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Last update - 15:30 24/01/2008
UN rights council slams Israel's 'grave violations' in Gaza Strip
By Reuters
Tags: Gaza Strip 

The United Nations Human Rights Council said Thursday it deplored the "grave violations" being committed by Israel in Gaza, and demanded that the week-long siege of the Strip be lifted.

The 47-member council adopted a resolution presented by Arab and Muslim states by a vote of 30 states in favor and one against with 15 abstentions. One delegation was absent.

Delegations from the United States and Israel, which both have observer status at the Council, boycotted the two-day session, diplomats said.
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The U.S. and Israel termed the discussion one-sided, due to the fact that it completely ignored the ongoing Qassam rocket barrages fired indiscriminately by Gaza militants at Israeli civilian communities.

Israel's envoy Itzhak Levanon dismissed the criticism as the latest in a "long history of vitriolic attacks" on his country.

"The main challenge Israel faces is to defend itself from terrorist organisations that use populated areas for cover in order to launch rockets and mortars into Israel," he said in a statement. Israel did "everything possible" to spare civilians.

Most of those abstaining from the vote were Western states, including France, Germany and Britain. UN Security Council members China and Russia supported the resolution, and Canada was the lone vote against it.

It was the third time that the Geneva forum, set up in June 2006, rebuked Israel at a special emergency session called to address conditions in the Palestinian territories.

Mohammed Abu-Koash, the Palestinian ambassador to the UN in Geneva, told the talks at a special emergency session called to address conditions in the Palestinian territories, that Israel's siege and raids in Gaza constituted "war crimes".

"We hope the resolution will trigger international pressure and action to lift the Israeli siege and restore supplies of food, fuel and medicine, open border crossings and end repeated Israeli military attacks throughout the occupied Palestinian territory," he said.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour, in a speech on Wednesday, denounced Israel's "disproportionate use of force and targeted killings" as well as Palestinian militants' firing of rockets into Israel.

Arbour, a former UN war crimes prosecutor, told the forum that international law forbids collective punishment and said Israel should lift all restrictions on aid intended for Gaza.

"All parties concerned should put an end to the vicious spiral of violence before it becomes unstoppable," she warned.

Syria's ambassador Faysal Khabbaz Hamoui, speaking on behalf of Arab states and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), accused Israel of turning Gaza into a "huge prison."

"The real aim of Israel from these aggressions and crimes is to deliberately abort all Arab and international efforts to invigorate the peace process," he charged.

Egypt's envoy Sameh Shoukry, speaking for African countries, urged Arbour's office to conduct more regular visits to the Palestinian territories and report more extensively "on all violations emanating from the Israeli occupation".

