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The United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday adopted a draft resolution drafted by the Palestinian Authority calling on Israel to end its “illegal presence in the occupied Palestinian territories” within 12 months.
The resolution received 124 votes in favor, while 43 countries abstained, and Israel, the United States, and 12 other countries voted against it.
The move would isolate Israel just days before world leaders converge on New York for the annual UN General Assembly.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to address the 193-member General Assembly on September 26, the same day Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is due to address the assembly.
The draft resolution supports the advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice last July, which stated that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands and territories is illegal and that it must withdraw from them.
While the advisory opinion from the UN’s highest court said the withdrawal should happen “as soon as possible,” the draft resolution sets a 12-month timetable for implementation.
The General Assembly resolution also calls on States to “take steps to cease the import of any products originating in Israeli settlements, as well as the supply or transfer to Israel of arms, ammunition and related materiel… where there are reasonable grounds to suspect that they may be used in the occupied Palestinian territory.”
This is the first draft resolution officially submitted by the Palestinian Authority since it obtained additional rights and privileges this month, including a seat among the members of the United Nations in the General Assembly and the right to propose draft resolutions.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the United Nations, urged member states to vote “no” on Wednesday. Washington, an ally of Israel, has long opposed unilateral measures that it says undermine the prospects for a two-state solution.
Although the ICJ advisory opinion is not binding, it carries weight under international law and could weaken support for Israel. General Assembly resolutions are also non-binding but carry political weight. There is no veto option in the UN General Assembly.
“Every nation has a voice, and the world is watching us,” Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations Riyad Mansour told the General Assembly on Tuesday. “Please stand on the right side of history. On international law. On freedom. On peace.”
Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon criticized the UN General Assembly on Tuesday for what he said was its failure to condemn the October 7 attack by Hamas fighters on Israel, which sparked Israel’s military campaign in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
Danon rejected the Palestinian draft resolution, saying, “Let’s call a spade a spade. This resolution is diplomatic terrorism, as the tools of diplomacy are used not to build bridges, but to destroy them.”
Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem in the 1967 war, and has since been building and expanding settlements in the West Bank.
The war in the Gaza Strip began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas militants stormed Israeli towns in an attack that Israeli statistics say killed nearly 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages.
Since then, the Israeli military has destroyed large swaths of the Palestinian enclave, displacing nearly all of its 2.3 million residents and causing widespread hunger and disease to the point of killing more than 41,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities.
On October 27, the General Assembly called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza by a majority of 120 votes. Then in December, 153 countries voted in favor of demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire rather than just calling for one.
The Palestinian Authority represents the Palestinian people at the United Nations as a non-member observer, and the delegation is known as the State of Palestine.
