Embassy of the State of Palestine dismayed over SL abstaining from UNESCO vote

The Embassy of the State of Palestine has expressed its dismay regarding Sri Lanka’s Abstention at the UNESCO vote held on Tuesday 4 July in Krakow Poland, where the decision considered Jerusalem as a city under occupation and the old city as Palestinian, which is the third occasion where Sri Lanka has abstained.

The Embassy said the UNESCO vote regarding Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque formulates a clear message from the international community that it does not agree with the policies that protect the occupation and contribute to the creation of chaos and instability. 

It has communicated its views in writing to President Maithripala Sirisena and Foreign Minister Ravi Karunanayake. 

The Embassy stated that as Palestinians and Arabs, “We  have supported Sri Lanka at all times unreservedly, especially in the UN Human Rights counsel, whatever Sri Lanka’s position was, in opposition to Western and other States, who claim that implementing their demands regarding Sri Lanka can be a framework that they can pull regarding Israel. From our side Palestine has refused this suggestion stating that there isn’t any comparison between Sri Lanka and Israel.”

The Palestine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates further stated, “We regret that few countries succumbed to the Public Relations bullying orchestrated by Israel, which shifted the focus from Israel’s illegal and colonial actions in occupied East Jerusalem to issues irrelevant to the content and objectives of the resolutions, which aims to put an end to Israel’s dangerous and illegal actions against holy sites in Jerusalem and Palestinian rights, including the right to worship.”

The UNESCO resolution has far reaching aspects in regard to Palestine’s aspirations of the two State solutions with East Jerusalem as its Capital.