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7792nd Security Council Meeting: Situation in Middle East, Including Palestinian Question - Part 1
Citing outbreaks of violence between Israelis and Palestinians, Israeli settlement activity, Palestinian political turmoil and militant activity, along with continued suffering in Gaza, speakers in a day-long debate at the Security Council warned that, regardless of other conflict in the region, the situation must not be ignored.
“We must all avoid the risk of sleep-walking into another violent conflict at a time when the region as a whole needs moderate forces to unite and stand up to the radicalization that we see in the Middle East,” Nickolay Mladenov, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process said as he gave his monthly briefing, via video teleconference from Jerusalem, at a meeting which also heard from Stephen O’Brien, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, as well as some 46 other speakers.
The absence of visionary leadership continued to define the conflict, Mr. Mladenov said, noting that a lack of progress in negotiations toward a two-State solution was leading to growing anger among Palestinians and profound disillusionment among Israelis. That situation was weakening moderates on both sides, particularly in regards to Gaza. In addition to the announcement of settlements that would effectively divide the West Bank in two, Palestinian political bickering continued, causing the postponement of local elections in the West Bank. Hamas legislators had called for resumption of the Hamas-led Government there, making reconciliation almost impossible.
Mr. O’Brien said that nearly every resident in the Occupied Palestinian Territory was affected by crisis. In Gaza, humanitarian suffering stemmed from nearly 10 years of closures and exacerbated by successive rounds of hostilities between Hamas and Israel, international Palestinian political divisions and Egypt’s near complete closure of border crossings. Children had suffered the most. He welcomed Israel’s recent decision to sell an addition 10 million cubic meters of water to Gaza, but a long-term solution was necessary.
In the West Bank, he said, 1,477 Palestinians had been displaced due to increased demolitions, which he reiterated must cease immediately, as they violated international law. “We must move towards decisive action that will reduce humanitarian needs, secure respect for international law and bring to Palestinians and Israelis alike the hope and reality of a stable, peaceful and prosperous future,” he stated.
Following those briefings, the Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine, noting an Arria-formula meeting last week on the issue of Israeli settlement expansion, said that the illegality of such activities and the threats they posed to the two-State solution were matters of international law and not just Palestinian opinion. Reaffirming support for initiatives by France and others to move the peace process forward, he added that such efforts could not absolve the Council from its own responsibility. , pointing out that settlement activity had quadrupled while that body stood silent.
Israel’s representative situated the focus on settlements as part of what he called the slander against Israel that had been promulgated throughout the United Nations system. Meanwhile, for 68 years, he said, his people had woken up every morning to the threat of war and terror while building a vibrant democracy and a thriving economy. Enumerating advances that had been pioneered by the country, he said that instead of noting such contributions, millions of the Organization’s resources had been put into propaganda and a proliferation of one-sided resolutions against the Jewish State, which were counterproductive to the quest for peace.
Most other speakers, however, described the continuation of Israeli settlement activity as a major obstacle to peace and called for it to end. Delegations also urged relief from the Gaza closure, along with increased aid to reconstruction in the Gaza Strip and an end to housing demolition in the West Bank. In addition, there were numerous calls for an end to military activities in Gaza, a halt to attacks and incitement to violence in the West Bank and for reconciliation between Palestinian parties.
Most speakers, in addition, called for negotiations to resume in order to salvage the prospects of two States living side-by-side in peace and security. The representatives of France and the Russian Federation reiterated their proposals for international meetings that would serve to re-energize the peace process. Those proposals garnered the approval of many speakers, but some warned that such initiatives must work together and should not deflect from the responsibilities of the Security Council. The representatives of the United States and Spain, among others, also emphasized that a settlement must be negotiated between the parties and not be imposed by others.
Also speaking today were representatives of Venezuela (on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement), France, Senegal, Uruguay, Egypt, New Zealand, Ukraine, United States, Angola, Malaysia, China, United Kingdom, Japan, Russian Federation, Lebanon, Indonesia, Iran, Norway, Pakistan, Brazil, Syria, Nicaragua, Kazakhstan, Argentina, Costa Rica, Jordan, Guatemala, South Africa, Turkey, Namibia, Qatar, Kuwait (on behalf of the Organization of the Islamic Conference), Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Iceland, Saudi Arabia, Ecuador, Maldives, Morocco and Cuba, as well as the European Union, Holy See and the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People.
The meeting began at 10:03 a.m. and ended at 4:25 p.m.