The meeting responds to the request of more than a dozen member countries, including Azerbaijan, Jordan and Mauritania, and the respective presidents of the Non-Aligned Movement, the Arab Group and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
The forum will resume the tenth emergency special session, postponed back in 2018, in accordance with resolution ES-10/20 of June 13th, 2018, entitled “Protection of the Palestinian civilian population”.
The plenary session comes after two drafts failed to pass in the Security Council, which was unable to reach consensus among member states as tensions and humanitarian needs rise.
Another two resolutions presented by Russia and the United States were stalled this Wednesday. The main differences between the two lay in Russia’s request for a “humanitarian ceasefire” for the safe delivery of aid to civilians, and a call for the immediate cancellation of the order for the evacuation of civilians to the south of the Gaza Strip by Israeli forces; and a request for a “humanitarian pause” made by the US, in addition to a specific mention of Israel’s right to self-defense.
Russia’s proposal did not gather the nine votes necessary for its approval. Russia and China, fon the other hand, vetoed the project promoted by the United States, considering it evasive regarding a ceasefire.
Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, Vasili Nebenzya, described as extremely regrettable the lack of an agreement within the Council, aiming to send send a collective signal to reduce tensions. “The bloodshed continues, the number of civilian victims is now in the thousands, and millions of people are displaced,” he lamented.
As for China’s ambassador to the Security Council, Zhang Jun, stated that Washington’s proposal ignores the fundamental causes of the current crisis in Gaza, and fails to make reference to Israel’s blockade, or the order to evacuate civilians to the south. He also said that the US draft would completely end the possibility of a long-term two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict. He went on to add that the ceasefire is not just a diplomatic term, it is a matter of life and death for many civilians.
According to the UN website, the meeting of the General Assembly to take place on Thursday and Friday may lead to collective action after a total of four proposed resolutions failed to pass in the Council since hostilities broke out. “In the case of an ongoing conflict, that action may include helping to stop the bloodshed, establishing a ceasefire and alleviating the suffering of civilians on the ground”.
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