UNITED NATIONS, Amid growing concern over United States’ blocking of UN Security Council’s efforts to issue a public statement seeking de-escalation’ of Israel-Palestine hostilities, France has stepped forward with a resolution calling for a ceasefire in the devastated Gaza Strip, according to diplomats.
The development came ahead of Thursday’s U.N. General Assembly session on the raging crisis in which Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and a number of his counterparts from various parts of the world are set to take part. Qureshi is on diplomatic mission to support Palestine, under special instructions of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The French move at the 15-member Council reportedly surprised the Biden administration, which blocked three previous Security Council statements on Gaza. Analysts believe that the French could use the draft resolution to get the U.S. to apply more pressure on Israel to stop its deadly military operation.
Frustration among diplomats has been rising over the past week as the veto-wielding United States put brakes on the Security Council from speaking out, arguing that it prefers to use its own diplomatic powers to calm things down.
Israeli air strikes in Gaza have killed at least 217 Palestinians, including 63 children, since May 10, the enclave’s health ministry said.
Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Ambassador Munir Akram summed up the mood here, telling CNN, “It is most regrettable that the Security Council has remained paralyzed in this crisis. The world expects that at the very least the Council will call for an immediate halt to the hostilities and prevent the killing of more innocent children, women and men.”
Meanwhile, France circulated its draft to several members of the Council on Tuesday. The move was coordinated with Egypt and Jordan following a summit between French President Emmanuel Macron, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and King Abdullah of Jordan.
“The three countries agreed on three simple elements: The shooting must stop, the time has come for a ceasefire and the UN Security Council must take up the issue,” an official statement issued in Paris said.
Israel lobbied the U.S. to block three previous draft statements on Gaza at the Council. While it did so, the Biden administration has begun sending signals that it wants Israel to end its anti-Palestinian operation soon.
Diplomats said the 14 other Council members supported the statement proposed by China, Tunisia and Norway. But Security Council press and presidential statements require approval of all 15 members. Resolutions, which are legally binding, do not. They require at least nine “yes” votes and no veto by a permanent member. This would put the United States in the position of voting in favour, abstaining, or vetoing a cease-fire call.
Chinese Ambassador Zhang Jun told reporters that China, Tunisia and Norway “haven’t given up our effort … and that draft statement stays there on the table, and we will continue to make our effort, making sure that the Security Council is fulfilling its mandate and responsibilities.”
He said that U.S. President Joe Biden’s support for a cease-fire is “consistent with what we are proposing in the Security Council,” and China will support “all efforts facilitating the cease-fire, facilitating the ending of the crisis, and the coming back of peace in the Middle East.”
The proposed French resolution could be submitted to the Security Council as early as Wednesday and put to a quick vote, a diplomatic source told APP.
Earlier, the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, challenged the Biden administration to show results from its diplomatic efforts to achieve a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas fighters, pointing to the U.S. repeatedly blocking Security Council action on grounds it would interfere with its diplomatic efforts.
Riyad Mansour said “if the Biden administration can exert all of their pressure to bring an end to the aggression against our people, nobody is going to stand in their way.”
But, he said, the facts speak for themselves, and nobody has succeeded yet, so the U.S. argument that a Council statement would interfere with efforts to achieve a cease-fire “does not hold water.”
Mansour spoke at a press briefing Tuesday as the Security Council again met in closed consultations at the request of China, Norway and Tunisia who have been pressing for the Security Council to respond to the Gaza conflict, now in its second week. But Council diplomats said the United States reiterated again that a statement would not help diplomatic efforts despite the 14 other members calling for council action.
In east Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, Palestinian protesters faced off against police, who used stun grenades and “skunk water” cannon to disperse protesters.
The latest escalation was sparked after clashes broke out at east Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque compound, as well as over planned expulsions of Palestinians from Sheikh Jarrah.
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