You are here: Home / 2021 / Archives for May 2021

Archives for May 2021

Statement of H.E. Minister Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations, before the Security Council, 27 May 2021

27 May 2021 by

English Translation

Mr. President,

Israel has failed. Failed in defeating Palestinian consciousness and in breaking apart our national belonging. For 73 years, Israel has developed a plan, adopted policies and imposed punishments and devoted tremendous resources to forciblychange the historic, geographic and demographic reality in our homeland, believing that eventually a Palestinian generation will come about and acknowledge defeat and surrender to it. But after over 70 years since the Nakba, the Israeli scheme falls apart at the hands of a new Palestinian generation more rooted in the land than ever and more committed to life, able to forge unity and believing in the inevitability of victory. We have, generation after generation, remained dedicated to Palestine, the color of skin resembling its soil, as there is no alternative to justice and freedom, and occupation cannot last forever regardless of its military might or its colonial appetite.

Israel has failed to distort the consciousness of peoples around the world, unable to hide its colonial and racist nature behind its aggressive attacks and its rabid readiness to hurl libelous accusations against all those who might dare criticize its occupation and call for its end and against all those who stand in solidarity with Palestine and its just cause. There is a new generation worldwide that stands unafraid of Israel and its threats.

How can Israel hide any further the Apartheid it imposes while its features appear everywhere from the river to the sea?

How can it justify calling for a right of return for Jews that would span over 5000 years while denying the right of return of Palestinians to their land and homes after 73 years?

How can it justify the forcible transfer in Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan, under alleged property claims for Jews while denying the property rights of Palestinians all over historical Palestine?

How can it justify demolishing our homes and razing our fields and stealing our water and resources while claiming its “right” to build illegal settlements on our land and military checkpoints and a wall on our path?

How can it justify vandalizing and inciting against our Christian and Muslim holy sites while claiming that its colonization is a “divine right”?

How does it call for the release of the bodies of killed Israelis while burying hundreds of Palestinians in the cemeteries of numbers (where the name of the buried is replaced by a number to hide his identity) and keeps other bodies hostage of its freezers?

How can it justify that the occupying Power claims an absolute “right to self-defense” and it considers as criminal any action undertaken by any Palestinian to defend his home, his family and his land against the blockade, the aggression of Israel’s occupation forces and the terrorism of Israeli settlers?

How can it justify that its Courts consider every Israeli innocent regardless of his crimes and every Palestinian guilty regardless of his rights?

How can it justify demanding the compassion of the world for its children in the shelters, while being outraged that the world might condemn its kidnaping of our children from their homes and their schools, and their killing in their neighborhoods or playgrounds or in their sleep at home in the arms of their mothers and fathers?

How can it justify all this, and is there anybody left to believe its claims after all of this?

Mr. President,

Didn’t this Council receive the UN reports that warned of the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, stating it was on the verge of collapse and cautioning that violence will resume for as long as this 14 years long illegal blockade continues?

Didn’t Palestinian youth rebel and demonstrate in the return marches for over a year demanding their rights and the lifting of the criminal Israeli blockade that was characterized by international experts as a violation of international law amounting to collective punishment against Palestinian civilians in Gaza?

Didn’t we come time after time warning of the consequences of Israeli policies in occupied Jerusalem and against our Christian and Muslim holy sites, especially its provocations at Al-Haram Al-Sharif, and of its policy of forcible displacement in the old city, Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan and all of Palestine?

Didn’t Israel come over and over again to this Council displaying the arrogance of the occupier and the oppressor, always ready to accuse any of you of anti-semitism, justifying its grave violations as if it was entitled to act as a State above the law, attacking those who dare to call for an end of its settlement policy and for respect of the character and status of Jerusalem and of the historic status quo at Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif and for the lifting of the blockade over the Gaza Strip? It shows no remorse or shame in violating its legal obligations as an occupying Power.

The deterioration of the situation in the occupied State of Palestine, especially as we witnessed in Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, is Israel’s making and responsibility and the inevitable result of its oppressive policies and colonial occupation.

We are here today to tell this august Council that ending the latest Israeli aggression against Gaza did not end the catastrophe, and it will not bring back the loved ones fallen martyr or the homes that were destroyed, it will not spare the orphans and the bereaved from the devastating losses they have endured.

We are here to tell you that the postponement by the Israeli Courts of decisions on forcible displacement of Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan did not protect the families from the ongoing aggression by the settlers nor end the tragedy endured in occupied Jerusalem. This did not mean that the Israeli provocations at the Al-Aqsa Mosque have ceased or that measures to change the status of the city and its character have stopped. This has not put an end to Israel’s colonial appetite and desire to annex occupied Palestinian land, remove Palestinians from their land or besiege them in it.

We all stand at a crossroad and if Israel is allowed to choose the way ahead, it will choose the same path and the same policy. It will impose on us Apartheid and annexation, blockade and destruction, and will demand for itself security and stability, refusing to acknowledge the failure of its colonial and racist policies, that are the source of violence and the root cause of the conflict.

We, Palestinians, will not be subjugated. We will not surrender to this occupation. Israel should know that by now. It must confront this reality, that the Palestinian people in all its components will not be subjugated and will not relinquish its right to freedom, independence and self-determination wherever they are. We will only accept the path that leads to the freedom of our people, preserve their national and human dignity and guarantees all their rights as enshrined in international instruments.

This Council and the international community determined a vision for peace decades ago and adopted resolutions that defined the framework and terms of reference for such a solution, as well as the obligations of the parties and of third parties, including not to recognize or render aid or assistance to illegal actions and to distinguish between the occupied territory and the territory of the occupying Power, and to respect and ensure respect for international law. You have to implement these resolutions to achieve just and comprehensive peace, as foreseen in your resolutions, including resolution 2334 (2016).

You have preserved the international consensus and protected it from all the attempts to legitimize occupation and colonization and of distorting the terms of reference, and now that the Trump administration is gone, and with it the illusions it was trying to promote, and with the return of the United States to the international consensus and the reactivation of the Quartet, it is no longer enough to restate what the law says, it must be enforced.

Please, don’t ask us to be patient, as every additional hour carries with it pain and suffering. Until when should we be patient, until the next massacre? Until the child grows in the occupation cells? Until the family is displaced for the third or fourth time? Until the settlement expands and closes of the veins of life in Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley? Until an entire generation grows knowing nothing but siege and deprivation?

Mr. President,

The battle for existence in Palestine, and at its heart Jerusalem, is taking place on the ground, house by house, and in the alleys of the Old City, and in our Aqsa and Holy Sepulchre, and on every hilltop and neighborhood and village and refugee camp. Peace can not be achieved in the land of peace and the City of peace without the recognition of Palestinian sovereignty and respect of the Hashemite custodianship.

Your responsibility is not only to adopt resolutions here, but to change the reality there, to protect the Palestinians there, to ensure freedom prevails there, to achieve peace there.

The reconstruction of the besieged Gaza Strip must be a top priority right now, starting with providing immediate humanitarian assistance to the thousands internally displaced, especially in the context of the pandemic. But we all know that what is required is addressing the root causes of this situation in a manner consistent with the unity of our people, land and destiny and lifting the blockade and ensuring freedom of movement of people and goods to revive economic life and to allow the provision of fuel, medical equipment, medicine and construction material as well as the normal and sustainable functioning of the power plant so as to end the humanitarian tragedy the Palestinian people in Gaza have endured for the last 15 years, and to unleash the true potential of its youth so they can express their talent and creativity.

Mr. President,

The last few weeks demonstrated that Israel’s claim that the question of Palestine no longer inhabits the hearts and minds of peoples in the Arab and Muslim world, or peoples worldwide, and that it has become a marginal issue with no relevance or influence, is a false and invalid claim.

The question of Palestine can not be overlooked or bypassed, given its regional and international significance. We commend all regional and international efforts to put an end to the Israeli aggression on Gaza and to launch a credible political process that places Palestine at the top of the list of priorities. We stress however that the success of such a political process is contingent on ending the ongoing aggression against our people, our land and our holy sites, and on the ability of this Council to implement its resolutions and on the international community’s rejection of double standards and its ability to uphold the rules it has adopted and enshrined in the UN Charter, international law and relevant resolutions.

Mr. President,

We, the Palestinian people, are, despite all the killing and destruction, a living nation, thriving by its history, its traditions, its culture, its poets, its dreams, its creativity, its bravery, its diversity, its love, its anger, its tolerance, its patriotism and its humanity. We resemble our land and belong to it, and will never abandon it, whether we live in it or it lives in us, one rebellious generation after the other, impossible to uproot. Here in Palestine we have a past, a present and a future. Regardless who agrees and who objects.

I thank you, Mr. President.

