IV 
108TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 713
Deploring the misuse of the International Court of Justice by a majority 
of the United Nations General Assembly for a narrow political purpose, 
the willingness of the International Court of Justice to acquiesce in 
an effort likely to undermine its reputation and interfere with a resolution 
of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 13, 2004
Mr. PENCE (for himself, Ms. BERKLEY, and Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN) submitted 
the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Inter-
national Relations 
RESOLUTION 
Deploring the misuse of the International Court of Justice 
by a majority of the United Nations General Assembly 
for a narrow political purpose, the willingness of the 
International Court of Justice to acquiesce in an effort 
likely to undermine its reputation and interfere with 
a resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and for 
other purposes.
Whereas terrorist groups have sent suicide bombers, mainly 
from areas under the control of the Palestinian Author-
ity, to places outside the control of the Palestinian Au-
thority in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza to murder ci-
vilians throughout society, including in buses, cafes, and 
places of worship, have used snipers to shoot at Israeli
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civilians, and have invaded homes and seminaries in 
order to carry out acts of terrorism; 
Whereas Palestinian terrorists have killed more than 1,000 
people of a variety of nationalities since September 2000; 
Whereas more than 50 United States citizens have been 
killed and more than 80 United States citizens injured by 
Palestinian terrorists in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza 
since 1993; 
Whereas President George W. Bush said in October 2003 re-
garding Israel’s right to self-defense that ‘‘Israel must 
not feel constrained in terms of defending the homeland’’; 
Whereas according to international law as expressly recog-
nized in Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, all na-
tions possess an inherent right to self-defense; 
Whereas a security barrier, capable of being modified or re-
moved, is being constructed by Israel in response to an 
ongoing campaign of terror; 
Whereas the security barrier is designed to make it difficult 
for unauthorized persons to cross the barrier without pro-
viding the Israeli authorities sufficient information and 
time to deal with the persons making the crossing; 
Whereas a similar security barrier has been in place in Gaza 
since 1996 with a great degree of success; 
Whereas the security barrier was not built as the result of 
arbitrary, hasty decisions but rather was and is the sub-
ject of lively debate and litigation in Israel, a parliamen-
tary democracy that respects the rule of law, concerning 
such issues as whether the barrier should be built and 
what path it should take;
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Whereas the United Nations General Assembly adopted Reso-
lution ES–10/14 (December 8, 2003) which requested 
that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) render an 
opinion on the legality of the security barrier; 
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, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Swit-
zerland, and the United Kingdom submitted objections on 
various grounds against the ICJ hearing the case; 
Whereas the United States believes that both the ICJ and the 
General Assembly can play important and useful roles in 
appropriate cases but that inappropriate assertions of 
their authority can harm their ability to carry out their 
proper roles; 
Whereas the Israeli courts accepted jurisdiction of cases on 
the security barrier and a June 30, 2004, decision of a 
panel of the Israeli Supreme Court, headed by its Presi-
dent and sitting as a High Court of Justice, stated that 
the Government of Israel had not adequately taken into 
account the interests of Palestinians who asserted they 
were harmed by the barrier’s route and that the route 
should be altered even if that resulted in greater risks 
being imposed on Israel; 
Whereas the Government of Israel immediately indicated that 
it would respect the decision of its High Court of Justice 
and took steps to do so;
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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 General Assembly, the Security Coun-
cil, 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-
tiated agreement between Israel and the Palestinians: 
Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives—
(1) condemns the Palestinian leadership for 
failing to carry out its responsibilities under the 
Roadmap and under other obligations it has as-
sumed, to engage in a sustained fight against ter-
rorism, to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure, and
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to bring an end to terrorist attacks directed at 
Israel; 
(2) deplores—
(A) the misuse of the International Court 
of Justice (ICJ) by a majority of members of 
the United Nations General Assembly for the 
narrow political purpose of advancing the Pales-
tinian position on matters Palestinian authori-
ties have said should be the subject of negotia-
tions between the parties; 
(B) the ICJ’s willingness to acquiesce in 
efforts that are likely to undermine its reputa-
tion and interfere with a resolution of the Pal-
estinian-Israeli conflict; and 
(C) the attempt to infringe upon Israel’s 
right to self defense, including under Article 51 
of the Charter of the United Nations; 
(3) commends the President and the Secretary 
of State for their leadership in marshaling opposi-
tion to the misuse of the ICJ in this case; 
(4) calls on members of the international com-
munity 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
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taken by order of its High Court of Justice, 
without being required 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 
(5) cautions members of the international com-
munity that they risk a strongly negative impact on 
their relationship with the people and Government of 
the United States should they use the ICJ’s advisory 
judgment as an excuse to interfere in the Roadmap 
process and impede efforts to achieve progress to-
ward a negotiated settlement.
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