This is rich: Russia accuses US of preventing Security Council action on Gaza
The Security Council held heated closed-door negotiations on a possible statement, but diplomats said a sticking point was that the text did not mention Hamas missile attacks on Israel. Israel said it was these attacks that prompted its major offensive against Gaza.
Council members were consulting with their capitals on the draft statement, which needs to be approved by consensus, but several diplomats said it was unlikely an agreement would be reached by a Tuesday morning deadline.
Russia's UN envoy Vitaly Churkin said that if the council could not agree, he would put a resolution - a stronger move by the council than a statement - to a vote on Tuesday to call for an end to the violence and show support for regional and international efforts to broker peace.
"One member of the Security Council, I'm sure you can guess which, indicated ... they will not be prepared to go along with any reaction of the Security Council," Churkin said earlier in a thinly veiled reference to the United States.
"Somehow, allegedly, that could hurt the current efforts carried out by Egypt and the region," he said.
A resolution is passed when it receives nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the five permanent council members - Russia, China, Britain, the United States and France. Some diplomats said a vote on the Russian resolution would likely be tight and could force a veto by the United States.
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Council diplomats, who did not want to be identified, said the United States' UN delegation had been instructed by Washington not to engage in consultations on a statement by the Security Council.
France, Germany and Britain submitted amendments to the draft Security Council statement earlier, diplomats said, but Churkin said too many changes had been proposed.
"Unfortunately it looked like a little bit of a filibustering attempt. Maybe I am mistaken, maybe it's just a laid-back attitude in a situation where we cannot afford procrastination," Churkin told reporters after consultations.
One council diplomat described the filibustering accusation as "utter nonsense."Hey Ambassador Churkin, how many Syrians have been killed since the start of this operation (hint: many more Syrians than 'Palestinians' have been killed) and why has your country been blocking Security Council action against Bashar al-Assad for months? At the very least, sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander!
Labels: Bashar al-Assad, Chinese veto, Gaza, Hamas, Operation Pillar of Defense, Russian veto, Syria, Syrian uprising, United Nations Security Council, US veto
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:19 AM
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