Filed Under: Mission Documents, Security Council, Statements, Uncategorized Tagged With: ,

21 May 2021 – Letter on Article 51 – Self-Defense

21 May 2021 by

Excellency,

I write to you in response to a letter by the Permanent Representative to Israel to the United Nations Security Council on 12 May 2021 (S/2021/463), invoking Israel’s so-called ‘right and duty to defend its people and sovereignty’ and urging the international community to support its ‘fundamental right to self-defense’. 

Israel’s invocation of the principle of self-defense as an occupying Power, is illegitimate and must be countered with a clear response rooted in international law, the same international law that it systematically breaches with contempt yet has the audacity to invoke when it deems beneficial to itself.

Israel’s continued illegal and 54-year occupation of the State of Palestine, including East Jerusalem, is an act of aggression and cannot be retroactively justified by reference to the right of self-defense. Indeed, the principle of self-defense cannot be applied by Israel for itself in the occupied territory of the State of Palestine. The occupying Power has no sovereignty rights whatsoever in the occupied territory, to which international law, including humanitarian law, fully applies.

Israel, the occupying Power, cannot invoke the so-called right to self-defense to justify the use of excessive military force against the besieged Palestinian civilian population in the occupied Gaza Strip. As reaffirmed by the United Nations Security Council in its resolution 1860 (2009), the Gaza Strip is an integral part of the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, occupied by Israel since 1967.  Israel remains the occupying Power and is thus bound by the relevant provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention and all other relevant provisions of international law, including United Nations resolutions.

The aforementioned letter by the Permanent Representative to Israel to the United Nations Security Council makes an impermissible conflation between Israel’s obligations, as an occupying Power, within the territory under its occupation, and the general principle of self-defense, as guaranteed under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter. In this regard, it is imperative to recall that the International Court of Justice, in its 2004 Advisory Opinion on the Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall, clearly established the non-applicability and irrelevance of this ‘self-defense’ argument to the territory under Israel’s occupation. 

As of 20 May 2021, Israel, the occupying Power, has killed over 232 Palestinians, including 65 children, 39 women, and 17 elderly, and injured over 1900 people, many critically wounded, and displaced over 60,000 Palestinians as a result of its most recent military aggression against Gaza. Entire families have been killed and wanton destruction has been caused as Israel deliberately and systematically targeted and caused damage and destruction to vital civilian infrastructure, including health facilities, schools, electricity networks, a desalination plant providing clean water to 250,000 people, commercial and media towers, and residential buildings, totally 450 buildings and structures. It is to be recalled that Gaza has also been under Israel’s blockade, by air, land and sea, for 14 years, in a massive collective punishment of the Palestinian civilian population.

Israeli officials are committing grave and serious breaches against a besieged population, before the eyes and ears of the entire world, and yet deign to frame their crimes and violations as ‘self-defense’.  Israel’s willful violations against the protected population and unjustified destruction of civilian property are war crimes, not self-defense, and violate its obligations, as an occupying Power, under international humanitarian law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention, and international human rights law.

As per the law, Israel, as the occupying Power, is strictly prohibited, from both imposing collective punishment and conducting or threatening to conduct, acts of violence and destruction, of which the primary purpose is to spread terror among the protected population under its occupation. None of the rights of protected persons derived from the Fourth Geneva Convention may be terminated by Israel in any case or in any manner whatsoever.

Therefore, we reiterate that its invocation of the ‘right to self-defense’ to justify these systematic violations and crimes it is committing against the Palestinian people must not be appeased. Israel must be demanded to respect its obligations under international law, including humanitarian and human rights law, as has been repeatedly demanded by the Security Council and the General Assembly of in countless resolutions that not only remain unimplemented but are being breached every single day with utter contempt and with grave repercussions on the lives of the Palestinian people who continue to gravely suffer under this illegal, colonial occupation.

This letter is in follow-up to our 720 letters regarding the ongoing crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, which constitutes the territory of the State of Palestine.  These letters, dated from 29 September 2000 (A/55/432-S/2000/921) to 18 May 2021 (A/ES-10/xxx-S/2021/xxx) constitute a basic record of the crimes being committed by Israel, the occupying Power, against the Palestinian people since September 2000. For all of these war crimes, acts of State terrorism and systematic human rights violations being committed against the Palestinian people, Israel, the occupying Power, must be held accountable and the perpetrators must be brought to justice.

I should be grateful if you would arrange to have this letter distributed as an official document of the 10th emergency special session of the General Assembly, under agenda item 5, and of the Security Council.

Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.

Dr. Riyad Mansour

Minister, Permanent Observer

Filed Under: 10Th Emergency Special Session, General Assembly, Identical Letters, Mission Documents Tagged With:

18 May 2021 – Criminal Israeli Aggression on Palestine

18 May 2021 by

Excellency,

Absent international accountability, Israel, the occupying Power, carries on with its war crimes against the Palestinian people, trampling every human right and causing widespread death, injury and wanton destruction.

The Security Council’s paralysis in particular has led Israel to again believe that it has the green light to kill Palestinians and that it can perpetrate its crimes without repercussions. As I write to you, Palestinian children are being killed, bodies maimed and buried in the rubble of their homes, hospitals attacked, buildings flattened, and civilian infrastructure destroyed by a savage Israeli onslaught that is in flagrant and grave breach of every rule of international law, including the 4th Geneva Convention, and the countless United Nations resolutions that remain unimplemented to this day.

To save human lives, immediate action is needed to bring a halt to this Israeli military aggression against the defenseless Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and particularly now in the besieged Gaza Strip, where entire families are being killed and over 50,000 people have fled in fear to shelter in 58 UNRWA schools and installations, praying for safety under the UN’s blue flag, but in a place where no one is safe from Israel’s missiles and bombs, and all as the world looks on.

The priority right now must be to stop the killing and destruction. But, calls for a ceasefire that ignore the fact of Israel’s impunity and that attempt to return to an unjust and untenable “status quo”, whereby Israel is permitted to carry on with its illegal occupation and its persecution and oppression of Palestinians, wherever they may be, are unacceptable and will only consign our people to further oppression, misery and loss.

As we have continually done, we thus call again for accountability for all of these crimes and serious action to address the root causes of this grave injustice that have never been resolved: the mass expulsion and forced displacement of Palestinians for decades, the colonization and annexation of their land and the denial and violation of their inalienable human rights. Only such action can change the reality we face and bring forth a day when justice and lasting peace and security are possible.

The international laws to guarantee such an outcome exist; the international framework, as enshrined in UN resolutions and international consensus exist; what is needed is the political will to demand and ensure respect for the law and for human life. Rogue states like Israel that do not respect international law and breach it with utter contempt should not be applauded and appeased by the international community, but should rather be denounced and held responsible for their crimes.

The future we want and the UN we need demands that this be the case without exception. States must stop the exceptional treatment of Israel, the occupying Power, that has only encouraged this impunity and allowed for the wanton killing, maiming and destruction to go on endlessly, shredding lives, hopes, the potential for peace and any credibility of the international system.

Day after day, letter after letter, the number of Palestinians killed continues to rise despite our pleas and the appeals of countries and peoples around the world, for the Security Council to uphold its duty to maintain international peace and security and protect innocent civilian lives. As of today, the Israeli military aggression on Gaza, which began on 10 May, has killed 213 Palestinians, including 61 children, 36 women and 16 elderly persons, and nearly 1,500 people have been wounded.

Also, since 7 May, Israeli occupying forces in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem have killed 25 Palestinians. Since the beginning of Israel’s raids at Al-Aqsa Mosque, and throughout the forced displacement campaign being waged against Palestinian families in the Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan neighborhoods of occupied East Jerusalem, the use of live ammunition and lethal force by occupying forces has only intensified causing widespread civilian casualties. In addition to those killed, at least 5,000 Palestinians have been injured by the Israeli occupying forces, including many children.

As Israel’s excessive use of force against Palestinians continues on both sides of the Green Line (the pre-1967 borders), Palestinian citizens in Israel also continue to be brutally assaulted by Israeli police and extremist groups. Although the main victims of these assaults, it is Palestinians that are being arrested. At least 800 Palestinians have been arrested and of the 116 indictments in the Israel courts, all have been against Palestinians, with zero indictments filed against the Jewish extremist groups such as the “Lehava”, “La Familia”, “Price Tag”, “Hilltop Youth” and the gangs and individuals. Such blatant discrimination against Palestinian citizens is just further proof of Israel’s status as an Apartheid regime

Meanwhile, in the Gaza Strip, Israeli warplanes carried out the deadliest attack in recent days, killing 43 Palestinians, including 10 children and 16 women, in a single overnight campaign from Sunday into Monday, that targeted residential buildings. This included attacks that completely destroyed two residential buildings belonging to the Abu al-Ouf and al-Kolaq families – killing 30 people – 11 of them children. As stressed by Defense for Children International-Palestine (DCIP), “Systemic impunity ensures there are no safe spaces for Palestinian children living under Israeli occupation. They can be killed at any moment with no accountability.”

