India supported five resolutions regarding the situation in the West Asia, which encompassed condemnation of Zionist settlement activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Additionally, India abstained from voting on one resolution. The UN General Assembly’s Fourth Committee on Special Political and Decolonization passed six draft resolutions on November 9 through recorded votes, addressing issues in the West Asia, particularly the Palestinian question.

The Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee) approved the draft resolution titled ‘Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the Occupied Syrian Golan’ through a recorded vote, with 145 nations in favor, 7 against, and 18 abstentions. The countries opposing the resolution included Canada, Hungary, Israel, the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, and the United States.

India, alongside 145 other nations, supported the resolution, including countries such as Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, France, Japan, Malaysia, Maldives, Russia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and the UK. The resolution condemned settlement activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the occupied Syrian Golan, addressing issues like land confiscation, disruption of livelihoods, forced civilian transfers, and land annexation, whether de facto or through national legislation.

India chose to abstain on another draft resolution titled ‘Work of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories.’ The resolution received approval through a recorded vote of 85 in favor, 13 against, and 72 abstentions.

This resolution “deplores those policies and practices of Israel that violate the human rights of the Palestinian people and other Arabs of the occupied territories, as reflected in the report of the Special Committee covering the reporting period.” The resolution also “Expresses grave concern about the critical situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, as a result of unlawful Israeli practices and measures, and especially condemns and calls for the immediate cessation of all illegal Israeli settlement activities and the construction of the wall, the lifting of the blockade of the Gaza Strip, as well as the complete cessation of the excessive and indiscriminate use of force and military operations against the civilian population…”