What are the options for pressuring Israel’s supporters to end the “Gaza war”?

Less than two months later, the United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly for a second time in favor of a (non-binding) resolution calling for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip”. “The actual position of official international public opinion in favor of that call.” », and experts consider it a good opportunity for Arab and Islamic movements and countries that support a ceasefire in Gaza in order to increase the pressure to achieve it. target.

On Tuesday evening, the last vote came in an emergency special session of the 193-nation General Assembly, and a majority of 153 countries voted in favor of an Egyptian-Mauritanian draft resolution calling for “a humanitarian ceasefire, the immediate release of all hostages and ensuring access to humanitarian aid to Gaza. On the other hand, 10 Countries voted against the resolution, notably the United States, Israel, Austria, Guatemala, the Czech Republic, Nauru, Micronesia, Paraguay and Papua New Guinea.

Notably, the list of 23 countries that abstained from the vote included European countries they previously described as “Israel’s right to self-defense,” including Germany, Italy, Britain and Ukraine.

League of Arab States Secretary General Ahmed Abul Caid said the 153 majority in favor of a draft resolution presented to the General Assembly for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza “supports the actual position of official international public opinion. That call and not the Security Council.” In a blog post on his official account on the “X” site (formerly Twitter), on Wednesday, Abul Kait described those who opposed or abstained from the decision as “standing on the wrong side of history”.

Last October, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for an “immediate, permanent and sustainable humanitarian ceasefire leading to an end to the fighting in Gaza”. 121 votes in favor, 14 against and 44 abstentions.

Last week, the United States blocked the passage of a similar resolution at the Security Council, using its veto power against it for the second time since Oct. 7, blocking a ceasefire, intensifying international criticism of the U.S. stance in favor of Israel. , and the Palestinian National Authority described the US veto as “making America complicit in Israeli crimes.”

Moral weight

Although there is no legal obligation to implement the decision; Ahmed Abu al-Wafa, a professor of international law at Cairo University, believes it “enjoys great moral weight”, noting that “the number of countries that ratified the draft resolution is 15 times greater than the number of countries that rejected it, and this reflects the degree of international consensus, both official and popular, on the need to stop the massacres.” .”

Abu al-Wafa explained to Asharq al-Awsat, “The inability of the Security Council to issue a definitive resolution on a ceasefire does not stop raising the issue in relevant international organizations and institutions. Rather, political and diplomatic pressure, as well as economic and military pressure, must be intensified against aggression.” Noting that, “noting the importance of sustaining official and popular momentum, the decision reflects the creation of global public opinion pressure to end the war in most of the world. Support for the Palestinian people in general and the Gaza Strip in particular.”

Earlier, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres confirmed that the authority and credibility of the UN Security Council had been undermined by the inability to pass a ceasefire resolution in the Gaza Strip.

Furan Investment

For his part, Raqqa Ahmed Hassan, a member of the Egyptian Foreign Affairs Council, pointed to the importance of investing in what he described as a “state of global uprising” against Israeli crimes in the Gaza Strip. The United Nations General Assembly, “the largest and most important body for debate and consultation in the United Nations system, reflects the erosion of international support for the Israeli view, even on the part of European countries that previously supported the Israeli position. The occupation.”

Hassan told Asharq Al-Awsat that Arab and Islamic lines of action “must increase rapidly and intensify pressure on Israel and the United States to stop these heinous attacks” with countries rejecting the continuation of Israeli occupation. “The conclusion of the emergency Arab-Islamic summit in Riyadh last month included a reference to applying all available forms of pressure to end the war,” he pointed out.

Hasan explained that many of the 57 Arab and Islamic countries participating in the “Riyadh Summit” have business and military ties with Israel and the United States, which should be “an instrument of pressure.” Tel Aviv has used those ties as a pressure tool, threatening to freeze them or reduce the level of diplomatic representation, both individually and collectively.

The Arab Islamic Summit, in its extraordinary session held in Riyadh on November 11, with the participation of the heads of state and governments of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the League of Arab States, called upon the member states of the organization and the League. “Exercise diplomatic, political and legal pressure and take any preventive measures to stop…crimes against humanity by the colonial occupation authorities.

The summit condemned “the Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip, war crimes and barbaric and inhuman massacres by the colonial occupation government against the Palestinian people in the occupied West Bank and Holy Jerusalem”. This vindictive war is justified in self-defense or under any pretext.