UN calls on Israel/"End the illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories"

2024-09-18 20:45:19, Kosova & Bota CNA

UN calls on Israel/"End the illegal occupation of the Palestinian

The United Nations General Assembly (UN) on Wednesday approved a Palestinian resolution, which calls on Israel to end its "illegal presence in the occupied Palestinian territories" within 12 months.

One hundred and twenty-four countries voted for the resolution, 43 abstained, while the United States, Israel and 12 other countries voted against.

The decision isolates Israel just days before world leaders gather in New York for the annual UN meeting. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to address the General Assembly on September 26, as is Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Wednesday's resolution follows an advisory opinion in July by the International Court of Justice that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories and settlement building are illegal.

Meanwhile, the General Assembly resolution also calls on states to "take steps to halt the importation of any product originating in Israeli settlements, and to refrain from providing or transferring arms, ammunition and similar equipment to Israel ... when there is reason to doubt that they could be used in the Occupied Palestinian Territory."

US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield urged countries to vote against it on Wednesday. Washington - an arms supplier and ally of Israel - has long opposed unilateral measures that undermine the prospect of a two-state solution.

The ICJ's opinion is not binding, but it carries weight under international law and could cause support for Israel to wane.

Wednesday's resolution of the UN General Assembly is not binding either, but it carries political weight. No country has a right of veto in the Assembly.

"Every country has a vote and the world is watching," Palestinian UN ambassador Riyad Mansour told the General Assembly on Tuesday. "Please stand on the right side of history. With international law, with freedom, with peace."

Israel's ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, criticized the General Assembly on Tuesday for failing to condemn the October 7 attack on Israel by Palestinian militants from Hamas - the US and EU-designated terrorist group - which sparked Israel's war in The Gaza Strip.

He dismissed the Palestinian text, saying: "Let's call it what it is: this resolution is diplomatic terrorism, using the tools of diplomacy not to build bridges but to destroy them."

Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem - areas of historic Palestine that Palestinians want for a state of their own - in the 1967 Middle East war and has since built settlements in the West Bank and expanded continuously them.

The war in the Gaza Strip began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and abducting about 250 others, according to Israeli officials.

Since then, the Israeli army has leveled parts of the Palestinian enclave, displacing nearly all of Gaza's 2.3 million residents from their homes. More than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October, according to Palestinian health authorities./ REL