UN committee backs demand for Israel to halt exploitation of natural resources

The General Assembly’s Second Committee approved the natural-resources draft on 11 November by 151 votes to seven, with 11 abstentions. Israel and the United States were among those opposed. Uruguay introduced the proposal on behalf of the Group of 77 and China.

The draft demands that Israel stop exploiting, damaging, depleting or endangering natural resources in the occupied Palestinian territory and the occupied Syrian Golan. According to the UN’s meeting account, it also calls for an end to environmentally harmful actions and the destruction of infrastructure, including water pipelines, sewage and electricity networks.

Israel’s representative, who requested the vote, argued that the resolution did not advance Palestinian development and said it ignored Hamas and failings by Palestinian leaders. The Palestinian observer called the broad support a “powerful reaffirmation”, while the US delegate described the text as unbalanced.

In a separate vote, the committee approved a draft calling for Israel to compensate Lebanon for environmental damage from a 2006 oil spill. The spill followed Israeli air strikes on oil storage tanks near Lebanon’s Jiyeh power plant. That text passed by 155 votes to six, with 12 abstentions.

Both drafts still need to be considered by the full General Assembly. The committee also approved three other texts concerning the rehabilitation of Kazakhstan’s Semipalatinsk region, harmony with nature, and the social and solidarity economy.