As reported by UN agencies, the situation of children is dire, with UNICEF reporting that the ages of the Palestinian children killed in Gaza range between 6 months and 17 years. Over half of them were under 10 years old, and children are nearly a third of civilian casualties, and those who have survived being terrorized and traumatized for life as Israel persists indiscriminately, yet deliberately, attacking civilian areas in grave breach of international humanitarian law. We reiterate our call in this regard for Israel, its military forces and settlers to be included in the list of parties that commit grave violations affecting children in situations of armed conflict, and we call once again for international protection for the Palestinian civilian population, including and in particular children, as they are in desperate need of an entitled to under international law.

In the above-mentioned attacks targeting residential buildings, two senior Palestinian doctors were also killed by Israeli bombing of their homes. Dr. Ayman Abu al-Ouf, was killed along with his two children, and Dr. Muin Ahmad al-Aloul was along with family members, all while sheltering in the sanctity of their homes. Such killings further reveal Israel’s intent to decimate Palestinian capacities in all fields, including the medical field.

In this regard, it must be stressed that Israel also continues to bomb main roads leading to hospitals and healthcare facilities, including an attack yesterday on the central and only COVID-19 testing lab in Gaza Al-Rimal health clinic, rendering it inoperable. The central and only COVID-19 testing lab in Gaza is no longer functional after the Israeli bombing of the Al-Rimal health clinic. The Palestine Red Crescent Headquarters in Gaza City has also sustained damage.

According to OCHA, six hospitals and nine primary health care centers have been damaged, with one center suffering severe damage. One hospital is not functioning due to lack of fuel. Such destruction of medical facilities is worsening the dire status of the health system in Gaza, which was already on the verge of collapse before the pandemic due to Israel’s crippling and dehumanizing 14-year blockade. The Israeli military aggression has also brought a halt to the COVID vaccine campaign in Gaza, where the vaccination rate is only 1.9%. A large number of precious vaccines will soon expire if the vaccination campaign remains suspended due to the Israeli aggression, risking further spread of this deadly pandemic. We echo the call of the World Health Organization (WHO) Executive Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus for the protection of health workers and medical infrastructure at all times, as required by international humanitarian law.

We further appeal for humanity to address the extraordinary humanitarian needs of our people in Gaza, including for food and other basic life necessities, as Israel intentionally inflicts a man-made disaster, with far-reaching repercussions. As stressed by the World Food Programme (WFP) Regional Director for Middle East and North Africa, Corinne Fleischer, in her call for emergency assistance to the Palestinian civilian population,  “The majority of the population cannot withstand further shocks and the current situation could unleash a crisis that could spill into the entire region.”

We urge the international community to respond to the appeals for humanitarian support. We call for urgent funding to UNRWA to enable the continuity of its indispensable, life-saving assistance to the Palestine refugees and the tens of thousands who have been displaced from their homes, including over 2,500 people who have  been rendered homeless, losing everything in this criminal onslaught, and are in need of food, shelter, blankets, and hygiene supplies. We call also donor support to UNICEF, WFP, WHO, OCHA and other UN agencies to ensure that humanitarian aid reaches Palestinian civilians most in need.

Swift action is required by the international community on both the political and humanitarian fronts. Despite widespread international condemnation, including protests by millions of people of conscience around the world, Israel, the occupying Power, remains emboldened by the silence of the Security Council and the absence of concrete measures to hold it accountable under international law. As long as action is delayed, it is clear Israel will continue its atrocities on Palestinians, wherever they maybe, whether in Gaza and Jerusalem, or in Lod and Haifa.

The Council must rise to its responsibilities and show the world it is capable of stopping such acts of aggression and protecting human lives. And, there is absolutely no contradiction between efforts by the Council and ongoing diplomatic efforts to bring a halt to the onslaught. They are not mutually exclusive; they are complementary and absolutely imperative and urgent. Those who undermine collective action must bear responsibility for the civilian lives being claimed by this Israeli aggression. Arguments of equivocation are unacceptable and wrongly portray this crisis as one between two parties on equal footing, distorting the reality that this is the case of a belligerent occupier and an occupied civilian population and the rules of international law apply without exception. T

he devastation being wrought across Gaza in these moments is unconscionable, making it incumbent on the international community, particularly the Security Council, as well as the High Contracting Parties to the 4th Geneva Convention, to deploy all measures possible to ensure Israel’s compliance with international law. This must go beyond statements and translate into action, using all the diplomatic and legal tools at the international community’s disposal to ensure accountability and justice for the many victims and to salvage the prospects for peace and security.

To conclude, we salute the steadfast Palestinian people who persist in their just and dignified struggle for self-determination and freedom and justice. We salute the refugees in exile who yearn for their rightful return. We salute the heroism of Palestinians standing against forced displacement from their land. We salute the resilience spirit of the Palestinian people who teach life in the face of colonial occupation.

This letter is in follow-up to our 718 letters regarding the ongoing crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, which constitutes the territory of the State of Palestine.  These letters, dated from 29 September 2000 (A/55/432-S/2000/921) to 17 May 2021 (A/ES-10/xxx-S/2021/xxx) constitute a basic record of the crimes being committed by Israel, the occupying Power, against the Palestinian people since September 2000. For all of these war crimes, acts of State terrorism and systematic human rights violations being committed against the Palestinian people, Israel, the occupying Power, must be held accountable and the perpetrators must be brought to justice.

I should be grateful if you would arrange to have this letter distributed as an official document of the 10th emergency special session of the General Assembly, under agenda item 5, and of the Security Council.

Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.

Dr. Riyad Mansour

Minister, Permanent Observer

Filed Under: Identical Letters, Mission Documents Tagged With:

Statement by H.E. Riad Malki, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of the State of Palestine, before the UN Security Council, 16 May 2021

16 May 2021 by

Mr. President

Allow me to thank China for convening this important meeting and for being represented at Ministerial level, as well as Tunisia for their relentless efforts within this Council, and my Arab brothers who decided to participate in this meeting as an integral part of their efforts to end the aggression against our people, land and holy sites. Allow me also to thank the Secretary General for his participation and ongoing efforts, together with Special Coordinator Tor Wennesland, to end this latest aggression against our people.

Mr. President,

There are no words that can describe the horrors our people are enduring. Baby Omar Al Hadidi came to life only 5 months ago and will now have to go through life without his mother and brothers Osama 6, Abdelrahman 8, Suheib 14, all killed by an Israeli airstrike. His family is not the only one. Members of the family Abu Hattab were killed, including Alaa 5, Bilal 10, Youssef 11, and the family Al Tanani, Rawya was 4-months pregnant, she was killed together with her husband and sons Ismael 6, Ameer 5, Adham 4, Mohammed 3. A few hours ago, 15 members of the family Al-Qolak were killed, including Zeid 8, Adam 3 and Qossai 1 and their parents. Aziz survived, he is 10.

When you embrace your children and grandchildren tonight, think of our children and of how you can honour those killed and spare those still alive. Think of what it feels to see your world crumbling down and not being able to protect them. Think of what it means to sleep not knowing which one of you will wake up. Remember that each time Israel hears a foreign leader speak of its right to defend itself, it is further emboldened to continue murdering entire families in their sleep.

Israel is killing Palestinians in Gaza, one family at a time. Israel is trying to uproot Palestinians from Jerusalem, expelling families, one home, one neighbourhood at a time.

Israel is persecuting our people, committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. Some may not want to use these words, but they know they are true. Israel is unapologetic and relentless in pursuing its colonial policies. We are therefore left with two questions.

The first one is: What are the Palestinian people entitled to do to resist such policies and defend themselves. The following questions hold the answer: Is violence when committed by Palestinians terrorism and when committed by Israel self-defense? Who will be arrested, the settlers or those resisting their presence and assaults? Will our peaceful protesters enjoy international protection or be left to face Israeli bullets and slander? Will we receive support for investigations by the ICC, or will some search for reasons to object, shielding war criminals and depriving Palestinian victims from any avenue for justice? Will products of Israeli settlements be banned, or will those who call for boycott be prosecuted? What are we entitled to do apart from hoping that one day Israel will be ready to end its occupation on its own and to negotiate peace?

The second question is: What are the tools the international community is ready to deploy to ensure compliance by Israel with its obligations and an end of its occupation, tools it uses regularly in other conflicts. Military intervention? Sanctions? Suspending bilateral relations? Prosecuting perpetrators of crimes? Deploying protection forces? Imposing an arms embargo? Or will it rely simply on the possibility of convincing the occupying Power to end its colonial occupation while history has proven that Israel is not willing to listen?

