General Assembly demands immediate Gaza

UNITED NATIONS, (AFP)

The UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly late Friday to demand an immediate and durable ceasefire in the strife-torn Gaza Strip leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces.

In a non-binding amended resolution, the 192-member body demanded “full respect” of a Security Council resolution adopted last week calling for “an immediate, durable and fully respected ceasefire leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces” from Gaza.

Council resolution 1860 also called for the “unimpeded provision and distribution throughout the Gaza Strip of humanitarian assistance, including of food, fuel and medical treatment.”

The assembly vote, which came after hours of procedural wrangling, was 142 in favor with three against and nine abstentions, according to a revised vote count.

Assembly president Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann earlier said the vote was 142 in favor, six against with eight abstentions.

Israel, the United States and Nauru cast no votes.

Ryad Mansour, the Palestinian observer to the United Nations, immediately welcomed the assembly’s “almost unanimous vote” to pressure Israel to comply with Council resolution 1860.

“We shall prevail because of your support,” he added.

The compromise assembly text, which slightly amended an earlier draft circulated Thursday by D’Escoto, was negotiated by Egypt on behalf the Palestinian Authority with European Union ambassadors.

It dropped an earlier reference to Israel as “the occupying power” in Gaza and inserted a sentence “emphasizing that the Palestinian and Israeli civilian populations must be protected and their suffering must end.”

The resolution also expressed support for the current mediation undertaken by UN chief Ban Ki-moon and for other international and regional efforts underway.It called on all member states to urgently extend the necessary support to international and regional efforts aimed at alleviating the critical humanitarian and economic situation in the Gaza Strip.

A group of assembly hardliners, including Ecuador, Venezuela, Iran, Syria, Indonesia, Malaysia and Nicaragua, sought a vote on a tougher draft but was overruled.

The hardliners’ text demanded “full respect for Security Council resolution 1860, calls for an immediate ceasefire and the immediate, unconditional withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.”Friday’s assembly decision capped two days of contentious debate in which Israel was roundly condemned by many UN delegations for its deadly assault on Gaza that included strikes Thursday on hospital, media and UN buildings.Israel sought but failed to block the session on procedural grounds, arguing that under the UN Charter, the 192-member assembly cannot inject itself on a matter already being tackled by the powerful Security Council.Israel’s delegate, Meirav Shahar, dismissed the resolution as “irrelevant,” “one-sided” and “procedurally and substantially flawed,” noting that it did not mention rocket attacks on southern Israel.US deputy ambassador Alejandro Wolff, who earlier in the day urged the assembly not to undermine ongoing diplomatic efforts to arrange a Gaza truce, slammed the resolution.