[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 390 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. CON. RES. 390

 Condemning the adoption of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 
 ES-10/14 (December 8, 2003) which requests the International Court of 
      Justice (ICJ) to render an advisory opinion concerning the 
international legal consequences arising from Israel's construction of 
  a security fence in parts of the West Bank, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 18, 2004

 Mr. Ackerman (for himself, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, Mr. Lantos, Mr. Waxman, 
   Mr. Berman, Mr. Engel, Mr. Matsui, and Ms. Berkley) submitted the 
following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
                        International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
 Condemning the adoption of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 
 ES-10/14 (December 8, 2003) which requests the International Court of 
      Justice (ICJ) to render an advisory opinion concerning the 
international legal consequences arising from Israel's construction of 
  a security fence in parts of the West Bank, and for other purposes.

Whereas the United Nations General Assembly, at the instigation of Palestinian 
        representatives, called an emergency special session at which Resolution 
        ES-10/14 (December 8, 2003) was adopted requesting the International 
        Court of Justice (ICJ) to render an advisory opinion concerning the 
        international legal consequences arising from Israel's construction of a 
        security fence in parts of the West Bank;
Whereas Resolution ES-10/14 is completely one-sided, omitting any mention of the 
        hundreds of Palestinian acts of terrorism against Israel, and prejudged 
        the question, rendering the requested advisory opinion redundant;
Whereas the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice in this matter is 
        dubious, given the Palestinian's lack of standing before the Court, 
        Israel's refusal to jointly accept the jurisdiction of the Court in the 
        matter, and the clearly political, and thus inappropriate, nature of the 
        questions to be judged by the Court in the matter;
Whereas the International Court of Justice is not required to offer advisory 
        opinions in political disputes and, in any case, advisory opinions of 
        the Court are entirely non-binding;
Whereas a justice of the International Court of Justice has made public 
        statements condemning Israel and Israel's efforts to defend itself from 
        Palestinian terrorism that strongly suggest bias against Israel, and 
        that same justice has refused to recuse himself in this matter before 
        the Court;
Whereas the United States voted against Resolution ES-10/14, has filed a brief 
        arguing that referral of the matter to the International Court of 
        Justice is inappropriate and may impede efforts to achieve progress 
        toward a negotiated resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and 
        has chosen not to present an oral argument before the Court;
Whereas the United States has a vital national security interest in the 
        resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict and particularly the Israeli-
        Palestinian conflict based on the terms of United Nations Security 
        Council Resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973), and 1397 (2002);
Whereas the United States, in conjunction with the European Union, the Russian 
        Federation, and the United Nations (together known as the ``Quartet''), 
        proposed the Performance-Based Roadmap to a Permanent Two-State Solution 
        to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (commonly known as the ``Roadmap''), 
        that has been endorsed by the United Nations Security Council and 
        requires difficult steps from both Israel and the Palestinian Authority, 
        and begins notably, with the requirement for the Palestinians to 
        ``immediately undertake an unconditional cessation of violence . . .''; 
        and
Whereas since September 2000, Palestinian terrorism has resulted in the deaths 
        of 928 Israelis and the injury of 6,209 Israelis, as well as the deaths 
        of 33 United States citizens: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That Congress--
            (1) condemns the adoption of United Nations General 
        Assembly Resolution ES-10/14 (December 8, 2003) which requests 
        the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to render an advisory 
        opinion concerning the international legal consequences arising 
        from Israel's construction of a security fence in parts of the 
        West Bank;
            (2) deplores the unhelpful and inappropriate use of the 
        International Court of Justice by the United Nations General 
        Assembly for narrow political purposes that only do harm to the 
        credibility of the General Assembly and the Court, and threaten 
        to impede international and United States efforts to resolve 
        the Israeli-Palestinian conflict;
            (3) commends the Administration for its leadership in 
        opposing the gross manipulation of the International Court of 
        Justice into a political forum for denunciation of Israel and 
        its legitimate actions in self-defense;
            (4) expresses the continued and unshakeable commitment of 
        the United States to Israel's right to exist as a Jewish 
        democratic state, its security and its right of self-defense, 
        including the right to build a security fence as a direct 
        consequence of more than three years of barbaric Palestinian 
        terrorism;
            (5) condemns the ongoing failure of the Palestinian 
        leadership to take action to unconditionally cease all violence 
        and terrorism directed at Israel and to instead, irresponsibly, 
        pursue misguided and sterile political alternatives to the 
        Performance-Based Roadmap to a Permanent Two-State Solution to 
        the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, democratic reform, and direct 
        negotiations to achieve peace; and
            (6) reiterates support for the President's June 2002 speech 
        setting out the conditions necessary for progress in resolving 
        the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and for the achievement of a 
        negotiated two-state solution based on United Nations Security 
        Council Resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973), and 1397 (2002) 
        calling for the exchange of territory for peace, direct 
        negotiations between the parties, and the immediate cessation 
        of all acts of violence.
                                 <all>