Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the occupied Syrian Golan

Condemnatory

Yes

Analysis

• This resolution condemns Israel for settlements and accuses it of violating international law using very harsh language. In doing so, it adopts the Palestinian position on issues that the Oslo Accords left to negotiations, such as borders and settlements. Israel is treated with disdain in comparison to praise and deference shown to governments in UN resolutions on other countries, such as Iran and Myanmar.
• Furthermore, the resolution makes sweeping legal pronouncements on disputed matters, for example by accusing Israel of violating international law for ordering demolitions of illegally built structures in territory over which it has administrative control. The resolution also makes an immoral equivalence between Palestinian terror and violence and Israeli countermeasures by generically condemning acts of violence "on both sides." Finally, the resolution specifically condemns incitement by “Israeli settlers,” but fails to expressly condemn widespread, official terrorist and antisemitic incitement by Palestinian officials, media, and education.

Main Sponsors

Cuba

Vote

Yes - 146, No - 7, Abstain - 20, Absent - 20

See Full Vote

Key Praise

None

Key Criticism

• "Condemning settlement activities by Israel, the occupying Power, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, as violations of international humanitarian law..."
• "Condemning the demolition by Israel, in contravention of international law, of Palestinian buildings in the neighbourhood of Wadi al-Hummus in the village of Sur Bahir, south of occupied East Jerusalem."
• "Deploring the continuing unlawful construction by Israel of the wall inside the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including in and around East Jerusalem, and expressing its concern, in particular, about the route of the wall in departure from the Armistice Line of 1949..."
• "Condemning also all acts of violence, destruction, harassment, provocation and incitement by Israeli settlers in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, against Palestinian civilians..."
• "Reiterates its demand for the immediate and complete cessation of all Israeli settlement activities in all of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan..."
• "Demands that Israel, the occupying Power, comply with its legal obligations, as mentioned in the advisory opinion rendered on 9 July 2004 by the International Court of Justice."