UNITED NATIONS — The UN General Assembly will consider a Palestinian resolution on Tuesday demands that Israel end its “illegal presence” within a year in Gaza and the occupied West Bank and called for sanctions and an arms embargo against the country.
It will be put to a vote in the 193-member assembly on Wednesday, while Israel… war against Hamas in Gaza is approaching its first anniversary and as violence in the West Bank reaches new heightsThe war was caused by Hamas attacks in southern Israel on October 7th.
Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, urged member states to reject the measure, describing it as a “reward for terrorism.”
“Instead of a resolution condemning the rape and massacre by Hamas on October 7, we are gathering to watch the Palestinian circus under the auspices of the United Nations,” he said Tuesday.
The resolution, if adopted by the General Assembly, would not be legally binding, but the level of support would reflect world opinion. There are no vetoes in the assembly, unlike the 15-member Security Council.
It follows a ruling by the highest court of the United Nations In July, he said Israel’s presence in the Palestinian territories is illegitimate and must end.
In its blanket condemnation of Israel’s rule over the territories it captured during the 1967 war, the International Court of Justice held that Israel had no right to sovereignty over the territories and that it violated international law prohibiting the acquisition of land by force.
Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to the UN, opened the General Assembly meeting by saying that Palestinians face an “existential threat.” He claimed that Israel keeps them “in chains” and that it is high time for the Israeli occupation to end and for Palestinians to return to their ancestral lands.
The resolution demands that Israel withdraw its troops and immediately stop all new attacks. build settlement and evacuate all settlers from the Palestinian territories.
The measure also calls on Israel to pay reparations to Palestinians for damages caused by the occupation. It urges countries to take steps to prevent trade or investment that sustains Israel’s presence and to implement sanctions, “including in relation to settler violence.”
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas Greenfield told reporters the resolution has “a significant number of flaws.” She said the resolution goes beyond the International Court of Justice ruling and fails to recognize that “Hamas is a terrorist organization” in control of Gaza and that Israel has the right to defend itself.
“We believe the resolution does not bring tangible benefits to the Palestinian people on all fronts,” she said. “I think it could complicate the situation on the ground, could complicate what we are trying to do to end the conflict, and I think it hinders the renewed steps toward a two-state solution.”
Mansour told reporters this week that more than 60 countries have asked to speak ahead of Wednesday’s vote.
He said a first Palestinian design demanded that Israel end the occupation within six months, but this was revised following concerns from some countries to extend the deadline to a maximum of one year.
He said the resolution focuses on implementing the International Court of Justice’s ruling, which is not legally binding.
“The idea is that you want to use the pressure of the international community in the General Assembly and the pressure of the historic ruling of the ICJ to force Israel to change its behavior towards accepting the withdrawal from the occupied territory,” Mansour said.
He said that Israel will most likely ignore the resolution and that the Palestinians will then introduce another one.
Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Middle East war. The Palestinians seek an independent state in all three areas. The international community generally considers all three areas as occupied territory.