Russia, China veto US resolution at UN Security Council over its failure to ‘unequivocally’ call for Gaza ceasefire

Update The UN Security Council meets to consider a motion for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal vote at UN headquarters in New York, on March 22, 2024. (AFP)
The UN Security Council meets to consider a motion for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal vote at UN headquarters in New York, on March 22, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 22 March 2024
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Russia, China veto US resolution at UN Security Council over its failure to ‘unequivocally’ call for Gaza ceasefire

Russia, China veto US resolution at UN Security Council over its failure to ‘unequivocally’ call for Gaza ceasefire
  • US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield describes vetoes as ‘cynical and petty’
  • Guyanese envoy Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett says text contains ‘no attribution or demands to the Israeli authorities for what is taking place in Gaza’

NEW YORK: Russia and China on Friday vetoed a US-backed draft resolution at the UN Security Council on Gaza, with Moscow rejecting what it described as a “diluted formulation” of a ceasefire call that will not save Palestinian lives and fails to rein in Israel at a time when the enclave “has been virtually wiped off the face of the earth.”
Without directly calling for a ceasefire, the text “determines the imperative of an immediate and sustained ceasefire to protect civilians on all sides, allow for the delivery of humanitarian assistance and alleviate humanitarian suffering, and toward that end unequivocally supports ongoing international diplomatic efforts to secure such a ceasefire in connection with the release of all remaining hostages.”
The draft also condemns Hamas, demands the lifting of all barriers to the provision of humanitarian assistance at scale, and rejects any forced displacement of the civilian population in Gaza as a violation of international law.
Its text, seen by Arab News, had undergone six revisions during a month of negotiations.
Russia and China exercised their vetoes, while Algeria also voted against and Guyana abstained. The other 11 Security Council members voted in favor, including permanent members France and Britain.
US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield described Russia and China’s vetoes as “cynical” and “petty,” accusing both of “not doing anything diplomatically to advance lasting peace or to meaningfully contribute to the humanitarian response efforts.”
She said: “Russia and China refuse to condemn Hamas for burning people alive, for gunning down innocent civilians at a concert, for raping women and girls, for taking hundreds of people hostage. This was the deadliest single attack on Jews since the Holocaust, and a permanent member of this council can’t even condemn it. I’m sorry, it’s really outrageous, and it’s below the dignity of this body.
“Russia, who has carried out an unprovoked war on its neighbor, has the audacity and hypocrisy to throw stones, when it lives in a glass house itself.”
Her Russian counterpart, Vasily Nebenzia, said the US four times “in cold blood” cast a veto in the Security Council.
“Six months have elapsed. Gaza has virtually been wiped from the earth and now the US representative, without blinking, has been asserting that Washington has finally begun to recognize the need for a ceasefire,” he said.
Nebenzia said that “this sluggish thought process in Washington has come at the cost of the lives of 32,000 peaceful Palestinians, two-thirds of whom are women and children.”
He added that the draft is “extremely politicized,” adding that its purpose is to throw “a bone to US voters in the form of some kind of a ceasefire in Gaza,” and “to ensure impunity for Israel, whose crimes are not mentioned in the draft.”
The Russian envoy also said that the draft gave “an effective green light” to Israel to mount a military incursion into Rafah, where over 1.4 million Palestinian have taken refuge.
Zhang Jun, China’s permanent representative to the UN, said the US draft was ambiguous on the “most central issue,” that of a ceasefire, and so fell short of the consensus of council members and the expectations of the international community.
“The US draft sets up preconditions for a ceasefire, which is no different from giving a green light to continued killings, which is unacceptable,” Zhang said.
The Chinese envoy added that the US text does not clearly oppose Israel’s repeated declarations of its intent to invade Rafah, “which would send an utterly wrong signal and lead to severe consequences.”
Zhang said that if the US is serious about a ceasefire, it should vote for a new resolution tabled by seven elected members of the council and calling unequivocally for a Ramadan ceasefire. A vote on the resolution is set to take place on Saturday morning.
Guyana’s Ambassador to the UN, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, abstained from voting, and said that the demand for a ceasefire should not be linked to or conditioned on the release of Israeli hostages.
“The taking of hostages is strictly prohibited in international law and the release must be unconditional.”
Two wrongs cannot make a right, she said, adding that “the Palestinian people should not be collectively punished and themselves held hostage for the crime of others.”
Rodrigues-Birkett said that although the US draft resolution “rightfully’ condemns Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks, the text contains “no attribution or demands to the Israeli authorities for what is taking place in Gaza.”
Referring to Rafah, she said the US draft endorses continuing attacks “as long as measures are taken to protect civilians,” adding that this is “in direct contravention of the council’s responsibility.”
Samuel Zbogar, Slovenia’s ambassador, said his country voted in favor of the resolution because “the killing and starving of civilians in Gaza must stop and the suffering of hostages and their families must end.”
Zbogar thanked Egypt, Qatar and the US for their efforts to secure a deal on the ground, and said that Slovenia believes that a “strong signal of support from the council” could give negotiations an important impetus.
He also expressed deep concern over statements by Israeli officials calling for the resettlement of the people of Gaza, and rejected a possible ground invasion in Rafah.
“For Slovenia, Palestinian lives matter. Israeli lives matter. This conflict must end.”
Swiss Ambassador Pascale Baeriswyl voted in favor of the resolution, but argued for its content “to clearly reflect the request by a very large majority of council members for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to be established without any preconditions.
“It is high time for an unequivocal request for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to be subject of consensus at the Security Council,” Baeriswyl said.


UN chief ‘gravely concerned’ at Israeli settler violence in West Bank

UN chief ‘gravely concerned’ at Israeli settler violence in West Bank
Updated 54 min 57 sec ago
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UN chief ‘gravely concerned’ at Israeli settler violence in West Bank

UN chief ‘gravely concerned’ at Israeli settler violence in West Bank
  • Israel earlier announced expanded military operations in the occupied Palestinian territory

GENEVA: The UN chief voiced alarm Monday at rising violence by Israeli settlers in the West Bank and calls for annexation after Israel announced expanded military operations in the occupied Palestinian territory.
“I am gravely concerned by the rising violence in the occupied West Bank by Israeli settlers and other violations, as well as calls for annexation,” Antonio Guterres told the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.


10th pro-Kurdish party mayor removed in eastern Turkiye

10th pro-Kurdish party mayor removed in eastern Turkiye
Updated 24 February 2025
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10th pro-Kurdish party mayor removed in eastern Turkiye

10th pro-Kurdish party mayor removed in eastern Turkiye

ISTANBUL: Turkiye’s interior ministry announced on Monday the removal of a 10th pro-Kurdish party mayor in eastern Turkiye in less than a year for alleged ties.
The development targeting a mayor of DEM party — the third largest political group in the parliament — comes as the party leads negotiations with jailed leader of outlawed Kurdish militants Abdullah Ocalan to end the four-decade conflict.
“Mehmet Alkan, mayor of the Kagizman district in the province of Kars, has been temporarily suspended from his duties by the interior ministry because he was sentenced to six years and three months in jail on charges of membership of an armed terror group,” the interior ministry said in a statement.
The DEM condemned the action as part of the ruling Justice and Development (AKP) Party’s “war against the people’s right to vote and to be elected,” in a message on X.
Ankara has stepped up the pressure on pro-Kurdish movements and sympathizers accused of “terrorism,” even as it pursues talks with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) listed as a terror group by Turkiye and much of the international community.
The PKK has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 that has left more than 40,000 people dead.


Syria’s foreign minister to visit Turkiye on Monday, two sources say

Syria’s foreign minister to visit Turkiye on Monday, two sources say
Updated 24 February 2025
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Syria’s foreign minister to visit Turkiye on Monday, two sources say

Syria’s foreign minister to visit Turkiye on Monday, two sources say

ISTANBUL: Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan Al-Shibani will visit Ankara on Monday for talks with Turkish officials, two sources familiar with the plan told Reuters.
The visit coincides with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov holding talks with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan in the Turkish capital. 


Israel sends tanks into West Bank for first time in decades, says fleeing Palestinians can’t return

Israel sends tanks into West Bank for first time in decades, says fleeing Palestinians can’t return
Updated 24 February 2025
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Israel sends tanks into West Bank for first time in decades, says fleeing Palestinians can’t return

Israel sends tanks into West Bank for first time in decades, says fleeing Palestinians can’t return
  • The Palestinian foreign ministry called the Israeli moves “a dangerous escalation of the situation in the West Bank,” and urged the international community to intervene in what it termed Israel's illegal “aggression”
  • Israel regularly sends troops into Palestinian zones but typically withdraws them after missions

JENIN, West Bank: Israeli tanks moved into the occupied West Bank on Sunday for the first time in decades in what Palestinian authorities called a “dangerous escalation,” after the defense minister said troops will remain in parts of the territory for a year and tens of thousands of Palestinians who have fled cannot return.
Associated Press journalists saw several tanks move along unpaved tracks into Jenin, long a bastion of armed struggle against Israel.
Israel is deepening its crackdown on the Palestinian territory and has said it is determined to stamp out militancy amid a rise in attacks. It launched the offensive in the northern West Bank on Jan. 21 — two days after the current ceasefire in Gaza took hold — and expanded it to nearby areas.
Palestinians view the deadly raids as part of an effort to cement Israeli control over the territory, where 3 million Palestinians live under military rule.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the military to “increase the intensity of the activity to thwart terrorism" in all refugee camps in the West Bank.
“We will not allow the return of residents, and we will not allow terrorism to return and grow,” he said.
Earlier, Katz said he had instructed the military to prepare for “an extended stay” in some of the West Bank's urban refugee camps from which about 40,000 Palestinians have fled, leaving them “emptied of residents.”

 

The camps are home to descendants of Palestinians who fled during wars with Israel decades ago. It was not clear how long Palestinians would be prevented from returning. Katz said Israeli troops would stay “for the coming year.” Netanyahu said they would stay “as long as needed."
Tanks were last deployed in the West Bank in 2002, when Israel fought a deadly Palestinian uprising.
The Palestinian foreign ministry called the Israeli moves “a dangerous escalation of the situation in the West Bank,” and urged the international community to intervene in what it termed Israel's illegal “aggression.”
“Even if they stay, we will return to the camp at the end,” said Mohamed al-Sadi, one of those displaced from Jenin. “This camp is ours. We have no other place to go.”
Netanyahu under pressure to crack down
With fighting in Gaza and Lebanon on hold, Netanyahu has been under pressure from far-right governing partners to crack down on militancy in the West Bank. The U.N. says the current Israeli military operation is the longest since the Palestinian uprising of the early 2000s.
Under interim peace agreements from the early 1990s, Israel maintains control over large parts of the West Bank, while the Palestinian Authority administers other areas. Israel regularly sends troops into Palestinian zones but typically withdraws them after missions.
More than 800 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the war in Gaza erupted on Oct. 7, 2023, with a Hamas attack on southern Israel. Israel says most were militants, but stone-throwing youths protesting Israeli raids as well as bystanders have also been killed. In the most recent operation, a pregnant Palestinian woman was killed.
Jewish settlers also have carried out rampages in Palestinian areas in the territory. And there has been a spike in Palestinian attacks emanating from the West Bank. On Thursday, blasts rocked three empty buses in Israel in what police view as a suspected militant attack.
Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. Palestinians want all three territories for their future independent state.
US envoy to pursue extended ceasefire
The truce between Israel and Hamas in Gaza remains tenuous.
A week is left in the ceasefire’s first phase, and no negotiations have been reported on the second phase. The truce’s collapse could lead to renewed fighting in Gaza, where Netanyahu says 63 hostages remain, about half of them believed dead, including a soldier captured in 2014.
“We are ready to return to intense fighting at any moment," Netanyahu said Sunday. The military increased its “operational readiness” around Gaza.
The US special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, told CNN he expects the second phase to go forward, adding: “We have to get an extension of phase one and so I’ll be going into the region this week, probably Wednesday, to negotiate that.” He told CBS he will visit Qatar, Egypt, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
But a senior Hamas leader, Mahmoud Mardawi, said Sunday the group will not engage in further discussions with Israel through mediators until Israel releases the 620 Palestinian prisoners meant to be freed on Saturday.
Israel said early Sunday it was delaying the release until it gets assurances that Hamas stops what Israel calls “humiliating” handovers of hostages in staged ceremonies criticized by the U.S. and Red Cross as cruel.
Egypt and Qatar were pressing Israel to release the prisoners, and Egypt refused to discuss any Israeli demands before then, said an Egyptian official involved in the talks who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to talk to the media.
Palestinian family members were distraught. “What have the prisoners done? We don’t know what happened. They killed our joy,” said one mother, Najah Zaqqot.
The White House is supporting Israel’s decision to delay releasing the Palestinians prisoners, calling it “appropriate.”
National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said Sunday that, “given Hamas’ barbaric treatment of the hostages, including the hideous parade of the Bibas children’s coffins through the streets of Gaza, Israel’s decision to delay the release of prisoners is an appropriate response.”
“The President is prepared to support Israel in whatever course of action it chooses regarding Hamas,” Hughes said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu faced new criticism over the war while speaking at a military graduation. As he held up a picture of Shiri Bibas and her young boys, Ariel and Kfir, whose remains were returned from Gaza last week, to demonstrate “what we are fighting against,” audience members called out “Shame!” and “Why didn’t you save them?” The prime minister didn’t react.

 


White House backs Israel’s decision to delay releasing Palestinian prisoners

White House backs Israel’s decision to delay releasing Palestinian prisoners
Updated 24 February 2025
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White House backs Israel’s decision to delay releasing Palestinian prisoners

White House backs Israel’s decision to delay releasing Palestinian prisoners
  • President Donald Trump is prepared to support Israel in “whatever course of action it chooses regarding Hamas,” he added

WASHINGTON: The White House said on Sunday that it supports Israel’s decision to delay releasing 600 Palestinian prisoners, citing the “barbaric treatment” of Israeli hostages by Hamas.
Delaying the prisoner release is an “appropriate response” to the Palestinian militant group’s treatment of the hostages, a statement from National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said.
President Donald Trump is prepared to support Israel in “whatever course of action it chooses regarding Hamas,” he added.