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Though they are aware that the US would veto the resolution, Arab countries are voting in favor of it in an effort to demonstrate widespread international support for putting a stop to the Israel-Hamas conflict. The resolution calls for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza.
The Security Council set Tuesday at 10 a.m. EST (1500 GMT) for the resolution vote.
The Biden administration, according to US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, will veto the resolution supported by the Arabs because it might obstruct ongoing US efforts to mediate a settlement between the warring parties that would result in at least a six-week ceasefire and the release of all hostages taken during Hamas’ unexpected attack on southern Israel on October 7.
In a surprise move ahead of the vote, the United States circulated a rival UN Security Council resolution that would support a temporary cease-fire in Gaza linked to the release of all hostages, and call for the lifting of all restrictions on the delivery of humanitarian aid.
Both of these actions “would help to create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities,” the draft resolution obtained by The Associated Press says.
US deputy ambassador Robert Wood told several reporters Monday that the Arab-backed resolution is not “an effective mechanism for trying to do the three things that we want to see happen — which is get hostages out, more aid in, and a lengthy pause to this conflict.”
With the US draft, “what we’re looking at is another possible option, and we’ll be discussing this with friends going forward,” Wood said. “I don’t think you can expect anything to happen tomorrow.”
A senior US official said later Monday that “We don’t believe in a rush to a vote.” The official, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of council discussions on the US draft, said, “We intend to engage in the coming days in intensive negotiation around it. … That’s why we’re not putting a timeline on a vote, but we do recognize the urgency of the situation.”
Many of the 193 UN members, along with the Arab world, have been calling for a cease-fire for months as Israel’s military campaign has became more intense in response to the Hamas attack that resulted in 1,200 deaths and the kidnapping of some 250 more people.
The Gaza Health Ministry reports that more than 29,000 Palestinians have been murdered; it does not differentiate between militants and civilians, although it does state that women and children make up the majority of those dead.
This month’s chair of the 22-nation Arab Group, UN Ambassador Tarek Ladeb of Tunisia, informed UN reporters last Wednesday that a cease-fire is desperately needed.
He mentioned the approximately 1.5 million Palestinians who took shelter in Rafah, in southern Gaza, and warned that if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu moves forward with his announced plan to evacuate civilians from the city and move Israel’s military offensive to the area bordering Egypt where Israel says Hamas fighters are hiding.
In addition to a cease-fire now, the Arab-backed draft resolution demands the immediate release of all hostages, rejects the forced displacement of Palestinian civilians, calls for unhindered humanitarian access throughout Gaza, and reiterates council demands that Israel and Hamas “scrupulously comply” with international law, especially the protection of civilians.
Without naming either party, it condemns “all acts of terrorism”In a tough message to Israel, the US draft resolution says Israel’s planned major ground offensive in Rafah “should not proceed under current circumstances.” And it warns that further displacement of civilians, “including potentially into neighboring countries,” a reference to Egypt, would have serious implications for regional peace and security.Thomas-Greenfield, in a statement Sunday, explained that the United States has been working on a hostage deal for months.
She said US President Joe Biden has had multiple calls over the last week with Netanyahu and the leaders of Egypt and Qatar to push the deal forward.
“Though gaps remain, the key elements are on the table,” she said, and the deal remains the best opportunity to free the hostages and have a sustained pause that would enable lifesaving aid to get to needy Palestinians.
The 15 Security Council members have been negotiating on the Arab-backed resolution for three weeks. Algeria, the Arab representative on the council, delayed a vote at US request while US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was recently in the region, hoping to get a hostage deal.
But Qatar said Saturday the talks “have not been progressing as expected.” And the Arab Group decided over the weekend that they had given the US enough time and put their resolution in final form for a vote.
What will happen after the US casts its veto remains to be seen. The Arab Group could take their resolution to the UN General Assembly, which includes all 193 UN member nations, where it is virtually certain to be approved. But unlike Security Council resolutions, assembly resolutions are not legally binding.
The longer US draft resolution, which would for the first time denounce not only Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack but also its hostage-taking and death, “murder, and sexual violence including rape,” is expected to be discussed by the Security Council after that.
In the two previous council resolutions on Gaza, the criticism of Hamas was obstructed by a few members.
The US draft doesn’t name Israel, but in a clear reference the draft “condemns calls by government ministers for the resettlement of Gaza and rejects any attempt at demographic or territorial change in Gaza that would violate international law.”
Source:IE
