The first UN Security Council meeting to discuss the conflict between Israel and Hamas ended without a joint statement from the countries. Pictured: a meeting of the UN Security Council in September this year.| Photo: EFE/EPA/JUSTIN LANE.
The first meeting of the United Nations (UN) Security Council to discuss the conflict between Israel and Hamas this Sunday (8) ended without a joint statement from the countries. The meeting was convened and chaired by Brazil, represented by Brazilian UN Ambassador Sérgio Danese.
“According to the Council’s practice, these consultations are closed and therefore we undertake to carry them out but not to comment on them afterwards,” the Dane said in an interview with GloboNews. According to the President of the Security Council, it is possible that further meetings will take place to discuss the issue. During the meeting, Norwegian Tor Wennesland, UN coordinator for the Middle East peace process, presented government officials with an overview of the situation in Israel and Gaza.
“The meeting gives countries a clearer and more comprehensive overview of the situation on the ground because the authority that briefed us is on the ground, he is the United Nations special coordinator, he is a Norwegian,” he said. Danese explained that the interest of the meeting was to hear the position of member countries in order to “gain a fuller picture of how the Council might ultimately act on other occasions when it meets to discuss the matter.”
Among the concerns of participants in the meeting was the possibility that the conflict could spread to the Middle East region, columnist Jamil Chade reported on the UOL portal. The governments of France and the United Arab Emirates even suggested that a joint statement be read and approved by the 15 members. However, the American government indicated that it was opposed to certain points in the declaration. The United Arab Emirates supported the United States’ position.
“The core idea of the interventions was to reflect on the need to return to a negotiation process as quickly as possible,” emphasized Danese. U.S. Ambassador Robert Wood told reporters that many members condemned Hamas’ attacks and invasion of Israeli territory, but “obviously not all.” He stressed that there was concern that the conflict would spread.
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