UN Security Council approves humanitarian aid for Gaza

The United Nations Security Council on Friday approved a toned-down bid to boost humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip and called for urgent steps to create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities after a week of vote delays and intense negotiations to avoid a veto by the United States.

Amid global outrage over a rising Gaza death toll in 11 weeks of war between Israel and Hamas and a worsening humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian enclave, the US abstained to allow the 15-member council to adopt a resolution drafted by the United Arab Emirates.

The remaining council members voted for the resolution except for Russia which also abstained.

The resolution no longer dilutes Israel's control over all aid deliveries to 2.3 million people in Gaza. Israel monitors the limited aid deliveries to Gaza via the Rafah crossing from Egypt and the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing.

Weakening of language on a cessation of hostilities frustrated several council members - including veto power Russia - and Arab and Organization of Islamic Cooperation states, some of which, diplomats said, view it as approval for Israel to further act against Hamas.

The adopted resolution calls for urgent steps to immediately allow safe, unhindered, and expanded humanitarian access and to create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities. The initial draft had called for an urgent and sustainable cessation of hostilities to allow aid access.

"By signing off on this, the council would essentially be giving the Israeli armed forces complete freedom of movement for further clearing of the Gaza Strip," Russia's UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the council before the vote.

Russia proposed the draft be amended to revert to the initial text calling for an urgent and sustainable cessation of hostilities. The amendment was vetoed by the United States. It received 10 votes in favor, while four members abstained.

Earlier this month the 193-member UN General Assembly demanded a humanitarian ceasefire, with 153 states voting in favor of the move that had been vetoed by the United States in the Security Council days earlier.

The US and Israel oppose a ceasefire, believing it would only benefit Hamas. Washington instead supports pauses in fighting to protect civilians and free hostages taken by Hamas.

Last month the United States abstained to allow the Security Council to call for urgent and extended humanitarian pauses in fighting for a sufficient number of days to allow aid access. The move came after four unsuccessful attempts to take action.

Washington traditionally shields its ally Israel from UN action and has already twice vetoed Security Council action.

Israel has retaliated against Hamas by bombarding Gaza from the air, imposing a siege and launching a ground offensive. Some 20,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to health officials in Hamas-ruled Gaza.

Most people in Gaza have been driven from their homes and UN officials have warned of a humanitarian catastrophe.

The World Food Program says half of Gaza's population is starving and only 10% of the food required has entered Gaza since October 07.

A key sticking point during negotiations on the resolution adopted on Friday had been an initial proposal for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to establish a mechanism in Gaza to monitor aid from countries not party to the war.

A toned-down compromise was reached to instead ask Guterres to appoint a senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator to establish a UN mechanism for accelerating aid to Gaza through states that are not party to the conflict.

The coordinator would also have responsibility for facilitating, coordinating, monitoring, and verifying in Gaza, as appropriate, the humanitarian nature of all the aid.

 

Exercise of veto leaves the US diplomatically isolated

The exercise of veto by the United States has left Washington diplomatically isolated on the 15-member council. Thirteen members voted in favor of the draft resolution put forward by the United Arab Emirates, while Britain abstained.

Deputy US Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood said, "We do not support this resolution's call for an unsustainable ceasefire that will only plant the seeds for the next war."

The United States and Israel oppose a ceasefire, saying it would only benefit Hamas, which Israel has vowed to annihilate.

Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour told the council the vote means that millions of Palestinian lives hang in the balance.

Ezzat El-Reshiq, a member of Hamas' political bureau, condemned the US veto as inhumane.

Israel's UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan said in a statement, "A ceasefire will be possible only with the return of all the hostages and the destruction of Hamas."

UN Security Council condemns Israeli violations

At a UN Security Council session on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, many representatives of the 15 member states criticized Israeli violations against Palestinians, with notably strong criticism from Russia and China. 

Kicking off the session, Tor Wennesland, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, spoke via a video conference and updated the meeting with his latest report for the period June 15 to September 19, 2023. 

The senior UN official reiterated to the Security Council the Secretary-General’s appeal for an end to the occupation and a resolution of the conflict as members echoed those calls and underlined a need to return to peace negotiations.

Wennesland pointed to the ongoing expansion of Israeli settlements, demolition of Palestinian homes, daily Israeli violence and continued inflammatory rhetoric by the Israeli cabinet.

He reported the latest settlement activity by Israel is advancing plans for 6,300 settler units in the occupied West Bank, and approximately 3,580 settler units in occupied eastern al-Quds (East Jerusalem), pointing to the Israeli administrative actions that likely expedited settlement expansion.  

Israeli authorities, citing a lack of Israeli-issued building permits, which are almost impossible for Palestinians to obtain, demolished, seized or forced people to demolish 238 structures, including 32 donor-funded ones, displacing 183 people, including 46 women and 91 children. 

