‘Jewish People Not Occupiers In Their Own Land’: Netanyahu Condemns UNGA Vote On Palestinian Territories

The Palestinians welcomed the UN vote in which 87 members voted in favour of adopting the request; Israel, the United States, and 24 other members voted against it; and 53 abstained.

New Delhi: Israel condemned and the Palestinians welcomed on Saturday a United Nations General Assembly vote asking the International Court of Justice to provide an opinion on the legal consequences of Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories, as reported by the news agency Reuters.

The Palestinians welcomed the UN vote in which 87 members voted in favour of adopting the request; Israel, the United States, and 24 other members voted against it; and 53 abstained. The vote on Friday imposes a challenge for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who this week took office at the head of a government which has set settlement expansion as a priority.

"The Jewish people are not occupiers in their own land nor occupiers in our eternal capital Jerusalem and no UN resolution can distort that historical truth," Netanyahu said in a video message as reported by Reuters. He added that Israel was not bound by the "despicable decision."

The UN General Assembly asked the ICJ to give an advisory opinion on the legal consequences of Israel's "occupation, settlement, and annexation ... including measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem." The Palestinians seek the occupied West Bank for a state along with Gaza and East Jerusalem. Most countries consider Israel's settlements there illegal, a view Israel disputes citing historical and Biblical ties to the land. 

Members of Netanyahu's new government have pledged to bolster settlements with development plans, budgets and authorisation of dozens of outposts built without permits. The cabinet includes newly created posts and restructured roles that grant some of those powers to pro-settler coalition partners, who aim to extend Israeli sovereignty to the West Bank.

Netanyahu, however, has given no indication of any imminent steps to annex the settlements, a move that would likely shake up its relations with Western and Arab allies alike.

"The time has come for Israel to be a state subject to law, and to be held accountable for its ongoing crimes against our people," Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was quoted by Reuters as saying. His Palestinian Authority has limited self-rule in the West Bank.

Basem Naim, an official with Hamas, the Islamist terror group that controls Gaza, said it was "an important step toward confining and isolating the state of occupation (Israel)."

(With Reuters Inputs)