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 also want to express our appreciation to the United Nations, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Qatar and all who helped end this violent, abhorrent aggression. But the situation is profoundly unsustainable. Where do we go from here? We know the result of the current equation. We Palestinians know that better than anybody else. However, another equation is possible. The Council’s actions need to be determined by the outcome it is seeking. The international community and the Council have determined in no uncertain terms the outcome we aspire to. We have a global consensus on what the solution should look like. It is an outcome embedded in countless United Nations resolutions, including those adopted by the Council.”
2022-08-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9107 (2022) · source
“The Secretary-General further stated: “During the May 2021 escalation of hostilities, there were substantial air strikes by the Israeli armed forces, resulting in a significant increase in the number of cases of violence against children […] should the situation repeat itself in 2022, without meaningful improvement, Israel should be listed.” (ibid., para.303) We believe the listing of Israel is long overdue and that the threshold set by the Secretary-General himself has been crossed yet again. Mr. Wennesland described to us a similar situation that took place in a condensed period of time, three days, during which one third of the deaths that occurred were of children. We are deeply grateful to Egypt for its unrelenting efforts to put an end to this aggression.”
2022-08-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9107 (2022) · source
“How many more wars does he or she need to survive before acceding to life — a simple and safe life in their homeland? The Secretary-General stated in his report on children and armed conflict: “I am shocked by the number of children killed and maimed by Israeli forces during hostilities, in air strikes on densely populated areas and through the use of live ammunition […] and by the persistent lack of accountability for these violations.” (S/2022/493, para.93) Only weeks after the report was issued, we are confronted with the same patterns of disregard for Palestinian civilian life, and specifically Palestinian children’s lives, fostered by the same impunity.”
2022-08-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9107 (2022) · source
“If it is killing our children, it is our fault. If it is occupying our country, it is our fault. If it is besieging our people, it is our fault. Israel wants peace; that is why it builds Israeli settlements and demolishes Palestinian homes. Israel wants peace; that is why it needs to expand and we need to live in enclaves. When do we say enough is enough? Should we wait for the next round or the one after? The next aggression? The next settlement? The next forced transfer of civilians? When do we finally demonstrate to the Palestinian people that there is a peaceful path that leads to freedom, instead of doing everything to convince them otherwise? A 15-year-old child in Gaza has survived a blockade that is older than he or she is and six wars.”
2022-08-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9107 (2022) · source
“Did the Council hear about the Al-Nabahin family, another name added to the long list of Palestinian families who lost four or more of their members, including three children? Do Council members know how it feels to be powerless, to be unable to provide any protection for one’s child, to know there is no safe haven or shelter anywhere? Do they know how it feels to survive one war and wait for the next onslaught? How can I convey these things so that people finally understand that those who really need the Council’s support for their security are these defenceless Palestinian families, not the nuclear Power, not the occupying Power? How will Israel answer our calls for protection? By blaming the victim. Israel is beyond reproach. It kills Palestinians because it has to, and it always has to. If it is stealing our land, it is our fault.”
2022-08-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9107 (2022) · source
“The recommendations of the Secretary-General presented four years ago and welcomed by the General Assembly have yet to be implemented. I am referring to protections. We need protection. Our civilians are entitled to protection. Our children deserve protection. Alaa Qaddoum was 5 years old. I am sure everyone has seen her picture. She was an innocent angel. Does the Council know how hard it is to speak in the past tense of those who had yet to experience life? Alaa Qaddoum was 5 years old, and she was already three wars old. She survived the first two, not the third. Did the Council hear about the parents who spent years trying to have a child and finally had a son, only to have to bury him a few years later?”
2022-08-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9107 (2022) · source
“Its real reason is barely veiled — the upcoming Israeli election and the desperation to appeal to and appease the extremists. Forty-four Palestinians and counting — 46 according to Mr. Wennesland — were killed, including 15 children, in a morbid power play and display. Israel kills our people because it can. When will the world show them that they cannot? Does not the Council have a clear position on the protection of civilians? Are our civilians’ lives less worthy of protection than other civilians? Are they somehow the exception to every rule? Are they in a zone where the United Nations Charter and international law do not apply? Or is the identity of their aggressor somehow enough to justify blanket immunity for the perpetrators and no protection for the victims?”
