Access to Natural Resources by Palestinians, Syrians Should Not Be Denied, Delegates Tell Second Committee
Publisher: UN
Date: 2021
Topics: Governance, Land, Livelihoods, Public Health, Renewable Resources
Countries: Palestine, Syrian Arab Republic
Israel’s ongoing occupation of the Palestinian territories and the Syrian Golan, colliding with the impacts of the COVID‑19 pandemic, have turned into a crisis within a crisis for the millions of people living there, delegates heard today as the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) took up the issue of those lands.
Opening the meeting, Tarik Alami, Director of the Emerging and Conflict-Related Issues Division of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), introduced the Secretary-General’s report on “Permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and of the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan over their natural resources” (document A/76/94). He noted that Israel continues to consolidate its control over the Occupied Palestinian Territory, hampering development and exacerbating living conditions, despite ongoing hardships due to the COVID‑19 crisis