United Nations: Kuwait has circulated a draft Security Council resolution that would condemn Israel’s use of force against Palestinian civilians and support deployment of an international force to protect civilians.
This came after three council press statements proposed by Kuwait that called for an independent investigation of the deadly Gaza protests were blocked - by the United States.
US Ambassador Nikki Haley, who called the meeting, noted that Hamas claimed responsibility for this week’s “outrageous terrorist attack” against Israel.
She said this “proves what we have consistently maintained - namely, that Hamas’ stated purpose is the destruction of Israel.”
Haley said a statement proposed by the US that would have the council condemn the Hamas attacks “should have been a no-brainer” - but it was blocked.
Kuwait’s UN Ambassador Mansour Al Otaibi, the council’s Arab representative, countered that “the Israeli occupation bears full responsibility for the latest escalation on our occupied land.”
“For as long as this occupation continues the Palestinians have a legitimate right to fight it and to defend their aspirations and their dreams to independence and dignified and free life,” he said.
“We support their fight and commend their steadfastness in front of the destructive Israeli machine.”
The Security Council meeting again demonstrated the paralysis of the UN’s most powerful body, and its inability to agree on any action.
Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian UN ambassador, said the Palestinians “totally reject” Israel “casting itself as the victim, when it is in fact the occupier, aggressor and oppressor and has appointed itself judge, jury and executioner of the Palestinian people.”
He said the latest cycle of violence was “fueled and incited by a series of Israeli aggressions and rhetoric,” particularly since the mass protests began on March 30.
Mansour urged the council to take action now “to de-escalate this dangerous situation” and “deter the descent into more violence and chaos” - and to provide international protection for the Palestinian people.
But diplomats said the US indicated in closed consultations that it will veto the Kuwaiti resolution.
Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon called the Kuwaiti resolution “shameful,” holding up pages from the draft and saying “it doesn’t even mention Hamas.”
Meanwhile, the UN Mideast envoy said that the latest escalation in Gaza between its Hamas rulers and Israel is a warning of “how close to the brink of war we are every day.”
Nikolay Mladenov said the international community should “unequivocally condemn” Hamas’ massive attack against Israel using 216 rockets and mortars.
Israel responded with 65 air strikes on Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets in Gaza.
Mladenov called it the most serious escalation since the 2014 Israeli-Hamas conflict.
Hamas said earlier Wednesday it had agreed to a cease-fire, and Mladenov said that since 5 a.m. local time there have been no attacks by either side.
“It is imperative that this period of calm be preserved at all costs,” he said.
“No one in Gaza can afford another war. No one has the right to play with the lives of two million people who have lived through hell in the last decade.”
Hamas forcibly wrested control of Gaza from the rival Fatah party in 2007 after winning legislative elections, triggering an Israeli-Egyptian blockade that has severely restricted the movement of most of Gaza’s inhabitants.
Mladenov said “the dangerous escalation” in Gaza can’t be divorced from two months of mass protests at the border fence with Israel in which some 110 Palestinians were killed and large numbers injured by Israeli military fire.
“As demonstrations and protests in Gaza continue into the month of June, I am concerned that we may experience further violence and further risks of escalation,” he said.
