A resolution submitted by the Palestinians, which called for “Israel to bring to an end without delay its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory end…within 12-months,” was met with opposition from seven members of the Pacific Islands Forum in the UN General Assembly.

With 124 nations voting in favor of the resolution, including the Marshall Islands and the Solomon Islands, the UNGA overwhelmingly approved the measure.

However, the votes against it came from Fiji, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Palau, Tuvalu, and Tonga in the Federated States of Micronesia.

Fourteen nations abstained, including Australia, Samoa, Kiribati, and Vanuatu, and fourteen other nations rejected the decision in total.

According to the UN, the resolution demands that Israel remove its armed forces in accordance with international law, stop building any new settlements right away, remove all settlers from occupied territory, and tear down the portions of the separation wall it built within the occupied West Bank.

Israel has recently provided development assistance to a number of Pacific nations.

Foreign Minister Winston Peters stated, “New Zealand’s yes vote is fundamentally a signal of our strong support for international law and the need for a two-state solution.”

Peters stated that New Zealand was concerned about some provisions of the resolution language.

“This resolution wasn’t flawless, and New Zealand made it quite evident at the UN about our concerns about certain parts of the wording.

“It is blatantly impossible that the resolution calls for an Israeli departure from the occupied Palestinian Territory within a year.

“We are also disappointed that the resolution goes beyond what was envisaged in the advisory opinion in some respects,” he stated.