<\/p>\n
9819th Meeting (AM)<\/p>\n
18 December 2024<\/p>\n
The\u00a0collective punishment of the Palestinian people and the relentless bombardment of Gaza by Israeli forces is horrific and unjustifiable, a high-level Â鶹APP official told the Security Council today, which also heard from the brother of an Israeli hostage held by Hamas, who implored the 15-member organ not to let his brother\u2019s life to be \u201cused as a bargaining chip\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cCeasefire is long overdue,\u201d said\u00a0Khaled Khiari,\u00a0Assistant Secretary-General for Middle East, Asia and the Pacific in the Â鶹APP Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations.<\/p>\n
Since 7\u00a0October\u00a02023, more than 45,000\u00a0Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to Gaza\u2019s health ministry, and over 1,700\u00a0Israeli and foreign nationals have been killed in attacks in or originated from Gaza, according to Israeli sources. \u00a0All\u00a0hostages must be treated humanely and allowed visits from the Red Cross, he said, condemning\u00a0acts of\u00a0sexual violence and abuse perpetrated against hostages.<\/p>\n
International humanitarian law always applies to all parties to a conflict, and its application does not depend on reciprocity, he went on to say. \u00a0The protection of civilians is paramount. \u00a0There must be full accountability for any atrocity crimes that have been committed, he added, also condemning the looting of aid and calling for a full investigation into such acts.<\/p>\n
He further reiterated that all Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, \u201chave no legal validity\u201d and are in flagrant violation of international law.\u00a0 Such acts are provocative, he added, calling on the Government of Israel to cease such settlement activities immediately.<\/p>\n
Shira Efron, Director of Research at Israel Policy Forum, noting that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict \u201cremains a tragedy for both Jews and Arabs\u201d, said\u00a0 that, 438\u00a0days after 7\u00a0October\u00a02023, 100\u00a0hostages, including a two-year-old baby and an 86-year-old grandfather, remain in captivity, while in Gaza, devastation is unimaginable, with countless lives lost, families shattered, homes reduced to rubble and a population struggling for food, water and healthcare.<\/p>\n
A two-State solution will remain only a vision unless the international community shifts \u201cfrom platitudes to planning\u201d.\u00a0 \u201cThere is still no shared coherent plan for post-war Gaza,\u201d she pointed out, adding that, without a green light from the Palestinian Authority, regional and other international partners will not commit to its recovery. \u00a0Yet, the Israeli Government has until now vetoed Palestinian Authority involvement, exacerbating the risk of either full Israeli occupation of Gaza or a Hamas resurgence.<\/p>\n
Involving the Palestinian Authority and ensuring it has the capacity to succeed would help alleviate fiscal and economic pressures in the West Bank. \u00a0The Palestinian Authority\u00a0should demonstrate that it can be part of the solution by reforming the so-called prisoner and martyr payments system, addressing incitement and undertaking education reform. \u00a0For its part, Israel should take decisive action to stop settler violence in the West Bank. \u00a0\u201cThe UN and Israel must repair their fractured relationship which has reached an unprecedented low\u201d, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy brother Or is one of the 100\u00a0innocent hostages currently held by Hamas in Gaza for 439\u00a0days,\u201d Michael Levy told the Council. \u00a0Or\u00a0was abducted by Hamas from the Nova Music Festival which he attended with his wife. \u00a0She was murdered. \u00a0\u201cOr is a real human being, a father to an amazing three-year-old son,\u201d he said. \u00a0You have the power to save his life, he told Council member, appealing to them not just as diplomats, \u201cbut as people, as mothers, fathers, siblings and friends\u201d. \u00a0\u201cYour silence is deafening, your inaction is suffocating,\u201d he went on to say. \u00a0\u201cI refuse to accept the world where my brother\u2019s life can be used as a bargaining chip and be forgotten,\u201d he said, adding: \u00a0\u201cDemand the release of them all.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the ensuing debate, delegates\u00a0expressed alarm for the humanitarian situation in Gaza, as well as Israel\u2019s continued settlement-expansion. \u00a0The representative of\u00a0Malta urged\u00a0Israel to end its presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory without delay.\u00a0Reiterating condemnation of the horrific 7\u00a0October\u00a02023 attacks, she also called for the unconditional release of all hostages.<\/p>\n
Guyana\u2019s delegate called on Israel\u00a0to strictly abide by its legal obligation as an occupying Power and safeguard the rights and interests of the Palestinian people. \u00a0\u201cIt is unjust that Palestinians are forced to live with the constant threat of violence and even death by the Israeli security forces and Israeli settlers, even when they are engaged in routine activities, such as picking olives from their olive groves,\u201d she said. \u00a0The Council has been unable to achieve consensus to act for the Palestinian people while hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians are killed, disabled, orphaned, widowed and starved.<\/p>\n
Several delegations including representatives from Sierra Leone, Slovenia, Switzerland, Japan, Mozambique, Ecuador, United Kingdom, France and the Republic of Korea also echoed calls, demanding an unconditional ceasefire in Gaza, expressing concern that the widespread destruction of homes there has made the already vulnerable population exposed to extreme weather this winter.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Gaza, people are not living, they are simply waiting to die,\u201d said Algeria\u2019s delegate. \u00a0Humanitarian aid remains highly insufficient to meet the needs of the population. \u00a0Entire neighbourhoods in Gaza have been demolished. \u00a0Violence, disease and starvation are omnipresent. \u00a0\u201cQuite simply, Gaza has turned into a graveyard of the living,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The representative of the Russian Federation, noting that the United States vetoed a ceasefire six times so that the Israeli military operation can continue in Gaza, pointed to statements by Israeli officials about forcibly changing the demographics of the Strip. \u00a0Highlighting atrocities in the West Bank, he said Israel is using the \u201cfabricated pretext that that there are no construction permits\u201d to systematically destroy Palestinian homes. \u00a0The height of cynicism is that Palestinians who cannot afford to pay high duties to Israel are then compelled to destroy their homes with their own hands.\u00a0 \u201cIf you push people to a situation where they have nothing to lose, don\u2019t be surprised when radical ideas become popular,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
