GENEVA, April 15: The UN’s top human rights body on Tuesday condemned Israel for “acts of mass killing”, “liquidation” or “extrajudicial executions” of Palestinians.
Thirty-three of the UN Human Rights Commission’s 53 members voted to approve a resolution, presented by Pakistan and co-sponsored by several Muslim countries, Cuba and China, according to an official United Nations count.
Five countries rejected the text, including the United States and Germany, which was the only European Union member sitting on the UN body this year to do so. Other European countries were among 15 abstentions.
The resolution expressed “grave concern” at the deterioration of the human rights and humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territories, particularly “at acts of mass killing perpetrated by the Israeli occupying authorities against the Palestinian people”.
The practice of “liquidation” or “extrajudicial executions” by the Israeli army against Palestinians was also strongly condemned, as well as the opening of fire by the Israeli army on ambulances and paramedical staff.
And it affirmed the legitimate right of the Palestinian people to resist the Israeli occupation.
The resolution mirrored a text adopted by the UN body at its session last year, which also split EU countries, and came soon after Israel’s incursion into the Jenin refugee camp following a spate of suicide bombings.
In a separate resolution, the UN body, currently holding its annual six-week session here, adopted a European Union-sponsored text urging Israel to stop the construction of a security fence in the Palestinian territories.
Fifty members backed the text, which also urged the Israeli government to eventually dismantle settlements in the occupied territories, including the eastern sector of Al Quds.
And it urged the parties to cooperate in the implementation “without modifications” of the “roadmap” for peace in the region endorsed by the Middle East Quartet — the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States.
The United States was the only member to reject the resolution. Two abstained.
US Ambassador Michael Southwick, deputy assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labour, said that although the resolution was “meant to be constructive”, it was inconsistent with joint statements by the Quartet about the road map.
“It does not recognize fully that all sides have responsibilities if we are ever to move the peace process forward,” he said.
Israel was condemned a third time on Tuesday in a Syrian-sponsored resolution over its 1967 occupation of the Golan Heights in the Arab-Israeli war. —AFP
