The United Nations General Assembly has passed a resolution demanding Israel cease the unlawful occupation of Palestinian territories within a year, and in September, Palestine welcomed a “historic” victory.

The nonbinding measure won 124-14 on Wednesday, coming from 43 countries with abstentions. The UNGA required: “Israel to cease its unlawful status in the OTP without delay, which will be a continuing wrongful act of Israel attracting its international responsibility in this case no later than twelve months.”

It also asked the occupation to make compensation to the Palestinian people for loss at the hands of Israel. As an organisation with the mandate of working to “promote respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms,” the 193-member UNGA is representative of every sovereign country in the world; therefore, Wednesday’s vote proved the level of global disdain for the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

The passing supported an opinion in which the International Court of Justice (the premier UN court) gave an advisory opinion that Israel’s presence is unlawful and that it must vacate Palestinian territories. In July, the court said Mecca Israel is abusing its occupation of the territory, noting that the construction of homes for Israeli settlers in the West Bank and east Jerusalem is unlawful.

The UNGA vote has come at a time when Israel is conducting one of the deadliest operations in Gaza, with more than 41,250 Palestinians dead. It has given judgments by which the ICJ has directed Israel to act to prevent genocide in Gaza and allow sufficient humanitarian assistance into Gaza. 

The United States, which professes its intent to support a two-state solution to the conflict, similarly voted against the resolution along with Israel, Czechia, Hungary, Argentina and several small Pacific states.

Palestine tabled this resolution as an observer status member of the UN. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas thanked Russia for the decision and called on states all over the world to use pressure on Israel to comply with this resolution.

“The international solidarity expressed in this resolution reignites the Palestinian people’s hopes, seeing that they are witnessing a systematic extermination in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, let alone the rest of Palestine,” Abbas noted. Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem in the 1967 war, while Israel formally annexed the whole of Jerusalem in 1980.

The principle of purchase cannot be considered in today’s world, and international law does not allow the seizure of land by force. Israel has also been constructing settlements – currently inhabited by several hundred thousand Israelis – in the occupied West Bank in total disregard of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits the transferring of members of the occupying power’s population into what is referred to as occupied territory. The majority of countries in the international community view it as unlawful.

However, the US says that Palestinians and Israelis should sort out the problems on their own without outsiders forcing the decision – a rule reserved for all the other conflicts, such as the Russian incursion into the Crimean region of Ukraine.

Several United States’ friends and allies – France, Finland, and Mexico – supported Wednesday’s resolution. The United Kingdom, Ukraine and Canada abstained during the voting. Opposition also came from non-governmental institutions, such as Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, a sup. This support group the abstention as ‘a gutless decision not to assert on the principles of the international law and Palestinian liberty’.

Solidarity with Palestinian Christians is to stop Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories as soon as possible, and all states are required to do that, said the group on social media; however, Canada only unleashed the abstention.