Libya on Wednesday presented a draft resolution from the Arab League to a UN Security Council emergency meeting that called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.
The draft resolution “strongly condemns all military attacks and the excessive, disproportionate and indiscriminate use of force by Israel, the occupying power, which have led to the death and injury of scores of innocent Palestinian civilians, including women and children.”
It called for “an immediate ceasefire and for its full respect by both sides.”
PHOTO: AFP
It also called on Israel “to scrupulously abide by all of its obligations under international humanitarian law, particularly under the Geneva Convention relative to the protection of civilians in time of war.”
The 15-member council is now expected to convene a public debate on the draft resolution that includes representatives from Israel, Egypt, the Arab League and the Palestinian territories.
The resolution made no mention of the ongoing Hamas rocket attacks on Israeli territory that Israel said prompted its retaliatory offensive against Gaza.
At the start of the emergency council meeting — requested by Egypt and Libya on behalf of Arab nations at the UN — the British and US ambassadors to the UN said the draft resolution seemed too partial at first reading.
“This resolution as currently circulated by Libya is not balanced and therefore, as currently drafted, it is not acceptable to the United States,” US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad told reporters.
Israel’s closest ally, Washington has regularly vetoed Security Council resolutions seen as too critical of Israel.
“We will study the text carefully but ... any resolution will need to reflect the responsibilities of all parties,” said Britain’s UN ambassador John Sawers, adding: “There is no mention so far of the rocket attacks that have triggered the Israeli offensive.”
Sudan’s ambassador to the UN, Abdalmahmud Abdalhaleem Mohamad, and Arab League representative Yahya Mahmassani said the Council would likely meet at the foreign minister-level in the coming days, with at least eight Arab countries participating.
Foreign ministers from Arab League nations meeting in Cairo on Wednesday called for a binding UN resolution requiring an immediate halt to hostilities.
A delegation headed by chief Saudi diplomat Prince Saud al-Faisal with foreign ministers from Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Qatar and Syria, a Palestinian representative and Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa will likely travel to UN headquarters to argue the Arab League’s case, Mohamad said.
The Sudanese ambassador said a Security Council meeting with these representatives could be held on Sunday or Monday.
The draft resolution also called “for the immediate and sustained opening of the border crossings of the Gaza Strip,” and the resumption of humanitarian aid deliveries.
It “stresses the need for restoration of calm in full in order to pave the way for resolving all issues in a peaceful manner within the context of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.”
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also appealed on Wednesday for a UN resolution imposing a ceasefire.
Abbas is set to meet with the UN Security Council on Monday.
The Israeli attacks have so far lasted five days, killing 398 Palestinians, including 180 civilians, and wounding close to 2,000, Gaza emergency services figures showed.
Also See: Dialogue: Bridging the divide between Israelis and Palestinians
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to