The Palestinian Authority announced on Friday that Kuwait will call for an emergency session in the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday to vote on a resolution that would condemn Israel for using excessive force in protecting its southern border from Hamas-led riots.
Palestinian UN Ambassador Riyad Mansour and representatives of the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation met with General Assembly President Miroslav Lajcak Friday afternoon to officially request a meeting to vote on a resolution. On the same day, Lajcak sent a letter to the 193 member states announcing that the General Assembly meeting on the resolution will be held on Wednesday at 3:00 PM.
“We are mobilizing all of our efforts with as many as we can reach from groups and member states to receive the largest number of votes possible to support us,” Mansour said. He said the resolution will ask UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to make proposals within 60 days “on ways and means for ensuring the safety, protection and well-being of the Palestinian civilian population under Israeli occupation.”
Contrary to Mansour’s claim of Israeli occupation, Israel does not, in fact, have any presence, military or civilian, in Gaza since the 2005 dismantling and expulsion of over 10,000 Jews.
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon made a statement to the press condemning the resolution.
“It is unfortunate that instead of condemning the terrorists of Hamas, some countries are looking to satisfy their domestic political needs by bashing Israel at the United Nations,” Danon said. “We will proudly defend our right to defend our citizens time and again, and in every forum where our adversaries seek to falsely malign us.”
The resolution comes after ten weeks of violent Hamas-led riots dubbed ‘the March of Return’. Tens of thousands of Gazans have attacked the security fence separating Israel from Gaza. Hundreds of incendiary kites have been sent into Israel damaging hundreds of acres of farmland and nature preserves. Attempts to infiltrate into Israel have resulted in over 120 Palestinian deaths.
The resolution will be similar to one that was brought by Kuwait before the UN Security Council on June 1. That resolution was vetoed by the US with US Ambassador Nikki Haley calling it “grossly one-sided” for condemning Israel while ignoring Hamas incitement.
“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 at the time. “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 said to the press. “and one 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 US does not have the ability to veto resolutions in the General Assembly but unlike resolutions that pass the UN Security Council, General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding.
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