The Security Council of the United Nations (UN) plans to vote this Friday on a proposal from the United States in which for the first time it requests “an immediate ceasefire” in Gaza and an agreement between Israel and Hamas for the liberation of the hostages. The inclusion of this item on the day’s agenda was confirmed by Nate Evans, spokesman for the US mission to the UN.
President Joe Biden is trying to extinguish the outcry that his shielding of Israel is causing in part of the Democratic Party, while the abyss that exists between the US president and Prime Minister Beniamin Netanyahu is increasingly deepening. After several days of negotiations at the UN, it was Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, who announced from Cairo that the draft was ready with this radical change.
After becoming the global pariah after being left alone by exercising the veto three times opposing the halt to hostilities, the US diplomatic mission at the UN circulated a draft this Thursday in which it requests the Council to “determine the imperative of an immediate and sustained ceasefire to protect civilians on both sides, allow the distribution of essential humanitarian assistance, and alleviate human suffering.”
He adds that all this must serve so that the ceasefire, with unequivocal international support through diplomacy, “guarantees the connection with the liberation of all those who are still hostages.” The proposed resolution also highlights the “deep concern about the threat of famines and epidemics induced by the conflict.”
This is undoubtedly the strongest language that the White House has supported and represents a radical change with respect to its great ally in the Middle East region. Until now he had spoken of pauses and last February he vetoed a proposal presented by Algeria, with the support of Arab nations, in which a ceasefire was requested. His diplomacy argued that it was not the time since it could torpedo the ongoing negotiations for the hostages.
The administration is using the proposal to reiterate its opposition to Israel’s plan to invade Rafah, the city south of Gaza that is filled with war refugees. In its text it expresses “concern that a ground offensive in Rafah would cause more damage to civilians and more displacement, which could affect neighboring countries.”
On the occasions when it exercised the veto, the US showed its opposition because the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 was not condemned as a terrorist action, Israel’s right to defend itself was not recognized, and it stressed that the ceasefire It would only serve to rearm the terrorists.
So the resolution that Washington is now promoting, of which it has had to make several versions, somehow incorporates those same ideas, but with a much more moderate tone to prevent Russia or China from being the ones to exercise the veto. For it to be approved, it needs votes again and that none of the other countries with the right to block the decision (joined by France and the United Kingdom) opt for that position during the vote.
This project, in its draft, makes allusions to the protection of civilians, access for humanitarian aid, opposition to altering the map of Gaza with security corridors and rejection of the forced displacement of the civilian population, issues that can gain support unanimous. But it includes phrases that are apparently more complicated in the current context, such as calling on member states to “intensify their efforts to suppress terrorist financing, including restrictions on Hamas.”
This initiative comes at a time of emergency. Last Monday the UN published a report in which it assured that 1.1 million residents in Gaza will face the most serious levels of famine and food insecurity in just a few days.
