On Wednesday, the United Nations General Assembly is expected to vote on a resolution that calls upon Israel to end its presence in eastern Jerusalem, Gaza, and the West Bank within a year.
The proposal, endorsed by over 40 delegations, will demand the evacuation of Israeli citizens from locations outside of the country’s 1967 boundaries, institute a reparations schedule requiring Jerusalem to pay monetary damages to Palestinians in the region, and subject the Jewish state to possible economic sanctions.
A section establishing an arms embargo on the Israeli military was reportedly removed from the document during drafting negotiations.
The measure, if approved by the 193-member body, will not be legally binding but follows a July decision by the U.N.’s International Court of Justice declaring Israel’s existence in the disputed territories as being unlawful.
Israel’s ambassador to the U.N., Danny Danon, strongly objected to the plan’s approval, describing it as “diplomatic terrorism” that is “using the tools of diplomacy not to build bridges but to destroy them.”
“We gather here to watch the Palestinians’ U.N. circus—a circus where evil is righteous, war is peace, murder is justified, and terror is applauded,” he told assembled colleagues at a Tuesday plenary meeting in New York.
The United States representative to the global institution, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, called the overture “inflammatory” and something that “is not going to advance the cause of peace.”
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