(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) As Jordan, the Security Council's only Arab member, put the Arab draft resolution on Gaza 'in blue,' ready for a vote, British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said the situation on the ground has changed and therefore, the Council needs to have a different approach, especially that the 72-hour ceasefire seems to be holding.
No vote has been scheduled, and although the draft is "in blue," Council members can still amend it.
"Now that there is a 72-hour ceasefire that appears to be holding, perhaps the situation is a bit different, and we need a slightly different approach in the Security Council, but all this will be discussed over the next few days, I'm sure," Lyall Grant, also Council President for this month, told reporters.
"What is important now," he added "is that we can use this 72-hour humanitarian pause in order to put together a more sustainable ceasefire, and in the British Government's view, that sustainable ceasefire needs to be more than returning to the status quo ante.
"It needs to consider issues around monitoring and verification in terms of opening up access to Gaza, the role of the Palestinian Authority, the question of economic empowerment, etc., so there's a range of issues that need to be discussed, and I think we would be missing an opportunity to avoid future crises if we just have a ceasefire without any agreement on some of these wider issues," he argued.
The Arab draft resolution would ask the Security Council to condemn all hostilities against civilians in Gaza; call for an immediate and durable ceasefire and withdrawal of Israeli troops; take all necessary measures to protect civilians; respect sanctity of UN installations; seek an investigation of the attacks on UN schools; and lift the blockade on the Strip.
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