RAMALLAH, April 18 (Xinhua) --- Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tayseer Jaradat said Wednesday that Palestinians are exerting efforts to block Israel from being voted as member of the UN Security Council on June.
Jaradat affirmed that contacts are underway with members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Arab League to foil Israel's attempt to get a seat on the UN Security Council, saying "it is irrational that Israel gets this status while it violates all UN Security Council and General Assembly resolutions."
The senior diplomat accused Israel of obstructing the "efforts to achieve peace in the region, through its continued occupation and settlement activity," and urged the international community to take a more serious position towards it.
The UN Security Council elections to select five temporary members to sit on the 10-member council are scheduled on June. Israel is competing with countries like Germany and Belgium for the 2019/2020 session membership.
In order to qualify, the country must get the support of over two thirds of the 193-member UN General Assembly.
Meanwhile, Palestinian Foreign Ministry slammed the Israeli magistrate court ruling allowing Jewish settlers to celebrate Israel's independence day in the yards of Al-Aqsa mosque in the old city of East Jerusalem.
The ministry warned against the consequences of legalizing such steps and "normalizing the settler incursions" into the holy site.
The site of Al-Aqsa mosque, known to Muslim as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount, is located in East Jerusalem's Old City, a territory that Israel seized from Jordan in a 1967 war and annexed shortly later. The annexation has never been internationally recognized.
