UNITED NATIONS, December 13. /TASS/. The United States is blocking any peacekeeping efforts in the Gaza Strip, not letting the United Nations Security Council take necessary measures, Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya said.
"The United States is standing in the way of all peacekeeping efforts like a blind wall. From the very beginning, the US has been rejecting multilateral diplomacy. We have been hearing US representatives saying that as long as Washington is engaged in bilateral quiet diplomacy on the ground, no one should interfere in order not to spoil its efforts. This is the key reason why the UN Security Council has been failing to take any resolute measures. A number of its members suggested settlement solutions, holding negotiations on them almost round-the-clock. The Untied Arab Emirates, Russia and China keep on requesting Security Council meetings to discuss the situation in Gaza. By the way, our Western colleagues have never done this," he said at a session of the UN General Assembly.
He recalled that as far back as October 16 Russia had offered the first UN Security Council draft resolution with a provision on an immediate ceasefire in the zone of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, but it wasn’t supported by Western delegations. Moreover, the Brazilian draft was also vetoed by the US. "A lot of horrible things have happened since then and these developments have demonstrated that what we have been saying since the very beginning has no alternatives and we must unequivocally demand the sides cease combat operations and violence. It should be a demand, not a call," he stressed.
"The UN Security Council was about to pass such resolution on December 8. More than 100 co-authors backed the drafts with a provision on a ceasefire which was worded by a group of Arab states and submitted by the United Arab Emirates. <…> The text contained everything the UN Secretary General [Antonio Guterres] asked in his unprecedented address," Nebenzya said, adding that the resolution was not passed due to the US’ position.
On December 12, the UN General Assembly passed an Egypt-and Mauritania-initiated resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in the zone of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
As many as 153 member nations, including Russia, China, Brazil, Iran, Spain, Canada, Cuba, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, France, Switzerland, and Sweden, voted in favor of the resolution, ten countries, including Austria, Israel, the United States, and the Czech Republic, were against, while twenty-three, including the United Kingdom, Germany, and Ukraine, abstained.
The draft UNGA resolution initiated by Egypt and Mauritania generally repeats the text of a document initiated by the United Arab Emirates at the UN Security Council last week, which was vetoed by the United States. Several dozen states, including Russia, Belarus, Chiina, Malta, Portugal, were among the co-authors. The resolution demands an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and the release of all hostages. Apart from that, the document urges all parties to the conflict to observe international humanitarian law.