Mr. President,

Israel keeps doing the same things expecting a different result. Did it believe that its troops storming the holiest of sites, Al Aqsa Mosque, on the holiest of months, Ramadan, and on the holiest of nights, the night of destiny, would bear no consequences? Did it believe Palestinians would accept to live in enclaves and wait for the Israeli settlers to seize the next house? Did they expect Palestinians to coexist with the occupation, its walls, its blockades, its settlements and its prisons? There is no people on earth that would tolerate this reality.  

Israel keeps telling you “put yourself in our shoes?” But Israel is not wearing shoes, it is wearing military boots. It is an occupying and a colonial power. Any assessment of the situation that fails to take into account this fundamental fact is biased, discredited and unjust. We are not two neighbours living side by side in peace. Israel is the armed thief who has entered our house and is terrorizing our family. It destroys our homes, oppresses our people, generation after generation, decade after decade, and then claims a right to security that it denies us.

Why don’t you put yourself in our shoes. What would you do if your country was occupied, your people persecuted, besieged, massacred? Better yet, what did you do to achieve your independence and end the oppression of your people? We made a difficult choice to pursue a peaceful path to freedom, and it is in everybody’s interest for that path to be successful. But that will not happen without ensuring that Israel bears the cost of occupation instead of reaping its benefits.

Mr. President,

How many Palestinian civilians killed is enough for a condemnation? We know a single Israeli is, but how many Palestinians? 200 Palestinians have been killed, a third of them children and women. What is the threshold for outrage? An entire family wiped out of existence is not enough? Dozens of families killed is not enough? Residential buildings brought to the ground and tens of thousands of Palestinians displaced for the fourth or fifth time is not enough?  All this in the midst of a pandemic.

Israel is not only an occupying Power, it is a nuclear power, it has a military arsenal, the iron dome, shelters, while our people in Gaza are besieged, trapped, with nowhere to go and no safe haven. Even the UNRWA schools within which they shelter are vulnerable to Israeli attacks. It is Palestinian civilians who need protection. They deserve compassion, solidarity and action.

The Palestinian people have risen everywhere, because they are victims everywhere. Victims of dispossession, forced displacement, discrimination and denial of rights on both sides of the Green Line and in exile. When hearing Israeli officials speak one could wonder how horrible it must be for them to live under our occupation, with our forces deployed in their streets and our settlers terrorizing their people and taking over their land and homes, and with millions of them under blocakde. As many colonial powers before it, Israel holds its victims responsible for their own death. Israel is the victim forced to kill the Palestinians because they do not behave. If only Palestinians could coexist with their occupiers and oppressors in peace.

Some wonder why Palestine enjoys so much solidarity and support from so many nations around the world, and the reason is that these nations are informed by their own history, their own struggle for freedom, and they know oppression when they see it. The countries who sit in these United Nations would be dishonoring the memory of those who fought for freedom in their respective countries if they were to accept colonialism and Apartheid in Palestine.

Mr. President,

Where are they those who proclaimed they had achieved peace in the Middle East by brokering agreements between countries who were actually not at war? Where are they those who proclaimed that peace in the Middle East could be achieved without the Palestinians and at their expense? Where are they those real estate agents who decided they could sell what they do not own to those who have no rightful claim. We told them then and we say now, Jerusalem is not for sale. Our roots are deep, our history long, our heritage etched in every stone, street and alley in this City.  War and peace start from Jerusalem. You want to save peace, start by saving Sheikh Jarrah. Protect Al Haram Al Sharif from attempts to divide it temporally and spatially. Israel continues proclaiming that Jerusalem is the unified capital of Israel. Have you ever seen the city more divided?

The international consensus you have all helped shape and defend is being destroyed in front of our very eyes. The alternative that Israel chose is Apartheid. Yes Apartheid. And one day soon, even this Council will not be able to deny this reality. Act now to end the aggression and the assault on our people, our homes, our land. Act now so freedom can prevail, not Apartheid.

Mr. President,

As the Palestinian people mark the 73rd anniversary of the Nakba, Israel pursues the same policies of dispossession, forced displacement, discrimination and denial of Palestinian rights.

Israel may believe it is winning, but it is no where closer to defeating the Palestinian people. Our people will never surrender or forgo their rights. Palestinian freedom is the only path to peace.  Since peace is the responsibility of this Council, helping achieve Palestinian freedom is its legal and moral duty. Thank you

Filed Under: Mission Documents, Security Council, Statements, Uncategorized Tagged With: , ,

14 May 2021 – Israeli Onslaught on Palestinian Children

14 May 2021 by

Excellency,

As I write to you, Palestinian children are being killed, wounded, orphaned and traumatized in a barbaric Israeli onslaught on civilians that is being perpetrated in broad daylight in flagrant breach of every rule of humanitarian law and every norm of human decency and morality.

Yet, despite our repeated pleas and the appeals of countries and peoples from around the world, the Security Council remains paralyzed, failing to uphold its mandate to maintain international peace and security and protect innocent civilian lives.

As of today, the current Israeli military aggression against the Gaza Strip, which  began on 10 May, has killed 122 Palestinians, including 31 children and 19 women, and more than 830 people have been wounded. Four of the children killed were Palestine refugee children, all under the age of 12 and students in UNRWA schools, including four from the same family, 2 siblings and a cousin. And in the West Bank today, Israeli occupying forces have killed 6 Palestinians and injured more than 100 others in violent attacks on protesters in various cities and villages.

Rather than celebrating Eid al-Fitr, mothers are burying their babies, children are burying their fathers and mothers, and families are being decimated, among them 13 people killed in a bombing yesterday, including a pregnant woman, her husband and their 4 children and 5 other relatives, in horrific scenes reminiscent of Israel’s 2014 war on Gaza, which killed multiple families in their entirety.

Despite the callous narrative spread by Israel’s constant dehumanization and demonization of the Palestinian people, these human lives are being mourned, tears are flowing, the pain is searing, lives have been forever ruined. And so many more lives are at risk as the Security Council remains shamefully silent even as the violations only mount by the hour, causing more death and devastation.

UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore has warned: “The situation is at a tipping point. The level of violence and the impact on children is devastating. We are on the brink of a full-scale war. In any war, children – all children – suffer first and suffer most”.

There is no question: this premeditated, deliberate Israeli military aggression on unarmed civilians constitutes a war crime and a crime against humanity. In addition to missile strikes from war planes against Gaza, the biggest prison on earth, blockaded by Israel by air, land and sea for 14 years, occupying forces have begun a ground invasion, portending only more carnage, as Israeli officials openly vow to kill and destroy, using the most lethal weaponry against an unarmed civilian population, including weaponry banned by international law. But, as we all know by now, the law means nothing to Israel. Surely, the singling-out of Israel – exempted from the rule of law and appeased for decades by the international community no matter the gravity of its violations – has led to this lawless situation, leaving the Palestinian people to the mercy of this cruel colonial occupation regime.

In addition to the killing and injury of so many civilians, the occupying Power also continues to cause wanton and deliberate destruction of civilian objects, including homes, in collective punishment of the civilian population and in yet further grave breach of the 4th Geneva Convention. Already, over 500 homes have been destroyed or severely damaged, leading to the displacement of thousands of people, yet again. In addition, Israeli air strikes have caused damage to 23 schools, several health centers and medical clinics, factories, roads, electricity networks and other vital civilian infrastructure, including the destruction of all police headquarters. Also, reminiscent of past Israeli bombardments of Gaza, 4 UNRWA installations have been hit and damaged by air strikes.

At the same time, Israeli barbarity against Palestinians continues across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as well as within Israel, with violent, hateful, racist, attacks targeting civilians solely for being Palestinians. Jewish supremacist settlers continue rampaging in Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, in Sheikh Jarrah, Silwan, Al-Tur and other areas, terrorizing families, causing injuries and damage to homes and properties, including smashing windows and breaking down of doors as they try to attack Palestinians in their own homes.

Israeli settler gangs, emboldened by the occupier’s ruthless violence against the occupied population, are also raiding Palestinian villages elsewhere in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.  And in the streets of Jaffa, Haifa, Lod and other cities, these same supremacist mobs are roaming the streets harassing, intimidating, assaulting, and even lynching, Palestinians. This is the so-called “democratic” Israel, where more than 50 laws have been legislated discriminating against Palestinian citizenry, who are left not only without protection of the law, but without protection of the police from these marauding mobs.

Israeli provocations against Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif also continue at fever pitch. Extremist settlers have been joined by far-right, terrorist members of the Israeli government allied with the Israeli Prime Minister in a constant barrage of inflammatory rhetoric and incitement, threatening further crimes against the Palestinian people and this most holy site and violating the historic and legal status quo.

