File photo- Riyad Mansour, Palestinian Ambassador to the UN, attends a UN Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East.AFP
The text is based on an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice calling Israel's occupation since 1967 "unlawful."
"Israel is under an obligation to bring to an end its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as rapidly as possible," read the opinion, requested by the General Assembly.
In response, Arab countries called for a special session of the assembly just days before dozens of heads of state and government meet at the UN headquarters to address the kick off of this year's General Assembly session.
The draft resolution, due for a vote Wednesday at 11:00 am (1500 GMT), "demands that Israel brings to an end without delay its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory," and that this be done "no later than 12 months from the adoption."
The first draft text gave only six months.
"The idea is you want to use the pressure of the international community in the General Assembly and the pressure of the historic ruling by the ICJ to force Israel to change its behavior," said Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour Monday, acknowledging the draft resolution had "shocked many countries."
Israel rejected the resolution on Tuesday.
"Those who contribute to this circus are not simply bystanders. You are participants, enablers, collaborators. Every vote you cast in support of this circus fuels the violence," Israel's ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon claimed.
Withdrawal of Israeli forces
The draft resolution -- which would be non-binding -- "demands" the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Palestinian territories, a halt to new Jewish settlements, the return of seized land and property, and the return for displaced Palestinians.
It also calls on states "to take steps toward ceasing" arms provisions to Israel when there are "reasonable grounds to suspect that they may be used in the Occupied Palestinian Territory."
"The Palestinians want to live -- not survive. They want to be safe in their homes," said Mansour Tuesday, kicking off the debate on the first resolution ever introduced by the Palestinians.
"How many more Palestinians need to be killed before change finally takes place to stop this inhumanity?"
The ICJ opinion was "a historic opinion as this was the first time the court examined the Israeli occupation as a whole," Mansour said.
US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield condemned the draft resolution as "inflammatory" and claimed it "is not going to advance the cause of peace."
While the Security Council is largely paralyzed on the Gaza issue -- with the United States repeatedly vetoing censures of its ally Israel -- the General Assembly has adopted several texts in support of Palestinian civilians amid the current war.
* This story was edited by Ahram Online.
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