A special committee of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) annual general assembly here has adopted a resolution condemning Israel’s practices in the occupied Arab territories. The vote was 66-23 with 16 abstentions. Thirty-six countries were absent, including the three co-sponsors of the resolution, Angola, Cuba and Yemen.
The United States, Portugal and the nine European Common Market countries voted against the draft, including France and Italy which had voted for a similar resolution last year. The measure is expected to be approved formally by the WHO assembly plenary later this week.
It accuses Israel of causing “numerous deaths” in the occupied territories by detention and ill treatment and of deporting Arabs and resettling non-Arabs in their homes. It also calls on Israel to allow a three-member medical team of the WHO to inspect health conditions in the occupied territories. Israel admitted the experts last year but only as individuals because it does not recognize the team as an official body of inquiry.
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