US vetoes a draft UN resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza

In spite of the recent UN commission of inquiry conclusion that Israel is conducting a genocide, citing sexual violence, genocidal acts and genocidal intent, and a UN vote that overwhelmingly backed a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine, on Thursday night the United States once again vetoed a draft resolution of the United Nations Security Council demanding an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

The resolution also demanded the lifting of all Israeli restrictions on the delivery of humanitarian aid to the enclave. Clearly disheartened, the Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, commented on the veto after the vote: “Babies dying of starvation, snipers shooting children in the head, civilians killed en masse, families displaced again and again, from ruins to ruins, and from death to death. UN personnel and doctors and humanitarians and journalists targeted. Devastation and destruction rain down pulverizing an entire society. And Israeli officials openly mocking all of this, and praising the real estate value of Gaza. This draft resolution represents the bare minimum that humanity, legality and morality dictate. It is deeply regrettable and painful that it has been blocked.”

However, he ended on a defiant note: “No matter how many tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of soldiers, they cannot erase from the face of the earth a nation, the Palestinian nation. Nor will they be able to succeed in eradicating tens of thousands, millions of Palestinians. We are here to stay and there is no power on earth that will negate our existence. So, for those who are living in denial, and drunk with their ecstasy and victories, wake up! The only road is the road to peace. The only road is the road of the two-state solution, to live next to each other in peace and security. We are committed to that; the whole world is committed to that. There is only one party, led by a group of fanatic leaders, who are refusing to accept that. And they are trying, in a futile exercise, to eradicate the existence of the Palestinian people and their national rights, including their right to self-determination, statehood and the rights of the refugees.”

The UN General Assembly will be held in New York on Monday, and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says that he expects strong support for Palestinian statehood: “I believe that there will be a clear, clear demonstration that the overwhelming majority of the countries in the world recognize the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, recognize that there must be a Palestinian state, and recognize it in the meeting that we will have on Monday. And at the same time send a very clear message that the carnage that is happening in Gaza has to end, that we need a ceasefire immediately.”

All the while the Israeli genocide in Gaza continues, with the IDF announcing today that it will continue to use unprecedented force in its onslaught on Gaza City. On Thursday Croatian President Zoran Milanović announced that the focus of his speech at the General Assembly would be on the issue of Palestinian statehood which he described as an issue of humanity.

Source: HRT