Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh on Saturday hailed the United Nations General Assembly resolution requesting a legal advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice regarding the nature of the Israeli “occupation of the Palestinian territories.”
“The UN resolution is of exceptional importance in timing as it coincided with the ascension to power in Israel of the extreme religious right, which threatens the Palestinian people with more violations of their legitimate rights, the continuation of the aggression on their land, infringement of their rights, property, and resources, and the violation of the sanctity of their Islamic and Christian holy places,” Shtayyeh said in a statement.
The General Assembly voted 87 in favor to 26 opposed, with 53 countries abstaining. Israel’s Foreign Ministry took special pride in the fact that it has succeeded in significantly improving the numbers in the initial vote, from only 17 opposed to 26, and that Ukraine has changed its vote from supporting the resolution to not showing up for the vote at all.
The Foreign Ministry and Israel’s embassies lobbied some 100 countries. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, too, spoke with the leaders of several countries and managed to convince at least five leaders not to vote in favor of the decision – the leaders of Croatia, Togo, Greece, Romania, and Kenya. Former Prime Minister Yair Lapid also took part in the efforts, sending letters to more than 60 world leaders ahead of the vote.
Israel, the US, and 24 other members––including the UK and Germany––voted against the resolution, while France was among the 53 nations that abstained. The US entered Israel’s nay vote since the resolution was passed on Shabbat, a move that UN Envoy Gilad Erdan called “shameful.”
The Hague-based ICC is the superior UN court dealing with disputes among states. Its rulings are binding, though the ICC has no power to enforce them. However, UN member countries may impose sanctions against persons who are convicted by the ICC.
A senior Israeli government official told Ynet on Friday that Israel is now planning to contact the countries that opposed the decision, requesting that they submit a friend of the court affidavit opposing the procedure.
“You have to put it in proportion,” the senior official said. “There is indeed a campaign here as part of the apartheid campaign or the criminalization of the occupation, but this is not the first time we have faced such things at the UN. We knew how to deal with it in the past and we will succeed now as well. In general, the more Western countries oppose the decision, the stronger the message to the International Court that the enlightened world is against the Palestinian move.”
Envoy Erdan said after the vote that “no court or international body can determine that Israel is an occupier of its own land or that our presence in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria is illegal. A procedure that receives a mandate from a morally distorted body such as the UN has no legitimacy.”
He added that “the Palestinians have refused every peace initiative, they incite murder every day and support terrorism – and the UN is helping them harm Israel.”
In response to the vote Prime Minister Netanyahu said that the Jewish people are not Occupiers in our own land, nor are we Occupiers in our eternal capital of Jerusalem, and that no UN vote will distort that historical truth.
“Just like the hundreds of distorted UN General Assembly resolutions against Israel over the years, today’s disgraceful resolution will not obligate the Government of Israel.
The Jewish people is not occupying its land and is not occupying its eternal capital Jerusalem. No UN resolution can distort this historical truth.
In recent days, I have spoken with world leaders who changed their votes as a result.
Together with President Isaac Herzog, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan and the personnel at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we have achieved something important. In the UN resolution that was passed in November, the Palestinians had an absolute majority of UN member states that supported their initiative. Those that did not support it – that opposed, abstained or were absent – were in the minority. Now, after our intervention, 11 countries changed how they voted and as a result there has been a turnaround: The countries that supported the Palestinian initiative were a minority of UN members and those that did not support the Palestinians were a majority of UN member states.
I would like to thank President Isaac Herzog, Israeli Ambassador to the UN and the personnel at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for their cooperation in bringing about this important achievement. We will continue to fight for the truth.”
