The United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday passed two resolutions directing Israel to withdraw from the West Bank and Gaza as well as the Syrian Golan Heights.
Both texts were adopted by large majorities, opposing Israel’s current regional stance.
What was said in the resolutions?
The first resolution, “Peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine”, passed with 151 votes in favor, 11 against and 11 abstentions. It called for immediate efforts to resume negotiations on all final-status issues and urged the convening of an international conference in Moscow to advance a comprehensive peace agreement.
The selection of Moscow as a venue is consistent with a 2008 resolution that reiterated the vision of a two-state solution with Israel and an independent Palestinian state.
The text issues a number of direct demands on Israel. It orders Israel to end “Israel’s unlawful presence in the occupied Palestinian territory.” It demands that Israel stop construction of all new settlements and remove all residents from the area. It also rejects any efforts to change Gaza’s demography or borders and calls for immediate political reunification of the enclave with the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority.
The resolution reiterates that Israel must withdraw from all Palestinian territories occupied since 1967 and reiterates Palestinian rights to self-determination and a just settlement for refugees.
The second resolution, “The Syrian Golan”, passed with 123 votes in favor, 7 against and 41 abstentions. It declares Israel’s 1981 move to impose its laws and administration in the territory invalid, calls for the reversal of that decision, and demands Israel’s return to its 1967 border with Syria.
1967 is the year Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights during the Six-Day War. The United Nations has since treated all these areas as occupied territories whose final status cannot be changed unilaterally.
The resolution on the Palestinian territories follows decades of the UN’s stance reaffirming that the territories annexed by Israel in 1967 are occupied and that settlement activity has no legal validity, while the Syrian Golan resolution reflects the UN’s long-standing view that Israel’s move to implement its laws in 1981 is an unlawful annexation. Both texts restore these established positions and call for a full return to 1967 lines.
Unlike UN Security Council resolutions, these were not legally binding. Although the Palestinian territories belong to several UN bodies, the body as a whole does not recognize a sovereign Palestinian state.
Rafah crossing to be reopened for Palestinian refugees
In separate news on Wednesday, Israel said it would partially reopen the Rafah border between Gaza and Egypt in the coming days as part of its ceasefire agreement with Hamas, but would only allow Palestinians to leave the area.
COGAT, the Israeli body responsible for coordinating policy in the Palestinian territories, said the crossing would open “exclusively for the exit of Egyptian residents from the Gaza Strip”.
Edited by: Elisabeth Schumacher