Gaza: US vetos Israel-related UN resolution for 49th time
For the 49th time in its history, the US has vetoed a UN Security Council draft resolution relating to their Middle Eastern ally Israel, according to MiddleEastEye.
On November 20th, the draft resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza was voted in favour of by every every member of the Security Council except the US, who used their member vetoing power to terminate the motion.
The bill demanded an “immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire” and called separately for the release of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, according to Asharq Al-Awsat.
Robert Wood, deputy US ambassador to the UN, said: “A durable end to the war must come with the release of the hostages. These two urgent goals are inextricably linked. This resolution abandoned that necessity, and for that reason, the United States could not support it.”
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He said the proposed resolution would send a “dangerous message” to Hamas that “there’s no need to come back to the negotiating table”.
However surprising, Washington’s support of Israel is nothing new, with the Americans having vetoed 48 other draft UN resolutions relating to Israel in the past 50 years – nearly one a year.
The first veto the US ever used was Israeli-related.
In 1970 Resolution S/10784 detailed great concern “at the deteriorating situation in the Middle East” and attempted to curb Israeli aggression against Lebanon.
The US stood alone in the blocking the motion, as it did in 1975 with resolution S/11898, which called on “Israel to desist forthwith from all military attacks against Lebanon”.
Similar bills in 1982, 1985, 1986 and 1988 were all voted by the US.
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On Palestine the US’s record is no different, in 1976 blocking a UN resolution calling on Israel to withdraw from all Palestinian territories.
The Israeli settlements in the West Bank, illegal under international law, were condemned by proposed UN resolutions in 1983, 1997 and 2011, all of which were blocked solely by the US.
n 2004 and 2006, Israeli military action in Gaza was made immune to UN interference when again Washington blocked bills demanding a stop to the wars.
MiddleEastEye & Asharq Al-Awsat
