Arab states want Israel out of UN General Assembly

CAIRO, Egypt

The Council of the Arab League has tasked its group at the UN with studying steps to freeze Israel's participation in the body's General Assembly.

The bloc which held an extraordinary session in Cairo Thursday (Jul. 4), said Israel failed to adhere to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter.

The Palestinian Permanent Representative to Arab League welcomed the move.

“Today, the Arab League council at the level of permanent representatives has decided clearly to start the procedures of freezing Israel’s participation in the United Nations General Assembly as a colonial power, a power that firstly, threatens international peace and security, and doesn’t commit to the United Nations Charter nor did it fulfil the terms of its membership in the United Nations," he said.

"I we want to remind that this step - a step like this step is what ended, brought down and eliminated the colonial regime in South Africa”.

On 16 December 1974, the General assembly recommended that South Africa be excluded from participation in international organisations was a blow to the Apartheid regime.

That same year, The UN General Assembly under the chairpersonship of the Algerian Foreign Minister refused to recognise the credentials of the South African delegation.

Palestinian death toll from nearly nine months of war has surged past 38,000 with victims mainly women and children.

The United Nations secretary-general added the Israeli armed forces to the “list of shame” of warring parties committing grave violations against children in armed conflict, last June.

It is estimated that 87,000 people have been wounded in the fighting.