Palestinian leaders are confident of overwhelming support at the UN General Assembly in New York this week for three votes on Palestine and Jerusalem.
The world body will vote on Tuesday on the Palestinians’ right to self-determination and an independent state. On Wednesday, it will decide on a resolution about Palestinians’ rights to their natural resources. And on Thursday, it will respond to this week’s US veto at the Security Council of an Egyptian resolution on the status of Jerusalem.
“On self-determination, I expect we will get the support of around 180 countries; on sovereignty, the vote will be in the 160 area; and on Jerusalem, I expect 170 countries will vote with us in opposition to the US veto,” Riyad Mansour, permanent UN representative of the state of Palestine, told Arab News.
Tuesday’s resolution affirms the right of all states to live in peace within secure and internationally recognized borders, and urges all UN members states and agencies to support and assist the Palestinian people in the early realization of their right to self-determination.
The resolution on Wednesday reaffirms Palestinian rights to land, water and energy resources in the occupied Syrian Golan and East Jerusalem, and demands that Israel stop damaging, depleting and endangering those resources.
On Thursday, the General Assembly will meet under the “uniting for peace” clause, which aims to safeguard international peace and security when the Security Council cannot reach unanimity.
The council voted on Monday on a resolution stating that “any decisions and actions which purport to have altered the character, status or demographic composition of the holy city of Jerusalem have no legal effect, are null and void and must be rescinded.”
Fourteen of the council’s 15 members supported the resolution, but the US exercised its veto. The resolution followed this month’s decision by the US to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and to move its embassy there from Tel Aviv.