UN overwhelmingly endorses two state solution

According to Reuters, the United Nations General Assembly on Friday overwhelmingly voted to endorse a declaration outlining "tangible, time bound, and irreversible steps" towards a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians ahead of a meeting of world leaders.

The seven page declaration was the result of an international conference at the UN in July - hosted by Saudi Arabia and France - on the decades-long conflict. The United States and Israel boycotted the event.

A resolution endorsing the declaration received 142 votes in favor and 10 against, while 12 countries abstained.

The vote comes ahead of a meeting of world leaders on September 22 - on the sidelines of the high level UN General Assembly - where Britain and others are expected to formally recognize a Palestinian state.

The declaration endorsed by the 193-member General Assembly condemned the attacks against Israel by Palestinian militants Hamas on October 07, 2023, which triggered the war in Gaza.

It also condemned the attacks by Israel against civilians and civilian infrastructure in Gaza, siege and starvation, "which have resulted in a devastating humanitarian catastrophe and protection crisis."

"For the first time today, the United Nations adopted a text condemning it for its crimes and calling for its surrender and disarmament," he said in an X post.

The resolution was supported by all Gulf Arab states. Israel and the United States voted against it, along with Argentina, Hungary, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay and Tonga.

The declaration endorsed by the resolution says the war in Gaza "must end now" and support the deployment of a temporary international stabilization mission mandated by the UN Security Council.

The United States described the vote as "yet another misguided and ill-timed publicity stunt" that undermined serious diplomatic efforts to end the conflict. "Make no mistake, this resolution is a gift to Hamas," US diplomat Morgan Ortagus told the General Assembly.

"Far from promoting peace, the conference has already prolonged the war, emboldened Hamas and harmed the prospects of peace in both short and long term."

Israel, which has long criticized the U.N. for not condemning Hamas by name for the October 7 attacks, dismissed the declaration as one-sided and described the vote as theater.

"The only beneficiary is Hamas …When terrorists are the ones cheering, you are not advancing peace; you are advancing terror," Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon said.

 

 

 

 

 

United Nations to ease sanction on Russia

Reportedly, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has proposed to Russian President Vladimir Putin that he extends a deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of grain from Ukraine in return for connecting a subsidiary of Russia's agricultural bank to the SWIFT international payment system.

Russia has threatened to ditch the grain deal, which expires on Monday, because several demands to dispatch its own grain and fertilizer abroad have not been met. The last two ships traveling under the Black Sea agreement are currently loading cargoes at the Ukrainian port of Odesa ahead of the deadline.

A key demand by Moscow is the reconnection of the Russian agricultural bank Rosselkhozbank to the SWIFT international payment network. It was cut off by the European Union in June 2022 over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Earlier, an EU spokesperson said in May the EU was not considering reinstating Russian banks. However, the EU is now considering connecting to SWIFT a subsidiary of Rosselkhozbank to allow specifically for grain and fertilizer transactions.

Guterres has proposed to Putin that Russia allow the Black Sea grain deal to continue for several months, giving the EU time to connect a Rosselkhozbank subsidiary to SWIFT.

Guterres sent a letter to Putin on Tuesday proposing a way forward to further facilitate Russian food and fertilizer exports and ensure the continued Black Sea shipments of Ukrainian grain, a UN spokesman said on Wednesday.

"The objective is to remove hurdles affecting financial transactions through the Russian Agricultural Bank, a major concern expressed by the Russian Federation, and simultaneously allow for the continued flow of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.

He gave no further details on the proposal, but added that Guterres was engaged with all relevant parties on the issue and was willing to further discuss his proposal with Russia.

The United Nations and Turkey brokered the Black Sea Grain Initiative with Russia and Ukraine in July 2022 to help alleviate a global food crisis worsened by Moscow's invasion and blockade of Ukrainian ports.

To convince Russia to agree to the Black Sea deal, a three-year memorandum of understanding was struck at the same time under which UN officials agreed to help Russia get its food and fertilizer exports to foreign markets.

While Russian exports of food and fertilizer are not subject to Western sanctions imposed after the invasion of Ukraine, Moscow says restrictions on payments, logistics and insurance have amounted to a barrier to shipments.

As a workaround to the lack of access to SWIFT, UN officials have gotten US bank JPMorgan Chase & Co to start processing some Russian grain export payments with reassurances from the US government.

The United Nations is also working with the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) to create a platform to help process transactions for Russian exports of grain and fertilizer to Africa, the top UN trade official told Reuters last month.