Alarmingly, 59 schools, serving around 6,500 Palestinian students, are at risk of demolition to make way for Israeli settlers. 

“In a continuing trend, many Palestinians, including children, left from their communities citing violence by settlers and shrinking grazing land,” he also warned.

Wennesland noted that during this period, Israeli forces killed at least 68 Palestinians, including 18 children. 
Ten Israelis were also left dead by Palestinians in attacks and other incidents, the UN special coordinator added.  

Experts argue that Palestinians have a legitimate right enshrined under international law to wage retaliatory operations and resistance in the face of the brutal military occupation and ethnic cleansing campaign. 

Israeli forces’ 1,042 search-and-arrest operations in the West Bank have resulted in the arrest of 1,504 Palestinians, including 88 children, he added, highlighting that the regime currently holds 1,264 Palestinians in administrative detention - the highest number in over a decade. 

Wennesland also provided details on the urgent funding needs of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and the World Food Program (WFP).

In the ensuing discussion, council members stressed that the expanding Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory are a violation of international law and must cease.

Some representatives of states mostly allied to Israel also voiced concern about the ongoing violence and lack of any political progress, calling on all parties to exercise maximum restraint and take steps to de-escalate tensions.

Vasily Nebenzya of the Russian Federation recalled Israel's increasing steps to create irreversible facts on the ground and said that the ongoing explosive situation is a direct result of aggressive Israeli abuses in the occupied Palestinian territories. 

The current Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN warned against the legalization of settlement outposts and the violation of the status quo of the holy sites of occupied al-Quds (Jerusalem). 

Referring to Israel’s plan to increase the number of Israelis in the north of the occupied West Bank from 170,000 people to 1 million by 2050, with US$200 million allocated for that, Nebenzya said it goes against the relevant Security Council decisions and is contrary to international law.  
“The increase in violence against Palestinian minors and the demolition of educational institutions, including those built with donor funds, are of particular concern,” Nebenzia said, adding that the United States continues to promote Arab-Israeli normalization, circumventing the logic of the Arab Peace Initiative.  

“Russia is committed to the creation of a Palestinian State within the 1967 borders with occupied al-Quds (East Jerusalem) as its capital,” he stated.

Several diplomats proposed ways to enhance efforts in resolving the conflict, with China’s envoy in particular calling for higher priority to be given to an international peace conference. 
Beijing has been leading the calls for an international peace conference to end the suffering of Palestinians. 

China has been much more diplomatically involved in Palestinian affairs since Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas for a four-day state visit to Beijing in June. 

China's UN representative, Geng Shuang, also voiced support for President Abbas’ call for the Security Council to dispatch a mission to Palestine in due course. 

He urged the cessation of all settlement activities, unilateral actions to change the status quo in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and escalation of settler violence. 

Geng also called on the "occupying power" to remove unreasonable restrictions on the movement of persons, goods and land use, and to lift the blockade on the Gaza Strip as soon as possible.

Brazil’s representative pointed out that the Security Council has become unresponsive to the Palestinians’ plight, stressing that the 15-member body must reflect on its role in paving the way for direct negotiations.  

“Sitting on our hands while the situation unravels is short-sighted and dangerous,” Sergio Franca Danese warned.

The Brazilian ambassador also recalled that his country’s president highlighted the overdue establishment of a Palestinian state as an example of longstanding unresolved disputes lingering on while new threats emerge.

Brazil recognized the State of Palestine in 2010. 

Pointing out that the Council has become unresponsive to the Palestinians’ plights, he stressed that "this must change".

The Brazilian diplomat called on Israel to curb settler violence and condemned any action aimed at altering the status quo of the holy sites. 
Furthermore, Danese highlighted the importance of fostering the Palestinian economy, addressing governance challenges and respecting human rights, announcing that Brazil will enhance its contributions to projects in those areas.

Gabon’s representative also called for the lifting of the Gaza blockade in line with Security Council resolution 1860 (2009), noting that Palestinian territories face budgetary constraints because of restrictions on freedom of movement and trade.

Vanessa Frazier of Malta condemned “episodes of settler violence which have terrorized Palestinian communities”. 

Japan’s representative was among the speakers who voiced support for UNRWA, underlining Tokyo's contribution of over US$40 million to the program. He urged Member States to make sure that UNRWA maintains its core services for Palestinian refugees.

Ambassador Ishikane Kimishiro also noted that lack of political progress is jeopardizing peace and security in the region. He also echoed other members' demands for Israel to immediately cease settlement activities. 

Ghana's Felix Akom Nyarku, referring to the increasing acts of settler violence, stressed that the destruction of infrastructure and properties in both the occupied Palestinian territories and in occupied al-Quds dangerously imperils the viability of peace.

He called on the international community to provide short-term investments to help the Palestinian Authority improve people’s access to education, health care, and employment as well as repair basic infrastructure and strengthen fiscal stability.
Andres Efren Montalvo Sosa of Ecuador highlighted that 2023 marks the most violent year in the region since 2005 (for Palestinians) and voiced concern about the increasing number of victims, expanding settlements, and daily violence.  

