US vetoes UN Security Council resolution on Gaza
By Agencies
UN, December 8, 2023: The United States vetoed the UAE’s draft resolution in the UN Security Council demanding an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of all hostages. Thirteen members of the UN Security Council voted for the resolution. The US opposed, and the UK abstained. 97 UN member countries became co-authors of the project.
The draft resolution stated that the Security Council “demands an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.” The document also called for the immediate release of all hostages and provision of humanitarian access.
The draft resolution said that the Security Council reiterated its call that all parties to the conflict fulfill their obligations under international law, particularly with regard to the protection of civilians.
In addition, the document expressed “deep concern about the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and the suffering of the Palestinian civilian population.”
This is not the first time that the United States has vetoed a resolution that would have blocked Israel’s military plans in the Palestinian enclave. Washington blocked Brazil’s draft resolution on October 18. That document, among other things, called on Israel to withdraw its demand that Gazans move to the south of the strip. The US had then explained its decision as being based on the fact that the draft did not make any mention of Israel’s right to self-defense.
The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting Friday morning New York time to discuss the catastrophic situation in Gaza. This follows Wednesday’s urgent letter by Secretary-General António Guterres – one of the most powerful tools at his disposal – urging the body to help end carnage in the war-battered enclave through a lasting humanitarian ceasefire. A resolution tabled late afternoon in the chamber calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire was vetoed by the United States.
The letter was sent in accordance with Article 99 of the UN Charter. The article states: “The Secretary-General shall have the right to bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security.” As the official representative of the Secretary General, Stephane Dujarric, explained, Guterres used this article for the first time.
The UAE circulated a draft resolution on Wednesday after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres demanded that the Security Council prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip and also called for a ceasefire.
Speaking before the vote, the representative of the UAE, said at least 97 Member States have co-sponsored their resolution: “It is clear in its intention – an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.”
Saving lives right now, must supercede all other considerations, he said.
Explaining its decision, Deputy Permanent Representative Robert A. Wood said that the US engaged in good faith on the text, that would increase opportunities for hostage release and more aid to reach Gaza.
“Unfortunately, nearly all of our recommendations were ignored” leading to an “imbalanced resolution that was divorced from reality that would not move the needle forward on the ground in any concrete way. And so, we regretfully could not support it.”
He said the US still could not understand why the resolution’s authors declined to include language condemning “Hamas’s horrific terrorist attack” on Israel, of 7 October.
Explaining the UK’s abstention from the draft resolution, Ambassador Barbara Woodward said her country could not vote in favour of a resolution that fails to condemn the atrocities Hamas committed on innocent Israeli civilians on 7 October.
France’s Permanent Representative Nicolas de Rivière said the UN chief was correct to raise the alarm over the humanitarian tragedy unfolding in Gaza.
“It is for this reason that France voted in favour of this resolution and it is for that reason that we plead for an immediate and lasting humanitarian truce”, he added.
“For our part, we do not see any contradiction in the fight against terrorism and the protection of civilians, in strict respect of international humanitarian law,” he said, adding “we would have wished for this Council to finally have been able to condemn the Hamas attacks and those of other terrorist groups on 7 October.”
“Calling for a ceasefire ignores the fact that Hamas has committed acts of terror and is still holding civilians hostage,” she said, noting that Israel needs to be able to address the threat posed by Hamas and it needs to do so in a manner that abides by international humanitarian law.
China has also expressed its disappointed at the US veto. Chinese Permanent Representative to the organization Zhang Jun said at a Security Council meeting.
We express our deep disappointment and regret that the project was vetoed by the United States,” Zhang Jun said.
Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of the Observer State of Palestine, said it was “beyond regrettable” and “disastrous” that the Security Council was prevented from upholding its responsibilities – through a newly adopted resolution – in the face of the crisis.
“Millions of Palestinian lives hang in the balance, every single one of them is sacred and worth saving,” he said, adding that instead of allowing this Council to follow its mandate by finally making a clear call, after two months of massacres and atrocities, “the war criminals are given more time to perpetrate their crimes.”
“How can this be justified? How can anyone justify the slaughter of an entire people?”, he said.
