(United Nations) On Thursday, the Secretary-General of the United Nations painted a frightening picture of the situation in the Middle East, warning of the danger of a “generalized regional conflict” and condemning the “humanitarian hell” created by the Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip.
“The Middle East is on the brink of an abyss. The past few days have witnessed a dangerous escalation, both in words and in actions,” Antonio Guterres told the Security Council, which met on Thursday to discuss the situation in Gaza and vote later in the day on Palestine’s membership in the United Nations.
“A miscalculation, poor communication, or error could lead to an unimaginably large-scale regional conflict that would be devastating for all concerned, and for the rest of the world,” the Secretary-General said. The unprecedented Iranian attack on Israel last weekend.
He called for “this moment of maximum danger must be the moment of maximum self-restraint.” “It is time to end the cycle of bloody reprisals.”
He added: “We have a responsibility together to confront these dangers and keep the region away from the abyss.”
“Starting with Gaza,” he lamented, “where six and a half months of Israeli military operations have created a humanitarian hell,” describing two million Palestinians suffering from “death, destruction and deprivation of vital humanitarian aid.”
He stressed that “all of this is happening under significant restrictions imposed by the Israeli authorities on the delivery of aid to the residents of Gaza who are facing widespread hunger,” calling once again for an immediate ceasefire and the release of all hostages.
The war broke out after the attack launched by Hamas commandos on Israel on October 7, which infiltrated from Gaza, and led to the killing of 1,170 people, most of them civilians, according to an Agence France-Presse report based on statements by Israeli officials.
Israeli retaliatory operations in the Gaza Strip resulted in the deaths of 33,970 people, most of them civilians, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.
American veto?
The council must also take a decision later at 5 p.m. on the Palestinians' application for full UN membership, an approach that appears doomed to failure due to US opposition.
“According to a common adhesive in Palestine and other nations all together with a part of historical injustice related to the generations of Palestine,” a request from the Council of Ziad Abu Amr, who is responsible for the Automation of Palestine, will be monitored. United States of America.
Admission of a country to the United Nations must first receive a positive recommendation from the Council (at least 9 votes out of 15 in favour, without a veto from a permanent member), and then be approved by the General Assembly, by a two-thirds majority. .
But the United States, which does not hesitate to use its veto power in particular to protect Israel, does not hide its hostility to the initiative of the Palestinians, who since 2012 have enjoyed the status of a “non-member observer state.” “.
“I think a US veto is absolutely certain,” said Richard Gowan, an analyst at the International Crisis Group, predicting that the UK and perhaps Japan and South Korea would abstain.
In recent weeks, the United States has continued to reiterate that its position “has not changed” since 2011, when the membership application submitted by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas failed in the face of American opposition.
They believe that the United Nations is not the appropriate place to recognize a Palestinian state, which, in their view, should be the result of an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. They also assert that US legislation would require them to cut off their funding to the UN if the Palestinians join outside such a bilateral agreement.
For his part, Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, once again criticized the fact that the Council is studying this request, which he considered “immoral.”
“A peaceful country, what a joke!” he said, referring to the United Nations Charter, which stipulates that one of the conditions for membership is to be a “peaceful” country.
The Israeli government opposes the two-state solution, which is supported by a large majority of the international community, including the United States.
