Palestine thwarts efforts by US to question its membership in OPCW

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki says the Palestinian delegation at the Conference of the States Parties to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) as well as the Review Conference of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) managed to frustrate US bids to question Palestine’s membership in the international organization.

Maliki, in a statement released on Saturday, announced that the Palestinian delegation had participated in the conference for the first time as a State Party after gaining full membership in The Hague-based organization.

“Our delegation rejected an American attempt to add an item to the final statement questioning Palestine’s membership in [the] OPCW, which was … supported by the vast majority of member states that defended the right of the State of Palestine to equal representation like other Member States and were dismayed by the American actions which disrupted the work of the Conference for several days,” the statement pointed out.

Maliki said that Palestinian delegates engaged in a successful legal and diplomatic battle, during which they acted on the principles of international law and the procedural rules adopted at such conferences. The broad support of the majority of member states for Palestine also forced the United States to retreat from its illegal and hostile stance.

He went on to say that the membership of the State of Palestine in international organizations had become a reality, adding that countries must live with this legal, political and diplomatic reality in respect of the principle of multilateral diplomacy.

Maliki then stressed the need for membership in the OPCW as one of the most important disarmament organizations, saying the Palestinian delegation would spare no effort to hold the occupying regime of Israel to account for the use of chemical weapons against Palestinian people.

The Palestinian foreign minister concluded that the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority would request the OPCW to send experts to the occupied territories to inspect Israel’s use of banned chemical substances there.

The Conference of the OPCW States Parties, which sought to oversee the implementation of the CWC, promote the treaty’s objectives and review compliance with the treaty, kicked off on November 19 and wrapped up the following day.

The Review Conference of the Chemical Weapons Convention, which served as a forum for the assessment and evaluation of the CWC’s implementation and setting long-term views by providing strategic guidance to the OPCW, was held on November 21-30.

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