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

“The continuation of this sick pattern and vicious cycle will only bring more suffering and loss for both the Palestinian and Israeli peoples and will take us farther away from the realization of peace. This must be a matter of concern for the Council. We are at a juncture where the international community is in clear concurrence about what is needed to advance the process towards the attainment of a just, lasting and comprehensive peace. Moreover, we are at a juncture where two high-level United Nations officials, including the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and Personal Representative of the Secretary-General, Mr. Robert Serry, and the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mr.”
2008-03-01 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5847 (2008) · source
“Clearly, these unlawful actions are not actions that in any way whatsoever can promote calm and stability and serve the peace process. They are inflammatory, provocative and dangerous and serve only to fully ignite the cycle of violence, death and destruction and to undermine any progress made in the peace process. That is an indisputable fact. The peace process is not divorced from the situation on the ground. Just as positive developments and progress in the peace process can beneficially impact the situation on the ground, such negative developments and illegal actions very detrimentally impact not only the situation on the ground but the peace process itself and the stability of the entire region.”
2008-03-01 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5847 (2008) · source
“Civilians under foreign occupation are entitled to protection of their person and of their dignity under international humanitarian law. There can be no doubt that the acts of aggression committed by Israel in recent days are flagrant violations of these relevant provisions of international humanitarian law. Moreover, such wilful killing of civilians and wanton destruction of property constitute grave breaches - that is, war crimes. Real and immediate measures must be taken to avert the killing of even more innocent souls and avert the uncontrollable spiral of the situation to irreversible depths, wherein the vicious, depraved and deadly cycle of violence will consume everything in its path as well as extinguish all hopes.”
2008-03-01 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5847 (2008) · source
“What we are witnessing now is the horrific materialization of the repeated threats made over time, which have intensified in recent weeks and days - and made in the past few days by several Israeli officials, who have threatened to launch large-scale military attacks against the Palestinian people under their occupation in the Gaza Strip. In this regard, we highlight the recent threat by the Deputy Defence Minister of Israel to inflict a "holocaust" among the Palestinian people in Gaza. Such threats, combined with the actual killing of civilians and destruction being perpetrated by Israel, the occupying Power, must be viewed with the utmost seriousness; they must be vehemently condemned, and they require immediate action by the international community, including the Security Council.”
2008-03-01 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5847 (2008) · source
“Even a cursory review of the timeline of events will reveal clearly that these killings of Palestinian civilians by Israel, the occupying Power, did not begin with the killing of an Israeli in Sderot by rocket fire from the Gaza Strip - which the Palestinian Authority has repeatedly rejected and of which it has called for the immediate cessation. And, on this point, we must once again recall that, in any and all circumstances, reprisals against the civilian population are strictly prohibited under international law. Rather, what has been occurring in the occupied Palestinian territory has been a constant and ongoing lethal and indiscriminate Israeli military campaign being waged against the defenceless Palestinian civilian population.”
2008-03-01 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5847 (2008) · source
“At the same time, it must be pointed out that many of the Palestinians killed and wounded have been the casualties of extrajudicial executions illegally committed by the Israeli occupying forces Via missile air strikes by warplanes and helicopters, launched at targets in heavily populated civilian areas. Such extrajudicial executions also continue to be carried out by the occupying Power in the West Bank, in addition to constant raids and arrest campaigns and other illegal practices and actions. Just this week in the Balata refugee camp in Nablus, in the West Bank, Israeli undercover units killed three Palestinian men. Such actions are clearly intended to undermine the efforts by Palestinian security forces to establish calm and security and promote law and order in the area, and they threaten the truce agreement reached there.”
2008-03-01 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5847 (2008) · source
“The hospitals in Gaza, which are already facing critical shortages of medical supplies and decaying equipment as a result of the ongoing Israeli siege of Gaza, are exerting all efforts possible under such circumstances to treat those who have been wounded in these attacks. Additionally, the Israeli occupying forces continue to target medical rescue teams and forbid ambulances from evacuating the wounded. Meanwhile, the rest of the population in the area, gripped by panic and fear and already suffering humanitarian hardship, are reported to be hiding in their homes, where even there they know they are not safe from the military strikes of the occupying Power.”