2022-08-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9107 (2022) · source
“Is the Council, as the highest authority responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security, ready to say enough is enough? How many more years does Israel get to impose its inhumane blockade on 2 million people — half of them children — until someone says enough is enough? How many more children do we have to bury until someone says enough is enough? Regardless of who is in power in Israel, there are two constant features of Israeli policy: bombing Gaza and advancing colonial settlements and the settlers’ agenda. Those are undeniable facts. While Israel was bombing Gaza this time around, Israeli extremists were storming Al-Haram Al-Sharif yet again and violating the historic status quo. This was an unprovoked and unjustified act of aggression.”
2022-08-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9107 (2022) · source
“Israel claims it is always defending itself, even when it keeps attacking the Palestinian people. If the Council is against violence, it cannot excuse Israeli violence, justify it or encourage it. Israel’s so-called “right to security” has become a license to kill, and it must be revoked. In an international law-based order, international law is the measuring stick for anybody’s actions. We are bound by its rules and remain ready to abide by them. What about the other party? Can it keep rewriting the rules as it wishes? And can the Council accept such double standards, which undermine the protection of the law everywhere? How many more times will Israel get to justify bombing our people in Gaza until someone says enough is enough?”
2022-08-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9107 (2022) · source
“I thank China for its able leadership of the Security Council and its convening of this emergency meeting to address blatant violations of the Charter of the United Nations and of the Council’s resolutions. I also thank the United Arab Emirates, France, Ireland and Norway, together with China, for requesting, upon our appeal, the convening of this briefing. Israel claims for itself a right to security that would seemingly justify murdering, imprisoning and oppressing an entire nation. It claims a right to security that would trump our right to life, our right to self- determination and our right to be safe in our homes. It claims a right to security that supersedes the United Nations Charter, international humanitarian law and international human rights law. It claims for itself everything that it denies us.”
2022-08-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9107 (2022) · source
“What the Council needs to do is act. The Council members know what the objective is and what our common position is. Reiterating it is not sufficient. Action is what is needed.”
2022-07-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9099 (2022) · source
“The only question that remains is whether we are ready to do what is necessary to achieve it. Is the Security Council, entrusted with the maintenance of international peace and security, ready to achieve our collective objective? The Secretary-General has rightly warned that we risk losing the opportunity for a two-State solution altogether. Ms. Hastings also reflected that notion in her briefing today. The future will be determined by what we do right now. There are two tasks that cannot be deferred or delayed, and they are providing protection to the Palestinian people — and we are working with the Secretary-General and his teams in that regard — and preserving a two-State solution based on the 1967 borders. If there is to be a different future, that is what needs to happen in the present. We must act now before it is too late.”
2022-07-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9099 (2022) · source
“Our leadership and chairmanship of the Group of 77 and China for a whole year is a clear testimony to that fact. We have every right to be a Member of the United Nations. Nothing justifies delaying that prospect. We have every right to freedom and independence. Our right to self-determination, sovereignty and territorial integrity is enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations. Six years ago, the Security Council adopted resolution 2334 (2016), which set out a clear path towards salvaging a two-State solution, ending the occupation and achieving a just and secure peace. It is the responsibility of the Security Council and its members to ensure that we embark on that path. If we act now, together, peace is possible. I know that everyone around this table and beyond wants peace.”
2022-07-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9099 (2022) · source
“It is time for the international community to determine what steps need to be immediately taken to allow us to reach our common objectives. I repeat, we must determine what practical steps need to be immediately taken to allow us to reach our common objectives. The fate of an entire nation cannot be held hostage by Israeli politics or the settlers’ agenda. The stakes are too high, the issue too serious and the implications too grave. Ten years ago, the General Assembly adopted a historic resolution (resolution 67/19) granting Palestine observer State status at the United Nations. Many members present today voted in favour of that resolution, and we thank them. Since then, we have demonstrated our ability to be an effective and constructive actor in the international community.”
2022-07-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9099 (2022) · source
“The Jeddah communiqué stated in no uncertain terms the enduring commitment to the two-State solution, wherein a sovereign and contiguous Palestinian State lives side by side in peace and security with Israel, as the only way to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in accordance with the internationally recognized parameters and the Arab Peace Initiative. However, Israel announced yesterday, only days after the visit of President Biden, that it was yet again advancing hundreds of settlement units, including in occupied East Jerusalem — our capital. It is time for the political and financial engagement of the international community to translate into a common agenda for freedom, justice and peace — a common agenda to protect the Palestinian people, fulfil Palestinian rights and achieve peace for all.”
