Second Committee
Summary record of the 29th meeting
Held at Headquarters, New York, on Thursday, 18 November 2010, at 3 p.m.
Chairperson: Ms. Ochir ……………………………………………. (Mongolia)
Contents
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Agenda item 60: Permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and of the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan over their natural resources (continued) (A/C.2/65/L.31)
Draft resolution on permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and of the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan over their natural resources (A/C.2/65/L.31)
50. The Chairperson invited the Committee to take action on draft resolution A/C.2/65/L.31, which had been submitted by the delegation of Egypt on behalf of the original sponsors listed in the document and Ecuador, Namibia and Pakistan. The draft resolution had no programme budget implications; a recorded vote had been requested.
51. Ms. Davidovich (Israel), speaking in explanation of vote before the voting, said that the Committee was once again engaged in an annual ritual unbefitting a professional body. Rather than dealing with important global issues, the Committee was using its valuable time to discuss a yearly politicized draft resolution that deliberately omitted key facts, preferring instead to advance a political agenda. In reality, Israel shared the vital interests of its neighbours to preserve and protect the natural environment and addressed those concerns through a variety of existing mechanisms, working groups and joint capacity-building programmes, which focused on agriculture, food security, forestry, desalination and water management efforts that would be greatly enhanced if the Palestinian Authority were to proceed with the numerous projects that had already been approved. The draft resolution’s supporters conveniently ignored numerous agreements between Israel and the Palestinian Authority that had already conferred on it jurisdiction over those issues. Such an annual exercise did not improve the lives of Palestinians or help to create a better understanding or improved regional partnerships. It merely promulgated hate speech.
52. The issues at stake could be effectively dealt with only through joint ventures with an approach based on facts and reality. Wasting the Committee’s time perpetuating discriminatory and biased draft resolutions embedded in falsehoods would undermine real efforts towards peace and prosperity. Fallacious draft resolutions such as A/C.2/65/L.31 should be replaced by genuine partnerships. For those reasons, Israel had called for a vote on the resolution, would vote against it, and encouraged other delegations devoted to advancing the true vision and purpose of the Committee to do likewise.
53. A recorded vote was taken on draft resolution A/C.2/65/L.31.
In favour:
Against:
Abstaining:
Côte d’Ivoire, Panama, Papua New Guinea.
54. Draft resolution A/C.2/65/L.31 was adopted by 162 votes to 7, with 3 abstentions.
55. Mr. AlHantouli (Observer for Palestine) said that it was fitting that the draft resolutions adopted by the Committee on multilateral cooperation for development included one calling on Israel to cease its exploitation of resources belonging to the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan. While Palestinians continued to desire a just and lasting peace, they would never accept the confiscation of their land, Israeli settlement-building and the destruction of Palestinian infrastructure.
The meeting rose at 4.55 p.m.
This record is subject to correction. Corrections should be sent under the signature of a member of the delegation concerned within one week of the date of publication to the Chief of the Official Records Editing Section, room DC2-750, 2 United Nations Plaza, and incorporated in a copy of the record.
Corrections will be issued after the end of the session, in a separate corrigendum for each Committee.
Document Type: Summary record, Voting record
Document Sources: General Assembly, General Assembly Second Committee (Economic and Financial)
Subject: Agenda Item, Economic issues, Golan Heights, Land, Natural resources, Occupation, Palestine question, Water
Publication Date: 18/11/2010