The resolution that Russia presented this Monday in the Security Council to request an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza did not gather the necessary votes and could not be approved.
This has been the first failed attempt to reach a consensus on a resolution by the international community to stop the conflict between Israel and the Islamist movement Hamas since the latter launched an unprecedented attack on October 7 and was followed by a massive bombing of the strip. from Gaza.
The resolution only achieved five favorable votes (including China’s), far from the nine necessary for any resolution, and in addition the three Western countries with veto rights (USA, United Kingdom and France) plus Japan were opposed, while 6 countries abstained.
However, 25 countries had agreed to co-sponsor the Russian text, including numerous Arab or Muslim states, such as Pakistan, Turkey or Egypt.
The ambassadors of the United States, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, and the United Kingdom, Barbara Woodward, mainly objected that the text proposed by Russia did not explicitly mention Hamas by simply condemning “attacks on civilians.”
The US representative pointed out that not citing Hamas was equivalent to “giving cover to the terrorist group that mistreats innocents” and therefore was a “hypocritical and outrageous” text.
Russia’s resolution
The text was presented last Friday by Russia and has been circulating throughout the weekend among the fifteen members; In parallel, Brazil presented another text – which does condemn Hamas – which will supposedly be voted on this Tuesday in another special session.
The Russian ambassador, Vasili Nebenzia, defended his own resolution by arguing that it was a “purely humanitarian” text that had the support of Arab countries, and assured that if it was rejected it was solely due to geopolitical calculations.
He added that it was incomprehensible that the Security Council would waste even more time in the face of a conflict that is inflaming the entire region and has already left thousands dead in a single week.
And so, once again the disunity of the Council in the face of the most serious events that are shaking the world has been revealed, a division where the West and its allies are positioned on the one hand and Russia and China on the other, with a large part of Asia, Africa and Latin America staying on the sidelines.
BY NADEEM FAISAL BAIGA
