Home Viet Nam Human Rights » home » News » Despite U.S. threats UN passed Resolution on Jerusalem

Despite U.S. threats UN passed Resolution on Jerusalem

22/12/17

The United Nations on Thursday overwhelmingly adopted a resolution on Jerusalem, calling on the United States to withdraw its recognition of the city as Israel's capital. 
A total of 128 members voted in favor of the Jerusalem resolution, nine countries voted against and 35 others abstained. 
The UN’s 193-member General Assembly voted on the resolution rejecting U.S. President Donald Trump’s Dec. 6 decision to recognize the city as Israel’s capital -- a move that has drawn condemnation from across the Arab and Muslim world.
Israel, Honduras, Togo, U.S., Palau, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Guatemala voted against Jerusalem resolution. 
Two-thirds of UN member states including Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Spain and Greece voted in favor of the resolution.
Australia, Antigua-Barbuda, Argentina, Benin, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cameroon, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Fiji, Latvia, Lesotho, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Rwanda, Solomon Islands, South Sudan, Trinidad-Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda and Vanuatu abstained in the vote. 
Unlike the UN’s 15-member Security Council, the U.S. does not have veto power in the General Assembly. 
International law views the West Bank -- including East Jerusalem -- as “occupied territory” and considers all Jewish settlement building on the land to be illegal. 
Jerusalem remains at the heart of the Middle East conflict, with Palestinians hoping that East Jerusalem might eventually serve as the capital of an independent state of Palestine.
The adopted resolution stresses on the need to protect and preserve the "unique spiritual, religious and cultural dimensions" of Jerusalem.
It adds that the final status issue of Jerusalem should be resolved through negotiation in line with relevant UN resolutions and declares any decision to alter its status "null and void".
It also calls upon all countries to refrain from the establishment of diplomatic missions in Jerusalem.
Before the voting, Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in an address to the member states: "A UN member threatened all other members. We were asked to vote 'no' or to face the consequences."
U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to cut aid to countries who vote in favor of the Jerusalem resolution on Wednesday.
During a cabinet meeting, Trump said "Let them vote against us."
"We’ll save a lot. We don’t care. But this isn’t like it used to be where they could vote against you and then you pay them hundreds of millions of dollars,” he added.
US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, said on Wednesday she will be “taking names” of countries who vote in favor of the resolution.
“The United States will remember this day when it was singled out for attack in the General Assembly,” Haley said at the UN podium ahead of the vote. “We will remember it when so many countries come calling on us, as they often do, to pay even more. This vote will be remembered.”
That threat was repudiated by speakers from countries supporting the resolution, which says the status of Jerusalem must be resolved through negotiations. A similar resolution had 14 votes in favor in the 15-member Security Council last week, prompting Haley to exercise the first U.S. veto since 2011.
“We were all asked to vote no or face the consequences,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said before Thursday’s vote. “Some even threatened to cut development aid. This is bullying. It is unethical to think that the votes and dignity of member states are for sale.”
Haley’s threat carries weight because the U.S. is the largest contributor to UN operations. Based on a formula agreed to by member nations, the U.S. provides 28.5 percent of the $7.3 billion UN peacekeeping budget and 22 percent of the core budget of $2.7 billion. Haley walked out of the General Assembly soon after her speech, though members of the U.S. delegation remind behind, awaiting the vote.
But the very nature of the UN, which depends on compromise and negotiation, will also limit the reach of U.S. threats. Haley is expected to introduce a new resolution to the Security Council on Friday tightening sanctions on North Korea. For that measure to pass, the U.S. will need nations including China and Russia to refrain from vetoing the proposal.
Except for Israel, which supports the U.S. position, most major U.S. allies opposed to Trump’s Jerusalem decision stayed away from the podium Thursday. Countries speaking in support of the measure included North Korea, Yemen, Turkey, Venezuela, Cuba, Syria, South Africa and Iran. Those nations also came under intense fire by Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon.
“Those who support today’s resolution are like puppets pulled by the strings of the Palestinian puppet masters,” Danon said. “If this body were really united for peace, it would pass a resolution condemning Palestinian violence.”
Haley this week warned other countries against supporting the resolution, saying Trump “has requested I report back on those countries who voted against us.”
Trump weighed in on the Jerusalem vote on Wednesday.
“I liked the message that Nikki sent yesterday at the United Nations to all of those nations that take our money and then they vote against us in the Security Council, they vote against us potentially at the Assembly,” Trump said. “They take hundreds of millions of dollars and even billions of dollars and then they vote against us. Well, we’re watching those votes. Let ’em vote against us.”
Threatening the international community in a world issue in order to protect its interests, it is America. Now, you see how democratic values that the U.S. always claims to support./.


Chia sẻ bài viết ^^
Other post

All comments [ 0 ]


Your comments