India votes in favour of UN resolution against Israeli settlements

www.mangaloretoday.com

New Delhi, Nov 12, 2023: India has voted in the United Nations in favour of a resolution condemning Israel’s settlement in the occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the occupied Syrian Golan – just about a fortnight after refraining from supporting an appeal from the international organisation for humanitarian truce in the Gaza Strip.

India joined 144 other nations, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, France, Japan, Malaysia, Maldives, Russia, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the United Kingdom, to vote in favour of the resolution titled “Israeli settlements in the occupied alestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the occupied Syrian Golan” at the Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee) of the UN General Assembly.

The resolution condemned Israel’s “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.”

The United States and five other nations – Canada, Hungary, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia and Nauru – joined Israel in voting against the resolution, while 18 other nations abstained from voting on it.

The resolution reaffirmed that the Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the occupied Syrian Golan were “illegal and an obstacle to peace and economic and social development”.

New Delhi’s decision to vote in favour of the resolution this week is significant as it had late last month refrained from supporting a United Nations General Assembly resolution that called for a humanitarian truce between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza strip.