There were 124 votes in favor and 14 against, including
Israel, along with 43 abstentions. As a non-member observer state, Palestine
could not vote.
The resolution is based on a July advisory opinion from the
UN's highest court that said Israel was occupying the West Bank, East Jerusalem
and the Gaza Strip against international law.
The
Palestinian ambassador called the vote a turning point “in our struggle for
freedom and justice”. But his Israeli counterpart denounced it as “diplomatic
terrorism”.
Although the General Assembly’s resolutions are not binding,
they carry symbolic and political weight given they reflect the positions of
all 193 member states of the UN.
It comes after almost a year of war in Gaza, which began
when Hamas gunmen attacked Israel on October 07, 2024, killing about 1,200
people and taking 251 others as hostages.
More than 41,110 people have been killed in Gaza since then,
according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.
There has also been a spike in violence in the West Bank over
the same period, in which the UN says more than 680 Palestinians and 22
Israelis have been killed.
The
advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) - which was also
not legally binding - said a 15-judge panel had found that "Israel's
continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is unlawful” and that
the country was “under an obligation to bring to an end its unlawful
presence... as rapidly as possible”.
The court also said Israel should “evacuate all settlers
from the Occupied Palestinian Territory” and “make reparation for the damage
caused to all the natural or legal persons concerned”.
Israel
has built about 160 settlements housing some 700,000 Jews in the West Bank and
East Jerusalem since 1967.
The court said the settlements “have been established and
are being maintained in violation of international law”, which Israel has
consistently disputed.
Israel's prime minister said at the time that the court had
made a "decision of lies" and insisted that “the Jewish people are
not occupiers in their own land”.
Wednesday’s General Assembly resolution welcomed the ICJ’s
declaration. It demands that Israel “brings to an end without delay its
unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory... and do so no later
than 12 months”, and “comply without delay with all its legal obligations under
international law”.
The West Bank-based Palestinian Authority’s foreign ministry
described its passing as a “pivotal and historic moment for the Palestinian
cause and international law”.
The support of almost two-thirds of UN member states
reflected “a global consensus that the occupation must end and its crimes must
cease”, and that it “reaffirmed the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to
self-determination”.
Israel’s foreign ministry called the resolution “a distorted
decision that is disconnected from reality, encourages terrorism and harms the
chances for peace”, adding, “This is what cynical international politics looks
like.”
It said the resolution “bolsters and strengthens the Hamas
terrorist organization” and “sends a message that terrorism pays off and yields
international resolutions”.
It also accused the Palestinian Authority of “conducting a
campaign whose goal is not to resolve the conflict but to harm Israel” and
vowed to respond.
The US, which voted against the resolution, warned
beforehand that the text was “one-sided” and “selectively interprets the
substance of the ICJ’s opinion”.
“There is no path forward or hope offered through this
resolution today. Its adoption will not save Palestinian lives, bring the
hostages home, end Israeli settlements, or reinvigorate the peace process,”
Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said.
The UK’s ambassador, Barbara Woodward, explained that it had
abstained “not because we do not support the central findings of the ICJ's
advisory opinion, but rather because the resolution does not provide sufficient
clarity to effectively advance our shared aim of a peace premised on a negotiated
two-state solution”.
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