The United Nations Security Council held a closed-door session on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia circulated a resolution calling for a ceasefire. “We call for an immediate ceasefire and the prevention of further escalation of the conflict. We are convinced that the Security Council must act to put an end to the bloodshed and restart peace negotiations with a view to establishing a Palestinian State as it was supposed to do so long ago. To this end, we are circulating a draft resolution of the UN Security Council which calls for an immediate, durable and fully respected humanitarian ceasefire and for an unimpeded provision of humanitarian assistance, as well as condemns all violence and all acts of terrorism. This draft is open for cosponsorship of all UN Member-States” he told reporters following the session.
He said he called for comments from other UN Security Council member states and “asked for quite an expedited deadline” by Oct. 14 at noon in New York, 16:00 GMT. “We stand ready for the mediation,” Nebenzia stressed, adding that it was important for Russia to maintain contact with both sides, particularly because “a large number of our compatriots live both in Israel and Palestine.”
The Russia document calls for an immediate long-term ceasefire that everyone would respect, and that it is possible to ensure a long-term solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict only through peaceful means. The resolution, made available to TASS, calls for an immediate release of hostages, “strongly condemns all violence and hostilities directed against civilians and all acts of terrorism.” While it calls “for the unimpeded provision and distribution of humanitarian assistance, including of food, fuel and medical treatment, as well as creating conditions for the safe evacuation of civilians in need.”
Nebenzia assured reporters: “Israel by all means has the right to protect its own citizens. We also reiterate the right of Israel to ensure its security. However, there are two inseparable dimensions of the unfolding tragedy, and we can’t highlight one and ignore the other: indiscriminate shellings of residential areas in Gaza, cutting this territory from water and electricity. There are human lives that matter most. Israel’s actions of collective punishment of Gaza citizens, as well as its demands to evacuate more than 1 million civilians in 24 hours and concentrate them in a de facto ghetto in the south of the sector, are also unacceptable and can lead to irreversible catastrophic consequences regionally and globally.”
He blamed the United States for the crisis, saying: “The region is on the brink of a full-scale war and an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe…. The responsibility for the looming war in the Middle East to a large extent lies on the United States. It is Washington that recklessly and selfishly blocked the work of the Middle East Quartet of international mediators in an effort to monopolize the peace process and limit it to imposing an economic peace with Israel on the Palestinians and other Arab countries without solving the Palestinian question. We consistently warned against this saying it will backfire one day, so it did. You all know well that for years the U.S. blocked any reaction, any signal from the UN Security Council, any modest call for exercising restraint, claiming that its ‘quiet regional diplomacy’ is more effective. Well, now it is obvious that it has failed.”
Commenting on the Russian proposal, Chinese Permanent Representative to the United Nations Zhang Jun said, “We welcome any efforts that can help cease the fire, ease tensions and protect civilians…. We have just received a draft resolution from the Russian Federation. I can say that we are open to any efforts to establish a ceasefire” in the Middle East.
Zhang added that there is a consensus between UN Security Council members about the need to stop the situation from deteriorating further and prevent a humanitarian disaster.
