Today Palestinians marked the end of Ramadan, with thousands of Muslim worshippers flocking to the al-Aqsa mosque that is situated on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s old-city. In the West Bank city of Ramallah, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas marked the Muslim holiday, which is called Eid al-Fitr, with a wreath-laying ceremony at the grave of his predecessor Yasser Arafat – during which he praised the international community for condemning Israel at the United Nations General Assembly. “We wish the Palestinian people and the Arabs and Muslims and the Non-aligned countries, that achieved a victory in the United Nations General Assembly, (a happy Eid),” Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said.
The United Nations General Assembly voted in favor of a draft resolution that was introduced on Wednesday by Algeria and Turkey, condemning Israel for excessive use of force in dealing in the past two months with Palestinian demonstrations along Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip.
The resolution that was approved also called for international protection for the civilian population of the Hamas-run Palestinian enclave – a resolution the United States condemned as “totally one-sided,” claiming the resolution does nothing to advance peace between Israel and the Palestinians, but rather is used cynically by U.N. member states for domestic political gains.