2008-03-01 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5847 (2008) · source
“Living in a world surrounded by death, destruction, misery and hardship, Palestinian children, especially in the Gaza Strip, are traumatized and plagued by the ever-present fear and question, "Will I be next?", as the missiles and shells continue to rain down on their homes and neighbourhoods. Today alone, at least 60 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military attacks in the northern Gaza Strip, including at least five children and three women. In addition, it is being reported that more than 150 Palestinians have been wounded by the Israeli occupying forces in this latest round of attacks.”
2008-03-01 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5847 (2008) · source
“When the slaughter of innocent children has become acceptable or is somehow justified under the pretext of promoting security or "counter-terror", we know that we have completely sunken into the dark abyss where there is a total absence of the law, absence of logic or reason, absence of morality, absence of conscience and absence of humanity. When we reach this point, we bitterly begin to realize that the standards of the law and human rights are not equally applicable to all humans, not even to children and women or to the elderly or disabled. This perception looms dangerously among the Palestinian people, who have endured the killing of more than 1,000 children by the occupying forces since the year 2000.”
2008-03-01 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5847 (2008) · source
“The children killed have included infant babies, aged two days old and five months old; three young boys, brothers from the same family, ages 8, 11 and 14; and several other innocent children who were at play or in their homes when death cruelly struck them - as well as an entire family, including a mother, father and their three young children, who were killed in their home in Al-Bureij refugee camp in a missile strike two weeks ago. Palestinian families are being devastated and their homes, communities and lives destroyed before everyone's eyes. There is no justification whatsoever for the killing of innocent civilians. There is no justification whatsoever for killing babies, for killing children, for killing women, for killing older people - for killing innocent civilians.”
2008-03-01 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5847 (2008) · source
“The humanitarian calamity in the Gaza Strip continues to deepen as a result, and the carnage and destruction are perpetuating a vicious and bloody cycle of violence that threatens to completely destabilize the situation and derail the fragile peace process. Despite our repeated warnings and appeals to the Council, no action has been taken to stem this cycle of violence, and Israel continues its deadly rampage throughout the Gaza Strip. In just one month's time - from the start of February until today - Israel, the occupying Power, has killed more than 126 Palestinians, including 19 innocent children and several women and many members of the same families.”
2008-03-01 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5847 (2008) · source
“In deliberate and flagrant breach of article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilians in Time of War, Israel continues to collectively punish the Palestinian civilian population in the Gaza Strip by means of the sealing and closure of the territory and the obstruction of the movement of persons and goods, including humanitarian access, as well as by means of military reprisals against persons and property and by acts of terror and intimidation. Such actions are clearly prohibited by international law and are being committed by the occupying Power on a scale and scope amounting to war crimes.”
2008-03-01 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5847 (2008) · source
“The situation on the ground is deteriorating dramatically as the violence escalates, the number of dead and injured mounts and fear and panic spread throughout the Palestinian civilian population in the Gaza Strip, which has already endured so much suffering and is barely surviving under conditions of severe duress resulting from Israel's ongoing and unlawful closure of all of the territory's border crossings, its obstruction of vital humanitarian supplies, including food, medicines and other necessary and basic goods and materials, its reduction of fuel and electricity supplies and its incessant lethal military campaign.”
2008-03-01 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5847 (2008) · source
“The lack of action and lack of accountability have only led, time after time, to the perpetration of even more war crimes with impunity against innocent civilians, as evidenced by the tragic and violent events of today and the past week. The Palestinian death toll in the occupied Palestinian territory, particularly in the besieged Gaza Strip, is rising rapidly as a result of the brutal military assaults being carried out by Israel, the occupying Power, against the civilian population under its occupation.”
