<\/p>\n
26 December 2024<\/p>\n
During the first three months of its seventy-ninth session, the General Assembly plenary adopted landmark resolutions, including one demanding Israel end its presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory within 12\u00a0months and another outlining a blueprint for future generations, while also holding sessions deploring the Security Council\u2019s failure to address the crises in Gaza and Sudan.<\/p>\n
At the start of its annual session, the Assembly resumed its tenth Emergency Special Session on illegal Israeli actions in Occupied Jerusalem and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which it then held again closer to the end of the year.\u00a0 During that 18\u00a0September meeting, the 193-member body adopted\u00a0in a vote of 124\u00a0in favour, to 14\u00a0against, with 43\u00a0abstentions, the International Court of Justice\u2019s advisory opinion on the legal consequences arising from Israel\u2019s policies and practices in the Territory, including East Jerusalem, and from the illegality of Israel\u2019s continued presence there (document\u00a0A\/ES-10\/L.31\/Rev.1<\/a><\/em>).<\/p>\n By its terms, the Assembly demanded\u00a0Israel cease all settlement activity, evacuate settlers from the Occupied Territory, return land seized since\u00a01967 and allow displaced Palestinians to return to their homes.<\/p>\n \u201cDelayed justice is denied justice,\u201d said the Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine.\u00a0 Unchecked, undeterred Israeli impunity will only mean more Palestinians are killed, maimed and detained.<\/p>\n Rejecting the text, Israel\u2019s representative said the first thing the Assembly should have done is adopt a unanimous, unequivocal condemnation of the terror that occurred on 7\u00a0October\u00a02023.\u00a0 \u201cInstead, we gather here to watch the Palestinians\u2019 Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ circus; a circus where evil is righteous, war is peace, murder is justified and terror is applauded,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \/…<\/p>\n Overwhelming Demand for Gaza Ceasefire and Realization of Two-State Solution\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n On 3\u00a0December, the Assembly emphasized that a two-State solution remains the \u201conly path to lasting peace\u201d in the Middle East, as speakers overwhelmingly called for a Gaza ceasefire and pressed Israel to permit food and aid deliveries into the enclave ahead of the cold winter months. \u00a0Assembly President Yang said that the continued denial of Palestinian statehood \u201chas only perpetuated cycles of violence and deepened despair\u201d. \u00a0\u201cBury the hatchet for once and for all,\u201d he stressed.<\/p>\n At that meeting, the Assembly adopted a resolution titled \u201cPeaceful settlement of the question of Palestine\u201d (document\u00a0A\/79\/L.23<\/a><\/em>), stressing the need to urgently commit to a Middle East peace process.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery single day \u2014 from sunrise to sunset, from sunset to sunrise \u2014 has been a journey of struggle and survival, of pain and agony, of loss and death,\u201d said the Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine.<\/strong><\/p>\n Israel\u2019s delegate said that, instead of condemning Hamas\u2019 murder, rape and torture of 1,200\u00a0people, the Assembly fixates on resolutions sponsored by Cuba, Democratic People\u2019s Republic of Korea, Venezuela and the Syrian regime.\u00a0 \u201cThe Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ’s entrenched anti-Israeli bias has been laid bare for all to see,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n On 4\u00a0December, the Assembly resumed its tenth Emergency Special Session on illegal Israeli actions in Occupied Jerusalem and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territory. \u00a0Speaking for the Group of Friends in Defense of the Charter of the United Nations, Venezuela\u2019s delegate said the United States veto in the Security Council on 20\u00a0November of a text demanding an immediate, unconditional ceasefire in Gaza demonstrates its complicity with Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza, \u201cseverely undermining peace and security in the Middle East\u201d.<\/p>\n A week later, the Assembly made those demands in its own text\u00a0(document\u00a0A\/ES-10\/L.33<\/a><\/em>),also demanding the immediate release of all hostages and that Israel allow the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East\u00a0(Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA) to proceed with its aid operations without restriction in Gaza and the West Bank, stressing that the Agency plays an indispensable role in alleviating the plight of over 6\u00a0million Palestine refugees.<\/p>\n The representative of the United States said that the draft \u201crisks sending a dangerous message\u201d to Hamas that there is no need to negotiate or release the hostages. \u00a0He warned the Assembly not to \u201cvindicate Hamas\u2019 cynical strategy of stalling and obstruction\u201d, and to instead adopt a resolution to increase pressure on Hamas to accept a deal without conditions or further delays rather than relieving it of same. \u00a0\u201cIsrael\u2019s fight is with Hamas, not Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 26 December 2024 \u2018Our Future Is in Our Hands,\u2019 Assembly President Says Upon Historic Pact\u2019s Adoption, Secretary-General Urges Using Resources for Opportunity, Hope, Not Death, Destruction During the first three months of its seventy-ninth session, the General Assembly plenary adopted landmark resolutions, including one demanding Israel end its presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory 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