The UN is considering a Palestinian resolution demanding that Israel end its “unlawful presence” in Gaza within a year and calling for sanctions and an arms embargo against the country.
Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war.
The UN General Assembly will be put to a vote in the 193-member assembly as Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza approaches its first anniversary and as violence in the West Bank reaches new highs, reports AP.
Meanwhile, the war was triggered by Hamas attacks in southern Israel on October 7.
Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, urged member nations to reject the measure, describing it as “an attempt to destroy Israel through diplomatic terrorism” and that it “ignores the truth, twists the facts and replaces reality with fiction.”
“Instead of a resolution condemning the rape and massacre committed by Hamas on October 7, 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,” he told the assembly. “This resolution doesn’t move the region forward, it drags the region backward, delaying the hope for peace and advancement.”
The resolution, if adopted by the General Assembly, would not be legally binding, but the extent of its support would reflect world opinion. There are no vetoes in the assembly, unlike in the 15-member Security Council.
It follows a ruling by the top United Nations court in July that said Israel’s presence in the Palestinian territories is unlawful and must end.
In the sweeping condemnation of Israel’s rule over the lands it captured during the 1967 war, the International Court of Justice said Israel had no right to sovereignty over the territories and was violating international laws against acquiring the lands by force.
Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian UN ambassador, opened the General Assembly meeting by saying Palestinians face an “existential threat.” He claimed Israel has held them “in shackles” and that it’s beyond time Israel’s occupation ends and Palestinians return to their ancestral lands “in dignity, in peace and security.”
“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.”