Friday 21 November 2008

Maguire to UN: Revoke Israel membership

A Nobel Peace Prize laureate says the United Nations should suspend or revoke Israel's membership for defying resolutions over years.

Some 65 UN resolutions condemning Israeli actions against Palestinians have been defied by Tel Aviv.

Mairead Maguire, a 64-year-old Irish, who won the 1976 peace prize, said at a Thursday news conference that its reluctance to take heed of UN resolutions should be followed with some sort of punishment, the Associated Press reported.

Meanwhile, thanks to Washington's membership in the Security Council, at least 40 anti-Israeli UNSC resolutions have been vetoed by since 1972.

Since 2004, Washington has vetoed three resolutions which called on Tel Aviv to halt its operations in the Gaza Strip.

The region had been previously occupied by Israel. Since the withdrawal of Israeli forces, the strip has regularly suffered from Israeli rocket attacks which have caused the death of a large number of civilians in the area.

After declaring the strip 'a hostile entity' in September 2007, Israel curtailed travel into Gaza and cut fuel and electricity supplies to the region.

Maguire, who is visiting the Palestinian territories to protest Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip, said that it is time for the international community to stop Israeli crimes and take action against the regime. PressTV

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