UN demands Israel withdraw to pre-1967 borders within a year, limiting Israel’s ability to fight terrorism

By All Israel News, Thursday, September 19, 2024

The Israeli flag made from steel placed at Matan Lookout overlooking the hills of Samaria also known as Nablus Mountains located on the Gidonim ridge (a hilltop on which several Jewish settlements are located), above the Israeli settlement of Itamar in the West Bank. | Getty Images

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) overwhelmingly voted to adopt a nonbinding Palestinian resolution, calling on Israel to “end without delay unlawful presence in the occupied Palestinian territory” within a year or face consequences, including embargoes.

The resolution calls on Israel to withdraw from all territories seized after the 1967 Six-Day War, including East Jerusalem. Israel has consistently maintained that holding these territories is necessary for its defense and security.

UNGA's resolution also called on member states to refrain from selling military equipment or weapons to Israel that could be used in Palestinian territories and called for a boycott of goods produced in Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria.

The resolution, the first proposed by the Palestinian delegation since being granted diplomatic privileges in May, was approved with 124 nations voting in favor, 14 against and 43 abstentions.

The 14 U.N. member states who voted against the UNGA motion are Argentina, the Czech Republic, Fiji, Hungary, Israel, Malawi, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Tonga, Tuvalu and the United States.

The 43 countries that abstained from the vote included nations that have recently moved toward withholding arms sales to Israel, including Australia, Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom.

Following the vote, Oren Marmorstein, the spokesman for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, posted a message to X calling it “a distorted decision that is disconnected from reality, encourages terrorism and harms the chances for peace.”

In particular, Marmorstein slammed the resolution for ignoring the issue of Palestinian terrorism targeting Israeli civilians. The resolution makes no mention of the Hamas atrocities of October 7, or the ongoing Gaza War which resulted from that attack.

“The General Assembly decision bolsters and strengthens the Hamas terrorist organization and the Iranian terrorist state that stands behind it,” Marmorstein said.

“The resolution sends a message that terrorism pays off and yields international resolutions.”

Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon called the vote “a shameful decision that backs the Palestinian Authority’s diplomatic terrorism.”

He condemned the world body for refusing to call for the release of the hostages.

Decisions of the U.N. General Assembly are not legally binding but are considered expressions of the opinions of world leaders.

Israel is widely expected to ignore the terms of the resolution; however, it previously threatened to halt all cooperation with the Palestinian Authority (PA) if the resolution was pursued.

Foreign Minister Israel Katz warned the PA that it would respond in kind based on the resolution's wording.

“If the Palestinian Authority acts against Israel in complete contradiction to the commitments it undertook in the interim arrangements that were signed, Israel will act in the same way and stop all cooperation with the PA and bring about its dissolution,” Katz stated earlier this month.

This article was originally published by All Israel News.

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