UNGA to debate resolution on ending Israeli occupation
The UN General Assembly is set to debate a push by the Palestinians to formally demand an end to the Israeli occupation within 12 months.
The text, which has faced fierce criticism from Israel, is based around an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice calling Israel’s occupation since 1967 “unlawful”.
The draft resolution “demands” the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Palestinian territories, a halt to new settlements, the return of seized land and property, and the possibility of return for displaced Palestinians.
A paragraph calling on member states to halt arms exports to Israel was removed from the draft text during negotiations.
The draft is due to be voted on late on Tuesday or on Wednesday.
UN to vote on ending Israel’s ‘unlawful presence’ in Gaza and West Bank
Palestinians appealed to the UN General Assembly to vote for a resolution calling for Israel’s withdrawal from occupied territories.
“Please stand on the right side of history with international law, with freedom, with peace. The alternative is what you witness every day on your TV screens and what the Palestinian people are enduring in their flesh,” said Riyad Mansour, Palestine’s envoy to the UN.
“Those who think the Palestinian people will accept a life of servitude, a life of apartheid, are the ones who are not being realistic,” he said. “Those who claim that peace is possible in our region without a just resolution for the question of Palestine are the ones who are not being realistic.”
Israeli ambassador Danny Danon sharply criticized the move, describing it as “an attempt to destroy Israel through diplomatic terrorism”.
“We gather here to watch the Palestinians’ UN circus – a circus where evil is righteous, war is peace, murder is justified and terror is applauded,” Danon said. “How dare you continue this tradition of passing one-sided resolutions against Israel without even posing to consider what the Israeli people have endured.”
