The International Court of Justice last dealt with the conflict in 2004, when it ruled that Israel’s separation barrier was illegal. Israel disputes this. The UN Decolonization Committee adopted a draft Palestinian resolution requesting an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on the prolonged Israeli occupation.
The resolution passed at UN headquarters in New York calls for the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to “urgently” consider Israel’s “long-term occupation, settlement and annexation of Palestinian territory”, which it says violates the Palestinians’ right to self-determination. -determination. Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem – areas the Palestinians want for a state – in the 1967 Middle East war. US-sponsored talks stalled in 2014.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said in a statement that 98 countries supported the resolution, 52 abstained and 17 voted against. Al-Maliki welcomed the vote, describing the resolution as a “diplomatic and legal breakthrough” that would “open a new era for holding Israel accountable for its war crimes.”
Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, said that by calling for the involvement of the ICJ, “the Palestinians are decimating any chance of reconciliation”. Speaking at the forum, he said: “The Palestinians have rejected every peace initiative and now they are implicating an outside body with the excuse that the conflict has not been resolved?
At a committee meeting on Thursday, the US representative to the United States, which voted against the resolution, said the ICJ’s advisory opinion is “counterproductive and will only move the parties further away from the goal we all share of a negotiated bilateral state solution.” The ICJ last dealt with the conflict in 2004, when it ruled that Israel’s separation barrier was illegal.
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