The United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York, US. (photo credit: REUTERS)
NEW YORK – The UN General Assembly will convene for an emergency session on Wednesday regarding Gaza, where a version of a resolution vetoed last week by the US in the Security Council condemning Israel will receive a wider vote.
The measure is being pushed by Arab powers, according to wire services, and will accuse the Jewish state of mishandling a recent spout of protests along its border and calling for protection for the Palestinian people.
“We will work next week to get the maximum number of votes,” a diplomat from a country that supported the measure told Agence France Presse on Friday.
The General Assembly last held a vote on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in December, when it condemned the US for its decision to move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv. US leadership at the time said it was “taking names” on which countries voted which way. Out of 193 nations represented there, 128 voted in favor of the resolution.
This time, the Gaza resolution does not specifically condemn US policy, but its presentation before the General Assembly directly follows an American veto of the measure in the Security Council on June 1.
During that vote, Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, said the Kuwaiti draft resolution would make Middle East peace harder to achieve.
“When the United Nations sides with terrorists over Israel, as the Kuwait resolution does, it only makes a peaceful resolution to this conflict harder to reach,” Haley said, explaining the US veto. “It is resolutions like this one that undermine the UN’s credibility in dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“A necessary precondition for peace is recognition of reality ,” she continued, “and o ne of those realities is that Hamas is a major impediment to peace. They are in charge of Gaza, and they use their resources not to help the people of Gaza but to wage war against Israel.“
The Kuwait resolution that was presented to the Security Council made no mention of Hamas.
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