Developing nations condemn Israeli incursions

DEVELOPING nations yesterday agreed on draft recommendations that Israeli incursions into Palestinian areas be treated as war crimes, delegates said.

The head of the Palestinian delegation to the UN, Nasser al-Kidwa, attending the summit of the 114-member Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Malaysia, welcomed the draft as an important step forward.

The draft calls for the application of legal measures in relation to war crimes committed in the occupied Palestinian lands, including Jerusalem, Kidwa said.

Israel says its military actions in the West Bank and Gaza are to stop Palestinian attacks on its soldiers and civilians. At least 1,868 Palestinians and 705 Israelis have been killed in a 29-month-old uprising against occupation.

The draft NAM statement voiced grave concern over the Palestinian situation: “It strongly condemned the systematic human rights violations and reported war crimes that have been committed by the Israeli occupying forces”.

The head of the political directorate in the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, Farouq al-Qaddoumi, said the movement that includes almost two-thirds of UN members had shown it was clearly a friend to the Palestinian cause.

NAM was set up in the Cold War as a counterweight to the Eastern and Western blocs.