Posted on 07/20/2004 5:28:39 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted a resolution Tuesday demanding that Israel comply with a world court decision and tear down the barrier it is building to seal off the West Bank. The vote was 150 in favor, 6 opposed - including the United States - and 10 abstentions.
The assembly's vote, like the opinion of the International Court of Justice, is not legally binding, but both have symbolic value as international statements of condemnation for the barrier.
The 191-member world body voted after lengthy negotiations between the Arab League and the European Union which resulted in a revised text that was accepted by both groups.
The court, as well as the resolution, demand that the barrier be dismantled and reparations be paid to Palestinians harmed by its construction.
Israel has refused to recognize the world court ruling, saying it has no authority to deal with the issue and has ordered construction to go on.
The Israeli Supreme Court, however, has ordered the army to change the route of the barrier in a 20-mile stretch near Jerusalem, saying it was causing too much hardship on the local Palestinian population.
Israel's U.N. Ambassador Dan Gillerman called the resolution "one-sided and totally counterproductive" and said construction of the barrier will continue in compliance with the requirements of international law as decided by Israel's Supreme Court.
"It is simply outrageous to respond with such vigor to a measure that saves lives and responds with such casual indifference and apathy to the ongoing campaign of Palestinian terrorism that takes lives. This is not justice but a perversion of justice," he said.
The Palestinians say the current route of the wall amounts to a land grab, because parts of the barrier are being built on West Bank land that Israel conquered in the 1967 Middle East war. Israel says the fence is needed to keep out suicide bombers.
In other words, "Palestine" was set aside for the Jews, while the majority of it had already been cut off and given to the Arabs.
Unless you can point me to some documentation supporting your statements "these lands were ceded for the Jewish statein 1923" and "Palestine" was set aside for the Jews", you're wasting my time with your proclamations.
The West Bank land doesn't belong to the Paleostinians. So for very rational security reasons Israel has built the wall into some places on the West Bank. And to encompass some settlements. They won't say so but many Paleostinians are very happy to be on the Israel side of the security barrier. Sure beats living under Arafat and Hamas.
This security fence is the price to be paid for terrorism and murder of Jews in Israel. The last real government in the West Bank was Jordan until 1967. And the Paleostinians never complained about "occupation"
1. Instructing Bill Clinton on the joys of chastity.
2. Instructing John Kerry on virtues of consistancy.
3. Instructing Rachel Corrie on Newtonian physics.
4. Trying to instruct a certain Jewhating freeper in history, logic, and morality.
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