http://www.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/meast/10/20/un.resolution/index.html

U.N. Assembly passes resolution condemning Israel's use of force

The emergency session of the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York on Friday

October 20, 2000
Web posted at: 10:08 p.m. EDT (0208 GMT)

>From CNN Correspondent Brian Palmer

UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- The United Nations General Assembly approved a resolution Friday night critical of Israel in the latest violence in the Middle East.

The vote was 92 for the resolution, six against. The number of countries abstaining was 46. The United States and Israel voted against the resolution, which was passed in an emergency session of the assembly.

The resolution "condemns acts of violence, especially the excessive use of force by the Israeli forces against Palestinian civilians." It also condemns Israeli settlements in the occupied territories, calling them "illegal" and an "obstacle to peace." The resolution also called for an "immediate cessation of violence and use of force" and a resumption of peace talks between the Palestinian and Israeli leaderships.

Arab and Islamic states had proposed a resolution expressing "deep concern" about "violence, including police brutality, that took place in Israel resulting in many deaths," but that wording was deleted from the final draft after intense negotiations with representatives from the European Union.

Compared to a resolution adopted Thursday in Geneva by the U.N.'s Commission on Human Rights, which fiercely condemned Israel for "crimes against humanity," the language of the General Assembly resolution is mild.

Israelis and Palestinians blame each other for the fighting in which over 100 people -- all but a handful of them Palestinians or Israeli Arabs -- have died since September 28.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke told reporters earlier Friday the United States would prefer to have no resolution, but that it would support a simple two-part statement commending U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan's efforts to negotiate a truce and expressing support for the agreement between the two sides made at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt earlier this week.