impunity

In 14-1 UN Security Council Vote, Lone US Veto Kills Gaza Cease-Fire Resolution

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Original article by Jessica Corbett republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

U.S. Ambassador Robert Wood raises his hands to veto a draft resolution during a United Nations Security Council meeting at the U.N. headquarters in New York City on November 20, 2024.
 (Photo: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

The U.S. government, said one human rights lawyer, “proves once again to the world that it is fully committed to the continuation of the genocide in Palestine.”

The Biden administration faced fierce criticism on Wednesday after using its veto power at the United Nations Security Council to block a resolution demanding an immediate, unconditional, and permanent cease-fire in Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip.

The vetoed measure also called for all parties to implement a U.N. Security Council (UNSC) resolution passed in June—which would lead to the release of all hostages—and to enable Gaza civilians’ immediate access to basic services and humanitarian assistance.

Jess Peake, who directs the International and Comparative Law Program at the University of California, Los Angeles, condemned the U.S. decision as “absolutely unforgivable” while Nina Turner, a senior fellow at the Institute on Race, Power, and Political Economy, declared that “this is absurd.”

Mai El-Sadany, executive director of the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy in Washington, D.C., called it “yet another shameful abuse of the UNSC veto by the U.S. to perpetuate a war that violates U.S. law and U.S. international legal commitments.”

“Today’s message is clear to the Israeli occupying power—you may continue your genocide… with complete impunity.”

Human rights attorney Craig Mokhiber, who last year resigned as the New York director for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights over the United Nations’ response to Gaza, said Wednesday that “the U.S. has just vetoed another cease-fire resolution in the U.N. Security Council, and, in doing so, proves once again to the world that it is fully committed to the continuation of the genocide in Palestine.”

Mokhiber also called for action at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), where there is no U.S. veto power.

“Even as we seek accountability for Israeli perpetrators, we must also seek accountability for complicit U.S. actors,” he said. “Israeli/U.S. impunity threatens the entire world. And the U.N. must now move to take concrete action in the UNGA.”

The 14-1 vote at the UNSC marked the fourth time the United States has blocked a Gaza resolution since Israel began its retaliation for the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack. All five permanent members of the Security Council—the U.S., the United Kingdom, Russia, France, and China—have veto power. The other seats are filled on a rotating basis and lack that authority.

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The 10 nonpermanent members—Algeria, Ecuador, Guyana, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, South Korea, and Switzerland—were behind the push to pass this draft resolution. Those who supported it represent “the collective will” of the international community, Algerian Ambassador Amar Bendjama said after the vote, according to U.N. News.

“It is sad day for the Security Council, for the United Nations, and the international community as a whole,” Bendjama said, stressing that it has been “five months since the adoption of Resolution 2735, five months during which the Security Council remained idle—remained hand-tied.”

“Today’s message is clear to the Israeli occupying power—you may continue your genocide… with complete impunity. In this chamber—you enjoy immunity,” he added. “To the Palestinian people, another clear message—while the overwhelming majority of the world stands in solidarity with your plight, others remain indifferent to your suffering.”

Israel faces a South Africa-led genocide case at the International Court of Justice over its assault on Gaza, which as of Wednesday has killed at least 43,985 Palestinians, according to local officials. Another 104,092 people have been wounded, and most of the enclave’s 2.3 million residents have been repeatedly displaced as Israeli forces have devastated civilian infrastructure.

U.S. Ambassador Robert Wood said Wednesday that “we made clear throughout negotiations we could not support an unconditional cease-fire that failed to release the hostages.”

“This resolution abandoned that necessity,” he argued. “For that reason, the United States could not support it.”

The U.S. government has been widely accused of complicity in genocide for arming Israeli forces over the past 13 months—including by progressives in Congress. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Wednesday planned to force a vote on resolutions that would block American weapons sales to Israel on the grounds that they violate federal law.

Original article by Jessica Corbett republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Continue ReadingIn 14-1 UN Security Council Vote, Lone US Veto Kills Gaza Cease-Fire Resolution

Top EU Diplomat Warns Israeli Impunity Will Lead to West Bank Becoming ‘a New Gaza’

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Original article by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Josep Borrell speaks during a press conference at the end of an Informal Foreign Affairs Council (Development Ministers) in Brussels, on February 12, 2023.
 (Photo: Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP via Getty Images

“Against this backdrop, it is clear that the prospect of a two-state solution—which we have been ritually repeating—is receding ever further while the international community deplores, feels, and condemns, but finds it hard to act.”

