2023-11-15 23:48:08
The UN Security Council has adopted a Gaza resolution calling for “extended humanitarian pauses” in the Gaza Strip. After a long struggle, the most powerful body in the United Nations agreed on the joint resolution on Wednesday in New York. The USA waived a veto and abstained, as did Russia and Great Britain. 12 of the 15 member states voted in favor of the text. Israel’s Foreign Ministry immediately rejected the demands.
Security Council resolutions are binding under international law. In this way you can develop international influence. The resolution introduced by Council Member Malta calls, among other things, for “urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors throughout the Gaza Strip for a sufficient number of days”, i.e. day-long ceasefires, to ensure humanitarian assistance in accordance with international law. But there is no talk of a formal ceasefire. The text focuses strongly on the suffering of Palestinian minors. It expresses “deep concern regarding the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and its serious impact on the civilian population, in particular the disproportionate impact on children.”
All parties to the conflict are required to comply with international law, a “forced relocation of the civilian population” is rejected, and vital services must not be withheld from the people in the Gaza Strip. According to diplomats, these positions should be understood with regard to Israel’s actions in the region – although the country is not mentioned by name throughout the document. The text only mentions the Islamist Hamas, which attacked Israel on October 7th and carried out a massacre of civilians with around 1,200 deaths, in its demand for the release of the Israeli hostages kidnapped to the Gaza Strip.
Until shortly before the vote, it was questionable whether the USA, as Israel’s closest ally, might tolerate the adoption of the resolution. In October, Washington vetoed a draft because, among other things, it did not emphasize Israel’s right to self-defense. The resolution that has now been adopted does not address this, nor is there any condemnation of the Hamas massacre on October 7th. The USA, like China, Russia, France and Great Britain, has veto rights. The Council also has ten member states elected for two-year terms. A resolution needs at least 9 of the 15 votes, and there can be no veto.
After the vote, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield criticized that “some members of the Council” were still not ready to condemn the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7th. However, she also reminded her ally Israel that all warring parties must comply with international law: “Hamas’ actions do not diminish Israel’s responsibility to protect innocent people in Gaza.” Britain stressed that it might not vote for the proposal because of the lack of condemnation of terrorism.
The ambassador of the United Arab Emirates, which is very active in the conflict, spoke of a long-overdue first step in view of the agreement on the resolution: “However, the UAE remains committed to working towards a lasting humanitarian ceasefire. We must not lose sight of this urgent goal.” said Lana Zaki Nusseibih. The director of the human rights organization Human Rights Watch, Louis Charbonneau, wrote on The US finally stopped paralyzing the Security Council on the issue of Israel and Palestine so that this resolution on the plight of children in Gaza might move forward.
UN expert Richard Gowan of the Crisis Group think tank said US Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield appeared to have made it clear to Washington “that the US must allow some sort of action in the Council following weeks of blocking progress.” The United States was careful to avoid calling for a formal ceasefire in the text.
“So ultimately the US achieved its main goal of focusing the council on humanitarian action rather than calling for a complete end to the war,” Gowan said. At Wednesday’s meeting, Russia failed to integrate the demand for a final cessation of hostilities and a ceasefire into the draft.
There was immense pressure on the UN Security Council to reach a common position following weeks of negotiations. Until Wednesday, drafts had failed, among other things, due to the vetoes of the USA on the one hand and Russia and China on the other. The UN General Assembly with its 193 members passed a resolution that was significantly more critical of Israel at the end of October with a large majority. Austria voted once morest it at the time, while most EU states – including Germany – abstained. This decision was not binding under international law.
Israel rejects a longer humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza war as long as 239 hostages are held by the Islamist terrorist organization Hamas. The Israeli Foreign Ministry announced this on Wednesday evening in response to the UN Security Council’s resolution on Gaza. “Israel calls on the UN Security Council and the international community to resolutely demand the release of all Israeli hostages, as set out in the resolution,” said the statement from the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem. “Israel expects the UN Security Council to unequivocally condemn Hamas and comment on the need to create a new security situation in the Gaza Strip.”
Israeli army spokesman Arye Sharuz Shalicar said in connection with the UN vote in the evening on ORF-ZiB 2 that there were daily ceasefires in the Gaza Strip. In every war there are “unsightly scenes,” he argued. In addition, the “humanitarian catastrophe” in Israel should not be ignored. Eight million people there are under rocket fire every day. The spokesman said that the liberation of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas was “the be-all and end-all of this war.” As long as the hostages have not been released, an end to the war is out of the question.
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