And yet, the Security Council – despite the sincere efforts by a majority of its members – remains unable to find its voice and speak in unison against these heinous crimes, obstructed by one from upholding its responsibilities to act to stop these attacks and prevent the further destabilization and implosion of the situation. Rather than silence, the Council should be firmly calling for an immediate halt to the attacks on civilians and civilian properties; for a halt to the incitement and incursions against Al-Aqsa Mosque; and for the protection of civilians.

The call for respect for international law, including the Security Council’s own resolutions should be unequivocal, not impossible. This includes not only the Council’s resolutions on the Palestine question from 1948 to the present, but also its lofty resolutions on protection of civilians, including protection of children in armed conflict, protection of humanitarian and medical personnel and facilities, protection of religious and cultural sites. But none are being upheld, even as Israel, the occupying Power, grossly and systematically violates them in blatant contempt and mockery of the Council and its authority.

Rather than decrying recent events as though they occurred in a vacuum, the Council should heed its own decisions vis-à-vis the peaceful resolution of conflicts and recall and address the root causes of this catastrophe: the unending dispossession and oppression of the Palestinian people by Israel, a colonial occupation regime, and one openly practicing apartheid, violating every norm of international law.

Once again, we call upon the Security Council to act in respect of its Charter duty to maintain international peace and security. The Palestinian people cannot be left without protection at the mercy of an occupying Power armed to the teeth. The pretext that Israel “has a right to security and a right to defend itself”, while denying these same rights to the Palestinian people is a shameful pretext that flies in the face of international law and human morality.

What Israel is seeking to “defend” is its illegal occupation, insisting on its control of Palestinian land and Palestinian lives and, if possible, their very erasure, including of Palestinian children. When this distorted narrative of “self-defense” is parroted by those claiming to be champions of human rights and international law, it effectively gives Israel the permission to carry on with its crimes, ignoring that this illegitimate occupation and over 70 years of Israeli uprooting of Palestinians and denial of their rights are the source of all these ills, and ignoring the total asymmetry in this situation of an occupier and oppressor against occupied and oppressed people. This not only exposes hypocrisy and an extreme lack of empathy, but amounts to complicity. 

There must be a clear demand for an end to all attacks, provocations and incitement and for full respect of international law, including humanitarian law. There must be a demand for a halt to Israel’s criminal aggression against Gaza and a cessation of all other illegal Israeli actions and measures in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, including a halt to its illegal colonization and ethnic cleansing schemes.

There must be concrete action for accountability, as demanded and obligated by international law, to hold Israel and its government, military and settlers responsible for all of their crimes against the Palestinian people. We appeal to the international community to act now to save human lives and for the sake of justice and peace.

This letter is in follow-up to our 715 letters regarding the ongoing crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, which constitutes the territory of the State of Palestine.  These letters, dated from 29 September 2000 (A/55/432-S/2000/921) to 11 May 2021 (A/ES-10/xxx-S/2021/xxx) constitute a basic record of the crimes being committed by Israel, the occupying Power, against the Palestinian people since September 2000. For all of these war crimes, acts of State terrorism and systematic human rights violations being committed against the Palestinian people, Israel, the occupying Power, must be held accountable and the perpetrators must be brought to justice.

I should be grateful if you would arrange to have this letter distributed as an official document of the 10th emergency special session of the General Assembly, under agenda item 5, and of the Security Council.

Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.

Dr. Riyad Mansour

Minister, Permanent Observer

Filed Under: 10Th Emergency Special Session, Identical Letters, Mission Documents Tagged With:

12 May 2021 – Killing of Palestinian Civilians by the Israeli Occupying Power

12 May 2021 by

Excellency,

The situation in Occupied Palestine, including East Jerusalem, is becoming graver by the hour as Israel, the occupying Power, continues its onslaught, unleashing all means of lethal military aggression against the defenseless Palestinian civilian population. Israel is committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in broad daylight, causing widespread human carnage and suffering and directly threatening risking regional and international peace and security.

We reiterate our appeals to the international community to act to stop Israel’s slaughter of innocent civilians, including children and women, to protect Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif from attacks by the occupying Power and its extremist settlers, and to stop the systematic expulsion of Palestinian families from their homes and ethnic cleansing from their land.

The United Nations Security Council has a foremost duty to act to uphold its Charter mandate to maintain international peace and security and in respect of its own resolutions. We call on the Council yet again – joined by countries and people all over the world, as evidenced in the many statements and appeals issued – to rise to its responsibilities to stop these violations and to save innocent lives.

Since my letter yesterday, I regret to inform that the casualty toll of Israel’s military aggression against the Gaza Strip has continued to rise. As of the writing of this letter, 65 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli air strikes deliberately targeting civilian areas, in grave breach of international law. Among those killed by the Israeli occupying forces are 16 children and 5 women, and several of the casualties are members of the same family. There can be no justification whatsoever for such barbaric attacks on a civilian population and such blatant disregard for human life.

As the Security Council remains silent, Israeli war planes have already today launched over 40 air strikes, preceded by over 100 air strikes over the past two days, terrorizing the entire population. In addition to the dead, more than 330 Palestinians have been injured in these airstrikes, overwhelming hospitals in Gaza, which have already been depleted by years of Israel’s illegal blockade and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, as systematically committed by Israel in its repeated aggressions on Gaza, homes, including multi-story buildings, have been destroyed, displacing dozens of families, and civilian infrastructure continues to be hit, including the central warehouse of the Palestine Red Crescent in Gaza. The occupying army also continue its violence against Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of Occupied Palestine, attacking peaceful protesters and causing more civilian casualties. A 16-year old boy was shot in the head and chest and killed in an Israeli raid on the village of Tubas, and a 26-year old young man was killed by Israeli soldiers in Al-Fawwar refugee camp. Another young Palestinian was run over by an Israeli army jeep suffering multiple injuries and at least 192 Palestinians have been injured by occupying forces across the occupied West Bank today, including in occupied East Jerusalem.

At the same time, Israeli colonial settlers continue their terror rampages, attacking Palestinian civilians, including Palestine Red Crescent medical teams attempting to tend to the injured. Extremist settlers and occupying forces also persist with their provocations, racist and hateful incitement and violence against Palestinian civilians who continue to gather in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem in peaceful protest of Israel’s criminal policies and the plans to forcibly displace Palestinian families from their homes, in what would constitute a blatant war crime.

We remind once again that Israel is not the sovereign in occupied East Jerusalem, regardless of its claims or recognition unlawfully bestowed upon it by any other country. There is absolutely no legitimacy to these claims. It is an occupying Power in our land, has no sovereignty rights whatsoever and is bound by international law, including humanitarian and human rights law, in any and all actions taken there. This includes at Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif. Israel must cease its violations of the sanctity of this holy site and respect the historic and legal status quo in word and deed and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan’s custodianship. It must cease its obstruction of the right of Muslim worshippers to peacefully pray there and cease its incessant intimidation, harassment and attacks on worshippers.

All such attacks, provocations and incitement by Israeli government officials, military commanders and forces, and colonial settlers constitute breaches of international law, for which they must be held fully accountable. The international community, particularly the Security Council, must act with immediacy to demand that Israel cease its attacks against the Palestinian civilian population, including in the Gaza Strip, and cease all other illegal Israeli actions and measures in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, including a halt to plans to forcibly displace and ethnically cleanse Palestinians from the City.

Moreover, we call on the international community as a whole to fulfill collective obligations, including as High Contracting Parties to the 4th Geneva Convention, to undertake measures to uphold international law, including measures to compel Israel, the occupying Power, to abide by its legal obligations and to ensure protection to the occupied population. It is high time for the international community to seriously pursue measures to hold Israel accountable for its grave breaches, including, inter alia, at the International Criminal Court. The singling-out of Israel for exemption from the same rules and norms that the rest of the world is obligated to abide by must stop. Innocent lives and the prospect for a just, peaceful, secure future for all are dependent on this.

This letter is in follow-up to our 715 letters regarding the ongoing crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, which constitutes the territory of the State of Palestine.  These letters, dated from 29 September 2000 (A/55/432-S/2000/921) to 11 May 2021 (A/ES-10/xxx-S/2021/xxx) constitute a basic record of the crimes being committed by Israel, the occupying Power, against the Palestinian people since September 2000. For all of these war crimes, acts of State terrorism and systematic human rights violations being committed against the Palestinian people, Israel, the occupying Power, must be held accountable and the perpetrators must be brought to justice.

I should be grateful if you would arrange to have this letter distributed as an official document of the 10th emergency special session of the General Assembly, under agenda item 5, and of the Security Council.

Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.

