NEW YORK, August 1, 2009 (WAFA)- The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) demanded Friday  that Israel comply with the Protocol on Economic Relations between the Government of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) signed in Paris on 29 April 1994.

In a resolution entitled Economic and social repercussions of the Israeli occupation on the living conditions of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan, contained in (E/2009/L.42), the ECOSOC called for the lifting of all mobility restrictions imposed on the Palestinian people, including those arising from ongoing Israeli military operations and the multilayered closures system, and for other urgent measures to be taken to alleviate the desperate humanitarian situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, especially in the Gaza Strip.

The ECOSOC resolution, adopted by a vote of 25 in favour, five against, and 17 abstentions, called upon Israel to restore and replace civilian properties, vital infrastructure, agricultural lands and governmental institutions that have been damaged or destroyed as a result of its military operations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

It also called upon all parties to respect the rules of international humanitarian law, and to refrain from violence against the civilian population in accordance with the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949.

ECOSOC called upon Israel, the occupying Power, to cease its destruction of homes and properties, economic institutions and agricultural lands and orchards in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, as well as in the occupied Syrian Golan, to end immediately its exploitation of natural resources, including water and mining resources, and to cease the dumping of all kinds of waste materials in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and in the occupied Syrian Golan, and to remove all obstacles that obstruct implementation of critical environmental projects, including the sewage treatment plants in the Gaza Strip.

It called upon Israel to comply with the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention on the Protection of Civilians in Times of War, and to facilitate visits of the Syrian citizens of the occupied Syrian Golan whose family members reside in their mother homeland, the Syrian Arab Republic, via the Qunaitra entrance.

The resolution requested the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its sixty-fourth session, through the Economic and Social Council, a report on the implementation of the present resolution and to continue to include in the report of the United Nations Special Coordinator an update on the living conditions of the Palestinian people; and decides to include the item entitled 'Economic and social repercussions of the Israeli occupation on the living conditions of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan' in the agenda of its substantive session of 2010.

The result of the vote was as follows:

In favour (25): Algeria, Barbados, Belarus, Bolivia, Brazil, China, El Salvador, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Malaysia, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Russian Federation, Saint Lucia, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

Against (5): Canada, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, and United States.

Abstentions (17): Côte d'Ivoire, Estonia, France, Greece, Japan, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malawi, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Sweden, and United Kingdom.