UN seeks halt to Israeli security cordon
The United Nations’ General Assembly has overwhelmingly voted in favour of a resolution that demands Israel stops the construction of its security cordon in the West Bank.
The resolution, which is not legally binding as a Security Council resolution, also calls on Israel to demolish stretches of the wall that have already been built.
The resolution, which was put forward by Italy on behalf of the European Union, warned that the route marked out for the wall in the occupied Palestinian territory, including in and around East Jerusalem, could prejudice future negotiations and make the two-State solution physically impossible to implement.
Supporters claimed that further humanitarian hardship would be placed on the Palestinians if the wall was completed.
Condemning all acts of violence, terrorism and destruction, the Assembly adopted the measure last night by a vote of 144 in favour, to 4 against (Federated States of Micronesia, Israel, Marshall Islands, United States), with 12 abstentions.
The Assembly condemned the recent suicide bombings and the intensification of violence with the attack in Haifa and the bomb attack in the Gaza strip, which killed three American security officers.
The Assembly also called on both parties to fulfil their obligations under the roadmap to peace. The Palestinian Authority was urged to undertake more efforts to restrain individuals and groups conducting and planning violent attacks.
The Assembly wants the Israeli Government to stop deportations and attacks on civilians and to end extrajudicial killings that have only served to inflame Palestinian hostilities.
The resolution falls short of meeting Arab demands, who want to see the issue of the security cordon taken to the International Court of Justice in the Hague.
However, the Israeli representative called the vote ‘a humiliating farce’. He claimed that surrendering to ‘manipulative games and illegal initiatives of the Palestinian Observer’ made a ‘mockery of the United Nations’.
The Observer for Palestine welcomed the resolution and accused the Israelis of ‘engaging in the usual repetition of personal attacks, intimidation and blackmail’.
The League of Arab states accused Israel of expansionist policies and wondered why the wall deviated form the ‘Green-line’ which set the boundaries of Israel in 1949. The Palestinians have warned that the wall slices away large parts of their land and there is nothing they can do to stop Israel from building their security cordon on land which is recognised as Palestinian.
The Israeli government has maintained that the security cordon is there to stop suicide bombers entering the country and they will remove it once a peaceful settlement has been reached.
