Yemen welcomes UN resolution calling on Israel to end occupation of Palestine

The Republic of Yemen welcomed, on Thursday, the United Nations resolution calling on Israel to withdraw from the occupied Palestinian territories within 12 months, and considered it a victory for the justice of the Palestinian cause.

The Yemeni Foreign Ministry said in a statement published by the Yemeni News Agency (Saba) that it welcomes "the adoption by the United Nations General Assembly, in the tenth emergency special session, of a resolution on adopting the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on ending the illegal presence in the occupied Palestinian territories within a period not exceeding one year, and to comply with all its obligations under international law."

The ministry stressed in its statement that passing the resolution by a large majority among member states "represents a victory for the justice of the Palestinian cause, and a clear message about the position of the international community calling for an end to the occupation and an end to the suffering of the Palestinian people."

The statement stressed the importance of concerted efforts to achieve peace and establish a sovereign Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, in accordance with international resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative.

Earlier on Wednesday, the UN General Assembly approved, by a majority of 124 votes to 14, the first resolution submitted by Palestine, calling for Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories within 12 months.

The Permanent Mission of Palestine to the United Nations submitted its first draft resolution to the General Assembly on Tuesday, following the additional rights it gained through a vote in the General Assembly last May.

The draft resolution, co-sponsored by more than 40 countries, was voted on in an emergency special session entitled "Illegal Israeli measures in occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory."

Palestine has the status of a “non-member observer state” at the United Nations, and was granted this status after a resolution adopted by the General Assembly by a large majority on November 29, 2012.

The UN vote on Wednesday comes as Israel, with full US support, has been waging a devastating war in Gaza since October 7, leaving more than 136,000 Palestinians dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing, amid massive destruction and deadly famine.

In contempt of the international community, Israel continues the war, ignoring the UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate halt, and the International Court of Justice’s orders to take measures to prevent genocide and improve the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Source: Agencies