French President Emmanuel Macron expressed, on Friday, his desire to reach an “agreement” on a ceasefire in Gaza, after Russia and China used their veto power against a draft American resolution supporting an “immediate” cessation of fighting linked to the release of the hostages.
Macron said, “The UN Security Council must now decide on an immediate ceasefire and the delivery of humanitarian aid. After the veto imposed by Russia and China… we will resume (research) on the basis of the French draft resolution in the Security Council and work with our American, European and Arab partners in this direction to reach an agreement.” Agreement,” he said in statements on the sidelines of a European Union summit in Brussels.
Prior to that, the United Nations Security Council failed to issue a draft resolution proposed by the United States stressing “the utmost necessity of reaching an immediate and sustainable ceasefire in Gaza,” after Russia and China used their veto power against it.
The result of voting on the draft resolution was the support of 11 countries, the objection of three countries: Russia, China and Algeria, and a member of the Council abstained from voting.
The Russian delegate to the Security Council, Vasily Nebenzia, said that the sole purpose of the American draft resolution is to tempt American voters by giving them what he described as a “ceasefire in Gaza” prize and to ensure Israel’s impunity.
He added that the American draft resolution gives a green light for Israel to conduct a military operation in Rafah, indicating that passing the draft resolution will unleash Israel to continue its policy of persecution against the Palestinians.
Nebenzia stressed that Russia cannot accept that the Council be transformed into serving Washington’s “destructive policy” in the Middle East, and said that there is an alternative draft resolution that includes demands for reaching a ceasefire.
The US delegate to the Security Council, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said before voting on the draft resolution that the mediators were close to the goal of reaching an immediate ceasefire in Gaza as part of a deal that would lead to the release of detainees, but they had not yet achieved that goal.
She added, “We want to see an immediate and sustainable ceasefire as part of a deal that leads to the release of all hostages and the delivery of more aid to Gaza,” referring to the mediation efforts undertaken by the United States, Egypt and Qatar.
She continued in her speech before the Council, “Every day without a deal means an additional day of suffering… and the draft resolution presented seeks to make the ceasefire a reality and not adopting it would be a historic mistake.”
On Friday, Washington presented to the UN Security Council a draft resolution supporting an “immediate” ceasefire in Gaza linked to the release of the hostages, for the first time since the outbreak of the war, but its approval remains in question, with Russia demanding a clearer “call” to end the fighting.
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Since the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas on October 7, the United States, an ally of the Hebrew state, has used its veto power more than once to drop draft resolutions in the Security Council calling for a ceasefire, considering that this would be in the interest of the Palestinian movement.
The draft resolution, according to the Arabic translation of the United Nations website, states “the utmost necessity of reaching an immediate and sustainable ceasefire” to protect civilians from all parties and allow the delivery of basic humanitarian aid to Gaza, and supports “to this end” the ongoing international diplomatic efforts to secure a ceasefire. This was “in connection with the release of all remaining hostages.”
Blinken revealed the draft resolution in statements to Al Arabiya and Al Hadath on Wednesday during his sixth regional tour since the outbreak of the war, which included Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel, which he arrived on Friday.
He expressed his confidence that the draft resolution “will send a strong message, with a strong indicator,” hoping that it will receive the support of the rest of the countries, especially those that are permanent members of the Security Council (which is in addition to the United States, Russia, China, France, and the United Kingdom).
The United States has supported Israel politically and militarily since the outbreak of the war. However, Washington has recently begun to criticize Israel against the backdrop of restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid and the high civilian death toll in the besieged Strip.
The administration of Democratic President Joe Biden is facing increasing international criticism urging it to push Israel to stop the war that has claimed the lives of more than 30,000 people in the Gaza Strip, the majority of whom are civilians, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.
The war broke out following an attack launched by Hamas on southern Israel, killing at least 1,160 people, the majority of whom were civilians, according to a tally prepared by Agence France-Presse based on official Israeli figures.
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Russia is not satisfied
Although the United States mentioned for the first time in the draft resolution an immediate ceasefire, it did not accompany it with phrases such as “calls” or “requests,” which angered Russia, which in turn has veto power in the Security Council.
Russian Deputy Representative to the United Nations Dmitry Polyansky told reporters, “We are not satisfied with something (a draft resolution) that does not call for an immediate ceasefire,” considering that “someone is manipulating the international community,” in an implicit reference to Washington.
In turn, China said that it supports the Security Council’s efforts to stop the fighting, without revealing whether it will support the American project.
According to Richard Goa, a researcher at the International Crisis Group, “the United States still does not demand an unconditional ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip.
However, “this limited change in the United States’ position will worry the Israelis, because (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu wants to keep the United Nations completely removed from diplomacy related to this war.”
Diplomatic sources confirm that the United States has guaranteed the number of votes necessary to approve the project (nine out of the 15 members of the Security Council), but the only potential obstacle is Russia’s use of its veto.
US Representative Linda Thomas-Greenfield earlier expressed “optimism” about the issuance of a resolution by the UN Security Council.
The American project also includes condemning “calls by government ministers to re-settle Gaza and rejects any attempt to bring about demographic or territorial change in Gaza,” and condemns “all terrorist acts, including the Hamas attacks on October 7” against southern Israel.
The war ‘must stop’
Two previous humanitarian resolutions adopted by the Council, in addition to a resolution adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, did not mention the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), which Israel criticized.
The French delegate, Nicolas de Rivière, stressed that if the American project is rejected, “then the project of the elected countries (in the Security Council) will reach the table and will be put to a vote, and I hope it will be approved.”
He stressed that “it is time to save people’s lives” and that the war “must stop.”
Countries in the Council other than the five permanent members circulated a draft resolution of their own in recent days, “urging an immediate humanitarian ceasefire for the month of Ramadan” and the immediate release of all detained hostages, according to the copy seen by Agence France-Presse.
In light of its division for years over the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, the Security Council adopted only two resolutions regarding the current war, of a humanitarian nature.
However, the two decisions did not change much on the ground, as the amount of humanitarian aid entering the Strip is still scarce.
On the other hand, the Council failed to issue decisions of a political nature, in light of the mutual use of the right of deficiency by the United States on the one hand, and Russia and China on the other hand, or because it did not obtain a sufficient number of votes.
