YouSaid · the spoken record

Mansour

lines on the record: 2,038
first: 2006-03-30
most recent: 2023-12-22
sittings or episodes: 126
sources: un-security-council

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“We will therefore act responsibly to uphold our duties to the Palestinian people and will continue to do whatever we can in the international arena, foremost here at the United Nations and fully based on international law, using all diplomatic, political, legal and non-violent means, to redress the plight of our people, alleviate their suffering and advance the realization of their rights, justice and peace.”
2016-04-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7673 (2016) · source
“The Council cannot stand idly by waiting for the next full-blown crisis. It is illogical and unacceptable to continue appeasing Israel's intransigence and arrogant, reckless flouting of the law. Israel must be held accountable for its crimes and violations of an entire people's rights, including to self-determination and freedom, once and for all. We have said it before in the Chamber and we must repeat it again: the crisis is existential and we can no longer wait.”
2016-04-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7673 (2016) · source
“The failure to protect, as in all other cases in history, will only foster greater Israeli impunity and disregard for Palestinian life, endangering even more innocent civilians. The Security Council has not even held a discussion on the issue of protection. How shameful of an act is that on the shoulders of the members of the Security Council. At a time when the situation is reaching boiling point, the passivity and silence of the Security Council is truly shocking. Stopping the deterioration of the situation and salvaging the prospects for peace require responsible action without delay. While we have heard repeatedly how unsustainable the status quo is, in fact there is no status quo and the situation, far from being static, is worsening every single day, inching towards an implosion.”
2016-04-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7673 (2016) · source
“The reality is that a defenceless civilian population is being left to the merciless brutality of this military occupation, which has lasted almost half a century, an occupation whose forces are armed to the teeth with the most lethal and sophisticated military weaponry. Our appeals for protection have been met with sympathy at best and indifference at worst. We have been repeatedly told to be reasonable about what the Council can or cannot do, in spite of the Council's own legislation, including resolutions 605 (1987) and 904 (1994), which clearly call the for protection of the Palestinian people, and in spite of the study of precedents shared by the Secretary-General with the Council in October 2015, which has not been the subject of one serious discussion.”
2016-04-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7673 (2016) · source
“Nevertheless, in our weekly letters to the Council, we have tried to draw attention to those brutal murders and to share the names of the innocent human lives so violently taken and so tragically lost. Faced with such relentless aggression by the occupation, Palestinian children, one generation after another, are being permanently scarred and the present and future fabric of our society is being destroyed. And yet the Security Council remains silent and the Palestinian people continue to be denied the protection they are in dire need of, and entitled to, in accordance with international humanitarian law.”
2016-04-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7673 (2016) · source
“As they did in the war on Gaza in 2014, the occupying forces have also continued to use excessive force, injuring more than 16,000 people, including thousands of children and women, in the past six months. That same period has also witnessed the detention of more than 4,000 Palestinians, adding to the ranks of over 7,000 Palestinians, among them 450 children, now imprisoned or detained by Israel. Our children and youth are being especially targeted and traumatized by this cruel occupation as Israeli occupying forces operate on a blatant shoot- to-kill policy, with children as young as 13 years of age shot and killed without consequences. The stories of Palestinian children and youth killed in broad daylight, including those extrajudicially murdered by the occupying forces, have become too numerous to recount.”
2016-04-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7673 (2016) · source
“In tandem with Israel's colonization of our land, it continues its aggression against our people, with Palestinian casualties mounting as a result of daily military raids by Israeli occupying forces and violence and terror attacks by extremist Israeli settlers, in no small part fuelled by the incitement and inflammatory rhetoric of Israeli Government officials, including by the Israeli Prime Minister and members of his Cabinet, and by extremist religious figures. Since the current unrest began, in October 2015, more than 200 Palestinian men, women and children have been killed, with the bodies of many of those killed withheld by the occupying Power, even denying them dignity in death.”
2016-04-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7673 (2016) · source
“We are therefore compelled to ask the Council: does that not seriously call into question, once again, the credibility of Israel's professed commitment to the two-State solution, or of ever ending its occupation of our land? How can those facts in any way be reconciled with the Council's clear demands for an end to Israel's settlement activities and to all attempts to alter the demography, character and status of the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem, according to its own resolutions? When will the Council hold Israel accountable for those violations and insist on compliance, the minimum, most essential requirement for upholding the law, overcoming that major obstacle to peace and preserving the possibility of the two-State solution?”
