UNITED NATIONS, Dec 22 (APP): After days of intense negotiations and many delays, the U.N. Security Council adopted a watered-down resolution Friday calling for boosting aid deliveries to traumatized civilians in war-torn Gaza but without the original call for an “urgent suspension of hostilities” between Israel and Hamas. The vote in the 15-member Council on the revised UAE-drafted resolution was 13 votes in favour to none against. The US and Russia abstained for entirely different reasons.
It followed a U.S. veto of a Russian amendment that would have restored the call for a suspension of hostilities. That vote was 10 members in favour, the U.S. against and four abstentions. The resolution, among other elements, demanded immediate, safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance at scale directly to the Palestinian civilian population throughout the Gaza Strip. The revised text was negotiated during a week of diplomacy by the United States, the United Arab Emirates on behalf of Arab nations and others. The agreement came amid global outrage over a rising Gaza death toll in 11 weeks of Israeli bombardments and a worsening humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian enclave. Council members met behind closed doors on Thursday to discuss a revised draft resolution, then delayed the vote so they could consult their capitals on the significant changes, aimed at avoiding a U.S. veto.
A new text with a few minor revisions was circulated Friday morning. The vote, initially scheduled for Monday, has been delayed every day since then. Rather than watered down, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield described the resolution as “strong” and said it “is fully supported by the Arab group that provides them what they feel is needed to get humanitarian assistance on the ground.” But it was devoid of its key provision with teeth — a call for “the urgent suspension of hostilities to allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access, and for urgent steps towards a sustainable cessation of hostilities.” Instead, it calls “for urgent steps to immediately allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access, and also for creating the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities.” The steps are not defined, but diplomats said if adopted this would mark the council’s first reference to stopping fighting. In his remarks, Russian Ambassador Nebenzia recalled the amendment proposed by his delegation and said that the vote on it was a moment of truth.
He expressed regret that the Security Council did not find the courage to support at least the minimum call for an end to the violence in Gaza, and it instead signed up for a “license to kill” Palestinian civilians. “This is a tragic moment for the Council, not a moment of triumph for multilateral diplomacy, but rather one of gross unprincipled blackmail and open scorn on the part of Washington for the suffering of Palestinians and the hopes of the global community,” he said. He went on to note that if the draft resolution had not been supported by a number of Arab States, Russia would certainly have vetoed it. Adding that Arab States are able to take decisions and bear responsibility, he underscored “categorical” disagreement with the content on the resolution.
Ambassador Nebenzia also emphasized that the Security Council’s clear demand for a full ceasefire remains an imperative, and that without it, the implementation of Council decisions in Gaza is simply impossible. No matter how the US resist, shielding their main ally, in the Middle East region, the Security Council will be back to clearly and unequivocally demand a cessation of hostilities, he said. Addressing the UN General Assembly last week, Pakistan’s Ambassador Munir Akram said that Israel’s war on Gaza was not to destroy Hamas, but to erase the “idea of Palestine”. “Israel’s goal is not only to erase Hamas,” Ambassador Akram said. “This is a war against the Palestinian people. Israel’s goal is to erase not only a people but the entire idea of Palestine.”
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