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13 April 2015 – Grave Situation of Palestine Refugees in Yarmouk

13 April 2015 by

Excellency,

In follow up to the emergency consultations of the Security Council on 6 April, I convey once again the grave concerns of the Palestinian leadership about the dire situation of Palestine refugees in Syria as a result of the ongoing armed conflict there.  In particular, we continue to call the international community’s attention to the humanitarian catastrophe in the Yarmouk refugee camp.

As indicated in the briefing to the Security Council by the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Mr. Pierre Krähenbühl, the situation in the Yarmouk refugee camp has precipitously deteriorated following the 2 April takeover of the camp by terrorists affiliated with ISIL and other terror groups.  It is a situation constituting a direct threat to the lives of the nearly 18,000 Palestine refugees that remain in the camp of the original 160,000 residents. Refugees are suffering death and injury, as well as further destruction of their homes, dispossession and displacement, as the wanton violence rages around them. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Identical Letters

25 March 2015 – Intensification and Punitive Israeli Practices

26 March 2015 by

Excellency,

Global hopes for peace have been further diminished by recent confirmations of the Israeli Prime Minister’s anti-peace stance.  His blatant rejection of the two-State solution endorsed for decades by the international community, along with his racist rant against the Palestinian-Arab citizens of Israel and the inflammatory rhetoric of his extremist cohorts, indicate the depth of Israel’s intransigence and contempt for international law, human rights and the fundamental principles of democracy, equality and justice.

The words of Israeli leaders continue to translate directly into unlawful and inhumane deeds, causing more suffering and loss for the Palestinian people under this nearly half-century belligerent military occupation.  The critical situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem – the territory constituting the State of Palestine – continues to deteriorate as illegal and punitive measures by Israel, the occupying Power, against the Palestinian people continue apace. This toxic combination of developments, at the political, security and humanitarian levels, should be cause for alarm and should prompt urgent international action to prevent further destabilization and salvage the minimal prospects for peace before it is too late. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Identical Letters

25 March 2015 – بيان صحفي

26 March 2015 by

بيان صحفي

25 مــارس 2015

عقد مجلس الأمن مناقشة مفتوحة حول “الأطفال والصراعات المسلحة” حيث قدمت السيدة ليلى زروفي، الممثل الخاص للأمين العام للأمم المتحدة بشأن الأطفال والصراعات المسلحة وأدلى السفير الدكتور رياض منصور، المراقب الدائم لدولة فلسطين لدى الأمم المتحدة، ببيان ذكر فيه أن الأطفال الفلسطينيين يعانون مشاق شديدة من أعمال العدوان والقمع والانتهاكات الجسيمة لحقوق الإنسان التي ترتكبها قوات الإحتلال الإسرائيلي في انتهاك خطير للقانون الدولي، بما في ذلك، في جملة أمور، إتفاقية جنيف الرابعة، وإتفاقية حقوق الطفل، وميثاق الأمم المتحدة، وقرارات مجلس الأمن. وذكر أن قوات الاحتلال تقوم بعمليات قتل وتشويه للأطفال الفلسطينيين. ففي العدوان الإسرائيلي في الصيف الماضي على قطاع غزة قتل ما لا يقل عن 540 طفلا فلسطينيا يشكلون20% من ضحايا هذا العدوان من المدنيين. كما أصيب الآلاف من الأطفال بجروح. بالإضافة إلى تعرض الأطفال في الضفة الغربية المحتلة لإعتداءات وهجمات من قبل قوات الاحتلال والمستوطنين المتطرفين. وتستهدف إسرائيل، السلطة القائمة بالاحتلال،عمدا المدارس والمستشفيات. وفي عدوانها الأخير على غزة، وعلى الرغم من تلقي الحكومة الإسرائيلية مرارا وتكرارا معلومات دقيقة عن مواقع المستشفيات والمراكز الطبية والمدارس، بما فيها تلك التي كانت إسرائيل تعلم أن العائلات الفلسطينية كانت تحتمي فيها، فقد أصيبت 279 مدرسة و 75 مركز صحي ومستشفى بأضرار بالغة ودمرت السلطة القائمة بالإحتلال بشكل منهجي منازل الفلسطينيين وممتلكاتهم المدنية مما أدى إلى تشريد الآلاف من العائلات. كما أن  إسرائيل تمنع وصول المساعدات الإنسانية للشعب الفلسطيني مما يعرض وضع ورفاه الأطفال الفلسطينيين للخطر. وتفرض إسرائيل منذ عام 2007 حصاراً غير أخلاقي وغير قانوني على أكثر من 1.8 مليون مدني في قطاع غزة مما دمر اقتصادها وبنيتها التحتية، بما في ذلك شبكات المياه. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Press Releases