2016-04-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7673 (2016) · source
“Bedouin Palestine refugees have been especially affected by the demolitions, and entire communities are threatened with forced transfer. Of course, the recent period has also witnessed the advancement of plans for the construction of hundreds of additional settlement units, including in the past week, when the occupying Power decided to proceed with the construction of at least 250 settlement units, which will end up housing thousands more Israeli settlers, adding to the over 650,000 settlers already illegally transferred to the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem. The stark reality is that, as reported by the Israeli organization Peace Now, plans for the construction of Israeli settlements increased by 250 per cent in the first quarter of 2016, as compared to the same period last year.”
2016-04-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7673 (2016) · source
“What we have witnessed instead is the intensification of this illegal behaviour, further fragmenting the contiguity of our State's territory and gravely undermining the viability of the two-State solution on the pre-1967 borders. Thousands more dunums of Palestinian land have been confiscated by Israel in the West Bank, with more than 2,300 dunums slated for expropriation south of Jericho and more than 1,200 dunums south of Nablus in the span of one week alone. Home demolitions by the occupying Power have also alarmingly spiked, as reported by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, with more than 586 homes or structures demolished and more than 700 Palestinians forcibly displaced and rendered homeless since the start of the year.”
2016-04-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7673 (2016) · source
“The confiscation and de facto annexation of land, settlement construction, wall construction, the demolition of Palestinian homes and property, and the forced transfer of Palestinian civilians continue unabated, all with utter contempt for and in grave breach of international law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Security Council's resolutions, and in blatant mockery of the international community's demands for an end to all Israeli settlement activities. During the 26 January open debate (see S/PV.7610), we heard loud and clear the reaffirmations of the illegality of Israel's settlement activities and the unanimous calls for a halt to all such poIicies and measures.”
2016-04-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7673 (2016) · source
“After years of restraint - years of a dramatic decline in the situation to dangerous levels; years of unquantifiable loss and suffering for the Palestinian people; years of destruction of the two-State solution and obstruction of the prospects for peace; and years of immense damage to the Security Council's credibility and the rule of international law - we can no longer wait and can no longer accept excuses and pretexts, domestic or otherwise, that permit violations of the law and of our people's rights by the occupying Power, with total impunity. On the ground, the corrosive attrition of the two- State solution by Israel's illegal settlement activities has been unrelenting.”
2016-04-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7673 (2016) · source
“Nothing that we come to this Chamber to ask for is beyond the realm of legality, beyond the parameters ofjustice or beyond the imperatives of peace. And yet, every time we approach the Security Council, we are chided by a Council member and told that it is either not the right time or not the appropriate venue to address the matter, or, ironically, that the peace process will somehow be undermined by our seeking rights and peace, or that the doors of the Council are totally closed, period. When will it ever be the right time to approach the Council? At what point of crisis will the Council be galvanized to finally act?”
2016-04-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7673 (2016) · source
“It continues - debate after debate, consultation after consultation and letter after letter - to disregard the global calls to act seriously to stanch this open, bleeding wound in the international body by upholding international law and fulfilling its duty to advance a solution to the conflict that would assist the Palestinian people to finally realize the freedom, rights and justice they have been unjustly denied and to achieve Palestinian-Israeli peace, security and coexistence. Indeed, those are the principal objectives at the core of every appeal we have made to the Council, week after week, month after month, year after year, decade after decade. Our appeals have all been made in full accordance with international law, not founded on some baseless claim or desire.”
2016-04-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7673 (2016) · source
“In each communication to the Council, we have tried to draw urgent attention to the grave breaches of international humanitarian law and human rights violations being systematically committed by the occupying Power, including its occupying forces and terrorist settlers. We have equally appealed for urgent action, in line with international law, to compel Israel to halt its crimes and violations, which are inflicting widespread suffering on the Palestinian civilian population, further inflaming tensions and destabilizing the situation, destroying the two-State solution and sabotaging the chances for a peaceful solution. Regrettably, this has all been to no avail. The Security Council remains paralysed, failing to uphold its obligations in accordance with its Charter duties, international law and its own resolutions.”
2016-04-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7673 (2016) · source
“At the outset, I wish to express the State ofPalestine's congratulations to China on its skilled leadership in the presidency ofthe Security Council this month and also express appreciation for the convening of today's important open debate. I also thank the Secretary-General, His Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon, for his briefing on the current situation and for his continuous efforts to address this long-standing issue on the United Nations agenda in the interest of peace andjustice. Since our last debate in January, we have addressed the Security Council on a near-weekly basis regarding the critical situation in occupied Palestine, including East Jerusalem, as a result of Israel's illegal and destructive policies and measures.”