Western states, including the United States, the United Kingdom and France also made similar calls on Israel to cease its settlement activity, but critics say these statements cannot be taken at face value.

Much of the machinery, including bulldozers, with which the settlements are expanded on Palestinian land, are bought from the West, in a similar manner to how annual US military aid to Israel contributes to the killing of Palestinian women and children.

This comes as the Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs Commission released new data on Thursday showing that Israel has arrested more than 135,000 Palestinians since the outbreak of the al-Aqsa Intifada (Second Intifada) in 2000.

The commission said that these arrests affected all classes of Palestinian society, including children, women, and the elderly.
Nearly 21,000 Palestinian children have been arrested since 2000. 
In addition, half of the Legislative Council members, a number of ministers, hundreds of academics, journalists, and workers in civil society organizations and international institutions have been detained. 
Nobody has been spared by the regime.
The report also highlighted that more than 2,600 Palestinian girls and women were arrested by the regime's forces, including four women who gave birth in prison under harsh and difficult conditions.
 

 

Zelensky calls for Russian expulsion from UN Security Council

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a dramatic video appearance at the United Nations called on the body to remove Russia from the Security Council days after evidence circulated of executions and other atrocities committed by Russian troops in his country.

Zelensky said Russia should be removed from its place as a permanent member of the Security Council, where it holds veto power, arguing that it was time to reform the global peace-keeping body.

“We are dealing with a state that is turning the veto in the UN Security Council into the right to die,” Zelensky said in his remarks. “This undermines the whole architecture of global security and allows them to go unpunished.” 

“The main thing is today, it’s time to transform the system, the United Nations,” he told the Security Council.

Photos of civilians apparently killed by Russian troops in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha — including at least one person whose hands were tied behind the back — suggested Russian troops had indiscriminately shot and killed civilians during their occupation of the town.

Satellite images indicated that bodies had been left in the streets for weeks, contradicting Russian suggestions that the photos were staged.

The Ukrainian president’s speech was accompanied by a graphic video showing harrowing images of some of the carnage discovered in Ukrainian cities that were under Russian occupation.

Among the images included what appeared to be the body of a man at the bottom of a well, the unclothed body of a child who was blindfolded and lying on top of other dead bodies, charred bodies piled on top of each other and trenches filled with bodies.

There is no provision or mechanism to remove a permanent member of the Security Council written into the UN charter. The five permanent members are Russia, the United States., United Kingdom, France and China. 

China has offered support for Russia before and during the invasion and would be unlikely to support removing Russia from the Security Council.

If Russia is not removed from the council, Zelensky said the body should just be dissolved.

“If there is no alternative and no option, then the next option would be dissolve yourself altogether,” he said. 

 

Proxy War in Syria

It is becoming evident that the uprising in Syria is a Proxy War among the various power groups. The latest pleading by the US-subservient Arab League to President Bashar al-Assad to accept a safe passage is part of the campaign to establish Zionist Hegemony in the region. Some experts also say that toppling of Asad is aimed at proving that Iran is moving towards isolation.

While different analysts/experts may have diversified opinions it is difficult to ignore Iranian point of view. According to Major General Hassan Firouzabadi, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of Iran’s armed forces the US plot against Syria is primarily aimed at creating a safe zone for Israel, the occupiers of al-Quds. They are seeking to bring Wahhabis to power in Syria with the help of certain regional countries and through sending armed mercenaries and terrorists to the country, he said. 

Russia has been pleading an international meeting on Syria and insisting that sanctions or military intervention would only aggravate the already complicated situation. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov had said, “Our logic is that it is not necessary now to apply additional pressure rather than introducing sanctions or use the threat of force. Gatilov said Iran should be asked to participate and use its influence on Syria as it could play a more constructive role in seeking ways to resolve the Syrian conflict.

But Russian stance is being taken as eagerness to maintain its firmest Middle East foothold and stop the West pushing governments from power. Earlier Russia had used its UN Security Council veto and other tools to protect President Bashar from coordinated condemnation and sanctions.

Some analysts say Syria is not only the scene of a challenge between secular and Islamist figures, but has also given rise to more profound groupings at regional and international levels.  At a regional level, Syrian developments have fanned the flames of sectarianism in the region with Saudi Arabia and Qatar taking sides with the Islamist figures, while Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah are supporting the ruling secular elements.

At international level, the situation in Syria has prompted Russia and China to support President Bashar that is trying to maintain the existing secular situation. Deployment of political forces at international level has become so serious that it has led some experts to believe that Syrian crisis can lead to a new Cold War and establishment of a new world order. They go to the extent of saying that situation in Syria may even lead to rearrangement of political power poles within unipolar and multipolar frameworks.