UN resolution on Gaza contradicts decisions on Palestinian statehood: Russia

NEW YORK, United States (MNTV) – The Russian Foreign Ministry said the UN Security Council’s adoption of a US-drafted resolution on Gaza contradicts international legal decisions governing the establishment of the State of Palestine.

The Security Council on Monday approved a resolution creating a transitional Board of Peace and authorizing an International Stabilization Force (ISF) to manage governance, reconstruction and security in the Gaza Strip. Both mechanisms will operate in Gaza until Dec. 31, 2027, pending further Council action.

The measure passed with 13 votes in favor, while Russia and China abstained.

Since October 2023, nearly 69,500 Palestinians — mostly women and children — have been killed and more than 170,700 wounded in Israel’s genocide, which has reduced much of Gaza to rubble.

In its statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry said the resolution does not provide the Security Council with the “necessary prerogatives to maintain peace and security.” It argued that the measure runs counter to “generally recognized international legal decisions that provide for the creation of an independent and territorially contiguous State of Palestine within the 1967 borders with its capital in East Jerusalem, coexisting in peace and security with Israel.”

Moscow said it abstained in consideration of the position of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Arab and Muslim countries supporting the resolution, adding its decision aimed to “avoid a relapse into violence and military action in Gaza.”

The ministry also said the Gaza war could have been halted earlier if Washington had not repeatedly used its veto to block draft resolutions calling for an immediate ceasefire — noting the US has done so six times in the past two years.

“The main thing now is that this decision does not become a cover for uncontrolled experiments in the occupied Palestinian territory, and does not turn into a final verdict on the legitimate rights of Palestinians to self-determination, or the aspirations of Israelis for security and peaceful coexistence in the region,” it said.

Russia’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, expanded on Moscow’s reasoning, saying the plan sidelines Palestinian participation.
“Neither is there any clarity in the draft regarding the timelines for the transfer of control over Gaza to the Palestinian Authority, nor any certainty vis-à-vis the Board of Peace and the International Stabilization Force, which…will be able to act absolutely autonomously, without any regard for Ramallah’s position and opinion,” he told the Council.