United Nations Security Council Resolution 726

The Security Council's consideration of Resolution 726 was triggered by Israel's decision on 3 January 1992 to expel twelve Palestinians following the murder of an Israeli settler in the Gaza Strip.[1] Jordan's Permanent Representative submitted a letter to the President of the Security Council on 5 January 1992 — one day before the Council convened — formally bringing the matter before the body.[2]

The resolution did not arise in isolation. The Council had previously addressed Israeli deportations of Palestinian civilians in Resolutions 607 and 608 of 1988, 636 and 641 of 1989, and 694 of 1991, all of which Resolution 726 explicitly recalled.[3] The broader legal framework invoked was the Fourth Geneva Convention of 12 August 1949, whose applicability to territories occupied by Israel since 1967 had been a recurring subject of Security Council action in the years preceding 1992.[2]

Resolution 726 was adopted on 6 January 1992.[3] It was adopted at the Security Council's 3034th meeting, with the draft circulated as document S/23485.[2] The sponsors of the draft resolution were Belgium, France, and the United Kingdom.[2]

The vote was 14 in favour, none against, and 1 abstention; the United States cast the sole abstaining vote.[2] The resolution is listed under the Security Council section of the United Nations compilation of resolutions and decisions relating to the question of Palestine, appearing on page 34 of the compilation covering 1992 actions.[4]

The resolution's preamble recalled the obligations of Member States under the UN Charter and cited five earlier Security Council resolutions on deportations — 607, 608, 636, 641, and 694.[3] It also reaffirmed the applicability of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 12 August 1949 to all Palestinian territories occupied by Israel since 1967, including Jerusalem.[3]

In its operative clauses, the resolution strongly condemned Israel's decision to resume deportations of Palestinian civilians.[3] It requested Israel — described in the resolution as the occupying Power — to refrain from deporting any Palestinian civilian from the occupied territories and to ensure the safe and immediate return to those territories of all those deported.[3] It also decided to keep the matter under review.[3]

Resolution 726 was expressly reaffirmed less than a year later by Security Council Resolution 799, adopted on 18 December 1992.[5] Resolution 799 followed a far larger Israeli deportation — that of hundreds of Palestinian civilians to Lebanon on 17 December 1992 — and reiterated the position that deportations contravened Israel's obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention.[6] Resolution 799 cited Resolution 726 alongside Resolutions 607, 608, 636, 641, 681, and 694 in its preambular text.[6]

The General Assembly also invoked Resolution 726 in Resolution 47/70, adopted later in 1992, which quoted Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention — prohibiting individual or mass forcible transfers and deportations of protected persons from occupied territory — and demanded that Israel rescind deportation measures, facilitate the immediate return of those deported, and cease deportations entirely.[7]

During the 1992 Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, a Palestinian proposal invoked Resolution 726 while setting out principles for interim Palestinian self-government; the same text discussed Resolutions 242 and 338 as bases for the negotiations.[8] It stated that Resolution 726 reaffirmed the applicability of the Fourth Geneva Convention to the entirety of the occupied Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem.[8]

The adoption date of 6 January 1992 appears in the reproduced resolution text and in General Assembly Resolution 47/70.[3][7] A chronology published by the Jewish Virtual Library records the Security Council condemnation on January 10, while a secondary reference dates the resolution to 7 January 1992.[1][9] Both differ from the 6 January date used in the resolution text and General Assembly citation.