The United States again this Friday vetoed a new UN Security Council resolution to call for an immediate ceasefire in Loop which had been presented by the United Arab Emirates and in just 24 hours it was sponsored by 97 member countries.
The call was supported by 13 members of the Council and also had the abstention of the United Kingdom.
It is the second time since the Gaza war began that the United States has vetoed a resolution along these lines – it did so on October 18 -, thus aligning itself with Israel, which argues that this ceasefire would help Hamas to rearm and maintain captive the 138 hostages in the Strip.
The representative of the United Arab Emirates, Mohamed Abshahab, regretted that with this vote “The Council remains isolated, and thus appears detached from its own founding document. What message are we sending to the Palestinians if we cannot unite behind a call to stop the incessant bombing of Gaza?”he asked himself.
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US representative Robert Wood responded, regretting that the resolution was drafted “in a hasty manner” and as a result it was “unbalanced and divorced from reality, because it could not have moved things one iota on the ground”.
Wood had warned that he would not agree to call a ceasefire because – he said – “If Israel were to lay down its weapons today, as some Member States are calling for, Hamas would continue to hold its hostages, women and children, old and young, many of them subject to inhuman and cruel treatment.”.
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On October 18, the United States also vetoed alone a similar resolution calling for a ceasefire and presented by Brazil; He then argued that that text did not mention Israel’s right to self-defense.
It has been precisely the Palestinian conflict that has motivated most of the vetoes practiced by USA in the Security Council, up to 45 times in its entire history, always to side with its main ally in the world, Israel.
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Today’s vote takes place at the request of the Secretary General himself, António Guterres, who this week resorted to an exceptional mechanism of the founding charter of the UN, article 99, which enables him to request the intervention of the Council in cases of serious threats. for peace and security in the world.
Today, Guterres gave a dramatic presentation of the situation before the Council, recalling that Gaza “looks into the abyss” and? “the eyes of the world, and of History, are watching (towards the Council). It is time to act”.
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This Friday’s vote was doomed to failure when the position of USAand yet the negotiations took place until the last minute, with attempts by the US to change the word “Stop the fire” by “truce” that were not successful.
The war in Gaza has already left 17,000 Palestinians and 1,200 Israelis dead, and has also caused the displacement of 85% of the 2 million Gazans, who suffer from serious health and nutrition problems.
