UNSC to vote on cease-fire resolution despite Israeli pressure

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Key Arab nations and Western powers reached agreement Thursday on a UN resolution calling for an immediate and durable cease-fire between Hamas and Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip and called for an immediate vote in the Security Council. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband announced the agreement on the final wording of the resolution after a two-hour closed-door meeting. The foreign ministers from the Arab nations, the United States, Britain and France then walked upstairs to the Security Council chamber for closed consultations, to be followed by a vote, despite pressure from Israel to postpone it. "We are all very conscious that peace is made on the ground while resolutions are written in the United Nations," Miliband said. "Our job here is to support the efforts for peace on the ground and to help turn the good words on paper into changes on the ground that are desperately needed."