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      1.   I`m waiting for the UN to SLAM the palestinians for there 14:20  |  x 24/01/08
      2.   stupid gouverment 14:23  |  sam 24/01/08
      3.   Is israel sill in the U.N.? 14:24  |  Fred the Magnet Man 24/01/08
      4.   Gaza 14:29  |  RS 24/01/08
      5.   THE UN WOULD`T KNOW MORALITY IF IT FELL ONN THEIR HEADS 14:31  |  B`Galil 24/01/08
      6.   WHERES THE PEACE FIRST? 14:34  |  NEIL GOLAN 24/01/08
      7.   Olmert = Total Failure 14:38  |  Ovadiah ben Avraham 24/01/08
      8.   Libya head of UN Human Rights Council 14:38  |  Eyal 24/01/08
      9.   UN is a joke 14:50  |  Caroline 24/01/08
      10.   Well, 15 abstentions, more then last round 14:51  |  Lynn 24/01/08
      11.   Avoiding the conference is a sign of guilt 14:53  |  Natallie Durson 24/01/08
      12.   Minda 15:12  |  HEDGES 24/01/08
      13.   natalie the hypocrite 15:23  |  larry from maine 24/01/08
      14.   Israel shamed again 15:38  |  Sylvie 24/01/08
      15.   11: No, Natalie, avoiding facts is the sign of guilt 15:40  |  David Teich 24/01/08
      16.   Nathalie Duhson tries to strike again 15:44  |  Michael 24/01/08
      17.   China as a shining example 15:47  |  Judith 24/01/08
      18.   Natallie Durson 15:53  |  Stranger 24/01/08
      19.   The terrible fall from grace of America 15:59  |  Clickfool 24/01/08
      20.   sign of guilt? 15:59  |  Mr. Marty 24/01/08
      21.   The point is 16:36  |  Minda 24/01/08
      22.   NATALIE DURSON *1 16:50  |  mike 24/01/08
      23.   HEDGES 16:55  |  MICHAEL 24/01/08
      24.   Spiral of Violence 16:59  |  DoubleClick 24/01/08
      25.   To #1 17:20  |  ARAB 24/01/08
      26.   I could be wrong......................... 17:26  |  manny.b 24/01/08
      27.   #11 NUTallie Durson -It`s not guilt, it`s common sense 17:27  |  * BEN JABO 24/01/08
      28.   Means absolutely nothing 17:54  |  SystemF 24/01/08
      29.   2 Sam,3,Fred the Magnet,good question sam.Tell you why.Currently 18:07  |  lakshmi 24/01/08
      30.   Bravo UNHRC, Blockaded Darfur`s 3 million refugees are invisible 18:29  |  Genuine Tosefta 24/01/08
      31.   Another Travesty 18:34  |  Don 24/01/08
      32.   out of hand 18:43  |  Dav 24/01/08
      33.   Observer status means 18:50  |  Kris 24/01/08
      34.   The Dogs Bark, the Caravan Passes By 18:52  |  Tom 24/01/08
      35.   #11 Fake Natallie Durson 18:57  |  Natallie Durson 24/01/08
      36.   #33 Kris 19:00  |  Tom 24/01/08
      37.   UN 19:05  |  JW 24/01/08
      38.   #35 Fake Durson? 19:17  |  Tom 24/01/08
      39.   The terrible fall from grace of Clickfool`s UK 19:34  |  Joe Sittizen 24/01/08
      40.   The good thing about this is it reaffirms the need to continue to 19:37  |  Arab Pal 24/01/08
      41.   19Clickfool,fall from grace is an appropriate phrase! Now, 19:48  |  lakshmi 24/01/08
      42.   NO 1 20:03  |  DANNY. 24/01/08
      43.   why is it?the un never slams the palestinians... 20:07  |  nmf 24/01/08
      44.   you`re right caroline....your country is really in big trouble! 20:23  |  from far away land 24/01/08
      45.   therefore,son of man.... 20:30  |  maria 24/01/08
      46.   MICHAEL OF HOLON.....according to yakoov sullivan 20:34  |  maria 24/01/08
      47.   #39 20:56  |  Paul Wood 24/01/08
      48.   REspond # 11 21:01  |  TOBIA 24/01/08
      49.   The worlds Arab/Muslem dreck is on display 21:21  |  TOMY 24/01/08
      50.   In Natallie`s Durson`s Defense 21:25  |  J-Rock 24/01/08
      51.   #34 Say Tom in Denver 21:39  |  ballistic 24/01/08
      52.   41: Lakshmi, as usual, gets it wrong 21:50  |  David Teich 24/01/08
      53.   Libya, the Paragon of Virtue (LOL) 22:11  |  * BEN JABO 24/01/08
      54.   Going Ballistic 22:21  |  Tom 24/01/08
      55.   Alert - Natalie Durson is a fake 05:46  |  * BEN JABO 25/01/08
      56.   if natalie is a group of arab students, woe`s to 18:46  |  bozhidarevski 25/01/08
      57.   54: But, Tom, if Ballistic learned 13:00  |  David Teich 26/01/08
      58.   175: Dutch, the inveterate liar, talks about fantasy? (2nd try) 13:01  |  David Teich 26/01/08
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