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2023-12-20 23:26:15

Moscow and the Arab League demand a vote at the UN on a resolution for a ceasefire in Gaza

Russia and the countries of the Arab League gathered for an Arab-Russian Forum in Morocco on Wednesday demanded a vote at the UN for a resolution for a ceasefire in Gaza, asking the United States to no longer do so. veto them. “We hope that the Security Council will raise its voice in favor of a resolution” for an end to the war between Israel and Hamas, declared the head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, regarding a vote planned for the evening in New York.

he is also “urgent to create a Palestinian state”he said, and even “to speed up the process” because according to “some sources, our Western partners are developing hidden projects to separate the West Bank from Gaza”. Arab League Deputy Secretary General Hossam Zaki asked “that there be no veto from a permanent member”in reference to the American position on December 8 during a previous vote in the Security Council.

At the opening of the Forum dominated by war, Mr. Lavrov denounced “daily violence having taken on an unprecedented and catastrophic scale” in Gaza. “Our many attempts” pour “getting the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution demanding a lasting ceasefire faces strong opposition from the United States”lamented Mr. Lavrov.

In Cairo, the secretary general of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, called for a “immediate ceasefire” in front of “a war of extermination and ethnic cleansing” in Gaza. Regarding Russia, he said he appreciated “the countries which made the choice from the start to side on the right side of history” faced with a problem which, according to him, “did not start on October 7”. « L’occupation [israélienne des territoires palestiniens] is the heart of the problem”he estimated, advocating “a two-state solution” and the “creation as quickly as possible of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders”.

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2023-12-20 14:41:26

“Pause”, “truce”, “humanitarian ceasefire”: the UN in search of the right formula

After multiple postponements since Monday, the United Nations (UN) Security Council might vote on Wednesday on a new resolution intended to improve the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza, a vote with the result still uncertain following complicated negotiations. The Council, widely criticized for its inaction since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, has been negotiating for several days this four-page text supported by the United Arab Emirates, which hopes that the fifteen members will finally be able to “speak with one voice”.

Since the unprecedented bloody attack by Hamas once morest Israel on October 7 and the retaliation by the Israeli army, which shelled the Gaza Strip, the Council has only managed to break its silence once. On November 15, it adopted a text calling for “humanitarian breaks”but rejected five other texts in two months, including the last, calling for a real “humanitarian ceasefire”was blocked on December 8 by the United States.

Despite this American veto, the Emirates, with overwhelming support from the General Assembly for a ceasefire, launched a new battle in the Council “to go a little further” than the November resolution, explained their ambassador to the UN, Lana Zaki Nusseibeh. The latest version of this resolution seen by Agence France-Presse – which can still be modified – calls for a “urgent suspension of hostilities to allow safe and unimpeded humanitarian access, and urgent steps towards a lasting cessation of hostilities”. A less direct formulation than the previous version, which called for a “urgent and lasting cessation of hostilities”.

While Israel and its American ally oppose the idea of ​​a “ceasefire”the qualification of a possible interruption of the war – « pause », “truce”, “humanitarian ceasefire”… – has been at the heart of the Council’s divisions for more than two months. And still one of the key points of the ongoing negotiations.

“We would support a resolution that fully supports addressing the humanitarian needs of Gaza residents, but (…) the details are the most important”, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Tuesday. President Joe Biden recently said Israel risks losing international support due to its bombing “blind” on the Gaza Strip.

Like previous texts castigated by Israel and the United States, the latest draft resolution does not name Hamas. He condemns, on the other hand, “all indiscriminate attacks once morest civilians” et “all acts of terrorism”and demands the release of the hostages.

Members of the UN Security Council meet on the sidelines during a break at the United Nations headquarters on December 19, 2023 in New York. MICHAEL M. SANTIAGO / AFP
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