2016-04-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7673 (2016) · source
“In recent months, several States have taken initiatives and have shown leadership and understanding with regard to the urgency of action, and have been able to prioritize our cause among the many other key issues they are working jointly to resolve. The time has come for a collective process for Palestinian-Israeli peace. The time has come for the Security Council to reflect the express will of its members and of the international community that it is mandated to represent. Excuses, mild positions and half measures will not suffice. The international will is being tested. Failure is not an option.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“International mechanisms are also necessary, including the convening of an international conference aimed at ending the occupation and achieving peace, and the establishment of an international support group to advance that goal. Only with proper monitoring and accountability can we hope to turn the tide and have a chance of reaching safe shores. The priority should be lasting peace, not temporary calm. I came here today to appeal again for such action on behalf of the Palestinian people, who are entitled to and demand their freedom, and on behalf of all those who seek and promote peace andjustice. Those needing pretexts not to act will always find one: they will try to make us address consequences rather than causes, tell us to wait until the next election, or to understand that more pressing issues loom, until everything collapses.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“Therefore, it has to be removed from the path of peace, if we seriously want to open doors to a meaningful process that could lead to the end of the occupation, to the independence of our State and to saving the two-State solution. While we appreciate the strong positions expressed by all Security Council members and the international community at large against Israeli settlement activities, those positions must be translated into action. That action must start here in the Security Council. It must involve measures on the part of all States and must transcend the rendering of assistance. Israel must be held accountable for its actions. Recent international reports, including some by non-governmental organizations, have raised important ideas that could help identify a way forward.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“That is the Council's duty. It cannot be delegated, delayed or dismissed. Silence and inaction are the accomplices of occupation and the enemies of peace. Today we must ask, have we all done everything in our power and exhausted all means only to reach the point of failure? Is there no way ahead? We continue to believe another path is possible, that peace is possible and that confrontation and war are not inevitable. We have demonstrated a firm commitment to peace, but it has no chance of leading to a lasting solution without decisive international action in support of the two- State solution on the pre-l967 borders and of measures that hold accountable those who are destroying it. In that regard, we are all aware that the Israeli settlement enterprise in all its manifestations is the most formidable obstacle to the peace we seek.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“The inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including to self-determination and freedom, are non-negotiable and cannot be subject to the occupying Power's goodwill or lack thereof. No State can, under the pretext of supporting dialogue among the parties, evade its own responsibility to uphold international law. This is a time for action and responsibility. Our region and the world cannot afford the looming breakdown, which would lead to more chaos and suffering. Those who believe the occupation is sustainable, or that we will surrender to it, are mistaken. We remain relentless in pursuit of our independence and our rights. We call on the Council to play its role and fulfil its responsibilities: end the oppression, end the occupation and help make peace and justice a reality for all the peoples of the region.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“The question therefore is not what we hope Israel will do to end the settlement regime it continues to plan, develop, expand, defend and commit vast resources to, but rather what the international community will do in fulfilment of its own obligations, as spelled out by the principles of international law, the Charter of the United Nations, the relevant conventions, including the Fourth Geneva Convention, and the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on the Legal consequences of the construction ofa wall in the occupied Palestinian territory (see A/ES-10/273), notably in relation to third-party responsibility. That must be considered and acted on as a matter of priority and urgency by the international community, especially the Security Council.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“The most striking aspect in the Israeli Foreign Ministry's document is not the absurd argument made in defence of the indefensible, but rather the fact that it reconfirms Israel's total commitment to the colonial settlement regime at the expense ofthe law and ofpeace.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“Nearly every single State around the world and all the members around this table, with the exception of Israel, accept that position. No one can deny that the forced transfer of Palestinian civilians and the transfer of Israelis to the occupied territory are grave breaches of international humanitarian law and war crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Israel's arguments rely on absurd interpretations of very clear legal texts and on historical distortions and empty pretexts used for decades to justify colonialism and apartheid, which are two of the most condemned phenomena in history. Yet Israel persists in spreading both, in word and deed.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“It is an understatement to say that any settlement unit built anywhere in our occupied land brings us a step closer to the end of the two-State vision. The international community must directly address that and send an unequivocal message to Israel now, before it is too late. It cannot ignore these facts or the fact that the Israeli Foreign Ministry recently released a document inconceivably claiming that settlements are "legal" under international law. The illegality of the Israeli settlement regime has been reaffirmed by the Security Council in several resolutions, by the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions, by the International Court of Justice, by the Human Rights Council, by successive special rapporteurs and by international fact-finding missions.