TIRANA, October 28 – Albania has abstained from a resolution that was voted by majority for the cessation of fighting and the start of humanitarian aid for the population of Gaza.
After four successive failures in the Security Council where its approval was tried for ten days, the UN General Assembly took up the matter.
The resolution was approved with 120 votes in favor, while 45 abstained and 14 voted against, including Israel and the US. Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro voted in favor of the resolution, Croatia was against. Albania, Serbia, North Macedonia, Bulgaria and Greece abstained. As it is announced, the resolution does not mention the name of Hamas, which is holding hostage about 220 civilians who were captured during the devastating attacks of October 7.
“While we are witnessing, as we speak, a land occupation of Israel and in the absence of action decided by the Security Council, (the resolution) has a simple but vital objective, to be consistent with the reason for the existence of the United Nations: the existence of peace,” said Ambassador Mahmoud Daifallah Hmoud of Jordan, whose country drafted the text on behalf of the group of 22 Arab countries.
The non-binding resolution calls for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. The way the votes for and against were divided highlighted the divisions among member countries of the UN, especially among Western countries. /argumentum.al
