After a week of diplomatic exchanges, the United States indicated that it was prepared to support a United Nations Security Council resolution. Here’s what we know about the draft resolution.
Why did the United States want the draft resolution watered down?
The original draft was presented by the UAE mission to the UN on December 15 and called for a cessation of hostilities and an unhindered flow of aid into the Gaza Strip. He also said the UN would exclusively monitor aid entering Gaza through routes from outside states. In addition, he called for an “immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.”
Initially, the United States did not want the word “cessation” in the resolution. As a result, the wording was changed to “suspension of hostilities”.
However, Washington was not convinced despite the first round of revisions and the vote was delayed. Today the problem lies in the UN’s monitoring of aid entering Gaza.
PassBlue, an independent organization that monitors the UN, posted on X that US diplomats were reportedly on board with monitoring UN aid until Israel saw the draft resolution.
USUN diplomats apparently agreed with this paragraph in the Gaza draft text, until #Israel I saw it.
Israel wants to keep full control of humanitarian aid arriving in Gaza– PassBlue (@pass_blue) December 20, 2023
Before Thursday, Arab and Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) members proposed new language to the United States regarding the clause that talks about monitoring UN aid entering Gaza, Rami published Tel Aviv Tribune’s Ayari on X.
It’s late and I’m going to sleep soon but here is the progress of the negotiations concerning the #UNSC draft resolution on #Gaza intensification of aid. Following Blinken’s calls with his Egyptian and Emirati counterparts, the ambassadors of the three countries attempted to resolve the…
– Rami Ayari (@Raminho) December 21, 2023
By that time, the vote on the draft resolution had already been postponed seven times in three days, Tel Aviv Tribune’s Gabriel Elizondo reported.
However, the vote also did not take place as planned on Thursday – and was postponed until Friday.
What changes did the United States make to the resolution?
With the help of Arab states, the United States amended the draft.
The US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said: “We are ready to vote on this. And it is a resolution that will provide humanitarian aid to those who need it.
The original draft, which mentioned a “cessation of hostilities,” was amended to call for “an urgent suspension of hostilities to allow safe and unimpeded humanitarian access and urgent steps toward a lasting cessation of hostilities.”
But the draft amended by the United States drops any reference to a pause in fighting.
Instead, it calls for “urgent measures to immediately enable safe and unimpeded humanitarian access, and also to create the conditions for a lasting cessation of hostilities.”
The original draft also stated that the UN would “exclusively monitor all shipments of humanitarian aid to Gaza provided by land, sea and air” from countries not parties to the war.
Instead, the amended draft resolution calls on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to appoint a senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator to, in turn, establish a mechanism to accelerate aid to Gaza through through States which are not parties to the conflict.
The coordinator would also be responsible for “facilitating, coordinating, monitoring and verifying in Gaza, where appropriate, the humanitarian character” of all aid.
The original draft resolution demanded that Israel and Hamas authorize and facilitate “the use of all land, sea and air routes to and through all of Gaza” for the delivery of aid. This was replaced with “all available routes”, which some diplomats say allows Israel to retain control of access to all aid deliveries to Gaza’s 2.3 million residents.
Israel monitors limited aid deliveries to Gaza via the Rafah crossing with Egypt and the Israeli-controlled Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing.
Will the resolution be adopted?
To pass, the resolution requires at least nine votes from the 15 member states, and no veto from the United States, France, China, the United Kingdom or Russia – the five permanent members of the Security Council of ONU.
While Thomas-Greenfield told reporters that the plan is now “a resolution that we can support,” she declined to specify whether the United States would vote for or abstain.
The vote, however, was postponed until Friday after Russia – which also has veto power – and some other council members complained in closed-door discussions about the amendments being made to appease Washington, diplomats said. Russian Ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzya declined to speak to journalists after the meeting.
Now that the language that initially called for a “cessation of hostilities” has been significantly diluted, there is no guarantee that permanent members Russia and China will be on board.
Russia and China previously vetoed a US-led resolution on October 25, which called for a “humanitarian pause” instead of a “ceasefire”.
If this passes, will it make a difference?
Gaza is in urgent need of food as its entire population experiences a food crisis, according to a UN-backed report. A significantly large proportion of households face food insecurity and the threat of famine is increasing.
Although the provision for unfettered access to aid sounds promising in theory, the delivery of food and other aid lagged behind Gaza’s needs even before the war. More than two months of fighting have created a new backlog in assistance needs. Meanwhile, Israel has so far failed to meet its aid commitments.
Previously, a humanitarian pause was negotiated between Israel and Hamas to allow for an exchange of prisoners and captives, while allowing more humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.
But even during the pause, around 200 aid trucks entered Gaza each day, compared to 500 trucks entering daily before the violence erupted on October 7. The UN said the flow of aid during the truce fell short of people’s needs. the civilians of Gaza. Hunger in the enclave has only worsened since then, making it unclear whether the UN and other agencies will be able – without interruption in fighting – to meet the enclave’s humanitarian needs.
Israel has also previously ignored UN Security Council resolutions. On November 15, the Security Council adopted a resolution calling for “urgent and prolonged humanitarian pauses and corridors” throughout the Gaza Strip. But Israel’s envoy to the UN immediately declared that the resolution made “no sense” for his country. It was more than a week later that Israel and Hamas finally agreed to a brief truce which expired in early December.