On Friday, India abstained from voting on a United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution calling on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to provide a legal opinion on Israel’s “occupation” of Palestine.
New Delhi did not explain its abstention.
THE RESOLUTION
The resolution was adopted after 87 UN member-states voted in favour and 26 against it. Furthermore, 53 countries abstained from voting and 27 failed to attend the session.
It urges the ICJ to “render an advisory opinion” on “Israel’s occupation and the continued denial and violation of the human rights of the Palestinian people.” The document asks the World Court to look closely at two issues:
- The “legal consequences” of Israel’s violation of Palestinian rights, including its “occupation, settlement, and annexation” of Palestinian territory.
- The nature of Israel’s policies on international law.
PRAISE FOR THE RESOLUTION
Thanking all members who voted for the resolution, the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, said that vote aimed to take Israel to task for its “colonial and racist policies.”
The State of Palestine welcomes the adoption of the important #UNGA resolution requesting an ICJ ruling on the legal nature of Israel’s occupation & thanks Member States that stood firm on principle & voted yes.This is a victory for justice and the rules-based international order pic.twitter.com/ArsnS1Gipi
— State of Palestine - MFA (@pmofa) December 31, 2022
The UN Human Rights Council’s Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory welcomed the resolution. It said that an ICJ opinion would provide “a definitive clarification of the legal consequences of Israel’s refusal to end the occupation” and outline measures that the UN should take “to ensure [Israel’s] full compliance with international law.”
CRITICISM
Calling the resolution “disgraceful,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “no UN resolution can distort the historical truth” that the Jewish people are not occupying Palestinian land.
Moreover, he pointed out that the resolution did not receive an absolute majority of votes, with only 87 countries voting for it and 106 either voting against, abstaining or not attending the session.
Today the UN will vote on a resolution asking the ICJ to recommend steps against Israel. The Palestinians have rejected every peace initiative but instead of pushing them to change, the UN is helping them to harm the only vibrant democracy in the Middle East. Absurd! pic.twitter.com/ZQHltgfDZn
— Ambassador Gilad Erdan גלעד ארדן (@giladerdan1) December 30, 2022
Israeli ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan called the resolution a “moral stain” on the UN and every country that supports it. “No international body can decide that the Jewish people are ‘occupiers’ in their own homeland,” he said.
Additionally, several members, including Austria, France, Singapore, and the United States, had earlier said that the resolution was not neutral. They noted that the text referred to the holy sites in Jerusalem only by their Islamic names. “Underscoring the need for language to reflect the importance and historical significance of the holy sites of the three monotheistic religions” of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, the representative of Austria further expressed regret regarding “the manner in which the proposal for an advisory opinion was included in this resolution.”
2022 UN General Assembly resolutions on:
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) December 31, 2022
🇰🇵 North Korea 1
🇦🇫 Afghanistan 1
🇻🇪 Venezuela 0
🇲🇲 Myanmar 1
🇱🇧 Lebanon 0
🇵🇰 Pakistan 0
🏴☠️ Hamas 0
🇩🇿 Algeria 0
🇹🇷 Turkey 0
🇷🇺 Russia 6
🇨🇳 China 0
🇶🇦 Qatar 0
🇸🇦 Saudi 0
🇮🇱 Israel 15
🇨🇺 Cuba 0
🇸🇾 Syria 1
🇮🇶 Iraq 0
🇮🇷 Iran 1
🇺🇸 U.S. 1
They were referring to the resolution’s usage of the term “Haram Al Sharif” to describe Jerusalem’s holy sites and not “Haram Al Sharif/Temple Mount.” The Temple Mount, also known as the Haram al-Sharif, hosts the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism and Al-Aqsa is the third holiest site in Islam.
INDIA-ISRAEL TIES
Since formally establishing diplomatic ties in 1992, India and Israel have continued to enhance their cooperation in various fields, including defence, technology, and agriculture. Accordingly, India’s position regarding the Palestinian issue has also shifted.
India, for decades, supported the establishment of a Palestinian state and, consequently, refused to establish bilateral relations with Israel from 1948 to 1992. In fact, until 2014, India voted in favour of Palestine and against Israeli policies in the United Nations. In 2015, India, for the first time, abstained from voting for Palestine at the UN and in 2019 voted for Israel in the world body.