‘Highly Problematic’: UN Resolution Demanding Israel Withdraw From Gaza Will Cause Chaos and Violence, Expert Says

A United Nations resolution calling for Israel to withdraw from the West Bank within six months will cause chaos and violence in the Middle East, according to Andrew Tucker, executive director of the Hague Initiative for International Cooperation.

“This is a very important and potentially catastrophic decision because it’s going to lead, unfortunately, to chaos and more violence on the ground, putting aside all the other issues about it,” Tucker told The Daily Signal.

The U.N. General Assembly voted Wednesday to approve a resolution demanding that Israel unilaterally withdraw its “unlawful presence” in Gaza and the West Bank within a year. The resolution also calls for sanctions and an arms embargo against the country.

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“It’s the first time in history this has happened, and it’s saying that Israel must withdraw all of its presence, military and civilian, from territories they say belong to the Palestinians,” Tucker said.

Tucker said this nonbinding General Assembly resolution is part of a “lawfare” (legal warfare) campaign by the Palestinians. The Arab Group, an organization of 20 Arab nations’ parliaments, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation submitted the draft resolution to the General Assembly.

“The U.N. really has become a platform for the Palestinians to be able to access the courts, to use the courts—the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice,” Tucker said.

The resolution is “highly problematic for the courts’ own integrity and understanding as an independent judicial tribunal,” Tucker said.

Tucker does not expect Israel to be willing to leave the territories as demanded in the resolution.

“Palestinians are not governed by a government under the rule of law,” Tucker said. “They are governed by terrorist organizations. Israel knows this reality only too well.”

Because Hamas-run Gaza is already on Israel’s doorstep, the Jewish state will not allow another Gaza in the West Bank, Tucker said.

“The West Bank is much closer to the heartland of Israel, and therefore, this demand, which Palestinians and the opposers of Israel will say, well, ‘Israel must get out,’ and Israel will say that ‘you can’t,’” Tucker said. “It is really going to lead to more conflicts.”