Condemning Israel for Gaza deaths
The United Nations [UN] General Assembly adopted a strong resolution on Wednesday last week condemning Israel for the deaths of Palestinian during a border incident in the Gaza Strip earlier this month. One hundred and twenty countries backed the resolution sponsored by Arab countries. The General Assembly members also rejected a bid by the United States to put the blame for the deaths on Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.
At least 129 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire during protests near the border with Gaza that began at the end of March. No Israelis died during the incident, which proves the one-sided nature of the killings and the disproportionate use of force by the Israeli army. The resolution put forward by Algeria and Turkey on behalf of Arab and Muslim countries won 120 votes in the 193-member assembly, with 8 votes against and 45 abstentions.
An amendment presented by the United States condemning Hamas for “inciting violence” along the Gaza/Israel border failed to garner the two-thirds majority needed for adoption.
US Ambassador Nikki Haley dismissed the resolution passed by the majority as biased against Israel and she accused Arab countries of trying to score political points at home by seeking to condemn Israel at the United Nations. The US amendment condemning Hamas received 62 votes in favor, with 58 against and 42 abstentions. The United States sought to challenge the ruling requiring a two-thirds majority but that was defeated in a separate vote.
The adopted UN resolution deplored Israel’s use of “excessive, disproportionate and indiscriminate force” against Palestinian civilians and called for protection measures for Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Arab countries backing the measure turned to the General Assembly after the United States used its veto in the Security Council to block the resolution on June 1. Unlike the Security Council, resolutions adopted by the assembly are non-binding and there is no veto. The resolution tasks UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres with the drafting of proposals for an “international protection mechanism” for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. These could range from setting up an observer mission to a full-blown peacekeeping force, but action on any option would require backing from the Security Council, where the United States has veto power.
Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour dismissed the US amendments blaming Hamas as “games and gimmicks” and urged ambassadors not to be “fooled” by the US proposal.
Turkey’s Ambassador Feridun Hadi Sinirlioglu defended the resolution, saying it was “about taking sides with international law” and showing the Palestinians that the world “does care about their suffering.” Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon also assailed the measure as an “attempt to take away our basic right to self-defense.” He warned ambassadors that by supporting the resolution “you are empowering Hamas.”
The incidents on the Gaza/Israel border were sparked off by the official relocation of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. US President Donald Trump first announced the measure last year in total defiance of world opinion and in flagrant violation of the spirit, if not the letter, of many UN resolutions in the last 45 years that urge a two-state solution to the Palestinian issue. Every US administration in the last 40 years had refrained from making this move, until Trump came along. Since the status of Jerusalem is one of the issues to be tackled in final status negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, Mr. Trump’s action tries to “take the issue off the table” in final status talks, an impossibility if ever there is one.
It was this reckless, anti-peace move by President Trump, goaded on by the notoriously anti-peace Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that sparked Palestinian anger and led to protests at the border. We again condemn the wanton destruction of lives by the Israeli occupying forces and we call on the world to urge Israel and the US to make a genuine commitment to seek a lasting, honourable peace in the Middle East.