Justin Lane / EPA
UN Security Council meeting on the war in Gaza
Text was prepared by France and Saudi Arabia and had the approval of 142 countries, including Portugal. Only 10 voted against, including USA.
The General Assembly of Him adopted on Friday for a large majority “New York Declaration”which aims to strengthen the solution of two states, with Israel and Palestine side by side and excluding The extremist group Hamas.
The text, prepared by France and Saudi Arabia, was approved with 142 votes in favor, including Portugal, and 10 against, in a small group of countries that integrates Israel, the United States, Argentina and Hungary. Twelve other states abstained.
The statement, already previously approved in July during a meeting without the presence of Israeli or American representatives, defends “tangible and irreversible” measures in the sense of a political solution, with concrete actions as soon as possible to achieve a Palestinian state “independent, sovereign, economically viable and democratic”.
Israel has been criticizing the UN General Assembly and Security Council for almost two years, about an alleged lack of firm condemnation of Hamas attacks that triggered the current war in the Gaza Strip.
“We condemn The attacks perpetrated on October 7 by Hamas against civilians, ”says the approved statement, regarding the massacres led by the Palestinian militias in 2023 in southern Israel, where 1,200 people were killed and 251 were held hostages.
The text warns the Islamite group that “ Free all hostages“In an estimated total of 48, of which 20 will still be alive, and removes it from a solution to the future of the enclave.
“In the context of the end of the war in Gaza, Hamas should cease the exercise of authority over the Gaza Strip and deliver weapons to Palestinian authority, with the support and collaboration of the international community, in accordance with the purpose of a sovereign and independent state,” he says.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot supported France Inter public radio, shortly before the vote, that today will be remembered as “the Hamas’s definitive international isolation day“.
According to a source from the French presidency cited by France-Presse news agency (AFP), this statement should be seen as the base for the summit that Paris and Riade will co-appear this month in New York, in which French President Emmanuel Macron has promised to recognize the Palestinian state.
Portugal and other Western countries such as Canada, Australia also prepare to recognize the Palestinian state later this month, while the United Kingdom has also indicated that it will do so if Israel does not take action that lead to the end of the gaza’s conflict.
The “New York Declaration” also appeals to the “end of the war in Gaza” and a “fair, peaceful and lasting solution of the Israelo-Palestinian conflict based on the genuine implementation of the two state solution.”
In order to a future ceasefire, the text also mentions the sending of a “temporary international mission of stabilization” to the territory, under the term of the UN Security Council, with the objective of protecting the population, supporting the training of the Palestinian State and providing “security guarantees to Palestine and Israel”.
About three quarters of the 193 UN Member States already recognize The Palestinian State proclaimed by the Palestinian leadership in Exile in 1988.
However, after nearly two years of war in the Gaza Strip, accompanied by the expansion of Israeli colonates in the West Bank and plans on the annexation of Palestinian territories, fears that the creation of a state is unfeasible.
The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, warned on Thursday that “There will be no Palestinian State” and that the territories under discussion belong to Israel.
The United States, Israel’s main ally, have already announced that Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas will be allowed to visit New York during the UN General Assembly High Level session.
“Shameful”
Israel classified as a “Shameful decision” this approval in the UN; And he warned that it is an incentive to the Islamite group Hamas.
“Israel categorically rejects the decision of the UN General Assembly,” said Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Ministry spokesman, Oren Marmstein, on social network X, in which he criticized a “shameful decision” showing an organization transformed into a “political circus alien to reality.”
“In the dozens of clauses of the approved statement (…) There is no reference to the simple fact that Hamas is solely responsible for the continuation of the warthrough refusal to return the hostages and disarm, ”commented the spokesman for Israeli diplomacy.
The approved statement “does not promote a peace solution,” on the contrary, “encourages Hamas to continue war,” he added.
“IMPORTANT Step”
The vice president of the Palestinian authority greeted a “IMPORTANT Step” Towards a solution of two states for the conflict in the Middle East, after the approval of the declaration in the UN General Assembly.
“I greet the adoption by the UN General Assembly of Resolution (…) on the implementation of the solution of two states and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state,” said Hussein Al-Sheikh on social network X.
“This resolution expresses the international will in favor of the rights of our people and constitutes an important step towards the end of occupation and the establishment of our independent state at the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as the capital,” added the Palestinian leader, referring to the period prior to Israeli expansion in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
