On Wednesday, an Israeli diplomat was appointed to serve on a United Nations committee focusing on “decolonization, Palestinian refugees and human rights, peacekeeping, mine action, outer space, public information, atomic radiation and University for Peace.”
Israel overcame a coordinated effort by Arab states on Wednesday to thwart its appointment as vice chair of a UN committee dealing with issues such as Palestinian refugees and human rights, and will serve in that capacity at the 69th session of the UN General Assembly.
Mordehai Amihai won the appointment to represent the Western European and Other Groups voting bloc on the 4th (Decolonization) Committee with 74 votes, while candidates from Belgium and Norway each garnered one vote. He received staunch backing from Britain, Canada and the US, all of which expressed disappointment with the decision to call the vote.
Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Ron Prosor, pointed out that last year the Arab states had no problem “with the membership of Iran, a state that arms [Syrian President Bashar] Assad and Hezbollah, in the Committee on Disarmament and International Security.” Last year Iranian diplomat Khodadad Seifi Pargou was appointed to the disarmament committee, otherwise known as the First Committee.
Israel is a member of the Western European and Others regional group, rather than the geographically correct Asia/Pacific group, because of Arab objections to including it as a member of the latter group.
The Palestinian Authority decried the appointment.
The PA foreign ministry said that the election of Israel to such a post would only encourage it to continue committing excessive violations of Palestinian rights and to maintain the occupation. …
The statement added that it is “disappointing” that Israel will play a leading role in a committee whose mission is related to decolonization, peace-keeping and human rights while Israel itself continues to deny millions of Palestinian refugees the right to return to their homeland from which they were forcibly displaced.
However, as Aaron Menenberg documented in Terrorists & Kleptocrats: How Corruption is Eating the Palestinians Alive, which appeared in the June 2014 issue of The Tower Magazine, it is actually the Palestinian Authority that has held back Palestinian economic development, while others, including Israel, have worked to spur it.
[Photo: Muhammad Ghouri / Flickr ]