Dr. Riyad Mansour

Minister, Permanent Observer

Filed Under: 10Th Emergency Special Session, Identical Letters, Mission Documents Tagged With:

11 May 2021 – Israeli Attacks on Al-Aqsa Mosque and Gaza Strip

11 May 2021 by

Excellency,

I must again draw urgent attention to the escalating aggression by Israel, the occupying Power, in Occupied Palestine, which is causing immense human suffering and aggravating tensions, risking further destabilization of this volatile situation, which poses a threat to international peace and security.

Yesterday, 10 May, against the backdrop of the heightened tensions and worsening situation in occupied East Jerusalem as result of intensifying Israeli incitement and violence against Palestinian civilians and holy sites, the Israeli occupying forces began a military aggression against the besieged Gaza Strip. Israeli air strikes have thus far killed 27 Palestinians, including 9 children and one woman, in Gaza. This military aggression is traumatizing an already beleaguered population of 2 million people who have been imprisoned by Israel’s illegal blockade for 14 years, suffering its inhumane impact on all aspects of life, and who are now once again under siege, vulnerable to the occupation’s military machine, deprived of the protection that they desperately need and that they are entitled to under international humanitarian law. There can be no justification whatsoever for such indiscriminate attacks on a civilian population.

Since my last letter to you, the situation in occupied East Jerusalem has also deteriorated at all levels as Israeli violence, incitement and provocation have reached new highs, with both Israeli occupying forces and extremist settlers rampaging through the City and its holy sites, inflaming tensions and sensitivities in this holy Muslim month of Ramadan. Yesterday, 10 May, occupying forces carried out a deliberate, full-fledged raid at Al-Haram Al-Sharif as part of an attempt to escort mobs of settler extremists in a so-called “parade” to mark the anniversary of Israel’s illegal occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967.

Occupying forces raided Al-Aqsa Mosque, surrounding and indiscriminately firing at defenseless worshippers and bystanders. More than 300 Palestinians were injured by the firing of rubber-coated metal bullets, concussion grenades, tear gas canisters, sound bombs, and direct physical attacks carried out by the Israeli occupying forces. Occupying forces even locked Palestinian worshipers in Al-Aqsa Mosque while desecrating the holy site with a barrage of incendiary and toxic agents, including grenades and acrid smoke. More than 80 of the injured have been hospitalized, several in critical condition and with most injuries sustained to the upper body – face, eyes, head and chest. Israeli forces also obstructed medics from reaching the injured and assaulted journalists and medical personnel.

Dozens of other Palestinian civilians were wounded elsewhere throughout the occupied West Bank by the excessive force used by the Israeli occupying forces against civilians protesting Israel’s aggressions on Al-Aqsa and the imminent evictions of Palestinian families in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem. The international community, particularly the Security Council, must condemn all of Israel’s illegal actions and must demand that the attacks against civilians stop and that all illegal measures aimed at altering the character, demographic composition and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem stop, including all violations of the historic and legal status quo at Al-Aqsa Mosque.

In this regard, we again recall Security Council resolution 2334 (2016), by which the Council unequivocally condemned “all measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, including, inter alia, the construction and expansion of settlements, transfer of Israeli settlers, confiscation of land, demolition of homes and displacement of Palestinian civilians, in violation of international humanitarian law and relevant resolutions”.

That Israel, the occupying Power, behaves in such an inhumane and rogue manner, violating international law and human rights with impunity, is not new. Every year, Ramadan in Palestine is tarnished by Israel’s flagrant and deliberate crimes and violations against the Palestinian people, including killing and injury of civilians, home demolitions, forced displacement, desecration of holy sites, and vile, violent attacks by settler extremists who have become only more emboldened in recent years by the Israeli government and its occupying forces.

In these days, in coordination with occupying forces, mobs of settlers have repeatedly stormed the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem, attacking residents, intimidating them with hateful and racist slurs and threats, and preventing them from accessing their homes. Unsurprisingly, the latest round of settler incitement was led by Israeli politicians and members of parliament, including Arieh King, Itamar Ben-Gvir, and Bezalel Smotrich, with the aim of provoking Palestinian residents facing forced evictions that are purposely aimed to consolidate Israel’s colonial settler presence in occupied East Jerusalem as part of the long-running plans to forcibly and artificially alter the City’s demography in favor of a Jewish majority.

Sheikh Jarrah’s alarming situation has attracted a range of State-backed settler groups determined to uproot Palestinians from their homes, with these extremist groups reinforcing Israeli government plans to entrench the occupation and Israel’s illegal control of the Palestinian land, with as few Palestinians as possible, thereby facilitating its illegal annexation schemes. This is being done through all unlawful means and measures, including through the Israeli “judiciary”, whose decisions overwhelmingly favor Israeli settlers and are part and parcel of the occupying Power’s systematic forced displacement and dispossession of the Palestinian people. As stated by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem concerning Sheikh Jarrah, “The issue today is not a matter of a real-estate dispute between private parties. It is rather an attempt driven by an extremist ideology which denies the right of existence of a person in his own home.”

Disturbing footage has shown settlers, escorted by police and occupying forces, marching through Sheikh Jarrah chanting “mavet la’aravim” – “Death to the Arabs” – and other hateful, racist slogans. Over consecutive nights as Palestinian, Israeli, and international activists gathered in solidarity with Palestinian families facing forced displacement, occupying forces used violent force against peaceful demonstrators. According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, 17 people were seriously injured due to the excessive use of force. Among others, an Amnesty International report on 10 May has corroborated field documentation of Israel’s brutal repression of civilians peacefully protesting forced in occupied East Jerusalem, with occupying forces deliberately instigating chaos and violence and causing harm to the protesters.

Israeli forces also continue their arbitrary arrests of Palestinians peacefully demonstrators against this illegal occupation and standing in defense of the Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah and their rights. Among the many arrested was Mariam Afifi, a member of the Palestine Youth Orchestra, who was captured on video being beaten and dragged by her hijab by an Israeli soldier and then taken away. While handcuffed on the side of the road, Mariam asked the soldier, “Do you want your kids to grow up defending the oppressors?” This question must be asked throughout the international community, including in the Security Council, as Israeli impunity rages unabated due to the lack of accountability, destroying yet another generation and destroying any prospect for peace and stability.

International law and accountability mechanisms are impeded today by attempts of false equivocation that deliberately conceal and/or ignore the reality created by Israel’s 54-year belligerent occupation: mass dispossession, systemic discrimination, demographic engineering, forced displacement, and denial of the rights of the Palestinian people and even their very existence in their homeland. For too long, many have championed the rights and liberties of oppressed peoples worldwide, but fallen short on applying the same rights and principles to the Palestinian people.

The continued paralysis of the Security Council on the situation in Palestine is unacceptable. The long-running practice of exceptionalizing Israel at the Security Council has been too costly, only fueling impunity at the cost of human lives, human rights, and the prospects for peace and security and hastening the disintegration of the rule of law. The time is past due to question such historic errors by choosing a different path that holds all States to the same standards of moral conduct based on the principles of justice and dignity and not favoring or privileging one over the other. That is the basis of true justice.

The Security Council must uphold its Charter duty for the maintenance of international peace and security without exception, including in the case of Palestine. We therefore once again call on the Security Council to act with urgency to address this crisis and deepening injustice. The Council cannot allow its resolutions to be so grossly and systematically violated without consequence and cannot allow the situation in Occupied Palestine, including East Jerusalem, to spiral out of control.

This letter is in follow-up to our 714 letters regarding the ongoing crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, which constitutes the territory of the State of Palestine.  These letters, dated from 29 September 2000 (A/55/432-S/2000/921) to 6 May 2021 (A/ES-10/xxx-S/2021/xxx) constitute a basic record of the crimes being committed by Israel, the occupying Power, against the Palestinian people since September 2000. For all of these war crimes, acts of State terrorism and systematic human rights violations being committed against the Palestinian people, Israel, the occupying Power, must be held accountable and the perpetrators must be brought to justice.

I should be grateful if you would arrange to have this letter distributed as an official document of the 10th emergency special session of the General Assembly, under agenda item 5, and of the Security Council.

Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.

Dr. Riyad Mansour

Minister, Permanent Observer

Filed Under: 10Th Emergency Special Session, Identical Letters, Mission Documents Tagged With:

6 May 2021 – Killings and Evictions by the Israeli Occupation

06 May 2021 by

Excellency,

I am compelled to write again in immediate follow-up to my last communication as tensions and violence in Occupied Palestine further escalate, particularly in and around East Jerusalem, as Israel, the occupying Power, and its extremist settlers intensify their attacks against Palestinian civilians and persist with attempts to strip Palestinian families of their homes and ethnically cleanse them from Jerusalem.

The international community must act with urgency to bring a halt to these crimes, avert further deterioration of this fragile and dangerous situation, and save human lives. The responsibility of the Security Council in this regard is patently clear.

