Biden’s America: A partner of war, not a partner for peace in Gaza
Three strikes at the UN Security Council
(Originally published on my Substack)
Over the course of the week, the world gave the United States of America a third chance to join the global call to end the onslaught on Gaza. And they really tried hard this time.
Members of the United Nations Security Council were hoping, of course, to at least scale up the amount of aid that was reaching the starving and ailing population of over 2,000,000 in Gaza that was suffering from the collective punishment imposed on it by Benjamin ‘Bibi’ Netanyahu’s band of butchers in the form of a siege of water, fuel, and medicine; at least as the very minimal and least evil, sadistic, and heartless course of action to take.
They were also keen, however, on avoiding another veto by Biden’s diplomatic tools in the UN. So after numerous delays and countless rounds of negotiations over the week, the UAE managed to come up with a version the United States would not veto. Not one it would vote for, but not one it would block, at least.
The new draft was void of any mention of a ceasefire. Biden was so close to getting away scot-free without looking like he refused a ceasefire for the third time. At least when you ignore the original draft and other iterations before the one tailor-made to Biden’s liking.
Russia, which was not included in the last round of closed-door talks that created the last version, pulled a fast-one during the UNSC session, proposing an amendment that would bring back a piece of the original draft, calling for “an urgent and sustainable cessation of hostilities.”
Ten countries voted in favor of the amendment. The ongoing mass slaughter of civilians, including thousands of women and children, was a US abstention closer to coming to an end.
Instead of abstaining with four other countries and allowing the amendment to pass, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield raised her hand to veto the amendment, marking the third time Biden used a diplomatic tool to prevent an end to the violence in Gaza.
A growing case of forced displacement, ethnic cleansing, and genocide
The death toll has surpassed 20,000 people, about 14,000 of whom are women and children. This count is far from reflective of the actual number of deaths, as thousands more are still under the rubble.
An AP report published yesterday describes and contextualizes the unprecedented rate of destruction and killing during this onslaught. “In just over two months, the offensive has wreaked more destruction than the razing of Syria’s Aleppo between 2012 and 2016, Ukraine’s Mariupol or, proportionally, the Allied bombing of Germany in World War II. It has killed more civilians than the U.S.-led coalition did in its three-year campaign against the Islamic State group.”
More reports are surfacing on the horrific level and scale of indiscriminate bombing in the first few weeks of the offensive on Gaza. The New York Times and CNN identified hundreds of craters in populated areas that were created by 2,000-pound bombs that “posed a pervasive threat to civilians,” “many of them capable of killing or wounding people more than 1,000 feet away.”
“In just over two months, the offensive has wreaked more destruction than the razing of Syria’s Aleppo between 2012 and 2016, Ukraine’s Mariupol or, proportionally, the Allied bombing of Germany in World War II. It has killed more civilians than the U.S.-led coalition did in its three-year campaign against the Islamic State group.”
Associated Press
A Sky News report found that “Israel’s evacuation orders have instead been chaotic and contradictory and that a neighbourhood in Deir al Balah was hit one day after the IDF said evacuees could flee there.”
UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons (IDPs) Paula Gaviria Betancur said, “Israel has reneged on promises of safety made to those who complied with its order to evacuate northern Gaza two months ago. Now, they have been forcibly displaced again, alongside the population of southern Gaza.”
“As evacuation orders and military operations continue to expand and civilians are subjected to relentless attacks on a daily basis, the only logical conclusion is that Israel’s military operation in Gaza aims to deport the majority of the civilian population en masse,” she added.
On Friday, on the same day the resolution passed, the AP reported on an airstrike that killed 76 members of a family in Gaza.
“The only logical conclusion is that Israel’s military operation in Gaza aims to deport the majority of the civilian population en masse.”
UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons (IDPs) Paula Gaviria Betancur
What does the resolution mean for civilians?
The resolution demands that both parties “to the conflict allow and facilitate the use of all available routes to and throughout the entire Gaza Strip for the provision of humanitarian assistance” to ensure that all such assistance reaches the civilian population “through the most direct routes.” It also demands the same for “material and equipment to repair and ensure the functioning of critical infrastructure and to provide essential services.”
Article 3 of the resolution also “stresses the importance of respecting and protecting border crossings and maritime infrastructure used for the delivery of humanitarian assistance at scale.”
Both the Rafah and Kerem Shalom border crossings were attacked recently by air and drone strikes.
Articles 4 and five request the UN Secretary-General to appoint a “Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator” expeditiously. This coordinator would be responsible for “facilitating, coordinating, monitoring, and verifying in Gaza…the humanitarian nature of all humanitarian relief consignments to Gaza provided.”
Article 14 demands the implementation of Resolution 2712 (2023), which “calls for urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors throughout the Gaza Strip…to enable…the full, rapid, safe, and unhindered humanitarian access for” the facilitation of “continuous, sufficient and unhindered provision of essential goods and services important to the well-being of civilians…throughout the Gaza Strip.”
In layman’s terms: We need urgent and extended humanitarian pauses (not a ceasefire, but ‘breaks’ in the violence) to allow for essential goods and services to reach the starving and ailing civilians in Gaza, scale up the delivery of those life-saving essentials, and a mechanism needs to be put in place for these essentials for life reach those people. And, of course, that all sides need to respect International Humanitarian Law.
We also need to deliver all those essentials urgently.
It’s a resolution that’s all talk and no teeth.
Netanyahu likely preferred one that called for the continuation of the mass slaughter of Palestinians. He’ll have to make do with this one for now.
