General Assembly deplores Israeli raids in Gaza, sends mission to Beit Hanoun

Deeply deploring the recent Israeli military actions in the Gaza Strip, the General Assembly this evening urged Israel to withdraw its troops and called for the dispatch of a fact-finding mission to Beit Hanoun, where last week 19 Palestinian civilians were killed following an Israeli raid.

Calling for an immediate cessation of military operations and all acts of violence, incitement and destruction between the Israeli and Palestinian sides, the Assembly adopted its resolution by a vote of 156 in favour to 7 against, with 6 abstentions.

Action came as the Assembly resumed its tenth emergency special session on illegal Israeli actions in Occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the Occupied Territory. The measure was opposed by the United States, Israel, Australia, Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, Nauru and Palau, while Canada, Côte d’Ivoire, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu abstained.

The text, first introduced by Qatar this morning on behalf of the Group of Arab States, was substantially revised late in the day to include a call on the Palestinian Authority to “take immediate and sustained action to bring an end to violence, including the firing of rockets on Israeli territory.”

An adjustment was also made to the provision calling on the diplomatic Quartet – the UN, US, Russian Federation and European Union – together with the international community, to take immediate steps to help stabilize the situation and restart the peace process. Negotiators added the word “possible” in the resolution’s reference to the establishment of an international mechanism to protect civilian populations.

Arab and Non-Aligned delegations had called for the resumption of the Assembly’s long-running emergency session after the United States vetoed a similar draft text in the Security Council less than a week ago.

Action in the Assembly today came on the heels of the adoption by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council of a resolution that also condemned the killings and dispatched a fact-finding mission to the region.

“We must condemn the assassination of Palestinian and Israeli civilians without distinction because such arbitrary killings are contrary to the rules of international humanitarian law,” said Assembly President Sheikha Haya Al Khalifa of Bahrain in opening the debate, which saw the participation of over 20 speakers.

“The escalation of violence and counter-violence in this dramatic fashion carries disastrous consequences and has a negative impact on both societies, Palestinian and Israeli, and widens the gap between both peoples, who live side by side,” she said, stressing that both sides must return to the negotiating table “because dialogue is the only means which allows to serve the interests of both parties and to achieve the expected peace.”