U.N. Demands Separation Wall Halt

Passed by a vote of 144-4, with 12 countries abstaining, the resolution warned the wall would "prejudge future negotiations and make the two-state solution physically impossible to implement and would cause further humanitarian hardship for the Palestinians," reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

It asserted that the barrier contravenes international law, but fell short of meeting Arab-led demands that the entire matter be referred to the International Court of Justice in the Hague for a legal ruling, reported the BBC News Online.

The resolution further called on Israel not to take any action "undermining trust, including deportations and attacks on civilians and extra-judicial killings."

The measure urged both Israel and the Palestinians to fulfill their obligations under the roadmap, an internationally-sponsored three-stage peace plan that provides for creating a Palestinian state by 2005.

It also called on the Palestinian Authority to "take visible efforts on the ground to arrest, disrupt, and restrain individuals and groups conducting and planning violent attacks" against Israel.

The resolution asked U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan to report back in a month’s time on Israeli compliance with the U.N. demand and if no changes take place he is tasked to suggest what further actions should be considered, said the British broadcast.

The BBC’s Greg Barrow at the UN says that although the resolution sends a clear message to Israel, General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding, and carry less weight those passed in the Security Council.

Voting against the resolution were Israel, the United States, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands.

The 600km-long wall will cut occupied Jerusalem off from the rest of the West Bank and effectively cuts off vast swathes of fertile land and scores of villages from the occupied West Bank.

A U.N. report underlined last month that the wall marked illegal annexation of Palestinian territory and must be condemned by the world community.

Few hours after the U.N. report, the defiant Israeli government of Ariel Sharon approved Wednesday, October 1, a new 100-million-dollar section of the controversial barrier.

Washington vetoed on October 15 an Arab-proposed U.N. Security Council resolution condemning the Israeli wall.

The first phase of the barrier was completed in July 2003 in the northern West Bank.

U.S. President George Bush had previously described the wall as "a problem" obstructing the creation of a Palestinian state.

However, he dropped the term four days later when Sharon was visiting him in the White House.