WATCH LIVE: UN discusses Gaza situation

United Nations officials express hope that both parties in the conflict will begin negotiations that would establish a lasting peace.

By ANNA HIATT, JPOST.COM STAFF
A United Nations Security Council meeting at UN headquarters in New York. (photo credit: REUTERS)
A United Nations Security Council meeting at UN headquarters in New York.
(photo credit: REUTERS)
A United Nations informal plenary meeting is convening at this hour in New York to discuss the situation in the Gaza Strip.
As the 72-hour cease-fire in Israel and Gaza held Tuesday morning, United Nations officials expressed hope that both parties in the conflict would begin negotiations that would establish a lasting peace.
As the dust begins to settle, Jordan is pushing hard for a UN resolution sometime this week.
Jordan’s new permanent representative to the UN, Dina Kawar, presented a draft resolution to the UN Security Council and requested comment from other ambassadors, in addition to an experts’ meeting.
Kawar spoke to the press after the Tuesday morning Security Council meeting and expressed hope that within the next day or two the resolution would be finalized.
On July 22, as fighting continued to intensify, Jordan circulated a draft of the resolution to the Security Council.
“Jordan’s main purpose in this resolution is simple. We are very happy with the cease-fire, and the efforts that the Egyptians have made and the Americans have made. We wish that this cease-fire becomes permanent,” Kawar said, adding that she was hopeful the cease-fire would lead to negotiations about a permanent solution and a plan for reconstructing the Gaza Strip.
“Speaking in my national capacity,” said Mark Lyall Grant, the UK’s ambassador and president of the Security Council for August, “we’re ready to engage in any discussion of Security Council products on the situation in Gaza, which is a horrific situation.”
Because the 72-hour ceasefire appears to be holding, the Security Council might change its tone, from calling for a cease-fire to urging both parties to negotiate a lasting peace, he said.
Additionally, concerning allegations that Hamas had executed Palestinians during the last week, the UN secretary- general’s deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said that UNHRC has no information so far to verify such reports.
He emphasized that such killings would be a violation of the Geneva Convention.
“The high commissioner has clearly noted that such types of reprisal executions are in violation of international humanitarian law in her report on the 2012 Gaza Crisis,” Haq said. “Such killings, therefore, would constitute a violation of Article 3 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits the murder of persons taking no active part in the hostilities.”