UN General Assembly adopts resolution urging immediate Gaza cease-fire

The UN General Assembly called in a nonbinding resolution on Friday for an immediate, durable cease-fire in Gaza, rejecting a more radical text proposed by a group of Muslim and Latin American states.

Although the resolution has no teeth, diplomats who supported it said the overwhelming majority in favor presented a cohesive moderate world viewpoint that would strengthen Egyptian mediating efforts in the Gaza crisis.

The assembly's electronic scoreboard showed 142 countries in favor, four opposed and eight abstaining. But the exact figures were not immediately clear as several countries said their votes had not registered due to electrical faults.

Voting against were Israel, the United States and the Pacific island of Nauru, which believed the resolution was biased against Israel. Venezuela, which thought it was too soft on Israel, was also shown by the board as voting against although the country's delegate said he abstained.

The assembly's resolution followed closely the text of a Security Council resolution adopted last week. The council's cease-fire call has not been heeded either by Israel, which attacked the Gaza Strip on Dec. 27 to try to stamp out rocket fire by Palestinian militants, or by Israel's Hamas foes.

Like the council's text, Friday's resolution calls for "an immediate, durable and fully respected cease-fire, leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip."

The adopted text was hammered out in negotiations between the European Union and the Palestinian Authority's ambassador, Riyad Mansour, and was supported by moderate Arab states.

Its backers narrowly headed off an attempt by a small group of radical Muslim and Latin American states, headed by Ecuador, to have the assembly vote on a text sharply critical of Israel.

Mansour told the session that resolution would have split the assembly and made a "gift" to Israel.

The EU-Palestinian text included a phrase, opposed by the radicals that "the Palestinian and Israeli civilian populations must be protected and their suffering must end."

The deputy head of Israel's mission to the United Nations, Dan Carmon, said the resolution was another General Assembly sitting used by the Arab states as a platform for slandering Israel.

"The resolution that was passed does not promote any solution and will not help bring about an improvement in the condition of the Palestinian people," Carmon said.

U.S. envoy Alejandro Wolff said the resolution was "neither necessary nor helpful" because the Security Council had already spoken and peace efforts were under way.

Syrian Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari, one of the radical group, said the majority that supported the adopted resolution "is not the one that the Palestinian people need."

Turkish PM: Ban Israel from the UN over Gaza operation

Turkey's prime minister on Friday said Israel should be barred from the United Nations while it ignores the international body's calls to stop fighting in Gaza.

"How is such a country, which does not implement resolutions of the UN Security Council, allowed to enter through the gates of the UN [headquarters]?" Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

Erdogan spoke before UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was to arrive in Ankara to discuss the conflict. His comments reflected a growing anger in Turkey, Israel's closest ally in the Muslim world, over Israel's Gaza operation.

Erdogan accused Israel of attacking civilians under the pretext of targeting the Islamic militant group of Hamas.

Erdogan has previously defended his outspoken criticism of Israel's Gaza offensive, saying it did not mean he was anti-Semitic. However, the Turkish prime minister also remarked that the "Jewish-backed media" was falsely suggesting that Hamas uses civilians as human shields in the Gaza Strip.

Israel's offensive in Gaza entered day 21 on Friday, as the Israel Air Force attacked close to 40 targets in the coastal strip, while rockets fired from Gaza kept pounding southern Israel.

Turkish president Abdullah Gul on Friday renewed calls for an immediate cease-fire and also urged U.S. President-elect Barack Obama to focus on a comprehensive, long-lasting and fair solution once in office.

	Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
	Photo by: (Reuters)