2008-03-01 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5847 (2008) · source
“Before proceeding, I also wish to thank the Secretary-General for his briefing and for the attention given by him and by all Council members and other 3 concerned Member States to the critical situation that we are facing. We come to the Security Council once again to appeal to the Council - to plead with the Council - to uphold international law, to uphold its own resolutions and to uphold its Charter responsibilities for the maintenance of international peace and security. The silence of the international community, due to the ongoing paralysis of the Security Council, is wholly unjustifiable and unacceptable.”
2008-03-01 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5847 (2008) · source
“Mr. President, thank you for your efforts to convene this urgent meeting of the Security Council to address the current crisis. In congratulating you on your assumption of the presidency of the Security Council for the month of March, we assure you of our full confidence in your ability to guide the important work of the Council. We also wish to thank the Permanent Representative of Panama for his outstanding leadership of the Council last month. I would also like to thank the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya for its request to convene this evening's meeting, in the light of the escalation of violence and the dramatic deterioration of the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory in recent days.”
2008-03-01 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5847 (2008) · source
“Such efforts, combined with the important advocacy work of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, will keep attention on the plight of children in armed conflict, a plight that the Security Council must also address as it endeavours to address armed conflicts in their entirety for the promotion of peace and security for all in our world.”
2008-02-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5834Resumption1 (2008) · source
“In this regard, we agree with the recommendation in the report of the Secretary-General that child protection advisers should be posted in the occupied Palestinian territory, among other places, to enhance human rights monitoring and appropriate responses to children's issues. Moreover, we stress the central role of the United Nation in assisting and protecting children, particularly through the important work of UNICEF and, in the case of Palestinian children, of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East as well, and the many other United Nations agencies working with other international humanitarian organizations to help children around the world.”
2008-02-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5834Resumption1 (2008) · source
“While it is our deepest hope that current peace efforts will lead to a just and lasting settlement that will bring to Palestinian children the freedom, security and well-being of peace in their independent State, living side by side with Israeli children in peace and security, reiterate that the rights of children living in such situations of armed conflict, including foreign occupation, and response to their needs cannot be postponed or withheld. For all of these children, there must be collective efforts to ensure their protection and their rights as well as the necessary assistance and rehabilitation to give them hope and allow them to become productive members of their societies, contributing to the advancement of their nations.”
2008-02-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5834Resumption1 (2008) · source
“In conjunction with this, widespread hunger in Gaza, where mothers and fathers cannot even feed their children without food aid, and the severe shortages of fresh drinking water have caused a dramatic decline in health, with rampant child malnutrition, anaemia, and stunted growth. Medical research estimates that at least 70 per cent of children in Gaza are anaemic and that, consequently, these children lack immunity even to common childhood diseases, not to mention other, more virulent diseases. In such a situation, even a simple outbreak of influenza could cause severe illness or widespread death among children. Such a catastrophe must be averted by immediate humanitarian and political intervention.”
2008-02-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5834Resumption1 (2008) · source
“Israel's collective punishment of the Palestinian people has disastrously impacted the humanitarian situation of children, with the situation in the besieged Gaza Strip most severe. There, Israel's obstruction of access for humanitarian supplies and personnel is violating children's rights to food, health care, education and, in some cases, the right to life itself. It has been reported that already more than 67 children have died due to blockage of access to proper medical care, including prevention of treatment outside the Gaza Strip and a shortage of 150 critical medications.”
2008-02-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5834Resumption1 (2008) · source
“Children continue to be used as human shields by the occupying forces, and their schools continue to be targeted by attacks. More than 400 Palestinian children, some as young as 12 years old, also continue to be imprisoned by Israel under inhumane conditions and subject to physical and mental ill-treatment, including torture and threats of sexual violence. Palestinian children also continue to suffer displacement and its many associated consequences, including induced poverty, as a result of the occupying Power's wanton destruction of homes and refugee shelters and unlawful construction of the wall and settlements. Palestinian children also continue to suffer gravely from the deliberate denial of humanitarian access by the occupying Power.”
