Ahead of the submission of a United Nations Security Council resolution on ending the occupation, the Palestinian Human Rights Organization Council (PHROC) urges the Palestinian leadership to ensure that any proposed resolution is in conformity with international legal standards and will not permit the circumvention of international law in a political settlement .
PHROC reminds the Palestinian leadership of its previous call to guarantee that a political settlement is in line with international standards, and notes the absence of international law as a basis for previous Palestinian-Israeli agreements. The proposed resolution must be rooted in the law for a just, impartial, and transparent settlement to the conflict. Accordingly, the resolution must adhere to standards that are in conformity with the United Nations Charter (UN), previous UN resolutions, and international humanitarian and human rights law. Relevant decisions and opinions of the International Court of Justice may also be used as a reference.
A resolution that allows for the circumvention of international law, such as one that permits land swaps, may jeopardize fundamental Palestinian rights, including: the establishment of East Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state, the right to Palestinian permanent sovereignty over their natural resources and wealth, and the right of return for Palestinian refugees. Moreover, any resolution should not limit the right of Palestinians to seek justice for past and continued violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.
In light of previous resolutions on Palestine and the difficulty of transforming words into action, the resolution must not only establish a time frame for ending Israel’s occupation, but it must also establish a mechanism to ensure its implementation. Without such a mechanism, the resolution will likely be ineffective.