United Nations: Concerned over sufferings and casualties caused by continuing violence in the Middle East, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has called for withdrawal of Israeli forces from all Arab lands it occupied after 1967 war and "commitment to vision" of separate Palestine and Israeli states existing side by side.

In what has become an annual ritual, the 191-member assembly on December 3, adopted six resolutions by overwhelming margins urging for efforts to bring peace to the region and criticizing Israeli policies.

The Assembly's resolutions, unlike those of the Security Council, are not binding and are recommendatory in nature though they do indicate what a majority of world thinks and aspires for.

Most of the resolutions got more than one hundred affirmative votes with the Marshall Islands and Micronesia joining Israel and the United States (US) in casting negative votes.

One of the resolutions called on major international powers, including the US, Russia and European Union to use their influence in bringing peace to the Middle East region and persuading Israel to reverse all its steps taken after latest round of violence broke out in September 2000.

PTI