UNITED NATIONS (TURKISH JOURNAL) – By Janet Ekstract – While the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein spoke at a special session of the U.N. Human Rights Council today calling for an independent, international inquiry – Kuwait has circulated a draft resolution that calls for condemnation of Israel’s use of force on Palestinian civilians.
The resolution from Kuwait demands Israel “immediately cease its military reprisals, collective punishment and unlawful use of force against civilians.” Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon has been critical of the proposal and accused the wording of the proposal as a support for the ‘war crimes’ of what he termed as the “militant Palestinian Hamas” group against Israel and the residents of Gaza.
Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) that “We must prevent other countries from following the U.S. example.” Erdogan was referring to the U.S. decision to relocate its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The opening ceremony took place this past Monday and coincided with the violence at the Gaza border fence.
The U.S. decision to relocate the embassy has put future peace negotiations in a quandary and has upset relations with Arab nations who would certainly have influence in any future peace negotiations and peace process between Israel and Palestine.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley claimed that Israel had used “restraint” in response to the violence and blamed the Hamas militant group for the violence. But U.N. Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov who spoke to council members from Jerusalem said “there was no justification” for the killings.
