124 countries,, including China, France, Qatar and Russia, have voted in favor of a United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution that sets a deadline for Israel to end its illegal occupation of Palestinian territory amid rising international criticism of Israel.
Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan have also included in the majority of nations that backed the resolution.
Fourteen nations, including the United States, Israel, Hungary and the Czech Republic, have voted against the resolution (and 43 abstentions).
The resolution, passed on September 18, is not legally binding. But it includes stern rebukes of Israel and won the support of many nations in the West that have traditionally backed Israel.
AL Jazeera reported yesterday that it was the first time in the history of the United Nations that Palestine introduced its own draft resolution for voting in the 193-member General Assembly, thanks to the enhanced rights and privileges it received – still as an observer state – after a resolution in May.
The resolution demands that “Israel brings to an end without delay its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which constitutes a wrongful act of a continuing character entailing its international responsibility, and do so no later than 12 months.”
The resolution calls for Israel to comply with international law and withdraw its military forces, immediately cease all new settlement activity, evacuate all settlers from occupied land and dismantle parts of the separation wall it constructed inside the occupied West Bank.
It says Israel must return land and other “immovable property” as well as all assets seized since the occupation began in 1967 and all cultural property and assets taken from Palestinians and Palestinian institutions.
The resolution also demands Israel allow all Palestinians displaced during the occupation to return to their places of origin and make reparations for the damage caused by its occupation.
The UNGA document was reportedly based on an advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in July that declared the occupation illegal and said all states are obliged not to “render aid or assistance in maintaining” it.
ICJ ruled that Israel is “abusing its status as the occupying power” by building and expanding settlements, using the area’s natural resources, annexing and imposing permanent controls over lands, and undermining Palestinians’ right to self-determination.
