Israel’s cold shoulder

ENAR

In December 2014, the United Nations General Assembly endorsed a request to Israel to compensate Lebanon for environmental damages to the latter’s coastal and marine territories following an oil spill. While the endorsement does not provide binding measures, it is the first time that the General Assembly has included a compensation figure — eight previous resolutions had not. In reaching this point, Lebanon has worked to identify its legal options justifying Israel’s responsibility for the spills — its next step will be to determine the scope of its argument and in which jurisdiction to pursue it. Resolutions and politics The first such decision, asking Israel to compensate Lebanon for an interim figure of $856 million, resulted in the General Assembly voting 170–6 in favor of the resolution — Israel, the United States, Canada, Australia, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands all voted no. The compensation request is in regard to oil