US slammed for impeding UN on Israel's brutal killings

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Palestinian leadership said Saturday that the United States has obstructed a UN resolution to denounce the Israeli aggression and killing 16 Palestinians in Friday's mass protest.

The US provided a cover for Israel to continue its aggression on the Palestinian people and encourage it to defy international legitimacy resolutions that aim at ending the occupation, said Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesperson of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a statement.

The continuing protection of the US administration of the Israeli occupation will only increase Palestinian resilience and Palestinian insistence on its positions against liquidating the Palestinian cause, said the statement.

A wounded Palestinian woman is evacuated during clashes with Israeli troops, March 30, 2018. /Reuters Photo

"The Palestinian official and popular movement will go on until we realize our legitimate rights, to expose the occupation policy whether at the UN Security Council or at the UN General Assembly to request international protection for our unarmed people," said the spokesperson.

The UNSC held an urgent session Saturday over the Gaza violent incident at the request of Kuwait, this month's chair, but failed to reach an agreement on a final statement over the incident.

In light of that, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an independent and transparent investigation into the Gaza rally incident.

Israeli soldiers are seen next to the border on the Israeli side of the border with the northern Gaza Strip, Israel, March 30, 2018. /Reuters photo‍

Abbas held Israel totally responsible for the incident and declared Saturday as a national mourning day.

A coordination committee composed of Palestinian political factions, civil society organizations and youth groups called weeks ago for a large popular rally at nearly 700 meters away from the Israeli border fence under the title of "Return Rally."

The demonstration was launched on Land Day, an annual commemoration of the deaths of six Arab citizens of Israel who were killed by Israeli security forces during demonstrations over government land confiscations in northern Israel in 1976.

But its main focus was a demand that Palestinian refugees be allowed the right of return to towns and villages which their families fled from, or were driven out of, when the state of Israel was created in 1948.

Source(s): Reuters ,Xinhua News Agency