S/PV.6100
6100th meeting
Wednesday, 25 March 2009, 10.20 a.m.
New York
The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question
The President (spoke in Arabic): I shall now make a statement in my capacity as the representative of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.
At the outset, I would like to thank Under-Secretary-General Pascoe for his briefing.
I wish to note that the peace process in the Middle East is experiencing continual reversal. Peace is impossible as a result of Israel’s illegal and inhuman practices on several levels. They include its blockades, killings, construction of settlements, land confiscations, home demolitions, erection of barriers and detention of 11,000 Palestinians, including women and children, who have been held not for thousands of days but for thousands of months.
Since mid-2007, Israeli occupying authorities have imposed a suffocating blockade on the Gaza Strip. Palestinians live under very depressing circumstances, which has been met with a very embarrassing silence on the part of the international community. Israel unleashed a war against the residents of Gaza after they had become weary as a result of hunger and the blockade. Despite everything that has transpired, the Israeli authorities are continuing their blockade, placing obstacles in the way of mediation efforts, reneging on their obligations and changing conditions. All of that is part of an effort to perpetuate the siege despite the adoption of resolution 1860 (2009) and calls by the Secretary-General and many international, regional and civil society organizations.
The occupying Power has committed grave atrocities in the occupied Palestinian territories, in particular in the Gaza Strip. Many of those violations rise to the level of war crimes and genocide under international law and international humanitarian law. That has been confirmed by numerous distinguished international personalities, including the 16 who addressed a joint letter to the Secretary-General and the members of the Security Council. Reports by Mr. Richard Falk, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Territories, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have all called for investigations into the crimes committed in Gaza. In addition, the Red Cross has condemned the targeting of medical teams and the fact that they have been prevented from reaching the wounded.
All that has been borne out by eyewitness reports and the dramatic articles published in The New York Times and Haaretz on 22 March 2009, which included witness accounts, documents and information about war crimes and other acts committed in Gaza by Israeli soldiers acting on orders from high in the chain of command calling for the use of phosphorous bombs, the targeting of ambulances and defenceless civilians and the ransacking of houses. The reports also included a statement by a unit leader who deliberately killed a Palestinian woman and her two sons with an automatic rifle, as well as an account of the killing of an old woman crossing a street who posed no threat to Israel’s occupying forces. The paper also included statements of how, despite claims made by the Israeli army, pilots deliberately and without warning targeted civilian houses.
It is clear from the testimony of Israeli soldiers that the orders they received essentially told them to show no concern for the lives of Palestinian civilians. An Israeli officer also stated that such orders could not have been issued by a junior field commander; instead they had to come from the highest level of the Israeli army command. One Israeli soldier is quoted as saying,
“the staff command is responsible for issuing these orders and is trying to manipulate the facts and depict matters as isolated incidents. In fact, they go much deeper than that”.
In addition, Israeli soldiers have admitted to killing hundreds of women and children who waved white flags, knowing full well that they were civilians and posed no threat to them. They too confirmed that their actions were carried out on the basis of higher orders. Haaretz also published that confirmed information.
The international community must put an end to the suffering of the besieged Palestinian people in Gaza. It must not allow the occupying Power to continue to hold the residents of Gaza hostage. The lifting of the siege must not be linked to any other issue, as it constitutes a violation of international law, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the international humanitarian law, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Fourth Geneva Convention and numerous other instruments.
The perpetuation of the siege constitutes an act of blackmail of the besieged that prevents them from receiving food, medicine and shelter. The Israeli authorities must also assume responsibility for the rebuilding of Gaza, without using that as an instrument of political blackmail to the detriment of those affected and whose homes have been destroyed.
The situation in the West Bank is no less grave than that which prevails in the Gaza Strip. A different type of crime is being committed there, namely, that of ethnic cleansing of Palestinians through a systematic campaign to demolish their homes and prevent them from rebuilding and to confiscate land through the building of settlements.
That vicious campaign is focused in particular on the city of Jerusalem, as has been confirmed by a special report by the head of the European Union mission in East Jerusalem that was published in The Guardian. It describes the process by which Israel demolishes Arab homes and prevents their inhabitants from rebuilding or even gaining access to their property. That serves not only to hamper the peace process; it also obliterates any chance for the establishment of an independent Palestinian State.
We reiterate that the unbalanced and biased view of some of the Council’s members has only served to encourage Israel’s settlement activities. Moreover, the Israeli Peace Now movement, which monitors settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian territories, has stated that Israeli authorities plan to build more than 733,000 housing units in the West Bank. Of those, 15,000 have already been approved. If the remaining units are also approved, the total number of settlers would be double what it is now.
In addition, Israeli authorities have announced that 1,700 homes were demolished in East Jerusalem this year alone. That means the deliberate displacement of 17,000 civilians. In addition, 35 outposts have been established in other areas. Several houses have also been demolished in the historic Selwan district of East Jerusalem to build a city park, displacing 500 Palestinian civilians. That runs counter to the claims of the Israeli authorities, which seek to portray what is happening in Jerusalem as an isolated act committed by extremist groupings while the truth is that the Israeli Government is responsible for the targeting and Judaization of the Old City of Jerusalem in violation of international law, Security Council resolutions and its obligations under the Road Map.
The Israeli Government’s practices affirm that Israel’s only policy and only firm position for the past six decades have been that it does not seek peace and continues to expand settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories and attempts to terrorize and humiliate the Palestinian people and bring them to their knees. These practices show that those who rule Israel are no more than a gang of criminals and that the organizations and States of the international community must make their position clear on the crimes committed by Israel against the Palestinian people. If they fail to do so, they should be considered accomplices to these crimes and co-conspirators against the occupied Palestinian people.
I now resume my duties as President of the Council.
I give the floor to the representative of Egypt.
