UN Security Council (Archive)
Photo: AP
Libya wants UN debate on IDF conduct
Arab nations demand meeting on report criticizing Israel for strikes on UN structures during Gaza war
WASHINGTON – The UN Security Council rejected Wednesday an appeal by Libya and a number of Arab nations to convene an urgent meeting in order to discuss a UN report on Israel's conduct during its recent operation in Gaza.
The report listed a number of occasions during which the IDF struck UN structures in the Strip, and criticized Israel severely for the incidents.
In contrast to the report, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a moderate statement regarding the issue and rejected the report's recommendations to launch an investigation against Israel.
Despite this Libya, which represents the Arab nations in the Security Council, demanded an emergency meeting that would issue a resolution against Israel, based on the report.
Libya's representatives began to circulate a document along these lines to member of the Security Council, but Russia and other nations opposed the wording and decided to transfer the decision on whether to hold such a meeting to the secretary-general.
The current president of the Security Council, Vitaly Chorkin, said Libya was still determined to hold the meeting. Eventually, he said, the meeting would have to take place if Libya continued to demand it.
Until Ban submits his decision it remains unclear whether the meeting will be held or whether resolutions will issued.
