Malta joins 124 states in UNGA resolution calling for end to Israeli occupation of Palestine

Malta joined a total of 124 member nations in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) that overwhelmingly adopted a resolution calling for an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories within a year, and the imposition of sanctions for non-compliance.

UN member states passed the non-binding resolution on Wednesday, with 124 votes in favour, 14 against and 43 abstentions.

The Palestinian delegation heralded the adoption as “historic”. The measure isolates Israel days before world leaders travel to New York for the UNGA, with six days of speeches from world leaders kicking off on 24 September.

The resolution also called on Israel to make reparations to Palestinians for damages incurred by the occupation.

EU states which abstained were Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Sweden. The United Kingdom abstained.

The United States, which claims to pursue a two-state solution to the conflict, joined Israel in opposing the UNGA resolution on Wednesday – as did Czechia, Hungary, Argentina and several small Pacific island states.

The resolution backed an advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) – the UN’s top court – which found that Israel’s presence in the Palestinian territories is unlawful and must end.

The court ruled in July that Israel is abusing its status as an occupying power, stressing that Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are illegal.

The UNGA vote comes amid Israel’s devastating war on Gaza, which has killed more than 41,250 Palestinians. The ICJ has issued rulings ordering Israel to take steps to prevent genocide in Gaza and allow adequate humanitarian aid into the territory.

The resolution was submitted by Palestine – a permanent observer state at the UN.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed the resolution and urged countries across the world to take steps to pressure Israel to adhere to it. “The international consensus over this resolution renews the hopes of our Palestinian people – who are facing a comprehensive aggression and genocide in Gaza and the West Bank, including Jerusalem – to achieve its aspirations of freedom and independence and establishing a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital,” Abbas said.

Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem in the 1967 war and subsequently annexed Jerusalem entirely in 1980.

But international law prohibits the acquisition of land by force.

Yet Israel has been building settlements – now home to hundreds of thousands of Israelis – in the West Bank, in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which bans the occupying power from transferring “parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies”.

Most of the international community considers the occupation illegal.

But the US argues that Palestinians and Israelis should negotiate a resolution to the issues without external pressure – a standard that Washington does not apply to other conflicts, including the Russian occupation of parts of Ukraine.