A United Nations body passed a resolution Thursday condemning Israel for imposing "severe restrictions" on Palestinians, and demanded that the Jewish state transfer tax revenues owed to Palestinian authorities.
The Economic and Social Council voted 45-3 in favor, with three abstentions, in criticizing Israel's treatment of Palestinians living in East Jerusalem and "the occupied Palestinian territory."
It "called for the lifting of the severe restrictions imposed on the Palestinian people." It also demanded that Israel comply with an economic agreement signed with the PLO in 1994 and "urgently transfer Palestinian tax revenues."
Israel's ambassador to international organizations in Geneva blasted the resolution.
"The sole purpose is just to discredit Israel," Ambassador Itzhak Levanon told The Associated Press. "It is not equitable and balanced. It is regrettable to see this type of resolution that doesn't take into account the full picture."
The body, which is known as ECOSOC, also censured Israel for its treatment of Arabs living in the Golan Heights, which was captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East War.
The United States voted against the resolution alongside Australia and Canada.
"The United States is concerned about the economic and social hardships facing the Palestinian people, but this resolution fails to address the fundamental causes of those hardships, including the actions of the Hamas-led leadership," U.S. Ambassador Terry Miller said.
The Palestinian delegation, however, praised the decision of the council to hold Israel to account for what it called the "aggression and killing of innocent Palestinians."
"The adoption of the resolution with an overwhelming majority is not a victory to Palestinian people, it is just a victory of reason," said Mohammad Abu-Koash. "The Palestinian people, children and women, are being killed by the Israeli military machinery."
