Israel condemned by Human Rights Council members

Sep 20, 2007, 18:13 GMT

Geneva - Israel was condemned by Arab and Islamic members of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Thursday for declaring Gaza a 'hostile entity.'

Pakistan, speaking for the Islamic countries, accused Israel of human rights violations including targeted assassinations, house demolitions, arbitrary detention of parliamentarians and spoke of the economic hardship and deteriorating situation for people in the Golan Heights and other occupied territories.

Israel's security cabinet made the declaration on the Hamas- controlled Gaza Strip on Wednesday and said it would limit supplies to the territory.

Israeli Ambassador Itzhak Levanon said the new Council had 'an incurable obsession' with Israel accusing it of being no better than its predecessor, the widely discredited Human Rights Commission.

Israel was as committed as ever to its humanitarian obligations. 'But no country in the world would consent to maintain normal commercial and economic relations with a territory controlled by a terrorist entity which regularly shells and indiscriminately targets innocent civilians in a neighbouring state,' said Levanon.

Venezuela said the cutting off of services to Gaza by Israel would represent a violation of humanitarian laws. The European Union group of countries condemned extrajudicial killings on both sides, calling on Israel to facilitate economic sustainability and urging the Palestinian parties to condemn violence.

The US representative Michael Klecheski called for balance, moderation and support for the bilateral talks. He said: 'Arab nations should end the fiction that Israel did not exist.'