It may have taken the United Nations Security Council more than five months to pass a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. But the fact the body finally managed to address the issue is the latest example of the profound impact the Gaza conflict is having on an array of global institutions.
Prior to Hamas’s attack on 7 October, the long-running dispute between Israel and the Palestinians had settled into a state of utter paralysis. At the same time, Israel continued with its effort to normalise relations with Arab states while expanding its settlement programme in the West Bank, and hardly any mention was made of the Palestinian issue.
Indeed, the whole question of Palestinian statehood had become moribund during the three decades following the signing of the Oslo Accords.
This predicament, moreover, was made worse by the deep divisions that developed within the Palestinian leadership between Hamas, which controlled Gaza, and the Palestinian Authority, the dominant party in the occupied West Bank.
The best example of the Palestinians’ growing irrelevance to the future development of the Middle East was reflected in the Abraham Accords negotiated by former US President Donald Trump, which resulted in a number of Arab states normalising relations with Israel in the dying days of the Trump administration.
While the accords raised the prospect of deepening financial and economic ties between the Arab world and the Jewish state, only passing reference was made to resolving the Palestinian issue.
Back to the forefront
Now, thanks to the international crisis that has been caused by the Gaza conflict, resolving the Palestinian issue has suddenly become one of the main priorities for world leaders across the political divide who have belatedly realised that, without a lasting solution to the Palestinian question,
And nowhere has the impact the Gaza crisis is having on global diplomacy become more evident than at the United Nations, where the overwhelming desire to end the fighting in Gaza has resulted in one of the most profound shifts in policy relating to the region in decades.
For years, whenever the Israel-Palestinian issue has been raised at the UN, the default position of the US has invariably been to defend the Israelis, irrespective of how provocative their actions might be.
From the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 to more recent Israeli military incursions into southern Lebanon and Gaza, successive US administrations, be they Democrat or Republican, have provided diplomatic cover for Israel at the UN, even on those occasions when Washington has openly questioned the Israelis’ action.
Read more: Too little, too late: UNSC ceasefire vote finally passes but Israel ignores it
The Biden administration’s decision, therefore, to abstain on the UN Security Council vote calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza represents a watershed moment in Israeli-US relations—one that could have long-lasting repercussions for Washington’s wider relationship with the region.
Washington had previously resisted attempts by other world powers, such as Russia and China, to pass UN resolutions calling for a ceasefire on the grounds that such a move would be wrong while delicate negotiations for a truce and hostage releases were continuing between Israel and Hamas.
Trouble in paradise
The Biden administration’s continuing support for Israel, however, has been increasingly open to question as a result of deepening tensions between US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Israel’s war on Gaza, which has killed more than 32,000 Palestinians—the majority being women and children.
Tensions between the US and Israel have come to a head over Netanyahu’s insistence on extending Israel's military offensive on Rafah, where more than one million displaced Palestinian civilians have sought refuge.
Israel told them that it would be safe, but it has bombed it nonetheless.
Netanyahu insists the offensive is necessary to destroy Hamas’s remaining infrastructure in Gaza, while the Biden administration has publicly called on Israel not to undertake the offensive because it will likely add to the humanitarian crisis in the enclave.
The stand-off between Biden and Netanyahu ultimately resulted in the US deciding to draft its own UN resolution, which for the first time called for a ceasefire, a move that marked a notable hardening of Washington’s stance towards Israel.
Washington’s change of policy resulted in the Security Council passing the legally binding cease-fire resolution, with 14 votes in favour and none against, with the US registering its abstention.
After the vote US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby attempted to defend the Biden administration’s stance, claiming Washington’s decision to let the resolution pass did not mean a "shift in our policy". He said the US backed a ceasefire but did not vote in favour of the resolution because the text did not condemn Hamas.
"We have been very clear and consistent in our support for a ceasefire as part of a hostage deal,” Mr Kirby said. That's how the hostage deal is structured, and the resolution acknowledges the ongoing talks."