2008-02-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5834Resumption1 (2008) · source
“Decades of human rights violations and hardships have indelibly marked Palestine's children and refugees and those under occupation, resulting in what the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Ms. Coomaraswamy, described in a report following her visit to the occupied Palestinian territory in April 2007, as "a palpable sense of loss and a feeling of hopelessness that places the children of the West Bank and Gaza apart from all other situations the SRSG has visited to date". Palestinian children continue to be killed and wounded in Israeli military assaults and to be traumatized by the vicious cycle of violence, with nearly 1,000 children killed since September 2000 and more than 3,500 injured, many of them permanently disabled.”
2008-02-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5834Resumption1 (2008) · source
“7 (7), annex) We must act now, in reaffirmation of this commitment, to protect children and to ensure their rights under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and all other relevant international legal instruments. The wide gap between such international legal standards and their actual implementation for safeguarding children's rights must be closed. Ending impunity for violations against children is paramount, and we agree in this regard with the recommendations in the 10-year strategic review of the Machel report, including the application of targeted measures such as sanctions against those persistently committing grave violations against children in armed conflict.”
2008-02-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5834Resumption1 (2008) · source
“Moreover, the damage caused to children today has negative short and long-term consequences for children, women, families and societies as a whole, inevitably impacting future prospects for peace and development in our world. We know that to be true. Yet, regrettably, children continue to be the victims of appalling human rights violations and crimes, despite the international community's Declaration, more than five years ago, that "Children must be protected from the horrors of armed conflict. Children under foreign occupation must also be protected, in accordance with the provisions of international humanitarian law". (General Assembly resolution S-27/2, para.”
2008-02-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5834Resumption1 (2008) · source
“Their childhoods are marred by violence, physical and psychological harm; displacement; imprisonment; exploitation, including recruitment as soldiers and sexual exploitation; hunger; poverty; lack of education; and devastation of their families and communities. For children in situations of armed conflict, including foreign occupation, all aspects of life are detrimentally impacted and the meaning of childhood is lost. As stated in the important Graca Machel study "Impact of armed conflict on children", "War violates every right of a child - the right to life, the right to be with family and community, the right to health, the right to development and the right to be nurtured and protected".”
2008-02-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5834Resumption1 (2008) · source
“I congratulate you, Sir, and your country, Panama, on your assumption of the presidency of the Security Council for this month and express our confidence in your ability to wisely guide the work of the Council. I also reiterate our thanks to the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya for its able leadership of the Council in January. In addition, I thank Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy, Ms. Ann Veneman and Ms. Jo Becker for their statements. Armed conflicts continue to claim the lives of innocent children around the world. Our world is not one fit for all children, particularly those in situations of armed conflict, who are surrounded by dangers that force them to live in constant fear for their lives and leave them needy and vulnerable.”
2008-02-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5834Resumption1 (2008) · source
“That would not mean that we have succeeded in putting an end to the occupation that started in 1967, as President Bush put it clearly, but we hope that through negotiations with the Israeli side, and with the help of all the members of the Council, we will succeed before the end of the year 2008 in reaching a peace treaty to put an end to occupation and allow our Palestinian State to be born in all of the areas that Israel occupied in 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and with a just, agreed-upon resolution to the refugee question on the basis of General Assembly resolution 194 (III).”
2008-01-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5827 (2008) · source
“Our President is working very hard with President Mubarak, with the Europeans, the Israelis, the Americans and others, to find a solution to this situation. If we succeed, and we hope that we do - and the Council's help in this connection is very valuable - then we can put an end to the tragedy that the civil population in Gaza is facing.”
