RAMALLAH (Dispatches) –
Palestine on Friday welcomed a resolution by the United Nations General Assembly that affirms the Palestinian sovereignty over its natural resources.
In a statement, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said, “The voting in favor of the resolution affirms the right and sovereignty of the Palestinian people on their natural resources including lands, water, and energy resources.”
Al-Maliki demanded the Zionist regime “stop exploiting the natural resources in the occupied Palestinian territory,” adding there is “no sovereignty for the (Zionist) occupation on the land of the state of Palestine or on any of its cities.”
He also called on the international community “to work to compel the occupation to implement international resolutions and to ensure the freedom of the Palestinian people to benefit from their natural resources.”
On Thursday, the UN General Assembly’s Economic and Financial Committee approved a resolution, affirming the Palestinian people’s permanent sovereignty over their natural resources.
The resolution was approved by 157 countries while seven members, including the U.S., Canada, and the Zionist regime, voted against the resolution.
The UN resolution reaffirms that the Zionist regime’s construction of the Separation Wall and illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and strategic Syrian Golan Heights constitutes a violation of international law, and deprives Palestinian people of their natural resources.
The resolution went on to demand “that Israel, the occupying power, cease the exploitation, damage, cause of loss or depletion and endangerment of natural resources in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Al-Quds, and in the occupied Syrian Golan.”
The resolution also called on the Zionist regime to halt the dumping of all kinds of waste materials and all those by Zionist settlers in the occupied Palestinian and Syrian territories, which gravely threaten water and land resources of civilian populations, and pose environmental, sanitation and health threats to locals.
It also pointed to the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334, which was adopted on December 23, 2016, and calls on world states to distinguish in their dealings between Zionist communities and Palestinian lands occupied by the regime.
The resolution then called on the UN Secretary-General António Guterres to present at the next meeting a report on the implementation of the resolution, and the Zionist regime’s exploitation of Palestinian natural resources in the occupied territories.