HAMILTON, Canada
The UN General Assembly adopted a draft resolution Thursday calling on member states to take all measures necessary to ensure Israel's compliance with international law.
The resolution, which also highlights the dire humanitarian situation in Palestine, noted the need for accountability to ensure that Israel respects international law obligations.
Submitted by Spain along with more than 30 other states, the resolution was backed by 149 countries, with 12 voting against and 19 abstaining.
"As a matter of urgency, the international community must launch a robust message, a message with regard to the situation in Gaza, and we strongly encourage all member states to vote in favor of this draft resolution,” Spain's UN envoy Hector Gomez Hernandez said before the vote.
Hernandez noted that the draft resolution stressed the commitment to the two-state solution while "firmly rejecting any attempts at demographic change in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank."
"The text also demands an immediate halt to settlement, construction, expansion, land confiscation, home demolitions, forced evictions and settler violence in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem," he said.
Prior to the vote, Palestinian envoy to the UN Riyad Mansour described the wording of the draft resolution as "the strongest to date on these matters."
"Israel's continuing disregard and blatant contempt for the rules of international law, the resolutions of UN bodies and the positions of states around the world must lead to the translation of this language into resolute action, and it has to be done now," Mansour said.
Arguing that the resolution "strongly condemns any use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare and the unlawful denial of humanitarian access," he said it also "stresses the obligation not to deprive civilians" of their basic needs for survival in the enclave.
"No arms, no money, no trade to oppress Palestinians, ethnically cleanse them and steal their land. Use the tools available to you," he urged.
US Charge d’Affaires ad interim Dorothy Shea called the emergency session on Palestine "another failure on the part of the United Nations to condemn Hamas."
Arguing that the draft resolution "sends an unacceptable message," Shea said the US does not support "one-sided measures that fail to condemn Hamas. We will not support resolutions that do not call for violent terrorist groups to disarm and leave Gaza and fail to recognize Israel's right to defend itself."
She also claimed that it "does nothing to bring calm to Gaza" and that “it also does nothing to advance a realistic diplomatic solution to further the cause of peace. It is rife with serious defects.”
