U.N. condemns Israeli action

UNITED NATIONS, OCT. 21. In a major diplomatic blow to Israel, the U.N. General Assembly termed as ``illegal and obstacle to peace'' Israeli settlement in the Palestinian territories and condemned with overwhelming majority the ``excessive use of force'' by the Jewish state against Palestinians.

A resolution adopted by the House on Friday by 92 votes to six with 46 abstentions, called for immediate cessation of hostilities between the two sides and resumption of talks. India was among the member states that voted in favour of the Palestinian-drafted resolution which was opposed by the U.S., Israel and four others.

The Egyptian ambassador, Mr. Ahmed Aboul Gheit, said the root of the problem was Israel's failure to withdraw from the territories it has occupied since the 1967 war. ``Only then may Israel have the legitimacy it deserves and aspires to. And only then will our peoples know an end to a conflict that has ripped our region apart for the last half century''. But the Israeli ambassador, Mr. Yehuda Lancry, said, ``The occupation did not fall from the sky'' but was the result of a war against Israel by its Arab neighbours. He called the resolution ``useless'' and one-sided, saying it failed to address the ``savage'' lynching of two Israeli soldiers by a Palestinian mob in the West Bank town of Ramallah or the destruction of Joseph's Tomb in Nablus.

This was the third condemnation of Israel by the U.N. since the violence erupted on September 28 following Israeli right-wing leader, Mr. Ariel Sharon's visit to a shrine.

On October 7, the Security Council had condemned the excessive use of force against Palestinians without naming Israel, and on Thursday the Geneva-based U.B. Human Rights Commission voted to condemn Israel for ``widespread, systematic and gross violations of human rights'' and set up an international inquiry into violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Condemning violence that took place at Al-Haram el- Sharif and other places in Jerusalem and areas under ``occupied'' Palestinian territories, the General Assembly held Israel responsible for excessive use of force. The resolution stressed the need for implementation of the deal reached recently at the Sharm el-Shiekh summit and backed establishment of a U.S.-led inquiry into the clashes that claimed over 100 lives, mostly of Arabs.

The session was called at the request of the Palestinian observer to the U.N.

Earlier, the U.N. Secretary General, Mr. Kofi Annan, appealed to Israelis and Palestinians to look beyond violence to resolve the crisis.

``Peace remains the only strategic option for Israelis and Palestinians,'' he told the delegates, adding ``one of the lessons of the past few days is that there can be no lasting security without lasting peace.''

Israel rejected as ``one-sided'' the U.N. resolution, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said. The Ministry said the resolution had not taken into account numerous incidents of Palestinian violence like the lynching of Israeli soldiers and the desecration of Joseph's Tomb.

- PTI, Reuters, AFP

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Section  : International
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