(Note: A complete summary of today's General Assembly Plenary meetings will be available at a later time.)
The General Assembly today adopted two resolutions, one concerning the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the other the occupied Syrian Golan.
The first, titled “Peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine” (document A/80/L.16), was adopted by a recorded vote of 151 in favour to 11 against, with 11 abstentions. Through it, the Assembly stressed the need for urgent, collective efforts to launch credible negotiations on all final status issues in the Middle East peace process and called for the timely convening of an international conference in Moscow — as envisioned by Security Council resolution 1850 (2008) — to advance a just, lasting and comprehensive peace settlement. The Assembly also called on both parties to act responsibly, urgently reverse negative trends and create the conditions necessary for a credible political horizon and the advancement of peace efforts.
Further, the resolution saw the Assembly demand that Israel comply strictly with its international-law obligations, including by ending its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, ceasing all new settlement activities and evacuating all settlers from the Occupied Palestinian Territory. It also rejected any attempt at demographic or territorial change in Gaza and stressed the importance of unifying the Strip with the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority without delay. Additionally, the Assembly called for Israel’s withdrawal from the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, the realization of the Palestinian people’s inalienable rights — primarily the right to self-determination — and a just resolution of the problem of Palestine refugees.
The second, titled “The Syrian Golan” (document A/80/L.12), was adopted by a recorded vote of 123 in favour to 7 against (Federated States of Micronesia, Israel, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Tonga, United States), with 41 abstentions. By its terms, the Assembly declared that Israel’s 14 December 1981 decision to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration on the occupied Syrian Golan is null and void and called for its rescission. Further, the Assembly called on Israel to resume talks on the Syrian and Lebanese tracks and to respect the commitments and undertakings reached previously. It also demanded that Israel withdraw from the occupied Syrian Golan to the line of 4 June 1967.
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Complete Live Blog coverage of today's meeting can be found here .
