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Today, the UAE welcomed the adoption by the United Nations General Assembly of the resolution submitted by the State of Palestine, which the UAE co-sponsored and voted in favor of.
The General Assembly also welcomed the Court’s advisory opinion, as this decision would set a roadmap for the way forward.
While the UAE stressed that the International Court of Justice’s ruling is clear that the Israeli occupation is illegal and must end, it urged the Security Council to translate the advisory opinion into concrete steps.
The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution on Wednesday calling on Israel to end its illegal presence in the occupied Palestinian territory within 12 months from today, in accordance with an advisory opinion requested by the General Assembly from the International Court of Justice regarding the legal consequences of Israel’s policies and practices in Palestine.
124 member states of the United Nations voted in favor of this resolution, while 14 countries objected to it, and 34 countries abstained, during the urgent session of the tenth special session of the General Assembly, which was held over the course of yesterday and today.
The new international resolution stipulates, among other things, calling on Israel to end without delay its illegal presence in the occupied Palestinian territory within a maximum period of 12 months from the date of adoption of this resolution and to comply without delay with all its obligations under international law, including as stipulated in the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, including withdrawing all its military forces from the occupied Palestinian territory and ending its illegal policies and practices, including the immediate cessation of all new settlement activities, the evacuation of all settlers from the occupied Palestinian territory, dismantling the parts of the wall built by Israel, returning the lands and other immovable property, and all assets seized since the beginning of its occupation in 1967, allowing all Palestinians who were displaced during the occupation to return to their original places of residence, and not hindering the Palestinian people from exercising their right to self-determination, including their right to establish an independent and sovereign State over the entire occupied Palestinian territory.
The new General Assembly resolution called on all States to comply with their obligations under international law and called for an international conference to be held during the 79th session of the General Assembly to implement UN resolutions on the Palestinian issue and the two-state solution to achieve a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the Middle East.
The resolution called for the convening of a conference of the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War to consider the necessary measures to implement the Convention in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and for the Secretary-General of the United Nations to submit to the General Assembly, within 3 months, a report on the implementation of this resolution.
It is worth noting that the United Nations General Assembly had requested an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on what is happening in Palestine, which it responded to by issuing that advisory opinion on July 9, in which it considered Israel’s continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territories illegal and stressed the need to oblige Israel to end this illegal presence as soon as possible, immediately cease all new settlement activities, evacuate all settlers from the occupied Palestinian territories, and work to redress the damage caused to all natural or legal persons concerned in the occupied Palestinian territories.
