Withdraw from Golan Heights, UN to Israel

The non-binding resolution asked Israel to withdraw to the pre-war position of June 4, 1967, in interest of peace.

It also demanded that Israel respect commitments and undertakings reached during previous talks. The reference was to promises made by late Israeli premier Yatzhak Rabin to withdraw from the Golan Heights. Syria demands the fresh talks be resumed from where they were left off.

But Israel maintains no promises were made and question of withdrawal was raised to guage Syrian reaction.

The Assembly’s demand came in one of the six resolutions on theMiddle East adopted yesterday.

In another resolution adopted by 139-1 (Israel) with the US, Swaziland and Uzbekistan abstaining, the Assembly deplored transfer by some countries of their diplomatic missions to Jerusalem in violation of a Security Council resolution.

The Assembly said Israel’s decision to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration on the holy city were illegal and hence, null and void.

Israel says that Jerusalem is its capital but Palestinians want east Jerusalem as their capital. The east was captured by Israel from Jordan in the 1967 war.

But the Assembly failed for the third straight year to adopt a resolution endorsing the Mid-East process, introduced by the US, after Israel opposed the attempt by Arabs to introduce the concept of `Land for Peace’.

The Assembly reaffirmed the need to achieve a peaceful settlement to the question of Palestine which it said was the "core" of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

In another resolution passed 149-3, with two abstentions, it stressed thenecessity of a commitment to the principle of land for peace as well as implementation of Security Council resolutions that form the basis of the Mid-East peace process.

The Assembly also emphasised the need for "immediate and scrupulous" implementation of agreements reached between the parties and urged members to speed up economic and technical assistance to the Palestinians during "this critical period".

It emphasized the importance of the UN playing a more active and expanded role in the current peace process.

In another resolution on Palestine, the Assembly authorised the committee on exercise of inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to continue to exert all efforts to promote the rights of the Palestinians.

It also asked the Secretary General to provide the division for Palestinian rights with necessary resources for its programmes.