Friday, 9 January 2009
Bethlehem - The United Nations Security Council early on Friday morning overwhelmingly approved a resolution to halt fighting in the Gaza Strip.
Fourteen of the Security Council's 15 member states voted in favor of the resolution, which was approved in draft just hours beforehand. The United States abstained.
Western and Arab foreign ministers agreed on a UN draft resolution to stop the bloodshed in Gaza just after midnight on Friday (Gaza time). The Security Council then voted on the draft proposal at a closed-door session in New York within hours of the initial decision.
"There's an agreement accepting the amendments of the Arabs," Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Ryad Mansour said following the draft vote. Mansour added that Palestine hoped the draft would be able to receive full support from the Security Council once it convened. In fact, it received near-unanimous approval.
The resolution reportedly "stresses the urgency of and calls for an immediate, durable and fully respected ceasefire, leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza."
It insists on "the unimpeded provision and distribution throughout Gaza of humanitarian assistance, including of food, fuel and medical treatment." The proposal was also aimed at "creating and opening humanitarian corridors and other mechanisms for the sustained delivery of humanitarian aid."
Resolution 1860, which has already been noted for its compromise on certain conditions, also "condemns all violence and hostilities directed against civilians and all acts of terrorism."
The resolution urges UN member states to enforce a "durable ceasefire and calm, including to prevent illicit trafficking in arms and ammunition and to ensure the reopening of the crossing points."
The draft was originally sought by Libya on behalf of Arab ambassadors to the UN and was considered highly likely to pass due to the apparent approval by the United States, United Kingdom and France.
At the actual session, however, the United States abstained from voting. Both European and Arab diplomats expressed surprise at the seemingly last-minute decision by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who had just hours earlier announced public support for the Egyptian draft.
Despite her abstention, Rice later said the United States supports the resolution. "The United States thought it important to see the outcomes of the Egyptian mediation efforts in order to see what this resolution might have been supporting," she said.
According to the text of the agreement, the draft resolution "welcomes the Egyptian initiative and other regional and international efforts that are underway."
Egypt's president, Hosni Mubarak, proposed a three-part ceasefire agreement that first called for an immediate halt to fighting on both sides followed by reopening crossings into the coastal strip, as well as lifting the Israeli siege on Gaza.
Arab foreign ministers said Thursday they had been hoping to secure at least the nine votes needed to clinch the agreement, so long as none of the five veto powers voted against. The five countries able to veto an agreement are the UK, China, France, Russia and the US.
For the better part of the past week, foreign ministers from the western nations and the Arab League have held both public and private debates on the initiative. Egypt's Mubarak also invited Israeli and Palestinian leaders to join him in Cairo for talks on ending the hostilities.
Earlier, the French delegation asked for another 24 hours to work out their version of the draft, drawing a furious response from the Saudi delegation, who reportedly refused to wait any longer as civilians were "dying by the minute."
Libya had also proposed its own version of a draft proposal, which it had urged the other 14 member states to accept, but the US blocked the draft for being too "anti-Israeli," according to Al-Jazeera.
At least 765 Palestinians were killed, including some 200 children, since the Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip began on 27 December. More than 3,100 Palestinians were injured in the 13-day air, sea and land incursions, including about 250 injured seriously.
Eight Israeli soldiers and three civilians were reportedly killed during the same 13-day period.
