WASHINGTON, DC – The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) warmly welcomed UN Security Council Resolution1435, which passed today by a vote of 14-0, with the United States abstaining. ADC urged the international community to take immediate steps to ensure the enforcement of Resolution 1435, in which the Council said it was “gravely concerned at the reoccupation of the headquarters of the President of the Palestinian Authority in the City of Ramallah” and demanded “its immediate end.”
The Council demanded “that Israel immediately cease measures in and around Ramallah including the destruction of Palestinian civilian and security infrastructure” and “the expeditious withdrawal of the Israeli occupying forces from Palestinian cities towards return to the positions held prior to September 2000.” The resolution also condemned terrorist acts on both sides and called for “the complete cessation of all acts of violence, including all acts of terror, provocation, incitement and destruction.” Israel signaled its ongoing defiance of this and previous Security Council resolutions ordering its troops to return to position held in Sept. 2000, by launching a massive attack in Gaza which left 7 Palestinians dead. Israeli officials have announced that they have no intention of abiding by Resolution 1435. “The United Nations can do what it wants, but Israel will continue the operation until its aims are achieved,” an Israeli official told Agence France Presse (AFP) on condition of anonymity.
ADC President Ziad Asali said “we welcome this balanced and constructive resolution by the Security Council. We hope and expect that it will be enforced with the same seriousness and vigor that other Security Council resolutions are being treated. The international community must keep in mind that Israel continues to flout dozens of Security Council resolutions, and that the current conflict is taking place in an area in which Israel acts as a foreign military occupation force. It is high time that Security Council resolutions regarding Israel are treated with the same urgency and authority as resolutions pertaining to other states.”
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