2022-07-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9099 (2022) · source
“At a time when the international community rightfully proclaims that we are entitled to equal measures of freedom, security and prosperity, Israel persists in denying us all three. What will the Security Council and the broader international community do about it? United States President Biden’s visit to the region provided an occasion to reaffirm fundamental principles about ending the occupation and the conflict, including the two-State solution based on the 1967 borders; opposition to unilateral measures, including settlement activities, demolitions and evictions; and the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and a sovereign and independent State.”
2022-07-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9099 (2022) · source
“From the day Palestinians are born until the day they die, they are acutely aware that they have no control over their life and that at any point and for no reason, they can be killed, arrested, injured or denied entry to or exit from their own country, the right to education, access to health care, the freedom to worship at their holy sites without fear or harassment, the right to live with their loved ones and the right to a safe home and a secure life. They know that a settler or a soldier has been endowed with the right to take away their life, while enjoying blanket immunity. They know that, whatever happens, Palestinians will be deemed to be guilty and Israelis will be deemed to be innocent in Israeli courts. They know that the world, too accustomed to that pattern of tragedy and injustice, will express dismay and then look away.”
2022-07-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9099 (2022) · source
“It is the story of thousands who are arbitrarily detained and imprisoned, including children — their minds, bodies and souls traumatized. It is the story of human rights and humanitarian non-governmental organizations that are labelled as terrorist organizations. It is the story of the victims being blamed for their fate and an oppressor claiming the right to oppress the people and steal the land. What does the future hold for Palestine? What does the future hold for Palestinians? It is an entire nation fighting to exist to live in freedom and dignity on its ancestral land. It fights for justice. For a century, it has fought just to exist.”
2022-07-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9099 (2022) · source
“However, the Palestinian story is also one of unrealized potential and interrupted journeys — from the journalist Yasser Murtaja, who was killed while covering the violent repression by the Israelis of the Gaza Great March of Return, to the journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was shot dead while covering yet another Israeli military raid in the refugee camp of Jenin. It is the story of the families in Sheikh Jarrah, Silwan and Massafer Yatta, who are under the constant threat of being forcibly displaced from their homes, like many before them. It is the story of entire families buried under the rubble of their homes — what was to be their safest haven. It is the story of more than 2 million people trapped by a medieval blockade.”
2022-07-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9099 (2022) · source
“However, what the report described was not a one-time event but a persistent pattern over the years of abject disregard for the lives and rights of Palestinian children that justifies listing Israel several times over, not merely warning it of such a prospect. The Palestinian nation and this Palestinian generation are full of potential. That can be seen in every field despite the terrible circumstances — from Loay Elbasyouni, who made his way from Gaza to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, to the Gaza Sky Geeks who shaped a horizon despite the blockade; from Hanan Al Hroub, who received the Global Teacher Prize, to Iqbal Al-Assad, the youngest doctor in the world.”
2022-07-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9099 (2022) · source
“The Secretary- General’s recent report on children and armed conflict (S/2022/493) once again highlighted the vast array of violations of which Palestinian children are victims. The Secretary-General stated, “I am shocked by the number of children killed and maimed by Israeli forces during hostilities, in air strikes on densely populated areas and through the use of live ammunition during law enforcement operations, and by the persistent lack of accountability for these violations.” (S/2022/493, para.93) The lack of accountability demonstrates that nothing has been done to truly address the situation. The Secretary-General has warned that a repeat of Israeli violations similar to those of May 2021 would lead to the listing of Israel among the violators of child rights.”
2022-07-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9099 (2022) · source
“Allow me at the outset to thank you, Mr. President, for convening this meeting, and to reiterate our appreciation to Brazil for its leadership of the Security Council this month. We also thank Ms. Hastings for her briefing this morning and for all her and her team’s tireless efforts to address the humanitarian situation on the ground in occupied Palestine, including East Jerusalem. States are currently discussing preparations for the Summit of the Future. Let me therefore talk about the future. We know what the future will look like if nothing is done differently. For Palestinian children, it is a future of fear, harassment, intimidation, arbitrary arrest and detention, injury and death.”
