UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 21 -- The U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a resolution Tuesday demanding that Israel halt construction of a barrier intended to cut it off from the West Bank and dismantle the portion already built.
The barrier, which Israel argues is needed as protection from suicide bombers, has come under stiff criticism because it dips into the West Bank and cuts through Palestinian villages.
General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding, unlike those adopted by the Security Council. But the votes of the 191-member assembly are considered a gauge of world opinion.
After hours of haggling over the text of the resolution, the assembly voted 144 in favor and four opposed, including the United States. There were 12 abstentions.
In return for support from the European Union, the Palestinians and other Arab and Islamic nations agreed to drop a second resolution that would have asked the International Court of Justice at The Hague, Netherlands, for an advisory opinion on the barrier's legality.
The resolution's backers also agreed to add a condemnation of Palestinian suicide bombings, "extra-judicial killings" by the Israelis, and the Oct. 16 bomb attack on a U.S. diplomatic convoy in the Gaza Strip that killed three American security officers.
The resolution says that the barrier violates the Armistice Line of 1949 and demands that Israel halt construction and dismantle the part it has completed.
