UN resolution on Palestinian and Syrian permanent sovereignty over their natural resources in occupied Palestine and Golan

 New York, SANA, The UN General Assembly adopted Friday a resolution stipulates for the permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian lands, and of the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan over their natural resources.

 The resolution was adopted by voting 165 states in favor, 6 states against (Israel, US, Canada, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau), while 9 states abstained.

 The resolution reaffirmed the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and of the

Arab people of the occupied Syrian Golan over their natural resources, including

land, water and energy resources, and demanded that Israel, the occupying Power, cease the exploitation, damage, cause of loss or depletion and endangerment of the natural resources in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and in the occupied Syrian Golan.

It also called upon Israel, the occupying Power, to bring a halt to all actions, including those perpetrated by Israeli settlers, harming the environment, including the dumping of all kinds of waste materials, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan, which gravely threaten their natural resources, namely water and land resources, and which pose an environmental, sanitation and health threat to the civilian populations.

The UN General Assembly, also,  has nearly unanimously approved a resolution urging Israel to pay Lebanon compensation to cover the clean-up cost of an oil spill caused in 2006 by the Israeli air attacks on oil storage tanks during the war with Hezbollah.

 The UNGA voted 170 in favor of the resolution while Israel, the United States, Canada, Australia, Micronesia and Marshall Islands voted against the motion.

Taking into account the 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, which in principle requires the polluter to pay environmental damage costs, the assembly found Israel guilty of the July 15, 2006 environmental disaster.

The disaster was caused by the Israeli Air Force strike on the oil storage tanks in the direct vicinity of the Jiyeh electric power plant in Lebanon. As a result an oil slick covered the Lebanese coastline entirely, stretching all the way to the Syrian coastline.

 The resolution notes that the UN chief expressed “grave concern at the lack of any acknowledgment on the part of the government of Israel of its responsibilities vis-a-vis reparations and compensation” to Lebanon and Syria for the oil spill.

Lebanon’s Ambassador Nawaf Salam meanwhile called the resolution a “major progress.”

“We affirm that Lebanon will continue to mobilize all resources and resort to all legal means to see that this resolution is fully implemented, and that the specified compensation is paid promptly,” Salam said.

R.Jazaeri/ Barry

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