12/18/2023–|Last updated: 12/18/202311:34 PM (Mecca time)
The UN Security Council vote on a new draft resolution on Gaza, which was scheduled for Monday, was postponed until Tuesday to make way for continued negotiations on the proposed text, according to diplomatic sources, 10 days after Washington used its veto power.
The United Arab Emirates, which presented a new draft resolution calling for an “urgent and permanent cessation of hostilities” in Gaza, requested that the vote be postponed, and that it take place on Tuesday at a date that has not yet been determined, according to the same sources.
On December 9, the United States vetoed a draft council resolution calling for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in Gaza, where Israel continues a devastating bombing campaign and a large-scale ground attack.
The United Nations General Assembly adopted a non-binding resolution in this regard with a majority of 153 votes out of the 193 member states, while 10 countries voted against it, and 23 abstained from voting.
New text
After this overwhelming support for the resolution, the Arab countries announced that a new text would be put to a vote in the Security Council.
The draft resolution proposed by the UAE calls for “an urgent and permanent cessation of hostilities to allow unhindered access of humanitarian assistance to the Gaza Strip.”
The text calls on both parties to the conflict to facilitate the entry and distribution of humanitarian aid throughout the Gaza Strip “by land, sea and air.” It also affirms support for the two-state solution and “stresses the importance of unifying the Gaza Strip and the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority.”
Similar to the previous draft and the resolution approved by the General Assembly, the proposed text does not mention the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) by name, which the United States and Israel always criticize, only denouncing “all indiscriminate attacks against civilians and “all terrorist acts,” and demanding the release of Prisoners.
The Security Council has been subjected to severe criticism since the outbreak of the war on Gaza, as it only succeeded in issuing one resolution in mid-November calling for “truces and humanitarian corridors,” while 5 drafts were rejected, two of which were due to Washington’s use of its veto power.
American warning
The vote on the new draft resolution comes after US President Joe Biden warned Israel a few days ago that it might lose the support of the international community due to its “indiscriminate” bombing of the Gaza Strip.
Louis Charbonneau of Human Rights Watch believes that “the United States must support this talk by taking action in the Security Council in order to put pressure on Israel and Palestinian armed groups to urge them to respect international humanitarian law and protect civilians.”
Amnesty International Secretary General Agnes Callamard also considered on Monday that “any use of the veto will mean more deaths, more famine and more suffering,” calling on Americans to support the text.
It is noteworthy that Security Council resolutions are binding, even though a number of countries concerned with them regularly ignore them.
Today’s vote comes as the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip continues for the 73rd day in a row, leaving massive destruction, a worsening humanitarian and health crisis, and a number of martyrs exceeding 19,000, most of them children and women, in addition to more than 52,000 injured.
