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
A Zurich city councilor has apologized and reportedly sought police protection against threats after she fired a sport pistol at an auction poster of a 14th-century Madonna and child painting, and posted images of their bullet-ridden faces on social media. Green-Liberal party official Sanija Ameti, 32, put the images on Instagram over the weekend before quickly pulling them down. She later wrote on social media that she had been practicing shots from about 10m and only found the poster as “big enough” for a suitable target. “I apologize to the people who were hurt by my post. I deleted it immediately when I
The governor of Ohio is to send law enforcement and millions of dollars in healthcare resources to the city of Springfield as it faces a surge in temporary Haitian migrants. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine on Tuesday said that he does not oppose the Temporary Protected Status program under which about 15,000 Haitians have arrived in the city of about 59,000 people since 2020, but said the federal government must do more to help affected communities. On Monday, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost directed his office to research legal avenues — including filing a lawsuit — to stop the federal government from sending
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense