Global Politicsupdated 15m ago2 min read
UN Second Committee Adopts Resolution on Palestinian Sovereignty Over Natural Resources
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UN Second Committee adopted draft on Palestinian and Golan sovereignty over natural resources. 151 votes in favor, 7 against, 11 abstentions.
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UN committee backs sovereignty draft
The UN General Assembly’s Second Committee adopted a draft resolution on Wednesday, November 11, 2026, establishing “Permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and of the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan over their natural resources.” The draft received 151 votes in favor, seven votes against, and 11 abstentions, with the Group of 77 and China submitting the motion.
The seven countries voting against the draft were the United States of America, Israel, Colombia, Paraguay, Palau, Nauru, and Micronesia, while the 11 countries abstaining included Costa Rica, Argentina, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Ecuador, Honduras, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Togo and Tonga. The draft was approved during the nineteenth session of the Second Committee of the General Assembly, which covers economic and financial affairs, and it was described as requiring Israel, in its capacity as the occupying power, to stop exploiting, harming, destroying, exhausting, and endangering Palestinian and Golan natural resources.
ICJ and Geneva cited
The resolution affirmed principles including the applicability of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (Fourth Geneva Convention) to the occupied Palestinian Territory. The draft also referred to the Advisory Opinion issued by the International Court of Justice on July 19, 2024, regarding the Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the illegality of Israel's continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
The resolution recalled the International Court of Justice's 2004 Advisory Opinion regarding the separation Wall in the occupied West Bank, and it affirmed principles concerning Palestinian natural resources alongside the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The draft further affirmed the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to their natural resources and demanded that Israel cease exploiting these resources, while also affirming the right to claim restitution for Israel’s exploitation of those resources.
Israel, negotiations, and next steps
The draft resolution expressed concern about the destruction of agricultural lands, orchards, farms and greenhouses, as well as damage to water supply, sewage and electricity networks in the occupied Palestinian territory, particularly in the Gaza Strip. The text also urged removing obstacles to developing essential environmental projects, including wastewater treatment plants and Gaza’s water-supply infrastructure, and it called for allowing progress in rebuilding civilian infrastructure, housing, agricultural land and water wells.
The resolution asked the UN secretary-general to present a report during the next session on its implementation and the cumulative consequences of the exploitation, destruction and depletion of Palestinian natural resources and the occupied Syrian Golan. Minister Riyad Mansour, the Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations, affirmed that the vote “once again underscores the international community's support for the inalienable rights of our Palestinian people, including their sovereign right over their natural resources.”