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POLITICS: U.N. General Assembly Demands Ceasefire in Gaza

Haider Rizvi

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 17 2009 (IPS) - As Israel’s military aggression in Gaza stretched to nearly a month, the 192-member U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution Friday evening calling for an immediate ceasefire.

The resolution, which follows a similar call from the U.N. Security Council a week ago, was adopted by a majority of the member states, with 142 voting in favour, four against and eight abstaining.

Among those who opposed the resolution were the United States and Israel.

The 10th special emergency meeting of the Assembly was called by its president, Miguel d’Escoto, at the request of the Non-Aligned Movement, a group of 118 countries of the global South.

“The Council resolution has failed to bring about either a ceasefire or unimpeded humanitarian access,” d’Escoto told delegates during his opening remarks. “Obviously it was never really meant to achieve those objectives.”

In d’Escoto’s view, there has been no diplomatic breakthrough on a ceasefire because certain powers, including those within the Council, do not want the Israeli military action to come to a halt.

Last week’s resolution calling for ceasefire was not opposed by any of the 15 members of the Security Council, except for the United States, which decided to abstain from the vote at the last very moment.

“Some in the Council [were] bent on betraying their obligation to our Charter,” said the General Assembly president. “Instead of supporting a strong, clear, and unequivocal demand for an immediate ceasefire, those forces succeeded in blocking it.”

In addition to a ceasefire, the Security Council resolution called for “unimpeded humanitarian assistance”, but did not mention the 19-month blockade of Gaza by the occupying Israeli forces.

Both Israel and the United States were clearly unhappy that the General Assembly had called an emergency session on the Gaza situation.

“The convening of this meeting… is deceitful,” said Israeli ambassador Gabriela Shalev, who argued that the General Assembly meeting on the Palestinian situation was held in violation of the U.N. Charter because the issue at hand was being tackled by the Council.

“The U.N. Charter states that while the Security Council is exercising in respect of any dispute, the General Assembly shall not make any recommendations with regard to that dispute,” she added. “[So] what is the real purpose of this emergency special session?”

The U.S. deputy ambassador Alejandro Wolff also took a similar position “The Assembly must be careful not to complicate efforts to seek a solution or undermine ongoing diplomatic activity to halt the violence in Gaza,” he said. “This is especially so when the Security Council is dealing with the matter as provided for the U.N. Charter.”

In response to a question about Israeli and U.S. assertions, d’Escoto’s spokesman, Enrique Yeves, told IPS that the Assembly president felt he had no choice but to convene the emergency session because a majority of countries had asked him to do so.

In the past few years, many U.N. member states have raised questions about the undemocratic role of the Security Council, where the five major powers – the U.S., Russia, France, Britain and China – are empowered to reject any resolution by using their veto.

By contrast, at the 192-member U.N. General Assembly, there is no such thing as veto power and all the members are eligible to cast an equal vote, regardless of their economic, political or military status.

During his opening remarks at the General Assembly meeting, d’Escoto also questioned why the U.N. should continue to be part of the Middle East “Quartet” tasked with bringing an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The Quartet comprises the U.S., U.N., European Union (EU) and Russia, and is supposed to lay out a roadmap for peace between Israel and Palestine, but has failed to make any significant headway.

D’Escoto thinks that instead of being part of the Quartet, the U.N. should take into consideration the counsel of its own judicial organs like the International Court of Justice, the Human Rights Council, and the U.N. special rapporteurs.

All these bodies have raised serious concerns about the Israeli behaviour in the occupied Palestinian territories regarding human rights.

On Thursday and Friday at the General Assembly meeting, speaker after speaker deplored Israeli actions while calling for an immediate ceasefire. A number of member states also called for an international probe into the war crimes committed by Israel.

“The Council and the International Criminal Court should exercise their responsibility to bring the criminals to justice and prevent impunity,” said the Iranian envoy, Mohammad Khazaee.

Diplomatic sources told IPS that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who is currently visiting several Middle Eastern countries, was getting closer to securing assurances from Israel for a possible ceasefire in a day or two.

This week, Ban has had several meetings with the Saudi, Syrian, Egyptian, Israeli, and Palestinian leaders to bring an end to the fighting in Gaza. Diplomatic sources believe that as a result of increasing international pressure, Israel must cease its assault.

On Thursday, Israeli forces damaged the U.N. headquarters in Gaza where several hundred Palestinian civilians had taken refuge from the virtually non-stop bombing and shelling by the Israeli air force and army.

According to John Ging, the chief of U.N. relief operations in Gaza, so far more than 1,100 Palestinians have been killed and over 5,000 wounded as a result of the ongoing Israeli military assault. Nearly 400 among those killed were children.

“Fear among the population is running high,” Ging told reporters in a televised briefing. “People wonder if they can stay safe in our shelters. We aren’t even sure about the safety of our compound.”