Non-Aligned Movement calls for immediate implementation of UN Gaza truce resolution

Source: Xinhua | 01-16-2009 09:01

UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) on Thursday demands immediate implementation of the UN Security Council resolution, which calls for an immediate, durable and fully respected ceasefire in Gaza, but remains unheeded by both Israel and Hamas militants.

Cuban UN Ambassador Abelardo Moreno made the statement as he was speaking at an emergency special session of the UN General Assembly on the Gaza conflict in his capacity as chairman of the Coordinating Bureau of the NAM.

The 192-member General Assembly convened the special session on Thursday morning at the request of the 118 NAM members, who are also UN members, to press for an immediate end to the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Hamas.

"NAM demands the immediate implementation of resolution 1860, including in particular its call for an immediate ceasefire leading to the withdrawal of the Israeli occupying forces from Gaza," he said.

"Immediate measures are required to address the pressing humanitarian and economic needs of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, including the sustained and permanent opening of Gaza's border crossings fully in accordance with the terms and provisions of resolution 1860, to ensure the free access of humanitarian aid and other essential supplies and goods and to facilitate the passage of persons to and from the Strip," he said.

"This brutal Israeli military aggression constitutes a grave breach of international law, including humanitarian and human rights law, and is causing vast suffering among the Palestinian civilian population, fuelling the cycle of violence ad threatening international peace and security as well as the fragile peace process between the two sides," he said.

"NAM urgently calls once again for an immediate cessation of all military activities and violence," he said. "NAM calls for all efforts to be exerted to compel Israel, the occupying power, to cease this aggression and to scrupulously abide by all of its obligations under international law and relevant United Nations resolutions."

Editor:Zhang Yun