Statement by H.E. Ambassador Dr. Riyad Mansour, Security Council Debate on “Children and Armed Conflict”, 25 March 2015:

26 March 2015 by

I thank you for convening today’s debate on children and armed conflict. I also thank Special Representative Leila Zerrougui for her briefing, as well as the UN agencies supporting Palestinian children, including UNICEF and UNRWA.

Mr. President,

 

As the Security Council considers the situation of children in armed conflict around the world, we appeal to the Council not to forget Palestinian children, who are suffering extreme hardship, shocking acts of aggression, oppression, and gross human rights violations due to the Israeli occupation and persistence of this conflict for nearly seventy years.  Israel, the occupying Power, is in continuous, grave breach of international law, including, inter alia, the 4th Geneva Convention, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the UN Charter, and Security Council resolutions. It is without a doubt, that Israel systematically fulfils three of the six criteria used to assess grave violations against children. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Statements Tagged With: , , ,
23 March 2015 by
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
Convention on the Rights of the Child
The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict
International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid
Vienna Convention on Consular Relations
United Nations Convention against Corruption
Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties
The Hague Convention (IV) Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land and its Annex: Regulations concerning the Laws and Customs of War on Land
Geneva Convention (I) on Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field,1949
17Geneva Convention (II) on the Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked of Armed Forces at Sea, 1949
Geneva Convention (III) on Prisoners of War, 1949
Geneva Convention (IV) on Civilians, 1949
Additional Protocol relating to the protection of victims of international armed conflicts
Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed Conflicts
Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Adoption of an Additional Distinctive Emblem
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court
Declaration 12(3) granting retroactive jurisdiction to the ICC (since 13 June 2014)
Agreement on the Privileges and Immunities of the International Criminal Court
Convention on the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitations to War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Internationally Protected Persons, including Diplomatic Agents
Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel
Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel
United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime
Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards
Convention on the Political Rights of Women
Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons which may be deemed to be excessively injurious or to have indiscriminate effects (with Protocols I, II and III)
Protocol on Non-Detectable Fragments (Protocol I) to the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons
Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Incendiary Weapons (Protocol III) to the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons
Convention on Cluster Munitions
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
Agreement Relating to the Implementation of Part XI of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982
Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses
Convention on Biological Diversity
Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity
Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
Paris Agreement

http://palestineun.org/2008/

Filed Under: Treaties & Conventions

Statement by Mrs. Somaia Barghouti, Senior Adviser, the Permanent Observer Mission of the State of Palestine, before the Commission on the Status of Women, 59th session, New York, 13 March 2015

17 March 2015 by

Madam Chair,

At the outset, please allow me, on behalf of the delegation of the State of Palestine, to congratulate you on your election to the presidency of this important commission. We wish you and all members of the Bureau all success.

I would also like to take this opportunity to express our deep appreciation to the Secretary-General of the United Nations for his report regarding “the Situation of and assistance to Palestinian women” (E/CN.6/2015/5), in which the tragic situation of Palestinian women is addressed. The report stated: “expressed deep concern about the grave situation of Palestinian women in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and the critical socioeconomic and humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.” Moreover, it emphasized that: “Restrictions on movement and access, increased settlement expansion and settler violence, demolitions of Palestinian infrastructure and displacement, the fragmentation of the territory and the closure of the occupied Palestinian territory, particularly the Gaza Strip, continue to have a negative gender differentiated impact on the lives of Palestinian women and their families.” My delegation considers this report to be very important however, we would like to express our concern regarding how this tragic situation was portrayed as the result of a conflict between two equal parties, Israel and Palestine, rather than taking into consideration that the Palestinian people have been suffering for more than 48 years under Israel’s illegal colonial military occupation and its oppressive and racist practices. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Statements

27 February 2015 – Israeli Attack of Christian Seminary and Rise in Settlement Construction

27 February 2015 by

Excellency,

In follow up to my recent letter regarding the vile terror attacks being committed by Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians and properties, I regret to inform you of another attack yesterday on a Christian holy site.  Such vicious attacks, directly aimed at insulting and intimidating Palestinian Muslims and Christians, are inflaming religious sensitivities and tensions and risk instigating the outbreak of a religious war, with all of the grave ramifications in this regard.

