Libya's ambassador to the United Nations, Al-Taher El Sonni, commented on the controversy that followed Libya's abstention from approving a resolution presented by Russia at the Security Council session, saying the resolution's terminology contradicted Libyan concepts regarding its vision of the Palestinian Cause.
El Sonni explained that Libya’s right to vote was related to “adopting the resolution” and not “approving it,” as Security Council decisions were made by voting among the 15 members only, and for any resolution to be put to a vote, there must be nine countries' approval to pass it, noting that the five permanent member states had the veto power.
El Sonni revealed that there was no Arab consensus on the wording of the Russian resolution, stressing that Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Iraq, and Syria were among the countries that did not adopt the resolution due to certain reservations, explaining that it had contained language and terminology that contradicted national concepts of the nature and description of the ongoing conflict, and it did not differentiate between the occupation and the resistance, including the issue of prisoners and detainees.
He stressed that adopting the Russian resolution would have obligated Libya in later times to adhere to the same terms that were mentioned therein, adding that this could have been used in other resolutions as an argument against Libya.
The UN Security Council voted in rejection of the Russian draft resolution regarding the Gaza Strip, as the resolution did not obtain the required nine votes. Five countries voted in favor, while four countries opposed it (the United States, United Kingdom, France, and Japan), while six countries abstained from voting.
Libya, Tunisia, Syria, Iraq and Algeria demanded amending the final statement of the emergency ministerial meeting of the Arab League Council issued on October 15.
The Libyan UN mission called for deleting the word “condemning the killing of civilians on both sides” from the second paragraph of the final statement, and amending the rest of the paragraph that said: “The necessity of releasing civilians and all prisoners and detainees” to become “releasing all prisoners and civilians.”
The Libyan mission called for amending the third paragraph to read: “Support the brotherly Palestinian people in defending themselves due to the aggression and violations of their rights to which they are currently exposed.”
