UN General Assembly demands immediate ceasefire in Gaza

Source: Xinhua | 01-17-2009 10:32

UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- The UN General Assembly (GA)Friday adopted a resolution demanding full respect for the Security Council resolution 1860, which calls for an immediate, durable and fully respected ceasefire in Gaza, where more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in the three-week Israeli military attacks.

The General Assembly adopted the resolution with 142 voting in favor, 4 against and 8 abstentions.

The 192-member General Assembly "demands full respect for the Security Council resolution 1860, including its urgent call for an immediate, durable and fully respected ceasefire, leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, and its call for the unimpeded provision and distribution throughout Gaza of humanitarian assistance, including food, fuel and medical treatment," the resolution said.

The resolution, with its text agreed on in the negotiations between Palestine and the European Union, was adopted at the end of the two-day emergency special session of the General Assembly, which was convened at the request of the 118-member Non-Aligned Movement.

Because no consensus was reached among GA member states, Israel asked the GA to vote on the draft resolution, the president of the63rd session of the GA, decided to put the draft to vote by GA member states.

Before the vote, the Palestinian permanent observer to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, said: "I appeal to everyone in this room what we want is not to compete with each other, just to show how faithful you are to the Palestinians."

The Palestinian ambassador called on the UN member states to "unite behind this text," and adopt the resolution "to isolate Israel," not to "give Israel a gift by splitting the General Assembly."

The resolution coincides with the efforts of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who is in the Middle East to join the international diplomatic campaign to press for an early ceasefire in Gaza.

The General Assembly is "convinced that achieving a just, lasting and comprehensive settlement of the question of Palestine, the core of the Arab-Israeli conflict, is imperative for the attainment of comprehensive, just and lasting peace and stability in the Middle East," the resolution said.

The General Assembly "calls upon all parties, including the Security Council itself, to use all means at their disposal to ensure full and urgent compliance with council resolution 1860," it said.

The assembly "expresses its support for the extraordinary efforts by the United Nations agencies, in particular the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, to provide emergency relief, medical and other humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian civilian population in the Gaza Strip," the resolution said.

The assembly "calls upon all member states to urgently extend the necessary support to international and regional efforts aimed at alleviating the critical humanitarian and economic situation in the Gaza Strip, and emphasizes in this regard the need to ensure the sustained opening of border crossings for the free movement of persons and goods into and out of the Gaza Strip," the resolution added.

Editor:Zhang Pengfei