Dr. Ashrawi on Israel’s standing at the UN
RAMALLAH, PALESTINE (June 1, 2017) -- Commenting on Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon’s election to the post of Vice President of the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), PLO Executive Committee Member Dr. Hanan Ashrawi said:
“Israel has intensified its campaign to assume official positions within UN bodies, emboldened by the support it is receiving from both the Western European and Others Group (WEOG) and the intensive campaign by the U.S. and its representative to harass and intimidate any bodies or states that seek to hold Israel accountable.
It was not enough to nominate and support Israel’s election to chair the UNGA’s Sixth Committee (the legal committee), the WEOG has nominated Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon to the Vice Presidency of the UNGA.
Israel is the one country that continues to maintain a cruel and illegal occupation of another nation; it has been living and acting outside the law, willfully defying international law and international humanitarian law and adamantly refusing to implement any and all UN resolutions pertaining to its military occupation and system of apartheid and colonialism.
These latest developments are tantamount to giving support for the occupation and rewarding Israel’s impunity and lawlessness.
We view with great alarm such developments, and consider them detrimental to the credibility of the UN and the fulfillment of its mandate “to maintain international peace and security” and promote and encourage “respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all.””