2008-01-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5827 (2008) · source
“Therefore, this exercise of trying to punish 1.5 million Palestinian people because some people have political positions vis-a-Vis a political party that is powerful in Gaza is not working. We should not play with the lives of 1.5 million civilians in Gaza. That should be put aside to that we can concentrate on the practical political elements that we need to face. The most important element is to deal with opening the borders. We thank all members of the Council for supporting the initiative of the Palestinian Authority to assume the responsibility at all of the crossings from the Palestinian side. We also thank the Quartet for that position, as well as the Arab League ministerial meeting.”
2008-01-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5827 (2008) · source
“To use Under-Secretary-General Holmes's expression, that is a collective punishment and a Violation of international law. To try to reach agreement in the Security Council without balancing the draft, looking at only one of its aspects - the firing of rockets - without considering all the other issues facing the Palestinian people, is not balanced and not fair. And that is exactly what we said. But be that as it may, we are delighted by this debate and by the exercise by which the 15 members of this Council supported the initiative of the Palestinian Authority to deal with the crossings into Gaza. That is the concrete solution to this tragedy regarding our people in Gaza. The borders need to be opened, people need to get in and out, goods need to get in and out.”
2008-01-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5827 (2008) · source
“Beyond that, as a member of the Arab Group, we showed a tremendous amount of flexibility and balance when we agreed to refer to the rockets in the draft presidential statement, which received the support of 14 members of the Security Council two days before last Friday. By so doing, we demonstrated that we were willing to deal with the issue of the rockets. Yet the main reason for the tragedy in Gaza is not the firing of rockets. The position of our President is well known: he is against the firing of rockets, and he worked diligently to organize two ceasefires. The main reason is the occupation; the main reason is the incursions; the main reason is the starvation of 1.5 million Palestinian civilians in Gaza; the main reason is the extrajudicial executions; the main reason is the incarceration of 1.5 million people in a huge prison.”
2008-01-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5827 (2008) · source
“However, during the past three weeks, President Abbas has not only expressed his position that he opposes the firing of rockets because they are used as an excuse by Israel to continue its aggression, but has also made many statements condemning Israel's continuing aggression against our people in Gaza, including the siege and the extrajudicial executions. In fact, President Abbas wanted to declare a three-day period of mourning after the massacre committed in Gaza not too long ago. So, if one wants to refer to the position of President Abbas on this issue, it should be referred to in its totality.”
2008-01-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5827 (2008) · source
“John Dugard, who has articulated this point very extensively from the point of view of international humanitarian law. With regard to the reference made by my colleague from the United States to the statement of President Abbas, we know very well what the President's position is regarding the rockets. In my statement, I went beyond the position of President Abbas, referring to him twice. I said that it was to his credit that he had succeeded in organizing a unilateral ceasefire - that is, stopping the rockets - and that it was Israel through its continuous incursions, extrajudicial executions and aggression against the Palestinians that had broken that unilateral ceasefire twice.”
2008-01-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5827 (2008) · source
“I apologize for requesting the floor for a second time. I realize that it is late, and I had not planned to ask for the floor at this time. But I have done so mainly to respond to the representative of the United States. I also want to add that the continuous effort by the representative of Israel, the occupying Power, to repeat the assertion that Gaza is not part of the occupied Palestinian territory is a repeated exercise in futility. Because of the lateness of the hour, I would like only to refer him to the many distinguished scholars and authorities in the area of international humanitarian law from all corners of the globe, including Israel. They have proved, without a shadow of a doubt, that Gaza has the status of being under the control of Israel, the occupying Power. In that connection, I will refer to only one scholar, Mr.”
2008-01-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5827 (2008) · source
“That collective support, encouragement and commitment to principled positions based on international law strengthen our resolve as a people to realize our national rights and aspirations. That is why we shall continue to highly value the role of the Security Council as the principal United Nations organ responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security. We shall continue to call on the Council to actively carry out its duties and its own resolutions on the question of Palestine until a just, lasting and comprehensive peace is achieved.”
