The U.N. Human Rights Commission adopted four anti-Israel resolutions last Friday and was accused by the Israeli delegate of being caught “in a time warp.”
Raphael Walden of Israel, which is not a voting member of the 53-member panel, said the commission acted as if no peace process was under way.
He noted with astonishment that one of the resolutions called for “an effective peace conference” sponsored by the U.N. Security Council and inclusive of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
The resolutions “did not reflect the spirit of hope to which the peace process, started at Madrid, has given birth,” Walden told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
A resolution branding “illegal” Israeli settlements in the “occupied territories” was adopted by a vote of 45-0 with one abstention. Walden claimed it “amounted to a condemnation of Jewish immigration to Israel.”
The other resolutions were adopted by a vote of 31-2 with 17 abstentions. The United States and Uruguay cast negative votes on grounds that the language was “unbalanced.”
The abstaining countries included Russia, several Eastern and Central European countries and those members of the European Community eligible to vote.
Also abstaining were Japan, Canada, Australia, Chile and Costa Rica.
Walden pointed out that this bloc of 17 countries either abstained or opposed anti-Israel resolutions, a pattern unchanged from last year but nevertheless welcome.
The Israeli delegate also welcomed their vote against a resolution accusing Israel of atrocities against Palestinians. The same bloc abstained on a resolution affirming the right of Palestinians “to resist Israeli occupation by all means.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
