The Sri Lankan government says that the country’s decision to abstain from voting on a recent UNESCO resolution, ignoring Jewish ties to holy sites in Jerusalem’s Old City, is by no means a change of Sri Lanka’s position on Palestine. 

The United Nations cultural agency’s executive board in October approved the Arab-sponsored resolution, which repeatedly refers to only the Islamic name for a hilltop complex which is also the holiest site in Judaism.

The site is known to Jews as the Temple Mount and Haram al-Sharif to Muslims. Twenty-four countries in the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization backed the document, while six voted against and 26 including Sri Lanka abstained at a meeting in Paris.

UPFA MP Dinesh Gunawardena had raised questions in Parliament over this decision, seeking a response from the government and a clarification on its stance on Palestine. 

“First of all let me assure this house that Sri Lanka has not changed, reversed or abandoned this country’s long-held position to support for Palestine,” foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera told Parliament on Tuesday (22).

Delivering a statement in reply to Gunawardena, he said that along with Sri Lanka 13 other Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) members in the UNESCO executive board abstained on the said resolution. This includes India and Nepal in our region, he said. 

Samaraweera said that India is a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement and is also home to the third largest Muslim population in the world. 

“The decision to abstain on this particular vote in the UNESCO executive board is by no means a change of Sri Lanka’s position on Palestine.” 

In fact Sri Lanka wholeheartedly supported Palestine obtaining membership in UNESCO, the foreign minister said.