SALON

Tuesday, Nov 20, 2012 2:30 AM UTC

Russia upset by Security Council silence on Gaza

By

Topics: From the Wires,

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia’s U.N. ambassador on Monday expressed frustration that the Security Council has remained silent about the escalating violence in Gaza between Israel and Hamas as the United States has blocked any action.

Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Morocco had circulated a proposed press statement as early as last Thursday but foot-dragging by one council member meant it “is still bogged down.”

Churkin said, “To me, it looks like a filibuster attempt.”

He would not tell reporters outside the Security Council on Monday which nation was blocking the press statement, which must be adopted unanimously. But he said anyone guessing it was the United States would be “a connoisseur” of Security Council politics.

“One member of the Security Council, I’m sure you can guess which, indicated quite transparently that they will not be prepared to go along with any reaction of the Security Council. Somehow, allegedly, that would hurt the current efforts carried out by Egypt in the region,” Churkin said.

After Monday night council consultations, U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice noted that the Egyptian government, President Barack Obama and others are working through all channels to broker an end to the violence.

“We think it’s vitally important that this council, by its action, or non-action, is reinforcing the prospects for an agreed cessation” of hostilities, she said.

“That’s got to be agreed between the parties to be meaningful or sustainable,” Rice said. “That is our principle objective in these discussions.”

The sticking point in early versions of the Moroccan draft statement was that they omitted a clear reference to the months of rocket attacks on Israeli land prior to Israel’s air strikes last week in Gaza, several Western diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the issue had been referred back to their capitals.

They said that was unbalanced, and rejected a compromise that simply made reference to the problems “in southern Israel as well as Gaza” as being too oblique a reference to the ongoing Hamas rocket campaign against Israel.

The final Moroccan draft was sent for overnight review by capitals, which have until 9 a.m. (1400 GMT) to voice any objections.

“We do not accept that the Security Council remains on the margins,” Moroccan Ambassador Mohammed Loulichki said.

“We will be getting instructions overnight on the draft on the table,” Rice told reporters.

Meanwhile, Russia introduced a resolution calling for a cease-fire and halt to violence; expressing support for international and regional mediation efforts; and urging the Palestinians and Israelis to resume overall Mideast peace talks. It does not have any explicit reference to the Hamas rocket attacks leading up to the Israeli air strikes of last week, an issue the European diplomats said was essential to any statement.

Churkin said he would insist that the council proceed to a vote on that, possibly as soon as Tuesday afternoon, if the press statement failed in the morning council meeting. A resolution would have to pass with 9 of the 15 council members’ votes, and without a veto by any permanent member — the United States, Britain, France, China or Russia.

At Egypt’s request, the Security Council held an unusual closed-door emergency debate last Wednesday night, which did not produce any statement or resolution. In that meeting, U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice deplored the violence but made clear that the United States supported Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas rocket attacks launched from Gaza.

Russia is also calling for an urgent meeting of the “Quartet” consulting on Mideast peace — the United States, Russia, European Union and United Nations. But it was unclear what the Quartet could achieve if the United States and Europe were out of step.

Meanwhile, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon arrived in Cairo to begin talks aimed at de-escalating the violence.

His spokesman, Martin Nesirky, said in a teleconference call that Ban planned to have a working dinner with the Egyptian foreign minister, Mohammed Kamel Amr, Monday night.

On Tuesday, he said, Ban would meet Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, the prime minister and the secretary-general of the Arab League.

In the following days, Ban will visit Jerusalem for talks with Premier Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders, and will go to Ramallah to speak with Palestinian Authority leader Abbas.

More Peter James Spielmann.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations