Israel has officially decided to end all contact and cooperation with the UN Human Rights Council and will not permit the entry of the Council’s ‘fact-finding’ observers, after passage of a resolution calling for a probe of Israel’s conduct in Judea and Samaria.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman announced the decision on Monday.
The UN body resolved “to dispatch an independent international fact-finding mission” to “investigate the implications of Israeli settlements on the…right of the Palestinian people throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including east Jerusalem.” The resolution, the first ‘fact-finding mission’ authorized by the 47-member Council, was adopted by a vote of 36 to 1, with 10 abstentions. The United States was the lone dissenter.
The Israeli government has not said if and how it intends to sanction the Palestinians, who initiated the resolution.
Israel Radio reported on Sunday that Israel was considering suspending tax transfers to the Palestinians and, according to a report in Yediot Ahronot, freezing an initiative to allocate 5,000 new work permits to Palestinians.
“We have many resources but we will act with discretion and will not shoot from the hip,” Deputy FM Danny Ayalon responded when asked what measures Israel might take.