2022-07-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9099 (2022) · source
“In a matter of weeks, Israel announced 4,000 new settlement units and forcible displacement in Masafer Yatta, killed dozens of Palestinians, many of them children, and announced an Israeli flags march in occupied East Jerusalem. The Israeli choice is clear: aggression, annexation and apartheid. Israel will continue spreading fire and complaining about the forest burning. The Security Council can continue trying to extinguish the next fire and the next one and the one after that, or it can stop Israel from setting fire in the first place. Shireen deserves justice, and our people deserve justice. Our lives matter, our freedom matters, and our dignity matters. May our dear Shireen rest in peace, and may our people one day live in peace.”
2022-05-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9046 (2022) · source
“It took a small step in the right direction, which we appreciate and which the family of Shireen appreciates. I talked to her brother just this morning, before coming to the Security Council, and he expressed his gratitude and appreciation for the Council’s unified position in condemning the killing of Shireen. Let us take the next step and the next. Let us force Israel to correct its course. I want to inform the Council that the Prosecutor General of Palestine issued the report on Shireen’s assassination today. A copy of that report was shared with the United States Administration. A copy will be shared with Shireen’s family and with Al-Jazeera. After we know who assassinated Shireen Abu Akleh, we need to move to hold that person or persons accountable.”
2022-05-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9046 (2022) · source
“I ask the Council to take a step in support of Palestinian freedom, recognize the State of Palestine, help to consolidate the 1967 borders, including in Jerusalem, assist communities to live and thrive on their land, make sure that there is a cost for Israel for building illegally on our land, and make sure there is none for Palestinians to build on their own land. The Council should take a step to ensure accountability and end impunity, take a step to protect innocent Palestinian civilians being killed every day, and take a step to uphold the historic status quo at Al-Haram Al-Sharif. The Security Council spoke in a strong and united manner after the killing of Shireen, condemning the killing and calling for accountability and the protection for journalists.”
2022-05-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9046 (2022) · source
“Those carrying her coffin were ready to be harmed, and they did not drop it. They prevailed over fear and death, just as she did. We want peace for ourselves and for others. But we will not surrender, as there cannot be peace between a prisoner and a jailer. We want freedom, we deserve freedom, and we are entitled to freedom. Supporting our quest for freedom is the duty of all members of the Council; it is the only path to peace. We are choosing the peaceful path. We ask that the Security Council help us to prove that that path leads to freedom. Often in the halls of the United Nations, I hear about all the obstacles to achieving peace. Let us take a step in the right direction and then another, and then peace will be within reach.”
2022-05-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9046 (2022) · source
“Israel was prompt to accuse the victim, instead of taking responsibility for a long-standing shoot-to-kill policy that found its ultimate expression in the killing of Shireen. The Security Council rightly called for accountability, but Israel has enjoyed impunity for so long that it does not know what the hell the Council is talking about. What Israel fails to grasp is that, while this has been its policy for decades, the Palestinians are still there fighting to live in freedom and dignity on their ancestral lands. Shireen is the story. It is a story of resilience and determination against all odds. It is a story of triumph, even in death. Her people mourned and honoured her, and they buried her in her hometown, Jerusalem, our capital, regardless of how many crimes Israel commits.”
2022-05-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9046 (2022) · source
“And yet some are worried about Israeli security, when not a single Palestinian enjoys safety anywhere. Council members were outraged when Israel attacked Shireen’s funeral. They were distressed and surprised. Well, Israel attacked another funeral a couple of days later. The Israeli war against Palestinians does not stop at death. Israel often speaks of the need to release withheld Israeli bodies, calling the practice of withholding bodies barbaric. It does so while withholding the bodies of hundreds of Palestinians, some of which have been detained for decades. This practice deprives their loved ones from the ability to bury them in dignity. They must be remembered. Shireen’s killing was not an exception.”
2022-05-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9046 (2022) · source
“Shireen’s killing is the story — the same story she was telling. The difference is that this time the world knew the victim. We are not being killed because of what we do, but because of who we are. We are not being killed by mistake, but as part of a grand design aimed at making sure that we all understand no one is safe, so that we all live with fear in our hearts and surrender. There is no immunity for a Palestinian journalist, a president, a health worker, a United Nations staff member, a farmer, a child, a baby, a pregnant mother, an elderly person, a professor, a dual citizen, a Minister, an officer or a judge. If you are a Palestinian, you are a legitimate target, and Israel can decide if you get to live or die. There is no immunity for any Palestinian and full impunity for every Israeli.”
