Excellency,
It has been a week since the 14 May massacre carried out by Israel, the occupying Power, against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, in which at least 62 civilians were killed and more than 2,000 civilians injured, including children. As the traumatic causes and consequences of this heinous crime remain without remedy, tensions continue to rise and despair continues to deepen, threatening even further destabilization.
The fact remains that, despite our repeated appeals for urgent international action to deter Israel from its criminal behavior towards the Palestinian people, the absence of serious efforts to hold the occupying Power accountable and reign it in, has only made our people more vulnerable to the brutality of this illegal occupation. We are thus compelled to reiterate the call made at the 15 May emergency Security Council meeting, and countless times prior to it, for the protection of the Palestinian people, in compliance with international humanitarian and human rights law and numerous relevant resolutions, in particular concerning the protection of civilians in armed conflict, including children.
This call for protection has been echoed widely in the Council chamber and from capitals and humanitarian and human rights organizations worldwide. It is a call for protecting and ensuring the safety and well-being of a defenseless civilian population being held captive under a more than half-century occupation and more than decade blockade. It has equally been a call for rescuing the tenets of international law, which are being shredded by the occupying Power and those shielding it from censure and aiding it in its criminality. The consequences have been dire for the Palestinian people and continue to be, compelling us to persistently raise the alarm on this matter. [Read more…]
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