U.N. vote faults Israel in Gaza fray

Palestinians attend a protest to demand lifting the sanctions on Gaza Strip, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Tuesday, June 12, 2018.  (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Palestinians attend a protest to demand lifting the sanctions on Gaza Strip, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Tuesday, June 12, 2018. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

UNITED NATIONS -- The U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday approved a Palestinian-backed resolution blaming Israel for violence in Gaza, after narrowly rejecting a U.S. demand to add an amendment condemning attacks on Israel by Gaza's Hamas rulers.

The votes reflected wide concern in the 193-member world body that the resolution sponsored by Arab and Islamic nations was one-sided and failed to even mention Hamas, which has fired more than 100 rockets at Israel.

The Palestinians' U.N. ambassador, Riyad Mansour, urged the General Assembly to adopt the resolution to address escalating violence in Gaza and "the crisis" of protecting civilians after the killing of more than 120 Palestinians by Israeli military fire.

Mansour urged the U.N. to do everything it could to protect civilians, avert further destabilization and encourage the possibility of peace, "for which we have not yet lost all hope."

Mansour stressed: "We need action. We need protection for our civilian population. ... Is that a crime to ask for?"

The resolution asks Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to make recommendations within 60 days on ensuring protection of Palestinian civilians, including on "an international protection mechanism."

The U.S. amendment to condemn Hamas, which was voted on first, was backed by a vote of 62-58 with 42 abstentions. General Assembly President Miroslav Lajcak declared that under U.N. rules, the amendment failed because a two-thirds vote was needed.

The assembly then voted on the original Palestinian-backed resolution, which was approved by a vote of 120-8 with 45 abstentions.

The Palestinians and their supporters decided to go to the General Assembly, where there are no vetoes, after the U.S. vetoed virtually the same resolution in the Security Council on June 1. U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley called that Kuwait-sponsored resolution "grossly one-sided" for criticizing the use of force by Israel while not mentioning the Hamas militant group.

Haley sent a letter to all U.N. member states Tuesday calling the proposed General Assembly resolution "fundamentally imbalanced" for "ignoring basic truths about the situation in Gaza" and not mentioning Hamas.

The proposed U.S. amendment also would have condemned the diversion of Gazan resources to building tunnels to infiltrate Israel, as well as equipment to fire rockets.

Haley said the amendment "is not controversial" and simply condemns "behavior we should all recognize as harmful to the Palestinian people."

While Security Council resolutions are legally binding, General Assembly resolutions are not. But Varma stressed that they do reflect "political will" as well as international opinion.

Before the votes, Israel's U.N. ambassador, Danny Danon, issued a statement welcoming the U.S. amendment.

"It is despicable for any country to even consider to vote for a resolution condemning Israel while refusing to support the condemnation of Hamas," he said. "Such behavior is hypocritical at best, and at worst amounts to openly emboldening an internationally recognized terrorist organization responsible for the deaths of countless of innocent people."

The Palestinians sought a Security Council resolution after Israel's military killed civilians during mass protests in Gaza aimed at the border blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt in 2007 after Hamas overran the territory.

Since the near-weekly protests began March 30, more than 120 Palestinians have been killed and more than 3,800 wounded by Israeli army fire. The overwhelming majority of the dead and wounded have been unarmed, according to Gaza health officials. Israel says Hamas has used the protests as cover for attacks on the border fence.

The General Assembly resolution called for "immediate steps towards ending the closure and the restrictions imposed by Israel on movement and access into and out of the Gaza Strip."

It also "deplores the firing of rockets from the Gaza Strip against Israeli civilian areas," but it doesn't say who is doing the firing.

A Section on 06/14/2018

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