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The U.N. Security Council again failed on Wednesday to adopt a unified position on ending the carnage in the Middle East as the United States and Russia mutually vetoed the resolutions.
With accusations and counter-accusations reminiscent of Cold War debates and more recent discord over Ukraine, Moscow and Washington accused each other of bad faith, political posturing and enforcing their own positions on other council members without consultation.
The main difference between the competing resolutions was Washington’s demand to “take all measures, in particular including humanitarian pauses” to allow aid to flow to Gaza – a position the country rejected just last week and not the ongoing Israeli airstrikes explicitly mentioned – vs . Moscow’s call for a complete ceasefire. In an address to the council on Tuesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said a pause should be “considered.”
The United States is increasingly in the minority in rejecting a ceasefire supported by the U.N. secretary general, Arab states and much of the rest of the world. A majority of the 15-member council abstained from voting on the Russian resolution for other reasons, rather than voting against it. These included Brazil, Ecuador, France, Japan, Ghana, Malta, Mozambique, Switzerland and Albania. Only the United States and Britain – both with veto power in the Council – voted no. Russia, China, the United Arab Emirates and Gabon voted in favor of approval.
Vasily Nebenzya, Russia’s UN representative, said those who did not support Moscow’s draft were “not brave enough to demonstrate strategic wisdom.”
The US resolution, Nebenzya said, was designed to “serve the geopolitical interests of a member of the Security Council that is not only unable to stop the escalation, but is de facto giving the green light to a ceasefire,” he said , “doesn’t fall into their plans.”
China, which joined Russia’s veto, said the U.S. resolution “does not reflect the world’s loudest calls for a ceasefire and an end to fighting” and is “tantamount to paving the way for large-scale military action.”
The U.S. resolution, which received support from many of the same members who abstained on the Russian version, included several significant changes from the American position last week after “we sought input, we listened and we worked with all Council members “U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said. Russia, China and the United Arab Emirates vetoed the vote, while Mozambique and Brazil abstained.
Thomas-Greenfield last week vetoed an earlier text resolution backed by Brazil because, she said, it did not declare Israel the right to defend itself. The resolution she introduced Wednesday affirmed “the inherent right of all states to individual and collective self-defense” without mentioning Israel. In response to terrorist attacks, all states must “fully comply with all their obligations under international law, in particular international human rights law, international refugee law and international humanitarian law,” it said.
In several paragraphs, the resolution called on “all parties to fully respect these obligations,” including the protection of civilians “trying to seek safety and civilian infrastructure.” Any movement of people, it said, “must be voluntary, safe and consistent with international law.” It also condemned “depraved acts of destruction by Hamas,” including the use of “civilians as human shields.”
These instructions coincide with increasingly public statements from the Biden administration reminding Israel that it must abide by international rules of war in any attacks on Gaza and of the devastating consequences of sustained airstrikes and the likely high civilian casualties of a planned one Ground invasion in Gaza warns enclave.
Biden made the same arguments in a White House news conference on Wednesday with visiting Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. “Hamas is hiding behind Palestinian civilians, and that is despicable — and, not surprisingly, cowardly,” Biden said. “This also places an additional burden on Israel as it moves against Hamas. But that does not diminish the need for us to act in accordance with the laws of war. Israel must do everything in its power.”
Last weekend, the government began backing calls for a humanitarian pause in the fighting – particularly Israeli airstrikes – to allow in humanitarian aid waiting in Egypt at the gates of the Gaza Strip and civilians stranded in the besieged enclave to enable departure.
The resolution called for “all measures, in particular the inclusion of humanitarian pauses, to enable full, rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access in accordance with international humanitarian law” and “to facilitate the continuous, sufficient and unhindered provision of essential goods and services.” on the well-being of the civilian population in Gaza, particularly in relation to water, electricity, fuel, food and medicine.”
With the exception of the Rafah border crossing into Egypt at the southern tip of the enclave, Israel has long controlled all entrances and exits into Gaza, home to about 2.3 million Palestinians. In “normal” times, Gaza relies on outside aid, and more than 100 trucks a day transport aid inside.
Since the October 7 Hamas attacks, Israel has closed all of its access routes to the Gaza Strip and imposed a so-called “siege” that has resulted in residents’ supplies of food, medicine, fuel and water dwindling. There has been no electricity other than generators for two weeks.
Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for Secretary-General António Guterres, told United Nations reporters on Wednesday: “If fuel is not allowed into the Gaza Strip immediately, UNRWA will be forced to suspend its operations this evening.” UNRWA is the United Nations’ Palestinian aid agency , which provides the bulk of aid in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
The World Food Program, Dujarric said, estimates that the current stockpile of “essential food” is sufficient for about 12 more days and that available stocks in stores will be exhausted within the next five days. He said the number of displaced people in Gaza is about 1.4 million – more than half the population – including about 590,000 in UNRWA-designated shelters, mostly in schools run by the aid agency.
Both the U.S. and Russian resolutions condemned Hamas and called for the immediate release of its 200 Israeli and foreign hostages in the Gaza Strip. Both also called for a long-term solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in line with previous UN resolutions that called for a “two-state solution.”
The U.S. position on a ceasefire is likely to be further called into question on Thursday when Jordan – a close U.S. partner in the Middle East – called an emergency meeting of the General Assembly of all 193 U.N. member states to discuss a joint Arab resolution calling for it immediately Implementation of a ceasefire.
This resolution, like the others, calls for full compliance by all sides with international law, the facilitation of humanitarian assistance and the release of hostages. Unlike Security Council actions, General Assembly resolutions do not have the force of international law, but they provide an opportunity for nations that are not Council members to express their views. As of Wednesday, 88 nations had registered to speak.