The new meeting of the UN Security Council (United Nations)The conference held this Tuesday 24th to discuss the war in the Middle East showed the impasses and disagreements between countries in the search for a solution to the region and, moreover, presented the power of unity question of reaching a consensus on the conflict between Israel and Hamas. Three positions can be seen at this meeting: those who oppose a ceasefire, those who defend the end of the conflict and the Palestinians who condemned the inefficiency of the Security Council, the highest body of the United Nations, and put an end to an issue , which has preoccupied the region for years: the creation of two states. At the start of the session, UN SecretaryGeneral António Guterrez recalled that “even wars have rules,” warned that the situation “in the Middle East is becoming more serious by the minute,” and called for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, a region that has been in conflict since was constantly attacked at the start of the conflict. “Nothing can justify the deliberate killing, attacking and kidnapping of civilians or the firing of missiles at civilian targets,” the minister said.
Guterres shared condemnation between Hamas and Israel. He recalled that Hamas’ attacks “do not come out of nowhere: the Palestinian people have suffered under an oppressive occupation for 56 years; Their land is gradually being swallowed up by settlements.” However, he added that “Palestinian grievances cannot justify Hamas’ terrible attacks, just as these attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.” “We must the parties “We call on the United Nations to respect its obligations under international humanitarian law: to ensure that its military operations have no impact on civilians, to protect civilian hospitals, to protect civilians and to respect the inviolability of UN facilities where 600,000 Palestinians live,” he recalled. Guterrez’s speech did not please Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen or Israeli UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan, who called for his resignation.
“The shocking speech by the @UN SecretaryGeneral at the Security Council meeting while rockets are being fired across Israel has proven beyond doubt that the SecretaryGeneral is completely out of touch with the reality in our region and sees this as a massacre carried out by the Nazi terrorists Hamas in a distorted and immoral way,” Erdan wrote on X (formerly Twitter). Cohen, in turn, questioned Guterrez: “Mr. Secretary General, what world do you live in?” Without a doubt, it is not ours,” he added, showing photos of Hamas attacks on civilians. Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira, who also chaired the meeting Brazil is the current president of the council said the United Nations’ reputation depends on action in war. “The reputation of the United Nations depends to a large extent on its approach to the current crisis,” Vieira told the Security Council meeting, adding that it must rise to the challenge ahead. “We are likely to be judged and found guilty by future generations for our inaction and complacency,” he said. He also stressed that “blocking strategies have prevented crucial decisions for international peace and security from being made.”
The Security Council’s difficulty in reaching consensus irritates the Palestinians. Riyad alMaliki, Palestinian foreign minister, told the meeting that the inaction of the UN Security Council, which failed to find a unified position on the war between Israel and Hamas, was “unforgivable.” After denouncing the “massacres committed by Israel,” AlMaliki declared that the Security Council “has a duty to stop them.” The statements were made during a debate on the Palestinian situation taking place in the body under the leadership of Brazilian Chancellor Mauro Vieira, whose country chairs the organization in October. This Tuesday’s meeting is one of the most participatory in recent years: 86 countries or groups of countries (such as the Arab League) were given the floor, of which more than 20 are represented by foreign ministers, including those from the United States, France, Germany, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. The meeting of the body once again highlighted the great division that exists in the international community over the Palestinian conflict: a large part of the Western world supports Israel’s offensive, while the Muslim world, together with Russia and China, defends a ceasefire and calls for a ceasefire call for the grievances of the Palestinians to be taken into account. In democratic countries, the last few weeks have been marked by strong polarization between proIsrael and proPalestinian groups, further highlighting the extremely divisive nature of this conflict.
General meeting scheduled for Thursday
At this new meeting of the group of countries that make up the Council, the US began the third attempt with a resolution that is already showing signs that it is unlikely to be adopted, as it does not mention the need for a ceasefire and emphasizes “the inherent right of all states to individual and collective selfdefense.” In the text of the Americans responsible for their veto of the Brazilian resolution, which says that the proposal is seriously flawed because it does not reflect “Israel’s right to selfdefense,” they take aim at this again Hamas and their “terrible terrorist attacks,” calls for the cessation of all arms supplies to the Palestinian Islamic group and also mentions “the immediate cessation of attacks by the.” Hezbollah and other armed groups” against Israel.
Since being presented to MPs on Saturday, the text has been toned down to include a call for humanitarian organizations to have “full, rapid, safe and unhindered access to provide goods and services essential to the wellbeing of civilians in Gaza.” “. . The last time the US introduced a resolution on the Palestinian conflict in the Security Council was in 2018, when only its ambassador voted for it. For a resolution to be adopted, it must have the votes of at least 9 of the 15 members of the Council, including the permanent members the United Kingdom, China, France, Russia and the United States. The rotating council countries are: Albania, Brazil, Ecuador, Gabon, Ghana, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates. On Thursday, the UN General Assembly will meet in an emergency session to discuss the war triggered by the Hamas attack on Israeli soil on the 7th. The meeting is being held at the request of several countries, in particular Jordan on behalf of the Arab group, alongside Russia, Syria, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Cambodia, because the Security Council was unable to reach an agreement on a solution to this conflict.
UN rules of procedure state that if a resolution is vetoed in the Council, the same matter is referred to the General Assembly, where the vetoed country must explain its position in detail and where the matter can be put to a vote by all. Member States, but without binding effect. The first resolution submitted by Russia on October 16 was supported by China and three countries, but three permanent members (the United States, the United Kingdom and France) voted against it. Therefore, two days later, Brazil presented another resolution, intended as a consensus resolution, which actually contained a condemnation of Hamas, but which called for “humanitarian pauses” (i.e., not a total ceasefire) to allow the channeling of aid to civilians Gaza Strip.
The transfer of the matter to the Assembly has already happened twice in the last two years, in the midst of the war in Ukraine, exposing Russia: the invasion of Ukraine and the annexation of several of its territories in the East were condemned by an overwhelming majority in the Assembly. Although these votes had no binding effect, they served to expose Russia’s isolation on the international stage. The big question now is whether the United States will find itself in the same position or whether Western countries will side with it, particularly the United Kingdom and France, whose leaders have shown significantly more understanding of Israel’s and Israel’s arguments during the current crisis his reasons for the attack on the Gaza Strip.
According to Palestinian authorities, the war has already killed 7,191 people in the Middle East, 1,400 in Israel and 5,791 in Gaza (including 2,055 children). The death toll includes 2,360 children and 16,297 people were also injured in the bombings, the Palestinian enclave’s health ministry said. Around 220 hostages are still missing, including a Brazilian. As the website Jovem Pan showed, two Israeli hostages, Yocheved Lifshitz and Nurit Cooper, were released on “humanitarian grounds” and after mediation from Egypt and Qatar. They had been held in Gaza since October 7, when the group attacked Israel, and were already in Tel Aviv as of the last update.
*With international agencies