China\u2019s delegate pointed out that while the Jewish nation has long since had an independent State, the Palestinian people\u2019s right to statehood, survival and return has long been ignored. \u00a0The prolonged occupation will only breed more hatred and antagonism, sowing the seeds of instability in the Middle East. \u00a0Piece meal crisis management alone will not prevent a relapse into the vicious cycle of conflict, he said. \u00a0Gaza is an inseparable and important part of Palestine, and its future should be decided by Palestinian people.<\/p>\n
The representative of the United States said that granting Hamas, a terrorist organization, their demand for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire will not end the suffering of cycles of violence for Israelis and Palestinians. \u00a0\u201cInstead, we must speak with one voice and demand that Hamas agree to release the hostages they\u2019re holding,\u201d she said. \u00a0It is time for Israel and the Â鶹APP to stop working against each other and instead take pragmatic steps to ensure there\u2019s no interruption of humanitarian aid delivery. \u00a0Advancing Israeli settlements in the West Bank is an obstacle to achieving a two-State solution. \u00a0Hundreds of violent attacks over the past year have forced Palestinians to abandon their homes and vacate villages.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Gaza, every Palestinian life has either been upended, or completely ended,\u201d said the\u00a0Permanent\u00a0Observer for the State of Palestine, adding that Palestinian children now represent the largest cohort of child amputees per capita in the world. \u00a0Recalling that, over a year ago, his delegation called for a ceasefire that would allow Palestinian and Israeli families \u201cto be reunited in life, not death\u201d, and warned of what would come if it was not imposed, he regretted that yet another ceasefire draft resolution, supported by 14\u00a0Council members was recently vetoed by the United States.<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s aim has always been \u201cto seize maximum Palestinian land with minimum Palestinians, but even that was not enough\u201d, he said, adding that it is forcibly displacing Palestinian communities and building settlements in the heart of their cities in order \u201cto destroy the territorial integrity of our State\u201d. \u00a0Israel has now accused the UN, almost every State, international courts, as well as the world\u2019s most renowned moral voices of antisemitism. \u00a0Recalling how the Israeli Foreign Minister closed his country\u2019s embassy in Dublin stating that Ireland has crossed every red line, he asked: \u00a0\u201cSo, Israel commits genocide [\u2026] but it is Ireland which has crossed every red line?\u201d<\/p>\n
Those who hope to end this conflict by taking more Palestinian lives and colonizing more Palestinian land are delusional, he said, adding: \u00a0\u201cWe are out of time, but we are not out of options\u201d. \u00a0Welcoming the launch of the Global Alliance for the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, he highlighted the Assembly decision to hold a high-level international conference in June\u00a02025 on the implementation of relevant UN resolutions. \u00a0Each State must examine what more they can do to uphold international law. \u00a0\u201cWe ask for nothing more than the rights international law guarantees to our people, but we also cannot accept anything less,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The representative of Israel said that the Middle East in the past year has become \u201cvirtually unrecognizable\u201d.\u00a0 \u201cWe continue to dismantle Hamas [\u2026] and rid Gaza from their terrorist oppressors,\u201d he said. \u00a0\u201cThe chance before us is clear, the chance to finally end the Islamic regime of Iran\u2019s aspirations for a Shiite supremacist empire,\u201d he said. \u00a0Israel has acted decisively. \u00a0\u201cWe have struck the terror networks that once cast a shadow over our region,\u201d he said. \u00a0Iran’s provocations continue to escalate with shameless threats about its nuclear ambitions and its proxies in Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq, remain active and deadly, spreading chaos far beyond the region.<\/p>\n
This is not a localized threat, he said. \u00a0Iran is a danger to the entire world. \u00a0This is not about a hypothetical future. \u00a0The danger is already here. \u00a0The time to act is now. \u00a0\u201cThis Council must implement crushing sanctions to suffocate Iran\u2019s ability to fund its proxies,\u201d he said. \u00a0These steps are not optional. \u00a0They are imperative. \u00a0\u201cThe Islamic regime thrives on inaction and indecision,\u201d he added. \u00a0Israel has no intention of occupying Syria or parts of Syria. \u00a0\u201cWe are not empire builders; we are defenders,\u201d he said. \u00a0Further, he urged the Iranian people to \u201ctake action now, the people of Israel stand by your side\u201d.\u00a0 \u201cIn your hands lie the power to restore the beautiful Iranian nation, to rebuild a land which is rich in history and culture,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
There are still 100\u00a0hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, enduring conditions that are beyond comprehension, he added. \u00a0Israel is negotiating for their freedom. \u00a0Hamas\u2019 crimes against humanity are despicable, and yet much of the world remains silent. \u00a0He pledged to continue to facilitate aid to be delivered to Gaza and open new aid crossings. \u00a0\u201cIsrael will remain clear eyed,\u201d he said, vowing to \u201cbring back all of our hostages\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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