WHO issues anti-Israeli resolution

The World Health Organization (WHO), with the approval of the majority, has issued a resolution urging Israel to end the siege of Gaza.

Earning the approval of 63 member states, the resolution demanded “that Israel… immediately put an end to the closure of the occupied Palestinian territory,” AFP reported on Tuesday.

At the annual WHO meeting, the World Health Assembly, which passed the resolution, said the restrictions particularly had to be lifted off “the crossing points of the occupied Gaza Strip that are causing the serious shortage of medicines and medical supplies therein.”

Tel Aviv imposed the siege in mid-June 2007 when the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas gained control of the territory, tightening the restrictions it had already put into effect.

The siege has deprived Gaza’s 1.5 million Palestinians of fuel, food, and other basic necessities.

The United States, which was one of the eight countries that voted against the resolution, said it would stir up tension.

Washington, Tel Aviv’s oldest ally, has invariably either opposed or used its veto power to nix anti-Israeli resolutions, especially the ones brought up at the United Nations Security Council.

The WHO resolution also urged that Tel Aviv provide Palestinian patients with better access to the health facilities in occupied al-Quds (East Jerusalem) and the West Bank. Israel occupied al-Quds and the West Bank in 1967 and later annexed al-Quds, although the international community never recognized the annexation.

The European Union abstained from the vote, saying it had sought a “more balanced” text which focused on health, which, it claimed, was not reflected in the resolution.