UNITED NATIONS, May 8: The UN General Assembly on Tuesday voted to condemn Israel’s assault on Palestinian cities and its rejection of a UN fact-finding mission into its army’s actions in the Jenin refugee camp.

The resumed emergency session of the 189-nation assembly approved the Arab resolution late Tuesday, 74 to four, with 54 abstentions. The United States voted against it.

The fact-finding mission was abandoned by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Thursday after he tried for 13 days to overcome Israeli objections to the group’s mandate and composition.

After failing to get the Security Council to condemn Israel and compel it to accept the fact-finding team, the Arab nations and the non-aligned nations called for an emergency General Assembly session to present their case.

The draft text was introduced by Ambassador Dumisani Shadrack Kumalo of South Africa on behalf of the Non-aligned Movement (NAM). He noted that the Security Council had yet to officially react to that Israeli rejection, and called on the member states to support the draft, sending the message that the Assembly was willing to take a stand on the issue of Palestine.

Votes in the General Assembly, unlike those in the Security Council, lack binding force and legal authority.

The Palestinians had accused the Israeli army of massacres against civilians during eight days of fierce fighting in the Jenin camp. Israel claims its army fought intense gunbattles with Palestinian gunmen, who were the main victims.

The majority of the assembly voted to condemn “the attacks committed by the Israeli occupying forces against the Palestinian people in several Palestinian cities, particularly in the Jenin refugee camp.”

Palestinian UN representative Nasser Al-Kidwa said efforts in the Security Council to keep the fact-finding mission alive were blocked by the threat of a veto by the United States, one of the five permanent council members with veto power.

“The result now is that there will be no fact-finding team on what’s happened in the Jenin refugee camp,” said Al-Kidwa. “At the same time Israel is protected and shielded from any serious reaction from the Security Council.”

US Ambassador John Negroponte, said the United States opposed the resolution. He said Middle East peace could not be advanced through “‘one-sided resolutions” and “unbalanced rhetoric.”

Brushing aside accusations over the collapse of the fact-finding mission, Negroponte said: “It is time to move forward and deal with many of the other pressing problems facing the region.”