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U.N. calls for Israel to tear down barrier

Palestinian students, members of the Al Quds University soccer team, practice backdropped by part of Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank town of Abu Dis, in the outskirts of east Jerusalem on Tuesday.Palestinian students, members of the Al Quds University soccer team, practice backdropped by part of Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank town of Abu Dis, in the outskirts of east Jerusalem on Tuesday. (Associated PressAssociated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Thomas S. Mulligan Los Angeles Times
Palestinian students, members of the Al Quds University soccer team, practice backdropped by part of Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank town of Abu Dis, in the outskirts of east Jerusalem on Tuesday.Palestinian students, members of the Al Quds University soccer team, practice backdropped by part of Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank town of Abu Dis, in the outskirts of east Jerusalem on Tuesday. (Associated PressAssociated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a nonbinding resolution Tuesday demanding that Israel bow to a world court ruling and tear down the barrier it is constructing in the occupied West Bank.

Israel immediately condemned the resolution, and the United States called it a distraction from the peace efforts including the “road map.”

The vote was 150 nations in favor, six opposed and 10 abstaining. Besides Israel and the United States, the other “no” votes came from Australia, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau.

Abstaining were Cameroon, Canada, El Salvador, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Uganda, Uruguay and Vanuatu.

The vote, postponed from Monday, was delayed more than three hours Tuesday evening while members of the European Union and the Arab League argued over amendments to soften the language against Israel. In the end, all 25 EU members voted in favor of the resolution. Although the measure is nonbinding, it increases international pressure on Israel.

After the vote, Israeli Ambassador Dan Gillerman attacked the measure as “one-sided and totally counterproductive.”

Israel has insisted that it that needs the 437-mile barrier to deter suicide bombers.

Gillerman told reporters after the vote that construction would continue. “Israel will continue to do what it must do to protect its citizens,” he said.

The resolution was prompted by a July 9 nonbinding opinion of the International Court of Justice in the Hague, Netherlands, which ruled that the separation fence restricted Palestinian freedom of movement and threatened a “de facto annexation” of Palestinian lands.

As planned, the barrier will be a combination of wire fences, concrete walls, trenches, roads and surveillance gear. It is about one-third complete.

Nasser Kidwa, Palestinian permanent observer at the United Nations, thanked the assembly for its action and called the vote perhaps the most important measure since the 1947 resolution that divided Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states.