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STORY: UN / PALESTINIAN QUESTION
TRT: 7:16
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / ARABIC / NATS
DATELINE: 25 JUNE 2024, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE – NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior, United Nations Headquarters
25 JUNE 2024, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Tor Wennesland, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and Personal Representative of the Secretary-General:
“Before turning to my regular briefing, allow me to express my serious concerns about the risk of escalation in the region, particularly between Israel and Hezbollah along the Blue Line. I reiterate the Secretary-Generals' concern that further military escalation will only guarantee more suffering, more devastation to communities in Lebanon and Israel, and more potentially catastrophic consequences for the region. In complement to the efforts of UNSCOL and UNIFIL, I am encouraging all sides to immediately take urgent steps to de-escalate the situation.”
4. Wide shot, Security Council
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Tor Wennesland, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and Personal Representative of the Secretary-General:
“The ongoing hostilities in Gaza are further fueling regional instability. There must be an immediate and unconditional release of all hostages and an immediate humanitarian ceasefire – there is a deal on the table and it should be agreed.”
6. Med shot, Palestinian delegation
7. Med shot, Isarael delegation
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Tor Wennesland, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and Personal Representative of the Secretary-General:
“Effective mechanisms for humanitarian notification, safe conditions for humanitarian operations, and sufficient access to humanitarian needs remain sorely lacking and must be put in place without delay. Following another series of serious security incidents this last weekend impacting humanitarian actors in Gaza, the UN welcomes the opportunity to clarify with the IDF on how the current situation can be clearly improved.”
9. Wide shot, Security Council
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Tor Wennesland, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and Personal Representative of the Secretary-General:
“Hunger and food insecurity persist. While projections of imminent famine in the northern governates have been averted through an increase in food deliveries, food insecurity has worsened in the south. Nearly all of Gaza’s population continues to face high levels of food insecurity, with nearly half a million people facing ‘catastrophic’ insecurity.”
11. Wide shot, Security Council
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Tor Wennesland, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and Personal Representative of the Secretary-General:
“The escalating violence and tensions in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are deeply worrying. Intensified armed exchanges between Palestinians and Israeli security forces alongside lethal attacks by Palestinians against Israelis and by Israeli settlers against Palestinians, have also exacerbated tensions and led to exceedingly high levels of casualties and detentions. All perpetrators of attacks must be held accountable. I reiterate that security forces in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, must exercise maximum restraint and use lethal force only when it is strictly unavoidable to protect life.”
13. Wide shot, Security Council
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, United States:
“We also consider the security of UN personnel and aid actors on the ground a top priority and we continue to press Israel to create better conditions for facilitating aid delivery inside Gaza. In order for humanitarian organizations to be able to safely continue their lifesaving work, the IDF must implement concrete actions to protect humanitarians and improve the overall security environment inside Gaza. The lack of an effective deconfliction mechanism nearly nine months into the conflict is unacceptable and continues to put humanitarian actors at tremendous risk. But again, we cannot ignore that Hamas is standing in the way of the deal that this council endorsed and continues to put Palestinian civilians at risk. From our perspective, it’s time to end the intransigence from Hamas, start a ceasefire, and release the hostages.”
15. Wide shot, Security Council
SOUNDBITE (Russian) Vasily Nebenzya, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Russian Federation:
“What is even worse in the Resolution of the Security Council, a blatant lie crafted in. It is explicitly stated there and that Israel can consent to the peace proposal for international mediators. However, in West Jerusalem, this has not yet been confirmed. They at the same time announcing the decisive intent to completely destroy Hamas. Ultimately none of the phases stipulated in resolution 2735 has been implemented. The Council essentially was blindly dragged into a misadventure and move towards blessing a scheme which from the get-go had no chances of being implemented. We urge the members of the Security Council moving forward to adopt its more conscientious approach to those decisions which they support and to give thought to their actual content.”
16. Wide shot, Security Council
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer to the United Nations, Palestine:
“I am here to make a wakeup call to all of us that this tragedy underway, has been written a long time ago that all the signs were there and yet, no action was taken to address this existential threat we are facing. This is the time to break the taboo of Israelis impunity.”
18. Wide shot, Security Council
19. SOUNDBITE (English) Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer to the United Nations, Palestine:
“No one can survive by simply relying on the power of the sword, especially a sword provided by another. Justice and peace are the best guarantees for our peoples. We call on you to go further and act faster in ensuring they are not forever lost in this assault, leaving us prey to a reality that will devour us all.”
20. Wide shot, Security Council
21. SOUNDBITE (English) Jonathan Miller, Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Israel:
“Israel stands firm on our principles, and they have not changed. We will continue until the last remaining hostages returned. And we will not stop until Hamas military and governing capabilities are dismantled. We are committed to the Israeli proposal which President Biden has welcomed. Our position has not changed. These have been our goals from day one.”
