U.N. Assembly passes resolution condemning Israel's use of force, Israel rejects as biased

October 21, 2000

UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- In an emergency session Friday night, the United Nations General Assembly approved 92-6 a resolution critical of Israel's role in the latest Middle East violence.

Both the United States and Israel voted against the resolution, and 46 countries abstained.

"It was a mistake to bring this kind of resolution to the floor in the middle of a world crisis," Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said Friday night.

The resolution "condemns acts of violence, especially the excessive use of force by the Israeli forces against Palestinian civilians." It also condemns Israeli settlements in the occupied territories, calling them "illegal" and an "obstacle to peace."

The resolution also called for an "immediate cessation of violence and use of force" and a resumption of peace talks between the Palestinian and Israeli leaderships.

Yehuda Lancry, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, said the resolution was "useless," and that his country rejected the measure.

"(The resolution) doesn't say anything about the savage destruction of the military in Ramallah, the Israeli soldiers mutilated in Ramallah," he said. "This resolution is certainly a negative message to the will of the Israeli people to move toward peace."

Israelis and Palestinians blame each other for the recent fighting in which more than 100 people -- all but a handful of them Palestinians or Israeli Arabs -- have died since September 28.

Nasser al-Kidwa, the Palestinian observer in the United Nations, praised on Friday the countries that supported the "very important" resolution. He said the measure's timing was important.

"Today, 10 more martyrs have fallen in the occupied territories, two of them children under 18," al-Kidwa said.

"We strongly hope that the current tragedy will end, that the killing and wounding of our people will cease. We are doing our utmost for that end, including implementation of the Sharm el-Sheikh (Egypt) understandings," al-Kidwa said.

Arab and Islamic states had proposed a resolution expressing "deep concern" about "violence, including police brutality, that took place in Israel resulting in many deaths," but that wording was deleted from the final draft after intense negotiations with representatives from the European Union.

Compared to a resolution adopted Thursday in Geneva by the U.N.'s Commission on Human Rights, which fiercely condemned Israel for "crimes against humanity," the language of the General Assembly's resolution is mild.

Holbrooke told reporters earlier Friday that the United States preferred not to have a resolution, but that it was willing to support a simple two-part statement commending U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's efforts to negotiate a truce and expressing support for the agreement between the two sides made at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, earlier this week.

Holbrooke said, with the resolution having been dealt with, that it was time for the Israelis and Palestinians to work through the crisis.

"It's a signal to the Palestinians that it's time to get back to talking to Israel, rather than try to isolate Israel by diplomatic means while the West Bank is aflame," Holbrooke said.