•HCON 390 IH 
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, omit-
ting any mention of the hundreds of Palestinian acts of 
terrorism against Israel, and prejudged the question, ren-
dering 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 ac-
cept 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 jus-
tice 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 nego-
tiated resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and 
has chosen not to present an oral argument before the 
Court;
•HCON 390 IH 
Whereas the United States has a vital national security inter-
est in the resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict and par-
ticularly 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 Per-
formance-Based Roadmap to a Permanent Two-State So-
lution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (commonly 
known as the ‘‘Roadmap’’), that has been endorsed by 
the United Nations Security Council and requires dif-
ficult steps from both Israel and the Palestinian Author-
ity, and begins notably, with the requirement for the Pal-
estinians to ‘‘immediately undertake an unconditional 
cessation of violence . . .’’; and 
Whereas since September 2000, Palestinian terrorism has re-
sulted 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 con-
cerning the international legal consequences arising 
from Israel’s construction of a security fence in 
parts of the West Bank;
•HCON 390 IH 
(2) deplores the unhelpful and inappropriate 
use of the International Court of Justice by the 
United Nations General Assembly for narrow polit-
ical 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 leader-
ship in opposing the gross manipulation of the Inter-
national 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 Pales-
tinian 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
•HCON 390 IH 
to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, democratic re-
form, 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.
Æ