UNITED NATIONS — Arab countries vote on a UN resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, knowing the United States will veto it but hoping to show broad global support for ending the war between Israel and Hamas.
The Security Council scheduled the vote on the resolution for Tuesday at 10 a.m. EST (3 p.m. GMT). U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield says the Biden administration will veto the Arab-backed resolution because it could hamper ongoing U.S. efforts to broker a deal between the warring sides that would at least end hostilities would be halted for six weeks and all hostages would be released. during Hamas’ October 7 surprise attack in southern Israel.
In a surprise move ahead of the vote, the United States circulated a rival UN Security Council resolution that would support a temporary ceasefire in Gaza related to the release of all hostages and call for the lifting of all restrictions on the delivery of humanitarian aid. staff. Both actions “would help create the conditions for a lasting cessation of hostilities,” says the draft resolution obtained by The Associated Press.
U.S. Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood told several reporters on Monday that the Arab-backed resolution is not an “effective mechanism to try to do the three things we want to see happen – namely, free hostages, bring in more aid and long pause because of this conflict.”
With the American design, “what we are looking at is another possible option, and we will discuss this with friends in the future,” Wood said. “I don’t think you can expect anything to happen tomorrow.”
A senior U.S. official said later Monday: “We don’t believe in a hasty vote.” The official, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of council discussions on the US draft, said: “We plan to hold intensive negotiations on this in the coming days. … That’s why we’re not putting a timeline on a vote, but we do recognize the urgency of the situation.”
Arab countries, backed by many of the 193 U.N. member states, have been demanding a ceasefire for months as Israel’s military offensive has intensified in response to the Hamas attack that killed 1,200 people and took about 250 others hostage. The number of Palestinians killed has surpassed 29,000, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which makes no distinction between civilians and fighters but says the majority are women and children.
Tunisia’s U.N. Ambassador Tarek Ladeb, this month chairman of the 22-nation Arab Group, told U.N. reporters on Wednesday that a ceasefire is urgently needed.
He pointed to some 1.5 million Palestinians who sought safety in the southern Gaza city of Rafah and face a “catastrophic scenario” if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu goes ahead with his announced plan to evacuate civilians from the city and the Israeli military move offensively into the adjacent area. Egypt, where Israel says Hamas fighters are hiding.
In addition to a ceasefire, the Arab-backed draft resolution demands the immediate release of all hostages, rejects the forced displacement of Palestinian civilians, calls for unhindered humanitarian access throughout Gaza, and reiterates the demands of recommend that Israel and Hamas “scrupulously comply” with international law, especially the protection of civilians. Without naming either side, it condemns “all acts of terrorism”
In a tough message to Israel, the US draft resolution says that Israel’s planned major ground offensive in Rafah “must not proceed under the current circumstances.” And it warns that further relocation of civilians, “including possibly to neighboring countries,” a reference to Egypt, would have serious consequences for regional peace and security.
Thomas-Greenfield explained in a statement on Sunday that the United States has been working on a hostage deal for months. She said U.S. President Joe Biden has had multiple calls with Netanyahu and the leaders of Egypt and Qatar over the past week to move the deal forward.
“While gaps still exist, the most important elements are on the table,” she said, and the deal remains the best chance to free the hostages and provide a sustained pause that allows lifesaving aid to reach Palestinians in need.
The fifteen members of the Security Council have been negotiating the Arab-backed resolution for three weeks. Algeria, the Arab representative on the council, postponed a vote at the request of the US, while US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was recently in the region hoping to settle a hostage situation. But Qatar said on Saturday that the talks were “not progressing as expected.” And the Arab Group decided this weekend that it had given the US enough time and put its resolution to the vote in final form.
What will happen after the US vetoes remains to be seen. The Arab Group could submit their resolution to the UN General Assembly, which includes all 193 UN member states, where it will almost certainly be approved. But unlike Security Council resolutions, Assembly resolutions are not legally binding.
The Security Council will then likely begin discussing the much longer US draft resolution, which would for the first time condemn not only the October 7 attack by Hamas, but also hostage-taking and murder, “murder and sexual violence, including rape.” Some council members blocked the condemnation of Hamas in two previous council resolutions on Gaza.
The US draft does not mention Israel, but in a clear reference the draft “condemns calls by ministers for Gaza resettlement and rejects any attempt at demographic or territorial change in Gaza that would violate international law.”