Middle East crisis: UN Security Council adopts resolution for immediate ceasefire

VideoThe resolution was adopted after the United States abstained from voting. The ceasefire would last through the month of Ramadan.CreditCredit...Andrew Kelly/Reuters

The United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution on Monday calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, ending a five-month standoff during which the United States vetoed several calls for an end to the war, while the toll humanitarian of the Israeli military offensive was increasing.

The resolution was adopted with 14 votes in favor. The United States abstained, allowing the resolution to pass. The hemicycle applauded after the vote.

"Finally, finally, the Security Council assumes its responsibility", declared the ambassador of Algeria to the UN. UN, Amar Bendjama, the only Arab member of the Council. “He is finally responding to the calls of the international community.”

Israel immediately criticized the United States for letting the resolution pass. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the decision "a withdrawal from the consistent American position since the start of the war", and said that American abstention "harms the war effort as well as the effort to release of hostages. >

In response, Mr Netanyahu said he would not send an Israeli delegation to Washington to hold high-level talks with US officials on an operation planned in the country. Rafah, in southern Gaza, a public rebuke to President Biden, who had requested these meetings.

A Department spokesperson Secretary of State Matthew Miller called the decision "somewhat surprising and unfortunate."

The United States has not voted for the resolution because they did not condemn Hamas in October. 7 against Israel and because of other concerns about the wording, he said at a briefing in Washington. But other aspects of the resolution “were consistent with our long-term position – most importantly, that there should be a ceasefire and that there should be a release of the hostages, which we have also understood to be the position of the Israeli government. . »

The Israeli Embassy in Washington on Monday.Credit...Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA, via Shutterstock

The groundbreaking resolution, presented by the 10 non-permanent members of the Council, was negotiated intensively until the last minute . The United States requested a change to the text that replaces the "permanent ceasefire" in the war between Israel and Hamas with a "lasting ceasefire," according to diplomats, and wanted language calling both parties to create the conditions allowing a cessation of fighting must be lasting.

He calls for a ceasefire to the remainder of the holy month of Ramadan, which lasts two weeks. remaining.

Although Security Council resolutions are considered international law and carry significant political and legal weight, the Council does not have the means to apply them. . The Council can take punitive measures such as sanctions against violators, but even that could face obstacles if a veto-wielding member opposes the measure. Israel is currently violating a 2016 resolution calling on it to cease settlement expansion in the West Bank.

Over the years, the United States United vetoed dozens of Security Council resolutions criticizing Israel;...