UN approves Gaza ceasefire resolution

The United Nations Security Council approved a resolution today, calling for an immediate and durable ceasefire between Hamas militants and Israeli forces fighting in the Gaza Strip.

The vote was 14-0 with the United States abstaining.

The vote followed three days of intense negotiations between ministers from key Arab nations and the council’s veto-wielding Western powers – the United States, Britain and France.

It came on the 13th day of an Israeli air and ground offensive against the Islamic group Hamas which rules Gaza and has been launching rockets and mortars into southern Israel for years.

The US, Israel’s closest ally, and Arab nations that have close ties to Hamas negotiated the text of the resolution. But it will be up to Israel and Hamas to decide to stop their military activities.

“We are all very conscious that peace is made on the ground while resolutions are written in the United Nations,” Foreign Secretary David Miliband said.

“Our job here is to support the efforts for peace on the ground and to help turn the good words on paper into changes on the ground that are desperately needed.”

The resolution was based on a British-drafted text supported by the US and France – all veto-wielding members of the Security Council – and amendments by key Arab negotiators including the foreign ministers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Morocco and Qatar.

US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice said America supported the ``objectives'' of the resolution, despite its abstention.

She said the US abstained from the security council vote to await “outcomes” of Egypt’s mediation with Israel and Hamas.

The security council “has provided a road map” towards peace in Gaza, she added.

The Egyptian and French peace initiative must be ``not just applauded, but supported'', Ms Rice added.