The United Nations General Assembly will vote on Wednesday on a draft resolution submitted by the State of Palestine, calling on Israel, the occupying power, to end its “illegal presence in the occupied Palestinian territory” within 12 months, following the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on the legal consequences of Israel’s policies and practices in Palestine.

The United Nations General Assembly resumed its tenth emergency special session yesterday evening, Tuesday, at the United Nations headquarters in New York City, entitled: (Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice on the Legal Consequences of Israel’s Policies and Practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the Illegality of the Continued Israeli Presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory).

The Permanent Representative of Palestine to the United Nations, Ambassador Riyad Mansour, said that the draft resolution reflects the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, issued last July at the request of the General Assembly, regarding the illegality of Israel's presence in the occupied Palestinian territories.

He added that the draft resolution was sponsored by 40 countries and is based on international law, stressing the need to respect the rule of law and the rights of the Palestinian people to achieve justice.

He explained that the draft resolution reflects in its preamble the decisions reached by the International Court of Justice, with a focus in its executive paragraphs on the obligations of Israel, all states, the United Nations and other international organizations in accordance with international law.

He explained that the draft resolution calls for taking a number of individual and collective measures to support the law and implement relevant United Nations resolutions on the Palestinian issue.

He said: Today the world must reject double standards and stand on the right side of history with international law, freedom and peace. The alternative is what the entire world sees on television screens of crimes and the war of extermination to which our Palestinian people are being subjected.

The convening of the special session of the United Nations to vote on the Palestinian draft resolution comes days before the arrival of dozens of heads of state and government in New York to participate in the opening of the annual session of the General Assembly.