[R-G] At UN, Canada votes for Israeli settlement expansion

[Macdonald Stainsby]

At UN, Canada votes for Israeli settlement expansion
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Today at 11:39
UNITED NATIONS
Press Release

Human Rights Council
AFTERNOON 26 March 2009


Council Adopts 10 Resolutions on Human Rights Situation in Palestine and 
Other Occupied Arab Territories and on Combatting Defamation of 
Religions, Among Others

excerpt:

In a resolution (A/HRC/10/L.5) on Israeli settlements in the Occupied 
Palestinian Territory,
including East Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan , adopted by 
a vote of 46 in favour, one against, and no abstentions, as orally 
revised, the Council deplores the recent Israeli announcements of the 
construction of new housing units for Israeli settlers in the Occupied 
Palestinian Territory, as they undermine the peace process and the 
creation of a contiguous, sovereign and independent Palestinian State; 
expresses grave concern at, inter alia, the continuing Israeli 
settlement and related activities; the increasing number of newly built 
structures amounting in 2008 to 1,257; the implications for the final 
status negotiations of Israel's announcement that it will retain the 
major settlement blocks in the Occupied Palestinian Territory; the 
expansion of Israeli settlements and the construction of new ones on the 
Occupied Palestinian Territory rendered inaccessible behind the wall, 
which create a fait accompli on the ground that could be tantamount to 
de facto annexation; the continued closures of and within the Occupied 
Palestinian Territory, including the repeated closures of the crossing 
points of the Occupied Gaza Strip; the continued construction, contrary 
to international law, of the wall inside the Occupied Palestinian 
Territory; and the latest Israeli plan to demolish more than 88 houses 
in Al-Bustan neighbourhood at Silwan which will be resulting in 
displacing more than 1,500 Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem. The 
Council urges Israel, the occupying Power, to reverse the settlement 
policy in the occupied territories as a first step towards their 
dismantlement, to stop immediately the expansion of the existing 
settlements, including "natural growth" and related activities; urges 
the full implementation of the Access and Movement Agreement of 15 
November 2005, particularly the urgent reopening of the Rafah and Karni 
crossings; calls upon Israel to take and implement serious measures, 
including confiscation of arms and enforcement of criminal sanctions, 
with the aim of preventing acts of violence by Israeli settlers; and 
urges the parties to give renewed impetus to the peace process in line 
with the Annapolis Peace Conference and the Paris International Donors' 
Conference for the Palestinian State and to implement fully the road map 
endorsed by the Security Council in its resolution 1515 (2003).


The result of the vote were as follows:

In favour (46): Angola, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, 
Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chile, 
China, Cuba, Djibouti, Egypt, France, Gabon, Germany, Ghana, India, 
Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritius, 
Mexico, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, 
Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Slovakia, 
Slovenia, South Africa, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uruguay 
and Zambia.

Against (1): Canada.

Abstentions (0):

Full text: 
http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/view01/4C99B0F4E7BC7EE8C1257585007B5D90?opendocument