22. Various shots, Security Council
23. SOUNDBITE (English) Jonathan Miller, Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Israel:
“Israel will not allow the Hezbollah terror organization to continue attacking its territory and citizens. in an all-out war Hezbollah, which has been violating Security Council resolutions for years, endangering both the Israeli and Lebanese people, as well as UN peacekeepers will pay the price.”
24. Wide shot, Security Council
Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland expressed his “serious concerns” about the risk of escalation in the region, particularly between Israel and Hezbollah along the Blue Line.
Speaking to the Council today (25 Jun), Wennesland reiterated the Secretary-Generals' concern that “further military escalation will only guarantee more suffering, more devastation to communities in Lebanon and Israel, and more potentially catastrophic consequences for the region.”
“In complement to the efforts of UNSCOL and UNIFIL,” the Special Coordinator said that he is encouraging all sides to “immediately take urgent steps to de-escalate the situation.”
He also emphasized, “The ongoing hostilities in Gaza are further fueling regional instability. There must be an immediate and unconditional release of all hostages and an immediate humanitarian ceasefire – there is a deal on the table and it should be agreed.”
Wennesland highlighted, “Effective mechanisms for humanitarian notification, safe conditions for humanitarian operations, and sufficient access to humanitarian needs remain sorely lacking and must be put in place without delay.”
“Following another series of serious security incidents this last weekend impacting humanitarian actors in Gaza, the UN welcomes the opportunity to clarify with the IDF on how the current situation can be clearly improved,” the Special Coordinator added.
Wennesland stressed that hunger and food insecurity persist in Gaza, adding that “while projections of imminent famine in the northern governates have been averted through an increase in food deliveries, food insecurity has worsened in the south.”
“Nearly all of Gaza’s population continues to face high levels of food insecurity, with nearly half a million people facing ‘catastrophic’ insecurity,” he warned.
Wennesland also said ,“The escalating violence and tensions in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are deeply worrying.”
He added, “Intensified armed exchanges between Palestinians and Israeli security forces alongside lethal attacks by Palestinians against Israelis and by Israeli settlers against Palestinians, have also exacerbated tensions and led to exceedingly high levels of casualties and detentions. All perpetrators of attacks must be held accountable.”
The Special Coordinator reiterated that “security forces in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, must exercise maximum restraint and use lethal force only when it is strictly unavoidable to protect life.”
For her part, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said, “We also consider the security of UN personnel and aid actors on the ground a top priority and we continue to press Israel to create better conditions for facilitating aid delivery inside Gaza.”
She reiterated, “In order for humanitarian organizations to be able to safely continue their lifesaving work, the IDF must implement concrete actions to protect humanitarians and improve the overall security environment inside Gaza.”
“The lack of an effective deconfliction mechanism nearly nine months into the conflict is unacceptable and continues to put humanitarian actors at tremendous risk,” she stressed.
The US Ambassador continued, “we cannot ignore that Hamas is standing in the way of the deal that this council endorsed and continues to put Palestinian civilians at risk.”
She added, “From our perspective, it’s time to end the intransigence from Hamas, start a ceasefire, and release the hostages.”
Speaking about Resolution 2735, Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya said, “What is even worse in the Resolution of the Security Council, a blatant lie crafted in. It is explicitly stated there and that Israel can consent to the peace proposal for international mediators. However, in West Jerusalem, this has not yet been confirmed. They at the same time announcing the decisive intent to completely destroy Hamas.”
He continued, “Ultimately none of the phases stipulated in resolution 2735 has been implemented.”
Ambassador Nebenzya added, “The Council essentially was blindly dragged into a misadventure and move towards blessing a scheme which from the get-go had no chances of being implemented.”
He urged the members of Council “moving forward to adopt its more conscientious approach to those decisions which they support and to give thought to their actual content.”
Palestinian Ambassador Mansour said, “I am here to make a wakeup call to all of us that this tragedy underway, has been written a long time ago that all the signs were there and yet, no action was taken to address this existential threat we are facing.”
“This is the time to break the taboo of Israelis impunity,” he reiterated.
Ambassador Mansour also stressed, “No one can survive by simply relying on the power of the sword, especially a sword provided by another. Justice and peace are the best guarantees for our peoples.”
He called on the members of the Council to “go further and act faster in ensuring they are not forever lost in this assault, leaving us prey to a reality that will devour us all.”
Deputy Ambassador of Isarael Jonathan Miller also spoke to the Council.
He said, “Israel stands firm on our principles, and they have not changed. We will continue until the last remaining hostages returned. And we will not stop until Hamas military and governing capabilities are dismantled.”
He added, “We are committed to the Israeli proposal which President Biden has welcomed. Our position has not changed. These have been our goals from day one.”
Ambassador Miller also said, “Israel will not allow the Hezbollah terror organization to continue attacking its territory and citizens. in an all-out war Hezbollah, which has been violating Security Council resolutions for years, endangering both the Israeli and Lebanese people, as well as UN peacekeepers will pay the price.”