2008-01-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5827 (2008) · source
“It is a situation for which there is no military solution and for which there must be a courageous and just political solution based on the relevant United Nations resolutions, the Arab Peace Initiative, the Road Map and the Madrid principle of land for peace. Therefore, we shall continue to look to the international community for its support in upholding international law to relieve the current humanitarian crisis and for the ultimate realization of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people. Despite the difficulties we encounter, we continue to strongly believe in the important role to be played by the international community in promoting calm and stability, addressing the humanitarian situation and advancing the peace process.”
2008-01-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5827 (2008) · source
“While we are aware that both sides have responsibilities under international law and commitments under the agreements reached in the peace process, to which the Palestinian leadership is committed, this remains a situation of the foreign occupation of an entire people, with daily violations of their basic rights by the occupying Power through collective punishment, military aggression and other illegal measures. It is a situation in which the might of power continues to prevail and to be emboldened, and in which the forces for peace continue to be weakened. But it is also a situation that is untenable and unsustainable and that must be resolved.”
2008-01-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5827 (2008) · source
“They also call into question Israel's true intentions concerning the peace process, because their continuation only ensures further deterioration of the situation on the ground, hampers progress in the peace process and threatens the entire process. There can be no balance and no justice in the continuation of this situation in the occupied Palestinian territory. Once again, Israel remains unaccountable for its human rights violations and its grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Calls and efforts for action at this critical juncture have been subordinated to calls and efforts for "balance" in what is, at its core, an extremely unbalanced situation.”
2008-01-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5827 (2008) · source
“In addition, while several prisoners have been released, daily arrest campaigns are being carried out by Israel, and Israel has maintained the number of Palestinians in Israeli jails and detention centres at nearly 11,000, including hundreds of children and women, most of whom are being held in deplorable conditions. Moreover, Israel continues to conduct military raids in Palestinian towns and cities, including attacks on Palestinian security forces, thus deliberately undermining the efforts, the achievements and the credibility of the Palestinian Authority with respect to promoting calm and security for its own people. These are all serious issues that require attention and action.”
2008-01-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5827 (2008) · source
“Thus, we reiterate our appeals to the international community to call upon - indeed, to compel - Israel to immediately cease all its illegal settlement activities and its construction of the wall in the occupied Palestinian territory, to abide by its legal obligations and to immediately undertake confidence-building measures that indicate its seriousness in addressing this issue. Meanwhile, in the West Bank, the occupying Power continues to impose severe restrictions on the movement of persons and goods through hundreds of checkpoints and roadblocks, which have not been reduced since the relaunching of the peace process and which continue to have a negative impact on the socio- economic life and recovery of the Palestinians.”
2008-01-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5827 (2008) · source
“They gravely undermine the credibility of the peace process and raise serious doubts as to Israel's good faith in negotiations, since it cannot even cease its illegal actions and continues to create still more obstacles on the ground. In that regard, the settlements and the wall- which are also having a grave impact on the Palestinians' socio-economic conditions - clearly jeopardize the prospects of achieving a peace settlement based on the two-State solution, as they severely fragment the Palestinian territory and destroy its unity, integrity, contiguity and viability.”
2008-01-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5827 (2008) · source
“The Quartet has repeatedly called on Israel to abide by that obligation. Nevertheless, despite pledges to cease those illegal activities, Israel, the occupying Power, continues its colonization of the occupied Palestinian territory, particularly in and around occupied East Jerusalem, through its construction of settlements, the wall and the bypass roads, as well as through all other illegal measures intended to facilitate its plans for a de facto annexation. Those measures include, inter alia, the confiscation of land, the demolition of houses, restrictions on residency and the permit regime. In addition to their illegality, such colonization activities are extremely provocative.”
2008-01-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5827 (2008) · source
“The fact that the Israeli settlements established in the occupied Palestinian territory constitute grave breaches of international law is indisputable, having been affirmed by the Security Council, the General Assembly, the International Court of Justice, the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention and, indeed, by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, as stressed by Under-Secretary-General Pascoe in his statement this morning. The fact that they constitute a serious obstacle to the establishment of a physically viable, contiguous independent Palestinian State, and thus to the achievement of peace, is also indisputable. The Road Map, endorsed by the Security Council in resolution 1515 (2003), clearly calls for an Israeli freeze on all settlement activities and for the dismantling of all settlement outposts.”
