U.N. Renews Palestinians’ Right To 1967 Borders

The 191-nation body voted 140-6 Thursday, May 6, with 11 abstentions, to adopt a resolution affirming "that the status of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, remains one of military occupation".

In accordance with U.N. resolutions and principles of international law "the Palestinian people have the right to self-determination and to sovereignty over their territory", read the text of the resolution.

The resolution – not legally-binding, but a reflection of international opinion – also made clear that Israel could not speak for the occupied territories at the United Nations, Arab diplomats were quoted by Reuters as saying.

In the final text, language that Israel "has no sovereignty over any part of this territory" was dropped and replaced with "has only the duties and obligations of an occupying power".

Isolation

Palestinian U.N. Observer Nasser al-Kidwa said the measure was "of extreme importance".

The resolution reaffirms that Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since the 1967 Middle East War was "territory under military occupation”, al-Kidwa was quoted by Reuters as saying.

The vote also showed "the total isolation of the Israeli-American position."

Only four small Pacific islands – the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru and Palau – joined Israel and the United States in voting "no".

Israeli U.N. Ambassador Dan Gillerman claimed the resolution was intended to "undermine the negotiating process and not to further it".

U.S. Deputy Ambassador James Cunningham said he voted "no" because the text was "inappropriate and ill-timed, and would detract from, rather than enhance," ongoing peace efforts.

‘Rebuke’

The measure came as a fresh embarrassment to the United States over its support to Israel despite overwhelming objection of the international community.

The lopsided vote that Palestinians have the right of sovereignty over the West Bank and Gaza Strip is a "rebuke to Bush", Reuters news agency said.

Breaking with a decades-old U.S. policy, Bush said after talks with Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon Wednesday, April 15, Israel could keep Palestinian territories occupied in the 1967 war, and that Palestinian refugees should not be allowed to return to their homes in what is today Israel.

The statements- Arabs slammed as another Balfour promise to Israel – has drawn ire as the U.N. resolutions affirm that Israel should end occupation of occupied Arab, including Palestinian territories captured after the 1967 war.

Thirty-two draft resolutions criticizing Israel since 1972 have never seen the light because the U.S. used its Security Council veto to block them, the Guardian reported on September 24.

Facing a heavy wave of criticism over his promise to Israel, Bush said in Washington Thursday that the United States would not prejudice the outcome of final negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

No Return

The U.N. resolutions also brand as illegal all Jewish settlements on occupied Palestinian areas both in the Best bank and Gaza Strip.

Even the U.S.-drafted roadmap blueprint stipulates the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, which is urged to pull out to pre-1967 borders.

U.N. General Assembly resolution 194 on Palestinian refugees states that "refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible".

The Palestinian Authority estimates at more than 6.5 million the number of Palestinian refugees and their descendents, the world’s oldest and largest refugee population and more than one-fourth of the entire refugee population worldwide.

It said that in 1967, approximately 200,000 Palestinians fled their homes in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip when Israel launched a war against Jordan and Egypt, capturing and occupying the West Bank, including al-Quds, and the Gaza Strip (the Occupied Palestinian Territories).

Neither the 1948 refugees nor the 1967 displaced persons have been allowed by Israel to return to their homes in what is now Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.