The United Nations General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly in support of a resolution calling on Israel to drop a threat to harm or deport Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.
The 191-nation assembly voted 133-4, with 15 abstentions. The United States and Israel voted against along with the Marshall Islands and Micronesia. Australia, Canada, Kenya and Colombia were among those abstaining.
Arab and nonaligned nations asked the assembly to act after the United States on Tuesday vetoed a virtually identical measure in the 15-nation Security Council. It was the 26th US veto of a Middle East resolution in the council.
The assembly vote revealed divisions in the quartet of international mediators - the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations - responsible for the road map intended to guide the region to peace through the creation of a Palestinian state.
Quartet officials are due to meet at the United Nations next Friday to discuss the crisis.
EU members and Russia unanimously backed the resolution after its sponsors agreed at the last minute to add phrases condemning both Palestinian suicide bombings and Israeli targeted killings of Palestinian militants.
Israel touched off an international outcry last week when, acting after back-to-back suicide bombings killed 15 Israelis. It announced a decision "to remove" Arafat as an "obstacle to peace." It did not say how or when it would do so.