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“That constitutes one of the largest illegal land expropriations in years. Recently, Israeli plans to construct more than 65,000 new illegal settlement units throughout occupied Palestine were also exposed. Those plans, which include thousands of units in occupied East Jerusalem and the surrounding areas, including the so-called E-l area, would sever East Jerusalem from its Palestinian environs. Moreover, hundreds more units are being constructed in the so-called Givat Eitam illegal settlement, referred to as E-2, south of Bethlehem, just to name a few of the more glaring examples. Everything the Secretary-General mentioned in his briefing with regard to settlements is correct and should be fully supported and acted upon by the Security Council.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“It has to be studied by the members of the Security Council so as to arrive at the appropriate conclusions in order to provide protection for the Palestinian civilian population in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem. Israel must choose between occupation and peace. It is clear from the policies of successive Israeli Governments that the colonial agenda has trumped the peace agenda in Israel. And it is equally clear that, without international intervention, this situation cannot be reversed. The continuation and expansion of the settlement regime are a destructive reality we witness every day, even if the world does not always see or hear the bulldozers. Just last week, Israel audaciously declared 370 acres south of Jericho as so-called State land.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“We cannot accept the reasoning of those who keep demanding security for the occupying Power while failing to demand security for the occupied people, who are entitled to, and assured of, such security under international law. The United Nations must act to ensure protection for our people in line with international law and its own resolutions, including Security Council resolutions specifically calling for protection for the Palestinian people. Precedents and the relevant studies before the Council must be considered. We are grateful to the Secretary-General and his Office of Legal Affairs for advancing an important study to the Security Council. As I said a few days ago, that study is not to be added to the shelves.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“All peoples are entitled to security, not only the Israelis. I repeat: all peoples are entitled to security, including the Palestinian people. It is not exclusive to Israel and cannot be achieved by illegal and aggressive actions that only fan the flames of violence and intensify anger and tensions. Those unlawful actions must be stopped. We cannot allow the international community to turn a blind eye to the horrors being endured by our people, nor can we accept the continued refusal to end the impunity and the immunity that has been granted to Israeli officials, occupation forces and terrorist settlers, which is making those repeated, widespread and systematic crimes possible.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“Israel is also continuing its policy of collective punishment, including the demolition of homes, withholding the bodies of martyrs, and widespread arrest-and-detention raids. Its suffocating blockade on Gaza also continues to obstruct desperately needed reconstruction, to deprive our people of all the basics of a dignified life, and to deepen despair. There is no justification for such violence and oppression against the defenceless Palestinian civilian population. International humanitarian law provisions, primarily the Fourth Geneva Convention, prohibit such actions and obligate the occupying Power to ensure, inter alia, the safety and well-being of the civilians under its occupation, not the other way around. Claims that such violence and crimes are necessary to ensure Israeli security are offensive and must be rejected.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“At the same time, Israeli settlement construction in occupied Palestine, especially in occupied East Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley, has continued unabated, at the expense of peace and the Viability and contiguity of our State. Moreover, Israeli settler terror against Palestinian civilians has reached unprecedented levels and has inflamed religious sensitivities, particularly with regard to the Al-Haram Al-Sharif and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The world has witnessed on live television the perpetration of war crimes against the Palestinian people. Yet no action has been taken. As we speak, Palestinians, the majority of them youth, are being killed daily in the streets, with many executed extrajudicially, by occupying forces and settlers.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“In the past seven years alone, we have repeatedly come to address the Council and have travelled from capital to capital, while also presenting and supporting ideas, texts and initiatives and urging action. Since the adoption of resolution 1860 (2009), following the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip from December 2008 to January 2009, the Council has failed to take any action to redress this injustice. And in this period, at least 2,500 more Palestinians, among them hundreds of children and women, have been killed in repeated Israeli wars on Gaza and in military raids in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Tens of thousands of civilians have been wounded and thousands have been arrested, detained and abused by the occupying forces. In addition, an inhumane blockade and vast destruction have been continuously inflicted on Gaza.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“Neither support nor solidarity for Palestine have been lacking. What has been lacking is the political courage and will to implement the countless resolutions of the Security Council and of General Assembly in the face of Israel's total intransigence and disrespect for all of its obligations, including international humanitarian law and human rights law. The failure to hold Israel, the occupying Power, accountable and to compel its compliance with the law has caused immense suffering for the Palestinian people, among them millions of refugees, thereby exacerbating an already deplorable security, humanitarian and socioeconomic situation, compounding the crisis many times over and undermining the foundation for a just and lasting solution.