will be more because of the war in Lebanon. Next week, they will vote on the rest of the resolutions," Lashno said.

Lip service

According to Lashno, the pro-Palestinian resolutions enjoy an automatic majority in the UN General Assembly.

"This formula has been in effect for three to four decades already. The Palestinians almost don't have to coordinate the resolutions with what is happening on the ground. This year it is the same thing. Though for one resolution 157 countries voted for the Palestinian interest, the other resolutions have a lot more countries who disagree or abstain.

"Take for example the resolutions regarding the Golan Heights. Unfortunately, this is a large and automatic majority, but this doesn't have any significance. Countries are paying lip service to the Arab issue," said Lashno.

It should be mentioned that Israel's Ambassador to the UN Daniel Gillerman is currently in Israel. To this Lashno responded: "There is no significance to the face that our ambassador to the UN wasn't in New York. This is a kind of automatic process and even his presence there wouldn't have helped."

Even before the vote was held, Vice Premier Shimon Peres met with incoming UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, and discussed the situation in the Middle East with him.

After the meeting, Peres said, "The Muslims and the Palestinians in the UN are presenting a one-sided and distorted picture. If the situation continues, UN forces in the region will weaken."

Peres gave the example of the commission of inquiry into the Israeli shelling of Beit Hanoun, saying that whoever wants to investigate needs to start with the Palestinian aggression, and not the Israeli response to it.

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