UN rights body condemns Israel
Resolution put forward by Muslim nations condemning Israel's 'war crimes' against Palestinians in Gaza accepted by UN Human Rights Council. Israeli ambassador says accusations should be directed at Hamas while US envoy slams the council's 'unbalanced and excessive focus on Israel'
The UN Human Rights Council on Thursday passed a resolution condemning Israel's military action in the Gaza Strip.
The resolution says Israeli incursions into the Palestinian territory inflicted collective punishment on the civilian population. It also calls for Palestinian rocket fire into Israel to be stopped.
The resolution was approved by 33 votes to one. Thirteen members of the 47-nation rights body abstained.
The resolution expressed ''shock at the Israeli bombardment of Palestinian homes and the killing of civilians ... inflicting collective punishment against the civilian population.''
It also called ''for the immediate cessation of all Israeli military attacks throughout the occupied Palestinian territory and the firing of crude rockets ... which resulted in the loss of two civilian lives and some injuries in southern Israel.''
Earlier in the day Muslim countries called on the UN's top rights body to censure Israeli military strikes in Gaza. The initial proposal put forward by Pakistan labeled Israeli incursions into the Palestinian territory a ''war crime.''
Israel's ambassador, Itzhak Levanon, told the UN Human Rights Council at an urgent debate on Gaza Thursday that the accusations leveled against his country were ''exaggerations, distortions and inaccuracies.'' He said the Palestinian faction Hamas, which controls the small coastal territory, were the ones who committed war crimes.
The Palestinian ambassador to the UN office in Geneva, Mohammad Abu-Koash, said the international community has failed to show a firm stance and halt the suffering of the population in the West Bank and Gaza.
The Palestinian people are ''left to a merciless occupier that doesn't even hesitate to use F-16 (fighter planes) to pound homes and bury whole families under the debris under the pretext of self-defense,'' he told the council.
EU calls for 'more balanced' resolution
The 47-member human rights council could vote on the resolution on Thursday or Friday. Since it was created two years ago, the council has passed three resolutions explicitly condemning Israel and several more indirectly criticizing it.European countries said they were very concerned about the situation in Gaza, but asked for a more balanced resolution.
''This council should deplore the fact that innocent civilians on both sides are suffering,'' said Slovenia's ambassador, Andrej Logar, who was speaking on behalf of the European Union.
''We are deeply alarmed by the recent Israeli military operations,'' he said, adding that Israel should show ''utmost restraint.''
He also said, ''We condemn the indiscriminate rocket attacks on Israel's civilian areas. Palestinian factions in Gaza must stop these attacks.''
US Ambassador Warren W. Tichenor said tensions in the region should not be exacerbated by unhelpful rhetoric.
''The human rights council's unbalanced and excessive focus on Israel does not help advance the cause of
peace,'' Tichenor told the council. ''One more unbalanced resolution with problematic factual and legal assertions will only further obstruct the dialogue that does need to take place for peace to be obtained.''
The United States is not a member of the council.
The council, which lacks enforcement powers, has been accused of spending excessive amounts of time focusing on Israel since replacing the widely discredited and highly politicized Human Rights Commission in June 2006.