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“We are gathered again here at the Security Council, which for seven decades has been entrusted with the responsibility of upholding international peace and security, to address one of the longest-standing issues on the United Nations agenda, namely, the question of Palestine and the situation in the Middle East. Every day that passes with this institution failing to shoulder its Charter duties means the death of more innocent civilians, more destruction of property, lives and the prospects for peace, and more hopelessness, representing a continual and growing threat to international peace and security. While Palestine has figured prominently on the agenda of the United Nations since the establishment of the Organization, the plight of our people, tragically, persists and peace continues to evade us.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“We also reiterate our deep appreciation to Chad, Chile, Jordan, Lithuania and Nigeria for their skilled service and principled positions on so many critical issues during their respective tenures, including the question of Palestine. I express our appreciation to all of the ministers joining us here today, which serves to underscore the attention and concern they ascribe to the Palestine issue and to the situation in the Middle East as a whole. Among the ministers present is Foreign Minister Mankeur Ndiaye of Senegal, whose country plays an important role as Chair of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People - a responsibility that Senegal has undertaken for the past 40 years, for which we are most grateful.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“I congratulate the friendly country of Uruguay on its election to the Security Council and I thank you, Minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa, for convening this important debate under Uruguay's presidency. I also thank His Excellency Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for his important briefing to the Council on the current situation. I would like to apologize on behalf of Foreign Minister Riad Malki, who had planned to attend this meeting but who, because of the recent storm and its impact of flights, is unable to be with us. I am honoured to deliver this statement on his behalf. I would like to extend our congratulations to the other new non-permanent members * Egypt, Japan, Senegal and Ukraine - and I wish them success in fulfilling their responsibilities under the Charter of the United Nations.”
2016-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7610 (2016) · source
“For the Palestinian people, that call is more urgent than ever in an unsustainable and dangerous situation that continues to require sustained international attention and action. We implore the international community, and foremost the Security Council, to rise to the challenge and act to protect civilians and uphold human rights in Palestine and everywhere else in the world, where innocent civilians are suffering in conflicts, and to restore credibility to international humanitarian law and to the Council itself.”
2016-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7606 (2016) · source
“Moreover, the United Nations study reviewing protection regimes (S/2015/809, annex), which was requested of the Secretary-General by President Mahmoud Abbas and which was presented by the Secretary-General to the Security Council in October, provides important precedents that should be fully considered, along with other relevant reports aimed at strengthening the Council's ability to address protection needs in conflicts throughout the world. That study, containing several dozen pages, was not circulated to the members of the Security Council for them to shelve away. It was circulated rather for them to study, consider and draw conclusions with regard to practical steps to provide protection for the Palestinian people.”
2016-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7606 (2016) · source
“In that connection, we also highlight the essential role that can be played by humanitarian organizations, as well as civil society, in providing a protective civilian presence. In Palestine, we recognize the important contributions, in that regard, made by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East and other United Nations agencies providing assistance and protection to the most vulnerable, including children, and the work of civil society. The latter includes, for example, a programme run by the World Council of Churches that provides protective escorts for our civilians, and we urgently call for the enhancement of such efforts. We call on the Secretary-General, in particular, to urgently explore and mobilize United Nations capabilities in that regard, in line with international humanitarian law.”
2016-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7606 (2016) · source
“Civilians - children, women and men - must not be used as cannon fodder, and all efforts must be made to spare them the atrocities of war and protect their lives. The United Nations special responsibilities were underscored, inter alia, in the report of the High-level Independent Panel on Peace Operations, which stresses that "[t]he protection of civilians in armed conflict is a core principle of international humanitarian law and a moral responsibility for the United Nations" (S/2015/446, para. 82), and decries the systemic constraints, including the lack of consensus among Security Council members, that have prevented United Nations action in efforts to address the protection needs of civilians in many conflicts.”
2016-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7606 (2016) · source
“Although the Temporary International Presence in Hebron, a small, unarmed international civilian contingent, was deployed in 1997 and continues to provide a limited protective presence in the city, the violations faced by Palestinian civilians have never ceased and continue to the present day, only with greater intensity and impunity. The impact of the violations on civilians has been immense, with countless lives ruined and generations lost, underscoring the need for the enhanced and effective protection of the Palestinian people. The international community has clear responsibilities, particularly the Council and the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention, which must be upheld. Protection should not be viewed as unreasonable or unimaginable by any party that respects the law and human rights and seeks peace.”
