GCC, OIC welcome UN resolution on Palestine's bid for full membership

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) welcomed the United Nations General Assembly's resolution supporting Palestine's right to full membership in the world body.

Jassim Mohammed Al-Budaiwi, the GCC secretary-general, pointed out that the resolution received a vote from 143 countries as an affirmation and belief in the Palestinian right to this recognition so that the State of Palestine can exercise all its rights and duties at this world body.

It includes a recommendation that the UN Security Council reconsider the Palestinian bid.

He stressed the GCC's firm position in supporting the Palestinian cause and reaching a solution based on ending the Israeli occupation and establishing an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with east Jerusalem as its capital, in accordance with the relevant United Nations resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative.

In a statement, the OIC said this resolution expressed an international consensus on backing the legitimate rights of Palestinian people, including self-determination, freedom, justice, independence and the need to end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories occupied since 1967.

According to the statement, the OIC affirmed its absolute support for the legitimate rights of Palestine's state in embodying its political and legal position at the UN, like the rest of the world's states, as a gain that should have been implemented for decades.

Moreover, It referred to the historical, legal and political rights of Palestinian people to their land confirmed by the relevant UN resolutions, in addition to the official recognition of 144 states of Palestine's state, which has full membership in dozens of international organisations and agreements.