New York, 21 December 2017. Ambassador Anayansi Rodriguez Camejo, Permanent Representative of Cuba to the United Nations, made a statement during the resumption of the 10th emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly on "Illegal Israeli Actions in Occupied East Jerusalem and the Rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territories", held today.
In line with the Declaration of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba, issued on 6 December 2017, the diplomat of the island reiterated the deep concern and rejection by the Caribbean nation of the unilateral declaration of the city of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel by the President of the United States, which is a serious and flagrant violation of the UN Charter, of International Law and of the relevant United Nations resolutions. She also noted that this violates the legitimate interests of the Palestinian people and of the Arab and Islamic nations, causing exacerbated tensions in this region and hindering any efforts to resume Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
She called upon the Security Council -in accordance with the responsibility conferred on it by the UN Charter in maintaining international peace and security- to take the necessary decisions and to demand from Israel an immediate end to the occupation of the Palestinian territories and of the aggressive policies and colonizing practices, as well as the fulfillment of the resolutions approved by that organ on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.
Rodríguez Camejo stressed the need for a comprehensive, just and lasting solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict based on a two-state solution, to realize the right of the Palestinians to self-determination and to have an independent and sovereign State, with its capital in East Jerusalem and its pre-1967 borders.
In this emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly, the Cuban delegation co-sponsored and voted in favor of the draft resolution entitled "Statute of Jerusalem", which clearly states that any decisions or actions which purport to have altered the character, status or demographic composition of the Holy City of Jerusalem have no legal effect, are null and void and must be rescinded in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council.
In this regard, the text adopted with the majority support of 128 member States of the Organization, 9 against -including Israel and the United States- and 35 abstentions; calls upon all States to refrain from the establishment of diplomatic missions in the Holy City of Jerusalem.
Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations.