Ashraf AboArafe
A Poetic Re-Editing and Analytical Rendering of Ambassador Fu Cong’s Explanation of Vote
President,
In Gaza — a land where the smoke of two long years of war still haunts the horizon — the ruins cry louder than words. Over two million souls wander between deprivation and displacement, awaiting the first true signs of dawn. China believes the Security Council must act with unwavering resolve: to cement a permanent ceasefire, to ease the suffocating humanitarian burden, and to ignite the long-overdue journey of reconstruction. Only then can the people of Gaza reclaim their right to peace, dignity, and development.
Yet the draft resolution before us today, though presented as a framework for hope, is riddled with gaps that cast deep shadows over its intentions and feasibility.
I. A Blueprint Written in Fog
The draft resolution proposes the creation of a Board of Peace and an international stabilization force—institutions meant to shape Gaza’s post-war governance.
But what are their structures? Who composes them? By what principles will they operate?
These critical foundations, instead of being pillars, are left as sketches in the sand.
Despite persistent calls from Council members for clarity, silence was the only reply.
A resolution built on ambiguity can neither restore trust nor rebuild a shattered land.
II. The Principle Forgotten: Palestinians Must Govern Palestine
Gaza is Palestinian—heart, soul, and soil.
Any post-war arrangement that does not begin with this truth risks rewriting history and erasing identity.
Yet in this draft, Palestine appears as a faint silhouette, scarcely present in shaping its own future.
The central role of the Palestinian National Authority is underemphasized; the two-State solution—long upheld as the cornerstone of international consensus—is not reaffirmed with the strength and clarity it deserves.
A future for Gaza that sidelines the Palestinian people is a future built on foreign scaffolding, not sovereignty.
III. The UN Absent from Its Own Stage
The draft resolution entrusts the new Board of Peace with sweeping authority over Gaza’s civil and security arrangements — but without ensuring robust UN oversight or review.
The United Nations has decades of experience in reconstruction, peacebuilding, and post-conflict recovery.
To ignore this wealth of expertise is to diminish the Council’s own role and weaken the international system’s ability to ensure accountability and legitimacy.
A structure without oversight is a vessel without a compass.
IV. A Decision Rushed, A Council Divided
In less than two weeks, the penholder pushed the Council toward a decision that will shape Gaza’s future for generations.
Member states raised reasonable questions, constructive suggestions, and essential concerns — most were brushed aside.
Instead of unity, haste prevailed.
Instead of dialogue, pressure.
Such an approach injures the Council’s cohesion and undermines the credibility of its decisions.
V. China’s Position: Caution in the Name of Peace
Despite its serious reservations, China abstained.
The suffering in Gaza is acute, the ceasefire fragile, and the voices of regional nations and Palestine themselves cannot be ignored.
But abstention does not erase concern.
The Council must stay alert, engaged, and principled.
At the heart of the Middle East lies the Palestinian question — a question of justice, identity, and international conscience.
Its answer cannot be postponed, diluted, or redefined.
The path forward remains anchored in the two-State solution:
An independent Palestinian state
with full sovereignty,
based on the 1967 borders,
with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Only then can the Palestinian people reclaim their rights — to land, to life, to return.
China reaffirms its steadfast support for this just cause and stands ready to work with all nations to pursue a comprehensive, fair, and enduring peace.
Thank you, President.
