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| 'Concerned' UN Assembly Demands Israeli Withdrawal |
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| Red |
| 08/06/02 at 11:28:47 |
| 'Concerned' UN Assembly Demands Israeli Withdrawal Mon Aug 5, 9:51 PM ET Yahoo http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020806/wl_nm/mideast_un_dc_1 By Irwin Arieff UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution on Monday expressing grave concern over Israel's continued occupation of Palestinian cities and the "dire humanitarian situation" facing the Palestinian people. The resolution, drafted jointly by European Union ( news - web sites) and Palestinian envoys and approved 114-4 with 11 abstentions, marke` a major victory for the Palestinians, who softened an earlier draft harshly critical of Israel to broaden support among the General Assembly's 189 member-nations. The resolution repeated calls for the immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from Palestinian cities and towns and stressed the need for free access to those areas by medical and humanitarian relief organizations. While it fell short of an initial EU demand for explicit condemnation of Palestinian suicide bombings, the resolution condemned "all attacks against civilians on both sides." The vote, coming amid surging Middle East violence aimed at both Israelis and Palestinians, capped a day-long debate on a U.N. report released last week regarding the March 29 Israeli military thrust into the Jenin refugee camp following a wave of deadly suicide bombings inside Israel. The report, prompted by Palestinian allegations of a massacre in the West Bank camp, found no evidence that a massacre took place but said Israel had used excessive force in densely populated areas and kept out medical and aid workers. Prepared from publicly available information at the General Assembly's request after Israel blocked a U.N. fact-finding mission from visiting Jenin, the report also faulted the Palestinians for letting armed fighters live in civilian homes in the camp. 'OUR RIGHT IF NOT OUR DUTY' Palestinian U.N. Observer Nasser al-Kidwa said the report confirmed that "the Israeli occupying forces have committed war crimes, atrocities and other serious violations" of international humanitarian law. While Israel "has been trying to portray all of its policies and practices as simply a response to the suicide bombings, nothing could be further from the truth," he said. "The reality is that this is a situation of foreign occupation," he said. "As a matter of principle, resisting Israeli occupation, Israeli colonization and settlements, and indeed the Israeli invasion of our cities and refugee camps is our right if not our duty." Israeli Ambassador Aaron Jacob dismissed al-Kidwa's view of the report as "an alternate reality" and accused the Palestinians of being "willfully blind to the heartless acts of Palestinian terrorism and their toll in innocent lives." "Terrorism is not and cannot be a negotiating tactic," Jacob said, accusing the assembly of pursuing "Israel-bashing initiatives" that undermined the peace process. In the quest for a Middle East settlement, "there is only one obstacle that is truly insurmountable: a partner who has no interest in making peace," he said. Al-Kidwa also scolded the United States, Israel's closest ally, for providing the Jewish state with arms and financial aid while "shielding Israel from international law and the will of the international community" by wielding its veto in the U.N. Security Council. But U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte accused both the council and the General Assembly of turning a blind eye to attacks by Palestinian groups like Hamas, which he said hoped to "sabotage any effort to achieve Arab-Israeli peace." "We should not be here today, nor should we be having a discussion focused solely on Palestinians when, yet again, there have been more terrorist attacks in Israel," he said after two days of attacks that killed 13 Israelis. Voting against the resolution were the United States, Israel, the Marshall Islands and Micronesia. Abstaining were Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Honduras, Nauru, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Romania, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Tonga. |
| 08/06/02 at 11:30:10 |
| Red |
| Re: 'Concerned' UN Assembly Demands Israeli Withdr |
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| mwishka |
| 08/06/02 at 17:02:57 |
| ok, i admit i might be a little loopy right now....um trying to do too many things at my lab and reading here on tiny little 2 or 3 minute breaks and having had my sleep um unreasonably disturbed (again) by my poor ravenous cat (it's not her fault...it's her pancreas.... :( )...... BUT...... what i thought when i read the title of this article was that the UN wanted israel to withdraw from the UN! :D like...um ok we've had all we can take and rogue states don't get to belong........ :D um too bad. but of course a real withdrawal (for REAL, i mean) would be even better than that...... i think i better um just finish my work and go get some sleep..... ::) mwishka |
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