Palestine Wednesday called the situation in the Gaza Strip "grave and highly volatile" with continued Israeli crimes, warning that the international community will "no longer tolerate its illegal actions."

This statement came as the permanent observer of Palestine to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, was taking the floor at the UN General Assembly on the debate of the Goldstone report, which found evidence that both Israel and the Palestinians committed serious war crimes during the 22-day Gaza conflict which broke out on December 27, 2008.

"Today, we call upon the international community, on behalf of all the Palestinian victims who have suffered from the Israeli crimes, to take a clear stand for upholding justice and international law," said Mansour.

"The draft resolution before the General Assembly represents a serious, responsible, collective effort to address the serious human rights violations and grave breaches of international humanitarian law committed during the Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip," he said.

He stressed to the GA that the discussion should be not "just another opportunity to express our sympathies and display respect for international law," but for a way to "break this cycle of impunity" with member states supporting the draft resolution.

"While we reject any equation of the occupying Power's aggression and crimes with actions committed in response by the Palestinian side, we wish to clearly reaffirm that there is absolutely no symmetry or proportionality between the occupier and the occupied," he said.

"In this regard, the investigation carried out by the Mission led to findings that clearly confirm that Israel, the occupying Power, committed serious human rights violations and grave breaches of international humanitarian law," he said.

"We take very seriously the allegations contained in the Goldstone report regarding possible Palestinian violations," Mansour said. "Furthermore, in affirmation of our utmost respect for and conviction in the rule of law, we reiterate the commitment, as publicly stated, to the pursuit of domestic legal investigations to address that crucial matter."

Earlier, the president of the 64th GA session, Ali Treki, said in his opening statement that he hopes "the outcome of this debate will fully reflect this unity and will meet the expectations of the entire international community."

After the debate, the GA will put to vote a draft resolution, which would call upon both Israel and Palestine to conduct "independent and credible" probes into the alleged war crimes.

Israel has rejected the Goldstone report on the ground that it is "biased" and "one-sided."

Treki, a veteran Libyan diplomat, has received a letter from the UN Human Rights Council transmitting the report of the mission, which was headed by Justice Richard Goldstone, a former prosecutorat the UN war crimes tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

The four-member investigative team found evidence that both Israeli forces and Palestinian militants committed serious war crimes and breaches of humanitarian law, which may amount to crimes against humanity, during the conflict in December 2008 and January 2009.

The Geneva-based Human Rights Council, when it took up the report two weeks ago, had strongly condemned a host of Israeli measures in the occupied Palestinian territory and called on both sides to implement the mission's recommendations.

The Wednesday meeting follows a request from the Arab Group in New York, supported by the 118-member Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), to consider the report in the Assembly during the first week of November, according to a note issued by the spokesperson for the president of the 192-nation General Assembly.

(Xinhua News Agency November 5, 2009)