2022-05-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9046 (2022) · source
“But there are no consequences for those inflicting such pain and suffering on millions of people. Why do those who condemn Israeli actions shield them from the consequences? And how do they believe that Israel would ever change its behaviour as long as they do shield them? Business as usual by the international community means colonialism and apartheid as usual by Israel. Shireen was an exceptional human being, but her killing is unfortunately not an exception. She kept telling the stories of her people, hoping that by making them known she would somehow help alter the course of history. She was killed because she never abandoned this belief, even though, regardless of how many times she told that story, it kept happening again and again, one child at a time, one home at a time, one acre of land at a time.”
2022-05-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9046 (2022) · source
“What will the international community do about it? What will it you do about it, Madam President? When should we expect the next shipment of weapons to help us defend ourselves and our country? What is the next batch of sanctions that will be enacted? When is the next visit of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, and how many dozen investigators should we expect? When is the next summit on accountability, and should we expect even more pledges of infinite resources and political will to hold Israel accountable? This is the reality our people endure every day: forcible displacement and replacement, dispossession, denial of rights, discrimination and death, from the day they are born to the day they die, and beyond. And they try to find life somewhere in between and succeed.”
2022-05-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9046 (2022) · source
“And do not cry: I do not want for anybody to be sad or cry because of me.” Our children are being killed, arrested, displaced and harassed every day. The Council must protect them from a war waged against one Palestinian generation after another. Speaking of colonial settlements, imagine that in whatever direction Palestinians look, they see armed settlers and occupation forces, and they wake up and see settlements being built on their land where they are forbidden to build. They see one family after another being uprooted from their ancestral homes. And they go to sleep, knowing their houses might be next. Israel pursues annexation thousands of settlement units at a time. We have been facing aggression, annexation and occupation for decades. Our people have been victims of war crimes and crimes against humanity for decades.”
2022-05-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9046 (2022) · source
“When we speak of extrajudicial killing and the targeting of civilians, imagine raising children, seeing them grow, developing their personality and formulating their dreams, while living with the fear that any day might be their last. Imagine being the parents of Ghaith Yameen, a 16-year-old old boy who, at his young age, had already written down what should be done if he were to die. Imagine how it would feel once his premonition became reality after occupation forces shot him in the back of his head. His testament was this: “If I were to die, do not put me in the freezer: I never liked the cold. Find a place to bury me alongside other kids: I do not like to be alone. Come visit me and talk to me: I will be listening.”
2022-05-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9046 (2022) · source
“I fear that words, repeated time after time, may lose some of their power. I therefore urge Council members to look at the realities these words describe. When we speak of forcible displacement, imagine a family living every single day in fear of being uprooted from its home, the nightmares that haunt a child, the ache a powerless parent feels. As we speak, 1,200 people, including 500 children, are going through this in Masafer Yatta. The reason given by Israel is that the area has been designated as a firing zone for military training — a firing zone — as if they needed more training in how to kill us. The real reason is to seize a maximum amount of Palestinian land with a minimum number of Palestinians living on it. The real reason is annexation and colonialism.”
2022-05-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9046 (2022) · source
“At the outset, allow me to congratulate again the United States for its presidency of the Council and for convening today’s briefing. Allow me also to thank the Special Coordinator for his briefing and unstinting efforts for peace, and to acknowledge the briefers, Ms. Robi Damelin and Mr. Daniel Munayer, for being with us. I also thank them for their contribution. I totally agree with Ms. Robi when she calls on the Security Council to come and see the situation on the ground. The Council, which is involved in deliberating on the question of Palestine every month, should go and see reality on the ground. I totally agree with Ms. Damelin, and I hope that the Security Council will listen to her call. Words aim to convey a reality to those who do not witness that reality.”
2022-05-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9046 (2022) · source
“While we call for immediate action to avail the Palestinian people the protection to which they are entitled, we stress that the Palestinian people will be truly safe only once they fulfil their right to self- determination and Israel’s illegal occupation is brought to an end. The calls to uphold international law and the Charter of the United Nations cannot coexist with refusing to hold accountable an Israeli occupation that systematically rewards and shields the killers and accuses and punishes their victims — enough with denied justice, enough with selective justice and enough with delayed justice. Why would the pursuit of justice be compatible with, and even indispensable to, the pursuit of peace everywhere except in Palestine? Experience has confirmed, including in Palestine, that without justice there can be no peace.”
