Alwaght- After several failed attempts at the United Nations Security Council to approve a resolution demanding stop of the Israeli bombardment in Gaza, the United Nations General Assembly on Friday passed an Arab-drafted resolution demanding immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The resolution called for “immediate and sustained humanitarian truce” to end the hostilities, and all parties were asked to respect it.
The resolution of the General Assembly in support of Palestine was approved with 120 votes in favor, 14 against and 45 abstaining. The resolution strongly rejected any attempt to forcibly relocate Palestinian civilians. It called for the cancellation of the order issued by the Israeli regime to Palestinian civilians and UN employees, as well as the personnel of humanitarian and medical institutions, to evacuate all the northern areas of Gaza and move south.
The resolution also called _for unconditional release of all civilian prisoners and security, welfare, and humanitarian behavior to them.
The statement highlighted the urgent need to establish a mechanism to ensure the protection of the Palestinian civilian population and a humanitarian notification mechanism to ensure the protection of UN forces and all humanitarian facilities and to ensure the unimpeded movement of aid convoys. The General Assembly’s resolution also expressed deep concern about the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza and its enormous consequences for the civilian population, most of whom are children.
Israel global isolation
Though this resolution is non-binding, the large number of the votes in its favor can negatively impact the relations of the UN member states with party of hostility. The adoption of the resolution with 120 positive votes against the crimes of the Israeli regime was unprecedented and shows that this regime has become more hated and isolated in the international system.
Although the Israeli regime has been able to occupy many Palestinian lands by force in the past 75 years, it has not been able to gain legitimacy for itself on international stage and has become more isolated along with the development of the occupation. David Ben-Gurion, the first prime minister of the Israeli regime, first raised this issue in 1971. According to Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed newspaper, Ben-Gurion said at that time: “We are a people who live in isolation. Our neighbors who are close to us geographically and even in terms of race and language are unfortunately our worst enemies. Former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir also admitted this issue and wrote in her memoir: “We have no family here and no one shares our religion, our language or our past, and it seems that the whole world has gathered against us.”
Now these admissions by the Israeli officials have come to truth and the Friday resolution showed that there is a deep and growing trend on the world stage that moves in stark contrast to the Israeli apartheid and the terrorist policies of Tel Aviv.
Over the past decades, the aversion to the Israeli regime has not been limited only to the countries that support the Palestinian nation, but also, as the recent resolution showed, the trend of solidarity with the Palestinians and the tendency to criticize the Israelis has expanded, and the countries that once were known for their tolerance of the Israeli policies now have shifted their stances and joined the pro-Palestinian ranks. The recent UNGA vote lays bare this reality.
Israeli crimes in Gaza are so catastrophic that even Western countries, including England, Germany and Canada, which have publicly supported the occupation, refused to vote against this resolution and abstained, and France also voted in favor of the resolution in a rare move. A majority of the 14 countries that voted in favor of the resolution are actually under the US dominance and their support to Tel Aviv is driven by pressures and privileges mainly offered by the Americans.
Passing of the resolution in the General Assembly showed that the main party to blame for the Security Council’s inability to put an end to the continuation of the Israeli crimes against civilians in Gaza was the US. Since the beginning of the conflict on October 7, the UN Security Council has failed to pass a resolution demanding a ceasefire as the US vetoed Russian and Brazilian-drafted resolutions under the excuse of not fully considering the Israeli interests.
West fails to save Israeli image
Simultaneous with the draft resolution proposed by the Arab countries, on the other side, the US and its allies, who felt threatened by the political consequences and the message of the decisive vote of the General Assembly in support of Palestine, presented another draft resolution to compensate for this failure and provide diplomatic support to the Israeli regime.
Canada, supported by the US, drafted an amendment to the Arab resolution and called for condemnation of “Hamas terrorist attacks and hostage holding.” However, it failed as the the votes were 85 for, 55 against, and 23 abstentions. For passing, the amendment required two-third or 193 votes of the UNGA.
The US knew very well that it could not change the antipathetic opinion of countries against Israeli crimes, nevertheless, it made a political gamble to, at least, reduce the efficacy of the Arab resolution but failed. Most of countries are no longer consonant to the US policies at the UN and this is driven by the declining global position of the US that has lost to such rivals as China and Russia over the past two years. Even now, Washington, which officially and openly supports Tel Aviv financially and with weapons, is the accomplice to the Israeli crimes and massacring of the defenseless people of Gaza, especially children and women, who are the main victims of these crimes.
The overwhelming support of the UN member states to the Palestinians showed that even the massive American backing to the Israelis cannot stop the global wave of condemnation against the heinous Israeli crimes, and any country that backs these crimes in Gaza and the West Bank will get its international image damaged. Now the target of the world condemnation of the Israeli crimes is the White House leaders who authorized massacre of Gazans with their green light to the Israelis.
While the Israeli regime is pushing ahead its massacre machine in Gaza with full Western support, the continuation of crimes will prompt its deeper global isolation and confine the Israelis behind the security walls of the occupied territories.
