Israel to press on with wall

‘‘Israel will not stop building (the barrier) or abdicate its inalienable right to self-defence,’’ said the aide, Raanan Gissin.

Gissin said Israel was not surprised by the UN vote, calling it a ‘‘tyranny of the majority’’ in the General Assembly.

The vote on the resolution was 150 to 6, with 10 abstentions. The US, Israel, Australia and the Pacific island states of Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau voted against the resolution.

‘‘Thank God that the fate of Israel and of the Jewish people is not decided in this hall,’’ Israeli Ambassador Dan Gillerman said after the vote. ‘‘This resolution cannot but embolden those who are the true enemies of the Israeli and Palestinian people,’’ he added.

All 25 EU nations voted in support of the Palestinian-drafted measure after its Arab sponsors accepted a series of EU modifications over days of negotiations.

The resolution is not legally binding, but carries symbolic weight and may lead to future measures.

Meanwhile, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat issued a decree to condense a dozen security branches into three agencies, an aide said on Wednesday. The move has been a key demand of Palestinians putting Arafat under pressure for reforms, as well as of the US, Egyptian mediators and UN.

The Parliament also urged Arafat to accept PM Ahmed Qurie’s resignation and appoint a new Cabinet to carry out reforms, to stop a spiral into chaos.