MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT Palestinians control territory, U.N. says

Under the road map peace plan, 'final status' issues must be negotiated.
COMBINED DISPATCHES
UNITED NATIONS -- The U.N. General Assembly approved a resolution affirming the Palestinians' right to sovereignty over the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, despite strong Israeli and U.S. objections.
The decision came during intense negotiations that brought European Union countries on board for a final vote of 140-6, with 11 abstentions.
The Palestinians pressed for the resolution after President Bush's assurances to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon last month that Israel could retain some Jewish settlements on the West Bank and limit Palestinian refugee returns in a final peace deal.
Israel insisted that borders and refugees are so-called "final status" issues to be determined in negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians -- and that the letters exchanged by Bush and Sharon did not abandon these negotiations.
The vote came two days after the architects of the road map peace plan -- the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia -- reiterated that final status issues must be negotiated between Israel and the Palestinians.
Calling the resolution "inappropriate and ill-timed," U.S. deputy ambassador James Cunningham said it "will detract from and not enhance efforts for peace."
He stressed that at Tuesday's meeting, the so-called Quartet stated that "no party should seek to take unilateral actions."
Other actions
Meanwhile, Israeli troops raided a West Bank village near the town of Tulkarem today, surrounding a house and killing two Palestinian militants, witnesses and the army said.
Also, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz signed an order calling for the removal of three illegal West Bank outposts.
Troops entered the village of Nur el-Shams before dawn, and surrounded a house where three militants from the Islamic Jihad group were hiding out, the army said.
One of the militants surrendered but the other two men refused, the army said.
The two gunmen, identified by witnesses as Wahil Rabah and Said Mousai, were killed in a gunfight that followed.
The army said that later troops found three assault rifles in the house.
Sharon and Mofaz' order today includes the Givat Assaf outpost, home to 15 families, and two others.
Israel is obligated under the U.S.-backed road map peace plan to dismantle dozens of unauthorized West Bank outposts.
Although Israel has removed a handful of the outposts, most were no more than a trailer and an Israeli flag on a barren hilltop and rebuilt within days.
The settlers have two weeks to appeal the order.