Archives for December 2016

Statement by H.E. Ambassador Dr. Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations, before the United Nations Security Council, Situation in the Middle East, including the Palestine Question, 23 December 2016

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Mr. President,

I thank you for convening this important meeting and express the State of Palestine’s sincere appreciation for the principled efforts you’ve exerted in both your national capacity as well as in Spain’s capacity as President of the Security Council for this month.

The Council’s action, while long-overdue, is timely, necessary and important. The resolution adopted reaffirms the Council’s decades-long position that Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem (1) have no legal validity; (2) constitute flagrant breaches under international law, namely the Fourth Geneva Convention, and (3) constitute a major obstacle to peace, gravely diminishing the viability of the two-State solution based on the 4 June 1967 borders and the possibility of realizing it. [Read more…]