2008-01-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5827 (2008) · source
“As we have repeatedly brought to Council's attention in our letters regarding the situation, Israel continues to carry out its illegal colonization campaign through out the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem and the surrounding area. It has been a relentless campaign and, although the instances are too numerous to recount here, some do exemplify the severity of the situation. Immediately after the Annapolis Conference, Israeli officials announced the continuation of settlement construction in J abal Abu Ghneim - Har Homa - in occupied East Jerusalem. Israel has continued its construction of settlements in the Jordan Valley. Furthermore, last week Israeli bulldozers razed large areas of the Al- Quds University campus, in Beit Hanina, for road construction intended to connect illegal Israeli settlements.”
2008-01-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5827 (2008) · source
“Despite the recent momentum and hopes generated by developments in the international arena, including the important Annapolis conference, which led to the resumption of bilateral negotiations between the Israeli and Palestinian sides, and despite the Paris donors' conference and the Visit of President George Bush of the United States to the region earlier this month, it is the current developments on the ground, as Under- Secretary-General Pascoe stated, that are now shaping our environment and will determine the course of future events. In this regard, momentum and hope are being seriously harmed by Israel's unlawful practices vis-a-vis the Gaza Strip, as well as by its continued pursuit of illegal policies in the West Bank, aimed mainly at advancing its illegitimate expansionist aims.”
2008-01-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5827 (2008) · source
“Israel is obligated under international law to ensure such movement and the safe, unfettered access of humanitarian personnel, including personnel of the United Nations, at the forefront of which on the ground is the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which continues to provide vital assistance to the Palestinian civilian population at this time. On behalf of Palestine, we wish to express our thanks to UNRWA for the noble work it does, particularly in Gaza. The picture before us now in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, is regrettably bleak. Progress in the newly relaunched peace process remains elusive, while challenges continue to be on the rise.”
2008-01-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5827 (2008) · source
“It has also earned the support of the Security Council, as it deliberated on the draft presidential statement last week and early this week. President Abbas is in Cairo today, discussing this matter with President Hosni Mubarak within the context of previous agreements. This proposal is the practical, sustainable means of addressing the humanitarian crisis caused by the collective punishment of 1.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. It will enable the opening of the crossings and the necessary movement of persons and goods into and out of the Gaza Strip.”
2008-01-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5827 (2008) · source
“Israel should be compelled to abide by its obligations under international law, including its obligations towards the civilian population under its occupation, in accordance with the provisions of the fourth Geneva Convention. Regardless of the excuses put forward by it, Israel cannot and should not be absolved of its responsibilities in this regard. Israel must be held accountable. The situation before us thus requires urgent humanitarian action as well as political action. In this regard, we reiterate the need to respond to the proposal made by the Palestinian Authority that it should assume responsibility for the Palestinian side of the Gaza border crossings. The Arab ministerial meeting of 27 January 2008 endorsed this proposal, which has already received Quartet as well as broad international support.”
2008-01-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5827 (2008) · source
“Children, women, elderly persons, disabled people, ill persons and entire families should not, for any reason whatsoever, be forced into destitution nor into near-starvation, be forced to do without the basic necessities of life and be subjected to constant Israeli military assaults and terror. It is unjustifiable and morally unconscionable. International law is supposed to protect civilians during times of armed conflict, including foreign occupation, from measures of collective punishment and reprisal, which are strictly prohibited. What is happening in Gaza is a deliberate man- made catastrophe. The international community must continue to vociferously reject this situation, and Israel, the occupying Power, should be called upon to immediately cease the unlawful policies and practices that have created it.”
2008-01-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5827 (2008) · source