2016-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7606 (2016) · source
“Reaffirmations of the obligations of the occupying Power under international humanitarian law, including the obligation to ensure the safety and well-being of the Palestinian civilian population, were repeatedly made thereafter by the Council, the General Assembly, conferences of the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention and successive United Nations High Commissioners for Human Rights, including Ms. Mary Robinson, who in 2001 stressed that, "[t]he protection of the victim should be the overriding concern of the United Nations and its agencies and programmes Protection needs to be accorded to the people of the occupied territories in strict compliance with the Fourth Geneva Convention". All of that has been to no avail.”
2016-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7606 (2016) · source
“Resolution 605 (1987) was followed by other relevant resolutions calling for respect for international humanitarian law in the occupied Palestinian territory, in particular resolution 904 (1994), in which the Council, expressing grave concern at the Palestinian casualties and underlining "the need to provide protection and security for the Palestinian people", called for "measures to be taken to guarantee the safety and protection of the Palestinian civilians throughout the occupied territory, including, inter alia, a temporary international or foreign presence" (resolution 904 (1994), para. 3).”
2016-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7606 (2016) · source
“Regrettably, the recommendations contained in the report of 21 January 1988 (S/ 19443) were never implemented due to Israel's rejection of resolution 605 (1987) and the lack of political will to hold it to account and insist on its respect for international humanitarian law, to ensure protection of the civilians under its occupation.”
2016-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7606 (2016) · source
“Yet, over the decades and despite the Security Council's own calls for protection, Palestinian civilians have been deprived of effective protection from such systematic violations and crimes. As far back as 1987, the Security Council, in resolution 605 (1987), took into account "the need to consider measures for the impartial protection of the Palestinian civilian population under Israeli occupation" and requested the Secretary-General to examine the situation and report "on ways and means for ensuring the safety and protection of the Palestinian civilians under Israeli occupation".”
2016-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7606 (2016) · source
“We have repeatedly appealed for protection for the Palestinian people, notjust in the recent period but over the decades as our people have endured immeasurable oppression and cruelty under Israeli occupation, including the killing and injury of civilians in military raids, air strikes, bombardments and terror attacks across the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, detention, imprisonment, abuse and torture, forced displacement and transfer, an illegal blockade and other severe measures of collective punishment. The deplorable situation is corroborated by numerous United Nations reports, including the Secretary- General's recent annual report on children and armed conflict (S/2015/409), which documents the devastating impact of the Israeli occupation on Palestinian children and their extreme vulnerability.”
2016-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7606 (2016) · source
“Yet, the tragedy of civilians in armed conflict persists due to lack of respect for international humanitarian law in too many circumstances and the failure to hold accountable the perpetrators of violations and grave breaches, including Israel, the occupying Power, which continues to cause harm and suffering to the Palestinian people with absolute impunity.”
2016-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7606 (2016) · source
“Their suffering persists due not only to the failure to achieve a just solution to the conflict, despite countless United Nations resolutions, but also to the international community's failure to uphold international humanitarian law in the face of grave breaches and to ensure the protection of civilians until such a solution has been realized. The intent of those who drafted the Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocols was clear. It was to ensure protection to civilians in situations of armed conflict and minimize their vulnerability and suffering.”
2016-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7606 (2016) · source
“That toll has compelled the largest movement of refugees since the Second World War, with grave humanitarian, social, economic, psychological and security consequences for the children, women and men whose fate it is to become refugees, as well as for the countries in conflict, receiving countries and the international community as awhole. The Palestinian people - including the 5.5 million Palestine refugees who constitute the most protracted refugee crisis in the world - know all too well the pain and tragedy of such turmoil and dislocation as they continue to suffer the injustices of the 1948 Nakba and to endure the brutality of Israel's illegal, belligerent occupation for nearly a half century.”
2016-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7606 (2016) · source
“I will deliver a short version of my statement. However, a copy of the longer version will be circulated to members of the Security Council. We congratulate Uruguay on its membership of the Security Council and presidency this month, and on having convened today's important debate on the protection of civilians in armed conflict. We meet at a critical moment witnessing the immense suffering of millions of civilians in conflicts around the world, particularly in the Middle East, where civilians are bearing the highest toll of armed conflict in all forms, including foreign occupation.”
2016-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7606 (2016) · source