Media Home
UN Web TV
UN Audiovisual Library
UN PhotoSecurity Council
7610th Security Council Meeting: Middle East, Including Palestinian Question - Part 1
With a relentless wave of extremist terror gripping the Middle East, Israelis and Palestinians had an opportunity to restore hope to a region torn apart by intolerance and cruelty, Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon told the Security Council today, urging it to “act now” to prevent the two-State solution from slipping away forever.
Opening the Council’s quarterly debate on the Middle East, Secretary-General Ban said 2016 had started much like 2015 had ended, amid violence and a polarized discourse across the spectrum in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Palestinian frustration was growing under the weight of half a century of occupation and a paralysed peace process — an indisputable truth. He said he was troubled by Israeli plans to build 150 new homes in illegal settlements within the occupied West Bank, as well as the declaration of 370 acres there as “State land”.
In the Gaza Strip, he continued, chronic security and governance challenges, as well as funding shortages, had slowed reconstruction. He urged the Palestinian factions to advance unity on the basis of democracy and Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) principles. In a tense regional environment, it was imperative to consolidate stability wherever possible, he said. While some might view that as too risky, the greater peril was not seeking a solution to the Palestinian question.
Lasting agreement would require difficult compromises, he said, urging Palestinians and Israelis to accept that “historic” challenge in the mutual interest of peace. The support of regional partners was essential, and the international community must be “ever more” committed to helping the two sides rebuild trust before it was too late.
Following those remarks, the Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine, said failure to compel Israel’s compliance with the law had caused immense suffering for Palestinians. The United Nations must act in line with its own resolutions. “The inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including the right to self-determination and freedom, are non-negotiable”, he said, pressing the Council to fulfil its responsibilities to end the occupation. “It is your duty and it cannot be delegated, delayed or dismissed.”
Israel’s representative said the road to peace was long, but his country was committed to making every effort. The Palestinians, however, had refused to come to the negotiating table. “We want peace with security,” he emphasized. Palestinians, on the other hand, sought reward for unilateral actions. Rewarding the Palestinian Authority would only push them further from the table because that institution provided monthly stipends of $3,500 to the families of terrorists in areas where the average salary was $600, he said. The Council must call upon Palestinians to condemn terror attacks, demand that they stop incitement and stop giving them incentives to avoid dialogue.
During the ensuing debate, speakers condemned the escalating violence, urging the parties to do their utmost to de-escalate tensions and re-establish a mechanism to address incitement, since continuing hostilities chipped away at the validity of the Oslo Accords. Many called for resumed negotiations, while several voiced opposition to Israel’s settlement expansion, especially in Area C, pressing the Council to shoulder its responsibility to hold it to account by requiring its withdrawal from occupied territory.
In that context, Egypt’s representative pointed out that 20 years had passed since the agreement that should have led to the creation of a Palestinian State on the basis of the 1967 borders and with Al-Quds al-Sharif as its capital. Urging a focus on the Arab Peace Initiative, he said a two-State solution was necessary for coexistence among the region’s peoples. Egypt would work with its Council partners to provide an international protectorate for Palestinians, he said.
In similar vein, Lebanon’s representative asked how long the Council would remain silent while the self-proclaimed so-called “only democracy” in the Middle East continued to demolish homes, seize land and intensify settlement activities, in addition to measures that segregated people in East Jerusalem. She also noted that Israel had violated her country’s sovereignty a total of 1,168 times in 2015, by air, land and sea.
Kuwait’s representative, speaking on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), said Israel’s actions sought to change the Islamic character of Jerusalem, which would only stoke violent extremism. He called for an international conference to regalvanize the peace process and help ensure the success of the two-State solution.
More broadly, several speakers stressed that the plight of the Palestinians was a chief cause of the anger and alienation felt across the wider Arab and Muslim world. Extremist ideologies would be difficult to defeat until injustices against Muslims, especially Palestinians, were addressed, said Pakistan’s representative. Others said that the situations in Yemen, North Africa, Somalia and northern Nigeria were characterized by a narrow connectivity of terror groups such as Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh), Al-Qaida, Al-Shabaab and Boko Haram.
Regarding the conflict in Syria, now entering its fifth year, many speakers expressed outrage that 13.5 million people were in need of assistance. The representative of the United States called for “robust” pledges at the 4 February Syria Donors Conference to be held in London. Many others said they looked forward to the next round of Geneva peace negotiations in the coming days, with Indonesia’s representative echoing remarks by several others by stressing that a Syrian-led process was the only way to move towards peace.
On that point, the Russian Federation’s representative expressed surprise at attempts by some Council members to “muddy the waters” with unilateral interpretations of resolution 2254 (2015). An effective response to such difficult challenges could only be found collectively, and the Russian Federation’s proposal for settling them was still on the table, he pointed out.
Also speaking today were the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of Uruguay and Senegal, and the Secretary of State for External Relations of Angola. Others were representatives of Ukraine, United Kingdom, Malaysia, Venezuela, France, New Zealand, China, Japan, Spain, Netherlands, Brazil, Kazakhstan, India, Indonesia, Syria, Iran (on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement), South Africa, Republic of Korea, Morocco, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Argentina, Qatar, Norway, Turkey, Maldives, Costa Rica, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Jordan and Haiti. Representatives of the European Union, Holy See and the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People also addressed the Council.
The meeting began at 10:05 a.m. and ended at 5 p.m.
