<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>The UN General Assembly has asked the UN's highest court to give a legal opinion on Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories.</b></span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The resolution was backed by 87 countries but opposed by 26 others, including the UK and US.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The International Court of Justice (ICJ) issues binding rulings, but it cannot enforce them.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Friday's vote came a day after Benjamin Netanyahu was sworn as prime minister of the most hard-line Israeli cabinet.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Israel occupies the West Bank, and although it pulled out of Gaza the UN still regards that piece of land as occupied territory.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Israel claims the whole of Jerusalem as its capital, while the Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state. The US is one of only a handful of countries to recognise the city as Israel's capital.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Palestinians claim the West Bank, along with Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip for their hoped-for future state. BBC</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>