UNGA: A 'stumbling block for peace', Israel is called to withdraw from Syria's Golan Heights

RT
Wed, 04 Dec 2019 01:24 UTC

© Reuters/Ammar Awad

A general view shows the town of Majdal Shams near the ceasefire line between Israel and Syria in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The UN General Assembly has adopted a resolution demanding that Israel vacate the Golan Heights - Syrian territory it captured in 1967 and has occupied since - arguing its presence in the disputed region is an obstacle to peace.

Passed in a 91-65 vote with 9 abstentions on Tuesday, the resolution called on Israel to abandon the Golan after over 50 years of occupation, insisting that nations may not acquire territory by conquest, a core principle of international law:

"The continued occupation of the Syrian Golan and its de facto annexation constitute a stumbling block in the way of achieving a just, comprehensive and lasting peace in the region," the resolution said, demanding that "Israel withdraw from all the occupied Syrian Golan."

In addition to the Golan resolution, the General Assembly passed four other measures related to Israel on Tuesday, one urging "respect for, and the preservation of" occupied Palestinian lands - including the West Bank and East Jerusalem - and reaffirming the "illegality of Israeli settlement activities." The other resolutions recognized the work of UN departments devoted to Palestine issues, and requested the continuation of a "special program" to disseminate information on Palestine and related UN decisions. The United States voted against all five measures in tandem with Tel Aviv.

The rebuke comes months after US President Donald Trump recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan, reversing longstanding American policy and contradicting a number of previous UN resolutions condemning Israel's presence in the territory. In another more recent about-face, Washington also rubberstamped Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, which have also been the subject of past UN measures.

Unlike resolutions passed in the UN Security Council, which are legally-binding, the General Assembly has no power to enforce its measures, making Tuesday's adoptions largely symbolic. But they may nevertheless underscore growing international opposition to Israel's decades-long occupation and settlement project.

During its war with Egypt in 1967, Israel captured Sinai and Gaza - both held by Egypt at the time - annexed the West Bank from Jordan, seized the Golan Heights from Syria, and occupied East Jerusalem, tripling the country's size in a matter of days. To date, Israel has only vested control of Sinai and continues to occupy the other territories.

Comment: Mondoweiss, 3/12/2019: UN says Israeli occupation cost Palestinian economy $48B

This week, the United Nations attempted to put a figure on exactly how much the occupation was costing Palestinian officials. The number it arrived at — an estimated $48bn between 2000 and 2017 — was larger than many folks expected.

According to Mahmoud Elkhafif, from the UN's Geneva-based trade body, UNCTAD, the losses were roughly three times the size of the entire Palestinian economy in 2017, and easily enough to pay off Ramallah's budget deficit.

UNCTAD counted money that should have been made available to Palestinian officials under the terms of the so-called Paris Protocol, part of the Oslo Accords that were inked by Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization in the 1990s.

[A] 60-page report, The Economic Costs of the Israeli Occupation for the Palestinian People: Cumulative Fiscal Costs, will be discussed by the 193-nation UN General Assembly on Tuesday.

Palestine Post 24 30/11/2019: International law is clear: Israel's settlements are illegal

The clarity of international law on the issue of Israeli settlements arises in part from the unusual fact that they have been formally declared illegal by the most authoritative sources of international guidance.

Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states that an occupying power "shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies".

International Court of Justice in 2004 strongly reaffirmed the unlawfulness of Israel's settlement construction in occupied territory - and with a 14-1 ruling, the court showed a highly unusual degree of unity.

December 2016, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2334, deeming by a vote of 14-0 that the settlements had no legal validity. The US abstained from the vote.

No country [The USA] can, by its decree, influence the legal status of Israeli settlement activity.