Yesterday, 26 February, extremist Israeli settlers set fire to a Christian seminary belonging to the Greek Orthodox Church in the Old City of Occupied East Jerusalem.  Extensive damage was caused by this blatant act of terrorism, including the burning of a school room in the seminary and the spray-painting of hate graffiti about Jesus on the seminary’s walls consisting of vulgar and offensive words that cannot be printed in such a diplomatic correspondence.  This crime comes on the heels of the attack a day earlier on a mosque in the village of Jaba’a in the Bethlehem area, where Israeli settlers also burned the mosque and defiled its walls with graffiti.

Such attacks have been repeatedly perpetrated by gangs of racist, extremist and terrorist Israeli settlers, who have been deliberately transferred to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, by Israel, the occupying Power, in grave breach of international law.  As such, Israel bears ultimate responsibility for the presence of the settlers on our land and for all of their crimes, including all acts of terror. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Identical Letters

25 February 2015 – Protection of the Palestinian Civilian Population Under Israeli Occupation

26 February 2015 by

Excellency,

The situation of the Palestinian civilian population under Israeli occupation remains critical due to innumerable policies and practices being perpetrated by Israel, the occupying Power, in systematic, gross violation of international law, including, inter alia, the laws specifically intended to protect civilians in situations of armed conflict, including foreign occupation.

The right to life of Palestinian civilians – children, women and men – is under constant threat due to the excessive, indiscriminate force routinely used by the Israeli occupying forces and acts of violence and terror committed by Israeli settlers.  Such brutality at the hands of the occupation, along with other measures of intimidation and provocation, continue to willfully cause death and bodily harm and injury to Palestinian civilians, including permanent disabilities for thousands of people.

Today, we remember the appalling massacre committed by an Israeli settler against Palestinian worshippers in Al-Ibrahimi Mosque in Al-Khalil on 25 February 1994 during the holy month of Ramadan. This heinous massacre was strongly condemned by the Security Council and led to the adoption of resolution 904 (1994) which called for “..measures to be taken to guarantee the safety and protection of the Palestinian civilians throughout the occupied territory, including inter alia, a temporary international or foreign presence,..” [Read more…]

Filed Under: Identical Letters, Uncategorized

12 February 2015 – Israeli Settlements and Demolition of Palestinian Homes

24 February 2015 by

Excellency,

I regret to inform that conditions in the Occupied State of Palestine, including East Jerusalem, are worsening as Israel, the occupying Power, continues its illegal and provocative practices, especially in connection with its settlement activities and collective punishment of the Palestinian people.

In grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention, notably Article 49 and Article 33, Israel persists with its colonization of the Palestinian land, the confiscation and destruction of Palestinian property, and forced displacement of Palestinian civilians.  The occupying Power persists with gross collective punishment and reprisal against the entire Palestinian civilian population in the Gaza Strip, foremost by way of its inhumane blockade.  The cumulative effect is one of increased humanitarian suffering, frustration and hopelessness threatening to completely destabilize the situation. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Identical Letters

2 February 2015 – Incessant Israeli Settlement Activities

02 February 2015 by

Excellency,

As the Security Council remains sidelined vis-à-vis the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Israel, the occupying Power, continues to exploit the international community’s inaction by persisting with its illegal policies and practices with impunity.  In particular, the Israeli Government continues its insidious colonization of the Palestinian land it has belligerently, illegitimately occupied since June 1967, in grave breach of international law, including humanitarian and human rights law, as well as international criminal law as articulated in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

There is no difference – whether through periods of peace process or periods of unrest and conflict – Israel has never ceased its settlement activities in the Occupied State of Palestine, including East Jerusalem.  In words and in deeds, every single Israeli government has actively carried out this illegal settlement campaign, openly entrenching the occupation in every way.  The latest such step was taken on Friday, 30 January, when it was revealed that the occupying Power has decided to move forward with the construction at least 450 new settlement units in various areas throughout Occupied Palestine, including in East Jerusalem.   [Read more…]

Filed Under: Identical Letters Tagged With: , , , , ,