After intense negotiations that have lasted almost a week, and after on Thursday the United States finally lifted its veto on a draft resolution to increase humanitarian aid to Gaza when the population of the Strip faces the certain threat of hunger, This Friday, the UN Security Council approved the text by majority, with 13 votes in favor and two abstentions, those of the United States and Russia. This is a compromise solution that has involved lowering the initial intentions of the text to the point of watering it down, in the opinion of several members of the Council.
The cessation or suspension of hostilities to allow the entry of aid and a mechanism for monitoring shipments, the two pillars of the resolution proposal presented a week ago by the United Arab Emirates, have been diluted respectively in vague initiatives (“measures necessary to allow aid” and “a UN-appointed coordinator” of the distribution) that do not satisfy some Council members, such as Russia, and many others in the General Assembly.
The key provision called for “the urgent suspension of hostilities to allow safe and unimpeded access for humanitarian aid, and the adoption of urgent measures for a sustainable cessation of hostilities.” Instead, the final wording calls for “urgent measures to immediately enable safe and unhindered humanitarian access, and also to create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities.” Diplomatic sources consulted by the AP agency welcomed that this is the Council's first reference to a cessation of hostilities.
All eyes were on the Russian representative, Vasili Nebenzia, who was dissatisfied with the thinning of the original text and who presented an amendment to include a call for a ceasefire, supported by ten members of the Council but vetoed by the United States. Curiously, Russia has agreed with the United States by abstaining from voting on the resolution, although for very different reasons. In addition to the diffuse request for “urgent measures” to allow unimpeded access to the necessary supplies, the main reason for discussion since the Emirates presented the draft last Friday was the establishment of a control mechanism by the UN of all aid shipments that cross into the Strip to prevent trucks from introducing weapons or smuggled products. The United States, as Israel's voice in the Council, has resisted approving this measure, considering that it further complicated the distribution of aid, which is why the initial request has been transformed into a call to the Secretary General, António Guterres, to to appoint a coordinator in charge of “facilitating, coordinating, supervising and verifying” that the cargo is only of a humanitarian nature. Israel has always resisted ceding that task to third parties.
Conversations against the clock of the Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, with his counterparts from the Emirates – the only Arab country that sits on the Council – and Egypt – through which aid enters the Strip – have been key to ironing out existing differences. This was made clear by Linda Thomas-Greenfield, ambassador to the UN, after a closed-door meeting of the Council held on Thursday afternoon. The US “has worked hard and diligently all last week” with Egypt and the Emirates to ensure the implementation of “a mechanism to support the humanitarian aid” that Gaza desperately needs. “We are ready to vote on it,” said the diplomat, who explained that the final text is the result of Blinken's negotiation with Egypt and the Emirates, bypassing the other 13 members of the Council, several of whom opposed being left out. , according to diplomatic sources.
The sign of the American vote was not clear – their abstention was enough to move the resolution forward – although as of Thursday night the veto that has been threateningly planned throughout this week was ruled out. “I'm not going to tell you how I will vote,” Thomas-Greenfield declared on Thursday, adding that if the resolution was presented as drafted, the United States “can support it,” as it finally did by letting it pass with its abstention. Security Council resolutions are, theoretically, binding and require at least nine votes in favor and no veto to be approved.
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Several member countries of the Council, including Russia and France – both with veto power, like the United States – were not satisfied with the latest corrections to the text, while diplomatic sources wonder how the entry of aid into the Strip will be ensured if they do not the fighting ceases. The concept “cessation or suspension of hostilities” is a red line for the United States and Israel, considering that it would only benefit Hamas. Furthermore, the new formulation of the text “calls on all parties to adhere to international humanitarian law and, in this sense, deplores all attacks against civilians and civilian objects, as well as all violence and hostilities against civilians.” , and all acts of terrorism.”
The US was left alone in front of the world in two UN votes on Gaza. The first, a draft ceasefire resolution from the Council, which he vetoed on December 8. The second, its rejection of another practically identical resolution that was passed by a large majority in the General Assembly, four days later. Then, only nine countries, including Israel, supported their rejection of the text. Despite the notorious isolation of the United States in the UN regarding the war in Gaza – similar to that of Russia since the war in Ukraine began – the threat of its veto power has managed to bend the will of the Council, embodied in a Much more ambitious initial proposal.
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