The inaction of the UN Security Council which failed to reach a united position on the war between Israel and Hamas is “inexcusable”Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki denounced today.

Denouncing the “massacres committed by Israel”, the Palestinian minister estimated that “the Security Council (had) the duty to stop them”: “the failure of the Security Council is inexcusable”, he said inside the Council Chamber at the UN headquarters in New York.

“Your human conscience has not been wounded by the crimes of the Israeli occupation during 56 years of colonial occupation, or by the terrorist murders, destruction and hunger that the Palestinian people are suffering today?” he added.

Last week, the UN Security Council, which is often divided over the Israeli-Palestinian issue, initially rejected a Russian proposal for a resolution calling for a “humanitarian ceasefire”. Only five of the 15 member states of the Council had supported the text, which condemned “all forms of violence against civilians and all acts of terrorism” but did not name Hamas, which was unacceptable to the US, Britain and France.

A second draft resolution prepared by Brazil, which holds the Council presidency in October, was blocked by the US veto. Washington had denounced the text in question which did not mention Israel’s “right to self-defense”, while 12 countries had voted in favor.

A third resolution drafted by the Americans is circulating among member states, according to diplomatic sources. The text, obtained by Agence France-Presse, mainly emphasizes “the right of all states to individual or collective self-defense.”