Phl votes in favor of UNGA reso condemning Israel settlements in Palestinian territories
The Philippines has voted in favor of a resolution in the United Nations General Assembly that condemns Israel's decades-long settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan.
The UN draft resolution entitled "Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the Occupied Syrian Golan," was supported by 145 countries, including the Philippines.
Other countries that favored the resolution were China, Bangladesh, France, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and Malaysia.
Only seven countries voted against the resolution including the United States, Israel, Canada, Hungary, the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and Nauru.
Meanwhile, at least 18 countries abstained from voting in the resolution.
Among the countries that abstained from voting were Nepal, Ecuador, Uruguay, Malawi, Togo, Kiribati, and Panama.
Aside from the "illegal occupation" of the said territories, the UN draft resolution also condemns Israel's activities "involving the confiscation of land, the disruption of the livelihood of protected persons, the forced transfer of civilians, and the annexation of land, whether de facto or through national legislation."
The resolution "demands" the immediate and complete cessation of all Israeli settlement activities in all of the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan.
Last month, the Philippines, along with other 45 countries such as Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, India, and Canada, abstained from voting on the UN resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
The DFA later explained that the omission of the terror acts of the Palestinian Sunni-Islamic extremist group in Israel which left more than 1,400 Israelis dead, including four Filipinos, was the reason why the Philippines abstained from voting in favor of the resolution.