European Union foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell on Tuesday urged the international community to stop “radical members of the Israeli government” from thwarting Palestinian statehood and prevent Israel from turning the illegally occupied West Bank into “a new Gaza.”

Speaking to attendees of an Arab League conference in Cairo, Borrell lamented that a Gaza cease-fire agreement “has still not been signed and does not seem likely to be signed in the near future.”

“Why? Quite simply, because those who are waging the war have no interest in putting an end to it,” he continued. “So, they are just pretending… Because, as it turns out, their intransigence is accompanied by total impunity.”

“If acts have no consequences, if blatant violation of international law remains disregarded, if institutions such as the International Criminal Court are threatened, if the International Court of Justice rulings are totally ignored by those who promote a rules-based order, who can be trusted?” Borrell asked.

“Not only is there no pause in the war in Gaza,” he noted. “But what looms on the horizon is the extension of the conflict to the West Bank, where radical members of the Israeli government—Netanyahu’s government—try to make it impossible to create a future Palestinian state.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of his far-right government have openly boasted about their efforts to derail the so-called “two-state solution,” and Israeli lawmakers voted overwhelmingly in July to oppose the creation of a Palestinian state.

Borrell asserted that “a new front is being opened with a clear objective: to turn the West Bank into a new Gaza—in rising violence, delegitimizing the Palestinian Authority, stimulating provocations to react forcefully, and not shying away from saying to the face of the world that the only way to reach a peaceful settlement is to annex the West Bank and Gaza.”

Since last October, Israeli soldiers and settler-colonists have killed more than 600 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, including more than 140 children. Settlers have carried out more than 1,000 attacks including multiple deadly pogroms, during which Israel Defense Forces soldiers stood by, protected, and even joined the attackers.

“Without action, the West Bank will become a new Gaza,” Borrell stressed. “And Gaza will become a new West Bank, as settlers’ movements are preparing new settlements.”

“Against this backdrop, it is clear that the prospect of a two-state solution—which we have been ritually repeating—is receding ever further while the international community deplores, feels, and condemns, but finds it hard to act,” Borrell added.

“What can we do?” he asked, continuing:

We need to raise our voice at the next [United Nations General Assembly] and prevent a sort of “Gaza fatigue,” which will embolden the extremists and postpone once again the idea of a political settlement. We have to launch a process where all parties who want to work on an agenda—a concrete and practical agenda to implement the two-state solution—can work together.

Second, we need to revitalize the Palestinian Authority to support their reform process, but also to support [them] financially.

Third, [we have] to facilitate all attempts at dialogue between Palestinians and Israelis.

Fourth, [we must] not give up on engaging with Israeli civil society, even in this context—and especially in this context. Everyone, not just the Europeans—Palestinians, and Arab civil society, must do it. I know how difficult it is to reconcile both narratives, but it is the only way to move forward…

Fifth, the Palestinians have to reach a common vision, to overcome their divisions, because the more these divisions exist, the more they undermine the legitimacy and representativeness of the Palestinians.

Sixth, the Europeans need to adopt a common approach. That is what I am working tirelessly on, even if the success is limited, because I have never seen such a dividing issue among the Europeans as the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Seventh, the Arab States need also to adopt a truly common approach [to] coordinating and showing solidarity.

“All in all, it means building a balance of power on realistic foundations for the two-state solution—before it becomes, definitely, too late,” Borrell concluded. “I know, it is extremely difficult. However, we must never give up.”

Last month, Borrell called for sanctioning Israeli leaders for hate speech and inciting war crimes in Gaza and the illegally occupied West Bank. He has also called for an arms embargo on Israel.

Israel is currently on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice. Meanwhile, International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan is seeking to arrest Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders—at least one of whom has been assassinated—for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Since October 7, when the Hamas-led attack on Israel left more than 1,100 people dead—some of them killed by so-called ” friendly fire“—and over 240 others kidnapped, Israeli forces have killed at least 40,988 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children. At least 94,825 other Palestinians have been wounded. Almost all of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been forcibly displaced, while Israel’s “complete siege” has starved and sickened people across the enclave, with dozens dying of malnutrition.

Original article by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Continue ReadingTop EU Diplomat Warns Israeli Impunity Will Lead to West Bank Becoming ‘a New Gaza’