U.N. condemns Mideast violence

UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- The U.N. General Assembly voted Monday to condemn attacks on both Israeli and Palestinian civilians, and called for the "immediate cessation of military incursions and all acts of violence, terror, provocation, incitement and destruction" in the Mideast.

It also demanded an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza.

The Arab-sponsored resolution passed overwhelmingly. The vote was 114 in favor, four against, and 11 abstentions. Those opposed were Israel, the United States, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands.

Unlike a Security Council resolution, the General Assembly version is not legally binding.

Palestinian Observer Nasser al-Kidwa had introduced the measure to conclude a debate on last week's U.N. report on Jenin.

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The report, released last Thursday, said there was insufficient evidence to corroborate Palestinian claims that Israeli troops committed a widespread massacre in the Jenin refugee camp this past spring.

The report concluded no more than 52 Palestinians -- many of them armed individuals -- were killed in Jenin, a far cry from the 500 civilians that Palestinians claimed were murdered there.

After a day of debate Monday, the resolution was watered down in a bid to win large support.

The resolution originally condemned "the excessive and disproportionate use of force by the Israeli occupying forces in Jenin, Nablus and other Palestinian cities."

That segment was eliminated during late-evening haggling.

The text did call for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Palestinian cities and other populated centers to the positions held prior to September 2000.

The General Assembly repeated U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's call for an international presence on the ground, "which would help stabilize the situation, provide protection for Palestinian civilians and assist the parties in implementing agreements."

The debate raged even as violence escalated in the Middle East, including a series of terrorist attacks over the weekend that killed more than a dozen Israelis.

Noting the lack of U.N. action to condemn those attacks in the draft resolution, Israeli Deputy Ambassador Aaron Jacob said: "Is Israeli blood so cheap here that the alleged massacres of Palestinians will be condemned but the real massacres of Israelis can be ignored?"

Al-Kidwa, the Palestinian observer, said: "Acts of resistance by Palestinians in the occupied territories against the Israeli occupation are legitimate under international law, incomparable with acts targeting Israeli civilians in Israel itself."