Reporting to the Security Council today that prospects for a two-State resolution of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians continue to fade, the Special Coordinator for Middle East Peace called for the international community to go beyond rhetoric when encouraging progress.

“We must take concrete action,” Nickolay Mladenov said during his regular monthly briefing which, this month, focused on the Secretary-General’s latest report on the implementation of resolution 2334 (2016) and covered the period between 12 September and 6 December (document S/2019/938). As detailed in the report, he said, “no steps were taken during the reporting period to cease all settlement activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem” as demanded by the resolution.

In the three years since the resolution was adopted, plans for over 22,000 units have been advanced in West Bank settlements, he reported. He stressed that settlements must cease immediately and completely. Continued seizures of Palestinian structures, including internationally funded humanitarian projects, must also stop and affected populations must be compensated.

In addition, he said that despite the resolution’s call for steps to prevent all acts of violence against civilians, attacks continued in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Violence against civilians, terrorist attacks and incitement must stop, as must indiscriminate launching of rockets, he stated, also calling for the end of inflammatory rhetoric.

Further, threats by Israel to annex parts of the West Bank are also destructive to prospects for peace, he noted. Spotlighting the urgent need for Palestinian reconciliation, he called for international support for proposed Palestinian elections, which must be inclusive and comprise both legislative and presidential polls.

Also briefing the Council, Adele Raemer spoke, via videoconference from Tel Aviv, recounting her personal experiences living in Kibbutz Nirim on the border with Gaza since 1975. Conditions have only gotten worse since shrapnel ripped through her bedroom in 2014, she said, with frequent rocket fire and new terror tunnels discovered minutes from children’s facilities. She called on the Council to compel Hamas to abandon violence and to empower everyone on both sides of the border to enjoy their human rights. The conflict can only be resolved by courage and diplomacy, not by weapons, she added.

Council members reaffirmed the need for a negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with most speakers calling for an end to Israel’s settlement activity in compliance with resolution 2334 (2016). Many speakers also cautioned against threats of annexation of areas of the West Bank and called for an end to violence from both sides.

Kuwait’s representative, as well as others, called for more frequent written reports on the implementation of resolution 2334 (2016). He also urged other countries to remain neutral and not take unilateral measures to support Israel’s illegal measures and the continuation of the occupation.

The Russian Federation’s representative also urged compliance with the resolution, saying that support for Israel’s unilateral actions from the United States represents a gross violation of international law. Expressing firm support for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), he said it is short-sighted to blame the Agency for the continued existence of Palestinian refugees.

However, the representative of the United States described resolution 2334 (2016) as another example of the Council’s one-sided treatment of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by the Council. The resolution, which also condemns violence against civilians, has not prevented rockets from raining down both on Israeli and Palestinian civilians. Questioning whether the Council will also condemn those violations of the resolution, she reaffirmed the need to put an end to violence and for the resumption of direct negotiation between the parties.

The Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine, however, stressed that without accountability following the Council’s adoption of resolution 2334 (2016), Israeli exceptionalism and impunity have continued. That has emboldened Israel to entrench its illegal occupation to the detriment of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people. Peace requires the fulfilment of those rights and not the acceptance of continued denial, he stressed.

Israel’s representative said Ms. Raemer’s personal experience illustrated how Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorize civilians on both sides of the Gaza Strip perimeter. Those groups will ensure that funds from the Humanitarian Response Plan do not help people but go towards violence. In fact, Iran’s proxies in Gaza, Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen and Syria do not care about civilians in their pursuit of an extremist ideology, often using them as human shields. Those civilians are counting on the Council to protect them, he stressed.

Also speaking today were the representatives of Peru, United Kingdom, China, Côte d’Ivoire, Poland, Indonesia, Dominican Republic, South Africa, France, Germany, Belgium and Equatorial Guinea.

The meeting began at 10:04 a.m. and ended at 12:20 p.m.

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MEETINGS COVERAGE

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