UNITED NATIONS, United States
The United Nations General Assembly will meet Thursday to discuss the conflict triggered by the attack by Hamas militants on Israel, the body’s president announced in a letter to member states.
A general view during a vote at a meeting of the United Nations Security Council on the conflict between Israel and Hamas at UN headquarters in New York, US, Oct. 16, 2023. |
The Security Council has so
far failed to agree on a resolution concerning the war, but a number of states
— including Jordan on behalf of an Arab group of nations, Russia, Syria,
Bangladesh, Vietnam and Cambodia — formally requested General Assembly
President Dennis Francis to schedule the meeting.
Last week, the UN Security
Council, regularly divided on the Israeli-Palestinian issue, rejected a Russian
draft resolution calling for a “humanitarian pause.”
Only five of the 15 member
states had supported the text, which condemned all violence against civilians
and all terrorist acts, but did not name Hamas, an unacceptable omission to the
United States, the United Kingdom and France.
Washington then vetoed a
second resolution put forward by Brazil as the text did not mention Israel’s
right to defend itself.
Twelve out of 15 Council
members voted in favor of that resolution, which also condemned the “heinous
terrorist attacks by Hamas,” while Russia and the United Kingdom abstained.
The United States was the only
vote against, but as one of the body’s five permanent members its vote counts
as a veto.
The Security Council will meet
to discuss the issue Tuesday ahead of the General Assembly’s gathering Thursday
at 10:00 am (1400 GMT).
No comments:
Post a Comment