Israel, with the help of the United States, put a stop to a Palestinian attempt to obtain observer state status at the United Nations Conference on Disarmament (UNCD) on Monday.
The conference, which takes place in Geneva, Switzerland, has 65 member states, which includes Israel, but also invites nations to observe. This year 34 states applied for observer status, 33 were granted and 1 was denied.
“The Palestinian bid was the only one to be rejected, denying yet another Palestinian attempt to politicize the work of professional international organizations,” Israel’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Tuesday.
Despite being supported by Turkey, North Korea and Venezuela, Israeli diplomats “in close coordination with the US” managed to block the move.
“This is another Palestinian attempt to politicize professional UN bodies and international agencies,” the statement read.
“Israel believes that the Conference on Disarmament continues to have an important role to play in the multilateral arms control domain and will continue to take a constructive approach towards its work,” said Aviva Raz-Schechter, Israel’s ambassador to the UN agencies based in Geneva.
“The CD is a professional forum for negotiation and Israel, together with others, will object any attempt to politicize this forum.”
The Palestinian Authority had also tried to attain observer state status for CD’s 2018 session, but Israel and the US thwarted that effort as well.