On the same day of my last letter, on 5 May, a young Palestinian boy, Said Yussef Odeh, 16 years of age, was killed by the Israeli occupying forces who shot him twice in his back when he was at the entrance to his village of Odala, south of the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank.  Said, who was a student and aspiring football player who had his Palestinian national team identification card with him at the time he was shot, was then left to die of his wounds as the soldiers prevented paramedics from treating him for at least 15 minutes. By the time he was taken to hospital, the young boy was pronounced dead upon arrival, another innocent life taken, another Palestinian family devastated by this illegal colonial occupation.

Also this week, Israeli occupying forces killed a Palestinian woman, Fahima al-Hroub, age 60, near a checkpoint in Bethlehem. While the occupation authorities claim it was an alleged attack, video footage shows that at no point was she close enough to the pose a lethal threat to the soldiers who were armed to the hilt and yet proceeded to shoot her to death in broad daylight.

Against this backdrop of rising tensions, Palestinian protests also continue in occupied East Jerusalem. Demonstrations and vigils are being held nightly in solidarity with the Palestinian families in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood who remain under the threat of eviction from their homes by Israeli settler organizations and the Israeli Court that is equally complicit in these crimes.

These peaceful, non-violent protests continue to be met with brutal repression by the Israeli occupying forces and by violent attacks by extremist settlers, who have been emboldened by the Israeli court and Israeli Government officials who continue to incite and provoke with their inflammatory rhetoric. This includes the extremist, far-right Knesset member, Itamar Ben Gvir, who has repeatedly called for the transfer of Palestinians and who has provocatively “set up his office” in the middle of Sheikh Jarrah to stake claim to the area. It is the height of cruelty and absurdity that, while entire Palestinian families face the risk of being uprooted from their homes and their lives torn apart, it is they and those in solidarity with them who are being attacked, injured and arrested by the occupying forces, while Israeli settlers roam about freely intimidating and attacking civilians, including children, and vandalizing Palestinian homes and properties.

Instead, Israeli forces have been raiding Sheikh Jarrah night after night, assaulting residents and solidarity protesters, arresting them, spraying them with skunk water (a chemically enhanced sewage water), and using tear gas and sound bombs.  Among the Palestinians arrested have been Tala Obeid, Omar al-Khatib and Mahmoud Nabil al-Kurd, whose families face imminent displacement from their homes in East Jerusalem as Israeli settlers and Israeli Government continue attempts to ethnically cleanse the City’s Palestinian neighborhoods and take them over in a criminal drive to assert their control and sovereignty.

In this regard, it must be noted that half of the al-Kurd family home was already overtaken by Israeli settlers in 2009. Mohammed al-Kurd, who was only 11 years old when the settlers forced their way in, has been among those protesting the Israeli court’s decision to allow the settlers to evict his family from the home they have been living in for generations. Speaking of this reality and their constant harassment by the settlers, Mohammed has said “They are just sitting in our home, tormenting us, harassing us, doing everything they can to not only force us to leave the second half of our home but also harassing our neighbors into leaving their homes as part of an effort to completely annihilate the presence of Palestinians from Jerusalem,”.

In response to the Israeli court decision, the families have issued a statement rejecting that decision and stressing: “The inherently unjust system of Israel’s colonial courts is not considering questioning the illegal settler’s ownership and has already decided on the families’ dispossession”.

Faced with this unjust situation and the threat of yet another displacement, following the uprooting from their homes in historic Palestine in 1948, they seek the protection of international law.On 22 April 2021, representatives of 28 Palestinian families constituting approximately 500 Palestinians from Sheikh Jarrah and 191 endorsing organizations, sent a letter to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), calling to urgently include the imminent forced displacement of Palestinians from Sheikh Jarrah as part of the investigation on the Situation in the State of Palestine, with specific regard to war crimes and crimes against humanity, including forcible transfer, appropriation of property, persecution, apartheid, and other inhumane acts causing great suffering arising from their forced evictions.

The fact is that Israel launched this policy of transfer of Palestinians from East Jerusalem almost immediately after occupied the remainder of the City in 1967. Land expropriation for Israeli settlements began as early as 1968 around East Jerusalem and in the heart of Palestinian neighborhoods such as the Old City’s Muslim and Christian Quarters and in Sheikh Jarrah, Silwan, Ras al-Amoud and Abu Tur. It is a policy that continues to this day, blatantly and aggressively, aimed at entrenching Israel’s presence, occupation and control in East Jerusalem, in violation of international law, United Nations resolutions, including resolution 2334 (2016), and the 2004 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice.

Since 1967, Israel has revoked the residency rights of more than 14,200 Palestinians, uprooting thousands of families from East Jerusalem. These measures coincide with its aggressive practice of home demolitions and forced evictions, which have not stopped even in a time of pandemic, deliberately rendering hundreds more families homeless and even more vulnerable. Moreover, the occupying Power continues to use all means of legislative and administrative “measures” to advance its illegal schemes. As cautioned in a joint alert issued on 4 May 2020 by Israeli human rights organizations Ir Amin and Bimkom, “for the first time in 53 years, Israel has underhandedly began land registration procedures in East Jerusalem, exclusively registering land rights of properties to alleged Jewish owners without the public’s knowledge. Such a move is unprecedented and has potential acute ramifications on Palestinian properties across East Jerusalem, which could ultimately lead to widespread Palestinian dispossession in the city.”

The international community cannot remain paralyzed in the face of these blatant crimes. As stated by Human Rights Watch in its recent report on Israeli apartheid, “The international community has for too long explained away and turned a blind eye to the increasingly transparent reality on the ground”.

It is high time for international action, particularly by the Security Council, using the means and measures afforded by international law to finally hold Israel, the occupying Power, accountable for its violations and crimes against the Palestinian people. It is time to cease any support to this illegal occupation and cease the preferential treatment that has for so long exempted Israel from its obligation to respect the law like all other countries in the world. We thus repeat our appeal for responsible international action to protect human lives and human dignity and to uphold the law for the sake of justice and peace.

This letter is in follow-up to our 713 letters regarding the ongoing crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, which constitutes the territory of the State of Palestine.  These letters, dated from 29 September 2000 (A/55/432-S/2000/921) to 5 May 2021 (A/ES-10/xxx-S/2021/xxx) constitute a basic record of the crimes being committed by Israel, the occupying Power, against the Palestinian people since September 2000. For all of these war crimes, acts of State terrorism and systematic human rights violations being committed against the Palestinian people, Israel, the occupying Power, must be held accountable and the perpetrators must be brought to justice. 

I should be grateful if you would arrange to have this letter distributed as an official document of the 10th emergency special session of the General Assembly, under agenda item 5, and of the Security Council.

Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.

Dr. Riyad Mansour

Minister, Permanent Observer

Filed Under: Identical Letters, Mission Documents Tagged With:

5 May 2021 – Forced Evictions of Palestinians and Israeli Settlement Colonization

05 May 2021 by

Excellency,

The situation in Occupied Palestine continues to worsen as Israel intensifies its human rights violations and war crimes against the Palestinian people. In particular, the occupying Power has escalated its confiscation of Palestinian homes, lands and properties seeking to accelerate the forced transfer of Palestinian civilians and its settlement colonization schemes, especially areas in and around occupied East Jerusalem. It is beyond apparent by now that this is all part of a systematic, deliberate plan to remove Palestinians – i.e. ethnically cleanse these areas – in preparation for annexation.

Numerous letters have been sent to the Security Council in recent months drawing attention to these violations, including the plight of Palestinian families in the Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan neighborhoods of occupied East Jerusalem who face the constant threat of eviction from their homes and mass dispossession, like so many before them in the City, amid Israel’s unlawful measures to replace them with Israeli settlers. As of today in Sheikh Jarrah, 169 Palestinians – including 46 children – have nowhere to go as Israel intensifies its judiciary intimidation and attacks on Palestinian families in and around Jerusalem with the sole intent of consolidating Israeli control of the City by illegally altering its demographic composition, character and status.

We once again draw urgent attention to this crisis, appealing to the international community to act to bring a halt to Israel’s illegal actions and to protect Palestinian civilians from the crimes of the occupying Power, a protection they are entitled to under international humanitarian law. Accountability measures are the only recourse for upholding the law, deterring further crimes, including the uprooting of hundreds more Palestinian families, and salvaging the dimming prospects for a just peace.

The fact is that Israel’s coercive dispossession campaigns in Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan and elsewhere throughout Occupied Palestine are no aberration. Uprooting Palestinians and replacing them with Israeli settlers is part of the ongoing Nakba faced by countless of Palestinian families, those who are being presently being forcibly displaced, some for the second or third time, and those who continue to be denied their inalienable right of return to their homes and lands. Absent accountability, Israel has just pressed on with its illegal plans without consequence.

