The UN General Assembly approves the New York Declaration that restores the solution of the two States, Israeli and Palestinian, but has it clearly excluding Hamas. The text prepared by France and Saudi Arabia was approved with 142 votes in favor, ten against and 12 abstentions. Among those who voted against there are obviously the United States and Israel.
But they said “no” also the Hungary of Orban, the Argentina of Milei in addition to Paraguay, Micronesia, Tonga, Nauru, Palau and Papua New Guinea. Italy has pronounced itself in favor, like the rest of the EU countries. The declaration “condemns the attacks perpetrated on October 7 against civilians” and states that “Hamas must give up weapons and free all the hostages” held in Gaza.
The text will be the starting point of the General Assembly of 22 September, which will bring together the heads of the world in the glass building. On that occasion, President Emmanuel Macron promised to recognize the state of Palestine.
For this reason, today we wanted to head the result: “We are tracing an irreversible path towards peace in the Middle East”. Paris then underlined how the document reflects the unprecedented support of the majority of the international community to principles that will guide the peace process: a ceased to fire in Gaza, the release of the hostages and the creation of a sovereign state.
The Quai d’Orsay remarked that for the first time the UN condemned the attacks of 7 October 2022, asking for the disarmament and exclusion of Hamas from the government of the Strip. The reaction of Israel was immediate, which has boiled the declaration as “shameful” since, he said, he encourages Hamas to go to war. For the spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, Oren Marmastein, the UN is “a political circus detached from reality”, who in the dozens of clauses of the declaration does not mention the “fact that Hamas is the only responsible for continuation of the war”.
Instead, Hussein Al-Sheikh, the vice-president of the Palestinian authority led by Abu Mazen and his designated successor, who greets “an important step towards the end of the occupation and the creation of our independent state on the 1967 lines with Jerusalem Est capital”. Meanwhile, in view of the UNGA, the pressing on states still not lined up continues. The US State Department urged Tokyo to align himself with his positions, but the French foreign minister, Jean-Noel Barrot, pushes with his Japanese colleague, Takeshi Iwaya, to recognize Palestine.