Summary
The General Assembly’s resolution ES-10/15, adopted on 20 July 2004, which acknowledges the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion of 9 July 2004 on the wall, reproduces the Court’s reply in full — construction contrary to international law, Israel obliged to cease, dismantle and repeal, and to make reparation, all States obliged not to recognize or assist the illegal situation and Convention parties to ensure Israel’s compliance — demands Israel comply, calls on Member States to comply, requests the Secretary-General to establish a register of damage caused in connection with paragraphs 152 and 153 of the opinion, calls on both parties to implement their road map obligations, and invites Switzerland as depositary to consult on resuming the Conference of High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention (Resolution ES-10/15: Advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on the Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (20 July 2004), PDF p.1-4).
What the file is
United Nations document A/RES/ES-10/15, General Assembly, Distr.: General, 2 August 2004, Tenth emergency special session, Agenda item 5, 4 PDF pages, about 1,539 words in the text copy. Adopted at the 27th plenary meeting on 20 July 2004, without reference to a Main Committee (A/ES-10/L.18/Rev.1). The text copy is clean and matches the original; its running head on PDF p.3 prints A/RES//ES-10/15 with a double slash, as printed. No vote count is given in the file.
Section by section
- Preamble (PDF p.1-2). Charter principles and resolution 2625 (XXV); illegality of acquisition of territory by force; Hague Regulations, the Fourth Geneva Convention, Additional Protocol I, the two Covenants and the Convention on the Rights of the Child; permanent UN responsibility; twelve Security Council resolutions from 242 (1967) to 1544 (2004); resolution 58/292; Palestinian self-determination and the two-State solution based on the pre-1967 borders; violence condemned; road map duties stated for both parties; resolutions ES-10/13 and ES-10/14 recalled, the latter’s question reproduced in full.
- The opinion (PDF p.3). The opinion of 9 July 2004 received with respect; the Court’s paragraph 163 reply reproduced as items A–E; the settlements conclusion at paragraph 120 and the humanitarian-law and resolutions 242 and 338 statements at paragraph 162 noted; respect for the Court held essential.
- Operative paragraphs 1-8 (PDF p.4). Paragraph 1 acknowledges the opinion; paragraph 2 demands Israel comply with its legal obligations as mentioned in it; paragraph 3 calls on Member States to comply with theirs; paragraph 4 requests the register of damage; paragraph 5 decides to reconvene to assess implementation; paragraph 6 calls on Israel and the Palestinian Authority to implement road map obligations with the Quartet; paragraph 7 calls on Convention parties to ensure respect and invites Switzerland to consult and report on resuming the Conference of High Contracting Parties; paragraph 8 adjourns the session.
Key passages
- “The construction of the wall being built by Israel, the occupying Power, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including in and around East Jerusalem, and its associated regime, are contrary to international law” (Court reply item A, quoted PDF p.3)
- “Israel is under an obligation to make reparation for all damage caused by the construction of the wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including in and around East Jerusalem” (Court reply item C, quoted PDF p.3)
Evidence the work relies on
A General Assembly resolution, not an evidentiary work. Its evidence is the advisory opinion itself (A/ES-10/273 and Corr.1), whose operative reply it reproduces at paragraph 163 and whose paragraphs 120, 151, 152, 153 and 162 it cites by footnote. It gives no damage, land or population figures.
Analysis
Where ES-10/14 asked one question, ES-10/15 converts the answer into institutional machinery: the register of damage in paragraph 4 is the resolution’s durable creation, and paragraphs 2-3 split the Court’s obligations into Israel’s, which are demanded, and Member States’, which are called for. The road map paragraph keeps the political track inside a legal-compliance text, assigning visible-effort duties to the Palestinian Authority alongside Israel’s trust duties, in the preamble’s terms.
People, organizations, places and events
UN General Assembly Resolution ES-10/15, International Court of Justice, Separation wall, Palestinian Authority, East Jerusalem
Concepts
Two-state solution, Self-determination
How it relates to other sources
- Resolution ES-10/14: Illegal Israeli actions in Occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (8 December 2003) is the request this resolution answers.
- Resolution 77/247: Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem (30 December 2022) paragraph 11 demands exactly the compliance this resolution demanded — cessation, dismantling, repeal and reparations — and names ES-10/15 among its bases.
- Resolution ES-10/24: Advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on the legal consequences arising from Israel’s policies and practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (18 September 2024) performs the same acknowledging function for the Court’s 2024 opinion, including a register of damage, twenty years later.
Open questions
- No vote count is given in the file.
- Whether the register of damage requested in paragraph 4 was established, and Switzerland’s report under paragraph 7, are not recorded in this file.
- The running head on PDF p.3 prints A/RES//ES-10/15 with a double slash, as printed in the text copy and kept here.
Coverage
PDF p.1-4 of 4, read in full.