Hanan Ashrawi, Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee member attacked a decision to nominate Israel to chair a United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) legal committee.
Ashrawi is quoted as saying that such a decision is “asking the wolf to guard the sheep.”
Israel was nominated for the chairmanship of the UNGA Sixth Committee, by the Western European and Others Group (WEOG) regional bloc, of which Israel is a part. The UN describes this as the “primary forum for the consideration of legal questions in the General Assembly.”
Peace in the Middle East: A Palestinian Perspective – Hanan Ashrawi https://t.co/jZR82zzu5O
— Westminster Forum (@WestminsterTHF) June 3, 2016
Ma’an news agency has quoted Ashrawi as saying, “It is ironic that Israel, a state that continues to breach international law and conventions, international humanitarian law and countless UN resolutions, is being nominated to head a legal committee that aims to promote international law and protect basic human rights and freedoms”.
Ashrawi added that by nominating Israel, the WEOG bloc was, “making a mockery of the international legal system and rewarding Israel for its flagrant violations of international law and acts of collective punishment and violence.”
She called on the regional bloc to withdraw its nomination of Israel, and to “hold it accountable for its persistent violations of international law and human rights”.
(MA’AN, PC)
