After the UN General Assembly decided to grant the Palestinian Authority additional rights as an observer state in the UN, Prime Minister Netanyahu decided today (Wednesday) to bring a motion rejecting the move to a government vote.
According to Netanyahu's proposal, the decision will have no effect on future negotiations in the disputed territories. "The Jewish people have a natural, historical and legal right to their homeland and their eternal capital, Jerusalem. Israel has a right and a claim to the disputed areas," he said according to a report by Yanir Kozin and Shirit Avitan Cohen. "The decision has no right to change the status of the disputed areas, and no right to confer any right. It cannot detract from any rights of the State of Israel."
The decision was passed last Friday by a majority of 143 countries, nine opposed and 25 abstained after being submitted by the Arab group at the UN. According to the approved proposal, the powers of the Palestinian Authority at the UN will be expanded.
Following the decision, Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz attacked the General Assembly: "The outrageous decision that was taken today in the UN General Assembly shows for all to see the inherent distortion of the UN institution and the reasons why the UN has transformed itself, under his leadership of UN Secretary General Guterres, to an irrelevant body," he was quoted as saying.