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actions by terrorist groups against the civilian population
of any country;
Whereas a security barrier, capable of being modified or re-
moved, is being constructed by Israel in response to an
ongoing campaign of terror against its people and has re-
sulted in a dramatic decline in the number of successful
terrorist attacks;
Whereas on December 8, 2003, the United Nations General
Assembly adopted, through a plurality rather than a ma-
jority vote of member nations, Resolution ES–10/14
which requested the International Court of Justice (ICJ)
to render an opinion on the legality of the security bar-
rier;
Whereas the United States, Australia, Belgium, Cameroon,
Canada, the Czech Republic, the Federated States of Mi-
cronesia, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland (for itself
and in addition on behalf of the Member States and Ac-
ceding States of the European Union), Italy, Japan, the
Marshall Islands, the Netherlands, Norway, Palau, the
Russian Federation, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the
United Kingdom submitted objections on various grounds
against the ICJ hearing the case or expressing concerns
about the advisability of the publication of an advisory
judgment;
Whereas a June 30, 2004, decision of a panel of the Israeli
Supreme Court, headed by its President and sitting as a
High Court of Justice, called on the Government of
Israel to take Palestinian humanitarian concerns further
into account in the construction of the barrier, even if
doing so resulted in greater security risk to Israeli citi-
zens, and accordingly required the Government to alter
the route of a specific portion of the barrier near Jeru-
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salem in order to accommodate Palestinian humanitarian
concerns;
Whereas the Government of Israel immediately stated that it
would respect the decision of its High Court of Justice
and has taken action to implement that decision;
Whereas the Government of Israel has expressed its commit-
ment that the security barrier is temporary in nature and
will not prejudice any final status issues, including final
borders;
Whereas on July 9, 2004, the ICJ said in a non-unanimous,
non-binding advisory judgment that Israel’s security bar-
rier, to the degree it was built outside the pre-June 1967
borders, was illegal and should be dismantled, and that
Article 51 of the United Nations Charter did not apply
to Israeli actions in self-defense with respect to violence
emanating from the West Bank;
Whereas on July 11, 2004, less than two days after the ICJ’s
advisory judgment, Israeli civilians were murdered by
Palestinian terrorists;
Whereas the Palestinians, along with other parties and
states, may attempt to use the ICJ’s advisory judgment
to advance their positions on issues committed to negotia-
tions between the Israelis and Palestinians by advancing
resolutions in the United Nations General Assembly, the
Security Council, or elsewhere calling for the removal of
the barrier and for the imposition of sanctions to force
Israel to comply with the advisory judgment; and
Whereas the administration of President Bush has reiterated
its position that the ICJ should not have agreed to decide
a political issue of this nature that should, rather, be re-
solved through the Roadmap process leading to a nego-
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tiated agreement between Israel and the Palestinians:
Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives—
(1) reaffirms its steadfast commitment to the secu-
rity of Israel and its strong support of Israel’s inherent
right to self-defense;
(2) condemns the Palestinian leadership for failing
to carry out its responsibilities under the Roadmap and
under other obligations it has assumed, to engage in a
sustained fight against terrorism, to dismantle the ter-
rorist infrastructure, and to bring an end to terrorist at-
tacks directed at Israel;
(3) calls on Palestinians and all states, in the region
and beyond, to join together to fight terrorism and dis-
mantle terrorist organizations so that progress can be
made toward a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Pales-
tinian conflict;
(4) deplores—
(A) the misuse of the International Court of
Justice (ICJ) by a plurality of member nations of
the United Nations General Assembly for the nar-
row political purpose of advancing the Palestinian
position on matters Palestinian authorities have
said should be the subject of negotiations between
the parties; and
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(B) the July 9, 2004 advisory judgment of the
ICJ, which seeks to infringe upon Israel’s right to
self-defense, including under Article 51;
(5) regrets the ICJ’s advisory judgment, which is
likely to undermine its reputation and interfere with a
resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict;
(6) commends the President and the Secretary of
State for their leadership in marshaling opposition to the
misuse of the ICJ in this case;
(7) calls on members of the international commu-
nity to reflect soberly on—
(A) the steps taken by the Government of
Israel to mitigate the impact of the security barrier
on Palestinians, including steps it has taken by
order of its High Court of Justice, without being re-
quired to do so by the ICJ; and
(B) the damage that will be done to the ICJ,
to the United Nations, and to individual Israelis
and Palestinians, by actions taken under color of
the ICJ’s advisory judgment that interfere in the
Roadmap process and impede efforts to achieve
progress toward a negotiated settlement between
Israelis and Palestinians; and
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(8) urges all nations to join the United States in
international fora to prevent the exploitation of the
ICJ’s advisory judgment for political purposes.
Attest:
Clerk.