The United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday adopted a Palestinian-drafted resolution calling on Israel to end “its illegal presence in the occupied Palestinian territory” within 12 months. The resolution received 124 votes in favor, with 43 countries abstaining (including Italy) and Israel, the United States and 12 others voting no.
The resolution welcomes a July advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice that says Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land and settlements is unlawful and must be withdrawn. The advisory opinion says this should be done “as rapidly as possible,” although the General Assembly resolution imposes a 12-month deadline.
The resolution also includes the decision to convene an international conference during the current session of the Assembly to implement the United Nations resolutions relating to the question of Palestine and the two-State solution for the achievement of a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the Middle East.
“Every country has one vote and the world is watching,” Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour told the General Assembly. “Please be on the right side of history. With international law. With freedom. With peace.” Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon Instead, he criticized the General Assembly for failing to condemn the October 7 attack on Israel by Palestinian militants from Hamas, which triggered Israel’s assault on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, and rejected the Palestinian text, saying: “Let’s call it what it is: this resolution is diplomatic terrorism, using the tools of diplomacy not to build bridges but to destroy them.”
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein reacted to the resolution by calling the General Assembly “political theater” and saying they had made a “distorted decision that is disconnected from reality, encourages terrorism and damages the chances of peace.”
The General Assembly resolution is non-binding, but the vote highlights Israel’s isolation just days before world leaders head to New York for the annual meeting of the United Nations. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address the 193-member General Assembly on September 26, the same day as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Relations between the Israeli government and the United Nations have been dire for some time. Since October 7, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have not spoken to each other. Guterres himself revealed this in an interview with the British news agency Reuters. The Portuguese politician claimed to have tried several times to contact the prime minister of Jerusalem, but without ever having any luck in his attempts. “I have no reason not to speak to him. If he came to New York and wanted to The Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, said that Israel distinguishes between UN agencies that collaborate with Israel, such as the World Health Organization and UNICEF, citing the campaign for the polio vaccine, and adversaries, such as UNRWA (the UN agency that deals with Palestinian refugees).
In this last year, the UN has not played any effective role in mediating between Israelis and Palestinians. The negotiations have been managed by the United States, Qatar, Egypt and Turkey. A further sign of the impotence of the United Nations, which instead carries out an effective job thanks to the humanitarian agencies. Then there are the peacekeeping missions, such as that of Unifil, present on the border between Israel and Lebanon. But faced with the escalation of the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, the mission risks being overwhelmed by the fury of war.