Yesterday on December 12th, 2023 the UN met after a emergency session was called in order to settle the Israeli-Palestine conflict and its humanitarian affect on the Gaza strip. The meeting concluded with a large majority of 153 votes in favour of ceasefire, 10 against, and 23 absentations. This vote was made to protect the civilians stationed within or near the Gaza strip from the immediate danger the war has brought onto them. The UN will have another emergency meeting to discuss this issue on Friday In New York city and hope to continue pressuring both Israel and Hamas so that a peaceful resolution can be made.
This article is important to me because it shows how powerful the U.N could be, but also showcases how irrelevant it is at times. The U.N is supposed to protect the world from fighting and war, but as we’ve see in Israel and Ukraine, the U.N has no true power. Although they can threaten sanctions, a shutdown, or other things against a country, they know that in the end nothing can influence a large country to stop fighting. The U.N has also been ineffective against terrorists, Genocides, and coups within its time of creation. Since the U.N has been created over 250 armed conflicts have been started while we don’t know exactly how many they have “truly” stopped. This war between Hamas and Israel will be one of the U.N’s biggest challenges in the years to come, if they believe to be the peacekeepers of the world then they will have to personally step in to end the atrocities being committed in Israel and Gaza.
This is connected to class because we are seeing the Palestiniens attempting to better their Geography on the context of freeing their people and taking back their rightful land. The Gaza strip is isolated from the rest of the world and is stuck inside of Israel, this means that Palestine has little to no resources and fear that their national security could be breached at any time. Because of this aggression the U.S is attempting to quell the conflict because it would release the hold they have on Russia and China, A.K.A the semi circle we have created to connect the democracies of the world from Russian and Chinese influence. Because the middle east is in the center of the semi circle it is important for us to look how the Iranians get involved and how strong this semi circle really is.