Assembly condemns Israeli attacks on Palestinians, terror against civilians on both sides

After daylong deliberations and 25 rounds of voting, the United Nations General Assembly late on Tuesday condemned the attacks by Israeli occupying forces against the Palestinian people in several cities, decried the refusal by Israel to cooperate with a UN fact-finding mission to the Jenin refugee camp, and condemned all acts of violence and terror against Palestinian and Israeli civilians.

The Assembly took its action by adopting a resolution by a vote of 74 in favour to 4 against (Federated States of Micronesia, Israel, Marshall Islands, United States) with 54 abstentions. The vote on the text as a whole followed 24 rounds of voting on each paragraph of the draft. The measure was passed as part of the Assembly's resumed tenth emergency special session on "Illegal Israeli actions in Occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territory."

The resolution requested Secretary-General Kofi Annan to present a report, "drawing upon the available resources and information, on the recent events that took place in Jenin and other Palestinian cities." Last week, citing lack of cooperation from Israel, Mr. Annan disbanded a team that was mandated to develop accurate information regarding recent events at the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank.

Emphasizing the importance of civilian safety and well-being in the whole Middle East region, the Assembly condemned "in particular all acts of violence and terror resulting in deaths and injuries among Palestinian and Israeli civilians."

Among other provisions, the resolution urged the "immediate and full" implementation of Security Council resolution 1402 adopted on 30 March and demanded that Israel end all hindrances to the work of humanitarian organizations and UN agencies in the occupied Palestinian territory, particularly the International Committee of the Red Cross and the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

The Assembly also called for the implementation of a declaration adopted by the Conference of the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention at Geneva on 5 December 2001, to ensure respect by Israel of that Convention.