The occupying Power is blatantly using unlawful measures to carry out its widespread and systemic policy of forced displacement, including by use of its judiciary and applying settler-backed laws to occupied territory. These illegal actions are being carried out in countless ways every single day in grave breach of international humanitarian and criminal law and in violation of Security Council and General Assembly resolutions, including resolution 2334 (2016), including the specific prohibitions on policies and measures aimed at altering the character, demographic composition and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem. The

Fourth Geneva Convention, which applies to belligerent occupation, prohibits the transfer of an occupying Power’s civilian population to an occupied territory, as well as individual or mass forcible transfers, including deportations of protected persons from occupied territory. The July 2004 ruling of the International Court of Justice in this regard was also patently clear and continues to be disregarded and disrespected by Israel.

In addition to losing their homes, Palestinians Jerusalemites are unable to challenge the occupation’s unlawful decisions and measures, as the draconian legal process is deliberately made to be exhausting and unaffordable for Palestinians. Settler groups driving the current eviction plans, “Ateret Cohanim” and “Nahalat Shimon”, are infamously known for successfully expelling Palestinian families from Jerusalem in the past, with the complete backing of the Israeli government.

Today, over 1,500 Palestinians in Jerusalem face the threat of forced displacement and home demolitions to make way for an illegal settlement called “Shimon Hatzadik”, along with a park for settlers under the name “King David Park.” While these settler groups enjoy the backing and service of Israeli courts and legislation for their unlawful plans, Palestinian families face relentless attacks designed to amass as much Palestinian land as possible, with as few Palestinian civilians as possible and to keep the occupation standing, highlighting the degree to which one group is heavily prioritized over another through a two-tier system built on discrimination and oppression.

In January 2021, Special Rapporteur Michael Lynk warned the international community of the impact and agenda behind Israel’s forced displacement campaign in Jerusalem. Mr. Lynk stressed, inter alia, “The eviction orders are not random but appear to be strategically focused on an area in East Jerusalem known as the Historic Basin. They seem to be aimed at clearing the way for the establishment of more illegal Israeli settlements in the area and physically segregating and fragmenting East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank.”

Mohammed El-Kurd, whose family is among those set to be forcefully evicted in May said “What we are witnessing in Sheikh Jarrah is Israel’s attempt to erase the Palestinian presence from our native city in real time. This fate of dispossession looms over much of my neighborhood. Our lives are consumed by the anxiety of living on the brink of homelessness.”

On 27 April, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a lengthy and detailed report concluding that the crimes of apartheid and persecution are being committed by Israel, the occupying Power, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. HRW concluded, inter alia, that “the Israeli government has demonstrated an intent to maintain the domination of Jewish Israelis over Palestinians across Israel and the OPT. In the OPT, including East Jerusalem, that intent has been coupled with systematic oppression of Palestinians and inhumane acts committed against them. When these three elements occur together, they amount to the crime of apartheid.”

Although the Palestinian people reached this conclusion decades ago as they endured the occupation’s systemic oppression, mass dispossession, land expropriation, settlement encroachment, endless collective punishment and other grave breaches of international law, such conclusions are part of a growing international consensus asserting that Israel is an apartheid state due to a “threshold has already been crossed in certain of the areas where Israeli authorities exercise control,” as stressed by the HRW report, “A Threshold Crossed: Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution.”

The report follows similar findings by Palestinian, Israeli, and international NGOs, which address and flag the horrific reality of ethnic supremacy being practiced by Israel over Palestinians. In January, Israeli NGO B’tselem released a report that contradicted Israel’s portrayal of a so-called thriving democracy, asserting that Israel is an apartheid regime. As stressed by B’tselem, “One organizing principle lies at the base of a wide array of Israeli policies: advancing and perpetuating the supremacy of one group – Jews – over another – Palestinians.”

Another Israeli NGO, Yesh Din, has concluded that “For years, Israel has used the state of occupation as mere temporary suspension of sovereignty and civil rights as an alibi when confronted with accusations that the crime of apartheid was being committed in the West Bank. Its manifest, deliberate policy of dispossession, settlement and creeping annexation, both on the ground and in the legal realm, gives away its intent to cement its control and perpetuate the suspension of sovereignty and Palestinians’ rights – and with that, shatters its alibi.”

Evictions and home demolitions are an integral part of this illegal Israeli policy. The trajectory of demolitions indicates that such policies will only intensify as Israel seeks to further clear Palestinian land of its inhabitants for seizure to implement its illegal settlement plans. According to OCHA, at least a third of all Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem lack occupation-issued building permits, placing over 90,000 Palestinian residents at risk of displacement. As repeatedly stated by UN Special Coordinator Tor Wennesland, Israeli-issued permits are almost impossible for Palestinians to obtain. This has been attested in Human Rights Watch’s latest report, which stressed the following:

“[Israeli] authorities approved less than 1.5 percent of applications by Palestinians to build between 2016 and 2018—21 in total—a figure 100 times smaller than the number of demolition orders it issued in the same period, according to official data. Israeli authorities have razed thousands of Palestinian properties in these areas for lacking a permit, leaving thousands of families displaced. By contrast, according to Peace Now, Israeli authorities began construction on more than 23,696 housing units between 2009 and 2020 in Israeli settlements in Area C. Transfer of an occupying power’s civilian population to an occupied territory violates the Fourth Geneva Convention.”

Further exposing Israel’s intent to maintain its illegal occupation – in flagrant disregard of the international community’s calls to bring it to an end – is its deprivation of fundamental rights that many across the world take for granted. Just this week, the decision was taken to postpone Palestinian elections due to Israel’s repression of Palestinian participation in occupied East Jerusalem. From arresting candidates to suppressing election-related events, Israel continues to breach previous agreements by cherry-picking what it likes and dislikes, according to what serves the entrenchment of the occupation at the expense of the Palestinian people’s rights, including right to self-determination.

In this regard, we reiterate our calls on the international community to exert the necessary pressure to end Israel’s disruptions of Palestine’s elections, particularly in occupied East Jerusalem, and demand an end to all other of its illegal actions aimed at undermining and impeding Palestinian presence and life in the City, including their freedom of worship, as witnessed in recent obstructions of the worship of Palestinian Muslims at Al-Aqsa Mosque in the month of Ramadan and Palestinian Christians in their recent Easter celebrations.

As OCHA put it: “Other Israeli policies have negatively affected Palestinians’ ability to plan and develop their communities and enjoy the services they are entitled to, further undermining their presence in the city. In addition, Israeli measures have increasingly cut off East Jerusalem, once the focus of political, commercial, religious and cultural life for the entire Palestinian population of the occupied Palestinian territory, from the rest of the West Bank and from the Gaza Strip.”

Faced with these realities, the international community must reject Israel’s attempts to taint legitimate criticism of Israel’s crimes by delegitimizing human rights groups and even delegitimizing the real accounts of human suffering on the ground. International law is clear as to the gravity of the violations being perpetrated by the occupying Power. The international community must equally condemn the weaponization of antisemitism just as we collectively condemn all forms of antisemitism, which has culminated in one of the greatest tragedies of our time. This has become a systematic policy that has even targeted Security Council members, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, as well as international figures, who – in upholding their moral, legal, political and/or humanitarian obligations – dare to denounce Israel’s violations of the Palestinian people’s rights and its colonization of their land. We all need to fight antisemitism while rejecting the instrumentalization of the accusation of antisemitism to shield illegal actions from criticism and accountability.

For decades, the international community has been persistently warned about the magnitude of Israel’s grave crimes and violations across the years of its 54-year foreign occupation. Today, Israel’s institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination has resulted in the devastating reality that prevails: apartheid. Standing alone in deliberately misinterpreting international law, Israel remains unmoved due to the lack of action to ensure accountability and justice. The international community, particularly the Security Council, can – and must – make it clear to Israel this situation it has deliberately created will have serious consequences if not rectified in accordance with its clear obligations under international law.

letter is in follow-up to our 712 letters regarding the ongoing crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, which constitutes the territory of the State of Palestine.  These letters, dated from 29 September 2000 (A/55/432-S/2000/921) to 26 April 2021 (A/ES-10/xxx-S/2021/xxx) constitute a basic record of the crimes being committed by Israel, the occupying Power, against the Palestinian people since September 2000. For all of these war crimes, acts of State terrorism and systematic human rights violations being committed against the Palestinian people, Israel, the occupying Power, must be held accountable and the perpetrators must be brought to justice. 

I should be grateful if you would arrange to have the text of the present letter made available to the members of the Security Council for their immediate, valuable consideration and also distributed as an official document of the Security Council.

Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.

Dr. Riyad Mansour

Minister, Permanent Observer

Filed Under: Identical Letters, Mission Documents, Uncategorized Tagged With: