UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Arab nations are putting to a vote a U.N. resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza. They know the United States will veto it, but hope to show broad global support for ending the Israel-Hamas war.
The Security Council has scheduled a vote on the resolution for Tuesday at 10 a.m. EST (1500 GMT). U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield says the Biden administration will veto the Arab-backed resolution because it could harm ongoing U.S. efforts to reach an agreement between the warring factions that would require at least a six-week cessation of hostilities and providing for the release of all hostages taken during Hamas' October 7 surprise attack in southern Israel.
In a surprise move before the vote, the United States circulated a rival U.N. Security Council resolution that would support a temporary ceasefire in Gaza coupled with the release of all hostages and call for the lifting of all restrictions on the delivery of humanitarian aid. Both measures “would help create the conditions for a sustained cessation of hostilities,” said the draft resolution, obtained by The Associated Press.
U.S. Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood told several reporters on Monday that the Arab-backed resolution “is not an effective mechanism to accomplish the three things we want to accomplish — namely, freeing the hostages, more aid and a longer pause .” this conflict.”
With the U.S. draft, “we are looking at another possible option, and we will discuss this with friends in the future,” Wood said. “I don’t think you can expect anything to happen tomorrow.”
A senior US official said later on Monday: “We do not believe in a hasty vote.” The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of Council discussions on the US draft, said: “We intend to begin intensive negotiations on it in the coming days . … Therefore, we are not setting a timetable for a vote, but we are aware of the urgency of the situation.”
Arab nations, backed by many of the 193 U.N. member states, have been calling for a ceasefire for months as Israel's military offensive intensified in response to the Hamas attack that killed 1,200 people and took about 250 others hostage. The number of Palestinians killed has exceeded 29,000, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. There is no distinction between civilians and combatants, but these are predominantly women and children.
Tunisia's U.N. Ambassador Tarek Ladeb, head of the 22-nation Arab Group this month, told U.N. reporters last Wednesday that a ceasefire was urgently needed.
He pointed to some 1.5 million Palestinians sheltering in the southern Gaza town of Rafah who face a “catastrophe scenario” if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu goes ahead with his announced plan to evacuate civilians from the town and shift the Israeli military offensive in the area adjacent to Egypt continues, where Israel says Hamas militants are hiding.
In addition to an immediate ceasefire, the Arab-backed draft resolution calls for the immediate release of all hostages, rejects the forced relocation of Palestinian civilians, calls for unhindered humanitarian access throughout the Gaza Strip, and reiterates the Council's demands that Israel and Hamas demand “strict compliance.” with international law, especially the protection of the civilian population. Without naming any of the parties, it condemns “all acts of terrorism”
In a tough message to Israel, the US draft resolution states that Israel's planned major ground offensive in Rafah “should not be carried out under the current circumstances.” And it warns that further displacement of civilians, “including possibly to neighboring countries,” a reference to Egypt, would have serious implications for peace and security in the region.
Thomas-Greenfield said in a statement Sunday that the United States has been working on a hostage-taking deal for months. She said U.S. President Joe Biden had made several calls with Netanyahu and the leaders of Egypt and Qatar in the last week to advance the deal.
“While gaps remain, the key elements are on the table,” she said, and the deal remains the best opportunity to free the hostages and create a sustainable pause that would allow life-saving aid to reach Palestinians in need.
The 15 members of the Security Council have been negotiating the Arab-backed resolution for three weeks. Algeria, the Arab representative on the council, delayed a vote at the request of the US, while US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was recently in the region hoping for a hostage deal. But Qatar said on Saturday the talks had “not progressed as expected”. And the Arab group decided over the weekend that it had given the US enough time and submitted its resolution in final form for a vote.
What will happen after the US vetoes it remains to be seen. The Arab group could submit its resolution to the U.N. General Assembly, which includes all 193 U.N. member states, where it will almost certainly be adopted. But unlike Security Council resolutions, Assembly resolutions are not legally binding.
The Security Council is then likely to begin debating the much longer draft U.S. resolution, which would for the first time condemn not only Hamas's Oct. 7 attack but also its hostage-taking and killing, “murder and sexual violence, including rape.” Some Council members blocked condemnation of Hamas in two previous Council resolutions on Gaza.
The U.S. draft does not mention Israel by name, but in a clear reference, the draft “condemns calls by government ministers for Gaza relocation and rejects any attempt at demographic or territorial change in Gaza that would violate international law.”