Photo: REUTERS/Jon Nazca
In the Czech Republic, the Prime Minister and the head of the Foreign Ministry did not support the idea of the Czech Defence Minister to withdraw from the UN.
The Czech Republic will continue to defend its positions in the UN and convince other states of them. Prime Minister Petr Fiala announced this on 29 October.
He responded to Defence Minister Jana Černochová's call to leave the organisation because of the resolution on the Middle East adopted by the UN General Assembly (GA).
"I understand the Minister's disappointment with the resolution, which did not condemn Hamas terrorism in Israel. The Czech Republic, along with the United States and Austria, for example, voted in line with what we have long advocated. We will continue to defend our positions at the UN and convince other countries that they are right," the Czech newspaper quoted the Prime Minister as saying.
The Czech Prime Minister also pointed out that it was important that the Czech Republic's position be heard at the UN.
In addition to him, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský also responded to the suggestion of the head of the defence ministry. According to him, the idea of leaving the UN should be rejected because the organisation's charter was created on the ruins of the Second World War and gives the country a predictable framework for negotiations.
The head of the country's defence ministry, Černochová, announced this morning the necessity of the Czech Republic's withdrawal from the UN. She expressed the opinion that the previously adopted resolution "expresses support for terrorists" and recalled the many Israeli civilians killed by Hamas militants.
On 27 October, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution introduced by Jordan from 22 Arab countries calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict zone. 120 countries, including Russia, voted in favour of the resolution, 14 opposed and 45 abstained.
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said afterwards that Israel rejects the call for a ceasefire and will continue to fight Hamas. Russia's permanent representative to the world organisation, Vasily Nebenzia, noted that common sense had prevailed at the UN General Assembly.
The following day, Israel's ambassador to Russia, Alexander Ben Zvi, said Israel was not planning to withdraw from the UN but might reconsider cooperation with it.
The situation in the Middle East escalated on the morning of 7 October when Hamas exposed Israeli territory to massive rocket fire from the Gaza Strip and also invaded border areas in the south of the country. On the same day, Israel began retaliating against targets in the Gaza Strip.
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, the death toll since the escalation began has exceeded 8,000 people, including some 3,200 children, and nearly 20,000 others have been injured. On the Israeli side, 5.4 thousand people have been injured so far, and more than 1.4 thousand have died.
The Palestinians intend to return the borders between the two countries to those that existed before the 1967 Six-Day War, with a possible exchange of territory. Palestine wants to create its own state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and make East Jerusalem its capital. Israel rejects these conditions.
(Izvestia/USA)
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