46 No. 75 JUSTICE This resolution, together with Resolution 338 adopted by the Security Council following the 1973 Yom Kippur War, constitutes today the agreed-upon basis for all peace agreements between Israel and its neighbors. While it has been argued that these Resolutions did not apply to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,195 they were later adopted by Israel and the PLO as an agreed upon basis for negotiations, in the framework of which the parties can raise their respective legal claims regarding the final disposition of the area.196 The importance of these resolutions to the international community is evident from the International Court of Justice 2004 Advisory Opinion on “the Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory”, in which the Court expressed its opinion that the resolutions’ implementation is key to ending the conflict: “Illegal actions and unilateral decisions have been taken on all sides, whereas, in the Court’s view, this tragic situation can be brought to an end only through implementation in good faith of all relevant Security Council resolutions, in particular resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973).”197 10. The evolving language used in UN Resolutions relating to the West Bank Since 1967, the language used in UN Resolutions to refer to the West Bank and Gaza Strip has evolved without clear legal justification which is indicative of a shift in political rhetoric rather than of the legal status of the territory. At the UN Security Council, early Resolutions do not refer to “Palestinian territories”. For example, UNSC Resolution 242 refers to “territories occupied in the recent conflict.” UNSC Resolution 259 refers to “Arab territories under military occupation by Israel.” This language is used until the beginning of the 1980s, where there is a shift: UNSC Resolutions 465 and 478 refer to “the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967”, while in the 1990s, UNSC Resolution 681 mentions “the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel since June 1967, including Jerusalem,” and UNSC Resolution 904 begins referring to “the Occupied Palestinian territory.” At the UN General Assembly, a similar shift can be observed. Resolution 2546 (December 11, 1969) refers to “Arab territories occupied by Israel.” Resolution 2727 (December 15, 1970) refers to “Arab territories under military occupation by Israel.” This qualification is used consistently throughout the 1970s. 195. In a statement that it issued the day after Resolution 242 was adopted, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) declared: “For these reasons, the most important of which is that the Security Council ignores the existence of the Palestinian people and their right of self-determination, the Palestine Liberation Organisation hereby declares its rejection of the Security Council resolution as a whole and in detail.” [emphasis added]. See Statement Issued by the Palestine Liberation Organization Rejecting U.N. Resolutions (sic) 242, Cairo, 23 November 1967, reproduced in THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT: A DOCUMENTARY RECORD 1967-1990, 290-291 (ed. by Yehuda Lukacs, 1992). The PLO further stated, in a document adopted at the 12th Session of the Palestine National Council, Cairo, 8 June 1974 (“The 10 Point Program of the PLO (1974)”), that: “To reaffirm the [PLO’s] previous attitude to Resolution 242, which obliterates the national right of our people and deals with the cause of our people as a problem of refugees. The Council therefore refuses to have anything to do with this resolution at any level, Arab or international, including the Geneva Conference.” See Political Program Adopted at the 12th Session of the Palestine National Council, Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine to the United Nations (June 8, 1974), https://web.archive.org/ web/20110805192136/http://www.un.int/wcm/content/site/palestine/cache/offonce/pid/12354;jsessionid=ED2AC 7E70A82F5C7CCB42BC6357FCDEC; See also generally SABEL, supra note 21, at 207. 196. Israel-PLO Recognition - Exchange of Letters between Prime Minister of Israel Yitzchak Rabin, and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, 9 September 1993, at https://www.gov.il/en/Departments/General/israel-plorecognition-exchange-of-letters-between-pm-rabin-and-chairman-arafat-sept-9-1993. 197. Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Advisory Opinion, 2004 I.C.J. 136 ¶ 162 (Jul. 9).
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