The UN General Assembly has voted to condemn Israeli violence against Palestinian protesters in Gaza. A US attempt to blame Hamas failed to pass.
Image: Reuters/I. Abu Mustafa
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The UN General Assembly on Wednesday adopted by a sweeping majority a resolution condemning Israel for killing Palestinians in Gaza and rejected a US attempt to pin the blame on Hamas.
The resolution put forward by Algeria, Turkey and the Palestinians secured 120 votes in the 193-member assembly, with 8 votes against and 45 abstentions. The resolution came in response to a similar resolution being vetoed by the United States in the 15-member UN Security Council earlier this month.
The resolution deplores Israel's use of "excessive, disproportionate and indiscriminate force" against Palestinians, particularly in Gaza.
Australia, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Togo and the Solomon Islands joined the United States and Israel in voting against the resolution. Germany abstained.
Deaths and injuries
More than 120 Palestinian protesters in Gaza have been killed by Israeli soldiers since late March, as well as nearly 4,000 injured. Israel blames Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, for inciting the protests. No Israelis have been killed.
Ehud Olmert on Conflict Zone
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The resolution goes further in requesting UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres develop proposals "on ways and means for ensuring the safety, protection and well-being of the Palestinian civilian population under Israeli occupation, including ... recommendations regarding an international protection mechanism."
The resolution also calls for "immediate steps towards ending the closure and the restrictions imposed by Israel on movement and access into and out of the Gaza Strip."
Israel and Egypt have maintained a blockade on Gaza since Hamas took control of the strip in 2007. The blockade and Israeli offensives in Gaza in 2008 and 2014 have turned Gaza into a humanitarian catastrophe, with the UN warning it will be unlivable for its 2 million inhabitants by 2020.
The resolution did condemn rockets fired from Gaza into Israel, but did not explicitly mention Hamas. About 70 rockets were fired into Israel from Gaza on May 29, most of which were intercepted by Israel's missile defense system.
Israeli UN Ambassador Danny Danon told the General Assembly before the vote that in supporting the Arab and Islamic backed resolution UN members were supporting a "terrorist organization" and "empowering Hamas."
The United States sought to add an amendment to the resolution blaming Hamas for "inciting" violence. The amendment received 62 votes in favor, with 58 against and 42 abstentions. However, it failed to get the two-thirds majority needed to be adopted.
US Ambassador Nikki Haley called the resolution biased against Israel.
"For some, attacking Israel is their favorite political sport. That's why we are here today," said Haley. "I wish everyone supporting this one-sided resolution would put as much energy into encouraging President Abbas to the negotiating table," she said.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is a rival of Hamas and has imposed punitive measures on Gaza. In recent days he has faced protests in the West Bank from Palestinians opposed to his policies against Hamas.
Palestinians officials have said they no longer view the US as a neutral arbiter in any negotiations with the Israelis since US President Donald Trump decided to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and move the US embassy there in May.
How the Gaza protests against Israel escalated this year
The origin of conflicts in the region could be dated back centuries but this year has seen some key events leading to an escalation in the tension between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza.
Image: Reuters/A. Cohen
Palestinian PM Rami Hamdallah targeted
The convoy of Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah of the West Bank-based Fatah group was targeted as he made a rare visit to Gaza on March 13. The Palestinian Authority said it held Hamas responsible, having failed to provide adequate security. Hamas claimed the attack was aimed at hurting efforts to achieve unity and reconciliation.
Image: Reuters/I. Abu Mustafa
Land Day march
Some 30,000 Palestinians took part in the first of the demonstrations on March 30, marking Land Day, named for the 1976 Arab protests against Israeli plans to expropriate land. Some demonstrators ran at the border fence and 16 were killed by Israeli troops with others injured, and some dying later.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/M. Hams
Netanyahu: 'We will hurt them'
Speaking on April 9 in the Israeli town of Sderot, near Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: "We have one clear and simple rule and we seek to express it constantly: If someone tries to attack you — rise up and attack him. We will not allow, here on the Gaza border, them to hurt us. We will hurt them."
Image: Getty Images/AFP/G. Tibbon
Protesters injured
Palestinians ran to help a young man injured during the border protest on April 13. Stones had been thrown at border guards and the Israeli troops fired on the demonstrators. Some 45 Palestinians died and hundreds were injured between March 30 and April 27.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/M. Hams
Boy killed on April 20
Protest continued on April 20th, with some Palestinian protesters using kites to transport Molotov cocktails and firebombs over the fence. Israeli snipers killed at least four more Palestinians on April 20th, including a 15-year-old boy. The UN Middle East envoy dubbed the killing "outrageous."
Image: Getty Images/S. Khatib
May 15: US Embassy officially moved to Jerusalem from Tel-Aviv
US President Donald Trump's daugher Ivanka is part of the delegation that opened the new US Embassy in Jerusalem. The transfer of the embassy triggered a fresh wave of protests in which 62 people were killed. The deaths have considerably heightened tensions in the area.
Image: Reuters/R. Zvulun
US no longer seen as partner in Middle East negotiations
As the US celebrated its embassy move from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem, Palestinian protests escalated. The events coincided with the 70th anniversary of the foundation of modern-day Israel, and Nakba Day, when Palestinians recall those who fled or were expelled as Israel was established.
Image: Reuters/I. Abu Mustafa
More than 60 people were killed in protests
Palestinians carried away a protester injured on May 15th after demonstrations marking the 70th anniversary of Nakba.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/S. Khatib
Palestinian youths run from tear gas
Hamas official Salah al-Bardaweel said on Palestinian television that all but 12 of the dead were members of Hamas. Mahmoud Abbas the head of the Palestine Liberation Organization is planning to pursue a war crimes complaint against Israel at the International Criminal Court.
Image: Reuters/I. Abu Mustafa
Israeli airstrikes pound Hamas military targets in Gaza
Following an increase in cross-border violence in mid-July, Israel pounded Hamas military targets in Gaza, while Palestinian militants fired more than 170 rockets and mortars into Israel. Two Palestinian boys, aged 15 and 16, were killed in Israeli airstrikes, according to Gaza's health ministry. Three Israelis were injured after a rocket landed on a residential home in the Israeli city of Sderot.
Image: picture-alliance/newscom/I. Mohamad
Israel temporarily closes its Kerem Shalom cargo crossing with the Gaza Strip
Days later, Israel blocked all fuel and gas transfers through the Kerem Shalom crossing with the Gaza Strip for six days "in light of the continued terrorist attempts of Hamas." Israel's defense ministry said essential food and medicine deliveries would still get through. The crossing had been shuttered to commercial trade a week earlier.
Image: picture-alliance/Photoshot/K. Omar
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Non-binding resolution
Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour called the US amendment blaming Hamas as "games and gimmicks" and urged ambassadors not to be "fooled" by the US proposal.
"We need protection of our civilian population," he told the General Assembly before the vote, adding that the resolution was "intended to contribute to a de-escalation of the volatile situation."
General Assembly resolutions are non-binding and there is no veto, but they carry political weight.
Turkey's Ambassador Feridun Hadi Sinirlioglu said the resolution was "about taking sides with international law" and showing the Palestinians that the world "does care about their suffering."
The General Assembly last held a contentious vote against the United States in December, when it overwhelming rejected Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and move the US embassy there.
