The General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) adopted, on Friday, December 30, a resolution asking the International Court of Justice to examine the question of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, the day after the inauguration of the government on further right in Israel’s history.
The resolution was adopted with 87 votes for, 26 against, and 53 abstentions, with Western countries split on the issue while Arab capitals voted unanimously in favour, including those that had normalized relations with Israel; China and Russia also voted in favor of the text.
This resolution urges the UN court, based in The Hague, Netherlands, to determine “the legal consequences of Israel’s continued violation of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination”as well as its measurements “aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem”.
No binding powers
Palestinian representative to the UN Riyad Mansour says the vote sends a signal to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s new government in the event of tougher policies “colonial and racist” and he hailed the States which have not let themselves “to deter by threats and pressure”.
Ahead of the vote, Israel’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, called the resolution “moral stain on the UN”. “No international organization can decide whether the Jewish people are occupiers in their own native land”he added. “Any decision of a judicial organization that receives its mandate from a politicized and morally bankrupt United Nations is completely illegitimate”Mr. Erdan also said.
The resolution also calls on Israel to end the settlements, but the General Assembly does not have binding powers, unlike the Security Council, but where the United States, allies of Israel, have a right of veto. The US, UK, and Germany opposed the resolution and France abstained. “We do not believe that a referral to the International Court of Justice helps to bring the stakeholders back to a dialogue”said British diplomat Thomas Phipps.