PNN/Ramallah

The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Thursday has adopted a resolution to compile a ‘blacklist’ of Israeli and international companies who do business with illegal Israeli settlements. In addition, three other resolutions were also adopted.

1) A main resolution that calls for setting up a database of businesses involved in activities in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The move was brought by Pakistan with 32 votes in favor, none against and 15, mostly European states, abstaining.

Pakistan argued that the illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, occupied East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights violate international law.

2) A second resolution was adopted for the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination;

3) A third resolution based on Palestinian human rights passed by the Council addressed closures by the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) in areas under occupation, as well as home demolitions, violations of religious sites, and extrajudicial killings carried out by the IOF;

4) A fourth resolution drafted to enact proper investigative systems to ensure accountability for violations carried out by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory.

Below, the complete statement by the State of Palestine’s envoy to the United Nations Human Rights Council, Ambassador Ibrahim Khreisheh:

“Today the United Nations Human Rights Council reflected the will of the council and international community by approving four long-overdue resolutions (on Self-determination, Human Rights Situation, Settlements and Accountability) reaffirming the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people.

On behalf of the State of Palestine and our people, we would like to extend our appreciation to all countries in support of our effort to bring justice to Palestine

Assuming its responsibility to uphold international law and UN resolutions, the international community has an obligation to implement human rights and humanitarian law in the occupied State of Palestine.

We call upon all countries to respect UN resolutions and mechanisms, including the establishment of a database for all companies that contribute to the Israeli occupation and colonization of the State of Palestine.

We ask countries opposed to the implementation of international law in the occupied State of Palestine to consider the impact their disregard for international law has within the international legal sphere and the Israeli violations they are perpetuating against the Palestinian people.

As the belligerent occupying power, Israel continues to systematically violate the inalienable rights of the Palestinians while enjoying impunity from the international community, despite numerous UN resolutions demanding an equitable and just end to the occupation.

Today’s vote is a message of hope for our people. We thank the Council for adopting the resolutions.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on social media following Thursday’s vote referred to the UN Human Rights Council an “anti-Israel circus.”

Netanyahu called on “responsible governments not to honor the decisions of the Council that discriminate against Israel.”

Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, condemned the vote, saying “when the UN marks Jewish business so that they can be boycotted it reminds us of dark times in the history. The Human Rights Council has turned into an accomplice of the BDS movement and its conduct is both anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic.”