Fresh calls at UN for Gaza ceasefire

The fast rising death toll in Israel's Gaza offensive sparked fresh calls for a truce at the UN, with French diplomats trying to formulate a resolution to reconcile vastly divergent positions of the Arabs and the US.     

The wide chasm between the positions was clearly visible with Arabs insisting that they were averse to condemning Hamas and the United States opposing a unilateral call to Israel to stop military action.
    
Israeli diplomats made it clear that the Council will be wasting time in passing any resolution for ceasefire until Hamas stops firing rockets in southern Israel, threatening their citizens. There should be mechanism for a long-term ceasefire, they said.
    
Backing the position taken by Tel Aviv, American diplomats stressed that there could be no ceasefire until Hamas stops firing rockets into Israel and a mechanism is in place which would ensure that Hamas cannot rearm itself to threaten Israel again.
    
The images on television of Palestinian children and women dying brought widespread sympathy for them but it was still not clear whether and when the 15-member Council will take any action. Diplomats said the earliest any action could be taken is on Wednesday.
    
French diplomats were not betting on when they would be able to finalise the resolution or whether they would be able to find a language acceptable to all. But they said that their proposal would carry elements of Arabs' position.

"We will do our best to have a resolution as soon as possible," was all that French UN Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert would say. France holds the rotating presidency of the Council for the current month.
    
French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner and British foreign secretary David Miliband along with foreign ministers of about half a dozen Arab countries were in New York to attend the Security Council meet expected on Tuesday afternoon (India time early morning on Wednesday), which gave a high profile to efforts being made at the United Nations.
    
The Arab foreign ministers held discussions among themselves and also met the members of the Council and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to press their demand that the resolution they plan to introduce be adopted.     

Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Maliki and Arab League chief Amr Moussa said the Arabs wanted the resolution to demand immediate end to Israeli military "aggression" on Gaza, ask Israel to open all crossing points so that humanitarian supplies could flow unhindered, call for positioning international observers at all border crossing points and an international force to protect the civilians.
    
But answering a specific question, Moussa rejected the suggestion that the resolution condemn Hamas, which controls Gaza, for firing rockets into Israeli territory which Israelis say had provoked their massive response.
    
It is not about Hamas but saving the lives of people of Gaza, he said tartly.
    
Israel rejects stationing of international monitors at border crossing as also any international force in the area.
    
Diplomats say that the type of resolution Arabs were planning would not pass the muster as the US is bound to oppose it. Whether French could bring some balance by seeking end of violence from both sides is yet to be seen.