2022-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9042Resumption1 (2022) · source
“In 2021, echoing resolution 904 (1994), the General Assembly called for measures to be taken to guarantee the safety and protection of Palestinian civilians in the occupied territory, and recalled in that regard the report of the Secretary-General on the protection of the Palestinian civilian population, welcoming his observations, including with respect to the expansion of existing protection mechanisms to prevent and deter violations. We call on the Secretary-General to implement his proposals without delay, notably by ensuring a more visible and effective international presence on the ground to ensure the protection of the Palestinian people.”
2022-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9042Resumption1 (2022) · source
“I am referring to resolution 904 (1994). That resolution, like many others, was never implemented, and even the Temporary International Presence in Hebron/Al-Khalil was expelled by Israel. That is part of the ongoing Israeli war against any witness of its crimes and any effort to bring them to an end. Israel has denied visas to the international staff of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. It has attacked and killed journalists. It has assaulted and killed members of the international solidarity movement. It has arrested and killed human rights defenders and has designated Palestinian non-governmental organizations, including those defending human rights and pursuing accountability, as terrorist organizations.”
2022-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9042Resumption1 (2022) · source
“That insecurity, endured by an entire nation in its flesh, is a direct result of full-scale Israeli impunity. Accountability remains the best form of protection and the most effective deterrent against the targeting of our civilians and the recurrence of crimes. Israeli leaders, soldiers and settlers know that they enjoy blanket immunity when it comes to their crimes against the Palestinian people. They commit them in broad daylight, shamelessly and repeatedly. Almost 30 years ago, the Security Council called for the confiscation of the arms of Israeli settlers, with the aim of preventing illegal acts of violence by them, as well as for measures to be taken to guarantee the safety and protection of Palestinian civilians throughout the occupied territory, including, inter alia, a temporary international or foreign presence.”
2022-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9042Resumption1 (2022) · source
“Nowhere are our people safe — not in their homes, not in their schools, not in the streets, not in United Nations buildings and not in hospitals. No one is safe — not a child, not a woman, not a man, not a humanitarian worker, not a farmer and, certainly, as recent events demonstrated, not a journalist. Shireen dedicated her life to giving a voice to victims until she became one herself. She dedicated her life to telling the stories of Palestinians, and her killing is unfortunately an integral part of the Palestinian story, one of being under threat at any and every point of one’s life and of not finding peace, even in one’s death, as even her funeral was attacked. But it is also a story of the resilience of an entire nation that will not surrender to captivity — the nation that mourned and honoured Shireen in Jerusalem and everywhere.”
2022-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9042Resumption1 (2022) · source
“The entire international humanitarian law edifice was built with the primary objective of protecting those who do not take part, or have stopped taking part, in hostilities, and yet in Palestine, those are the primary victims of the Israeli occupation — our civilians, our prisoners, our wounded and our sick. In the words of the former United Nations Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the situation in Palestine is the “most long-standing protection crisis in the United Nations history” — and one might add, with no end in sight. Every day is a stark reminder that our people are left defenceless in the face of repeated attacks by Israeli occupation forces and settlers.”
2022-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9042Resumption1 (2022) · source
“At the outset, allow me to congratulate the United States on its presidency of the Security Council and for convening this open debate on the protection of civilians in armed conflict. Allow me also to convey our condolences to you, Mr. President, for the tragic loss of lives in Texas. Also, allow me to thank the Secretary-General for both his report on the protection of civilians in armed conflict (S/2022/381) and his 2018 report on the protection of the Palestinian civilian population (A/ES-10/794), which remains of acute relevance. I would also like to thank the representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross for his briefing.”
2022-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9042Resumption1 (2022) · source
“When some believe that darkness has prevailed, it reignites the skies, revived by a faith and a resilience that cannot be extinguished in our people no matter the trials and traumas they have now been forced to endure for a century. Palestine is our land; and we are here to stay, come what may. The day Israel accepts that fact, peace will become possible. It is the Council’s duty to make sure that Israel does not delay that prospect any longer. Peace is done and undone on the ground. Those who want peace should start from Jerusalem. Change reality there, and it will change everywhere.”
2022-04-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9021 (2022) · source
“The fact is that there is no international law-based order if there is no will to enforce the law on the ground. What is a law that does not protect a people when they need it most? What is a law if a bulldozer can challenge it and prevail; if a sniper can ignore it and prevail; if a settler can burn it and prevail? What is a law that has no courts to uphold it and no power to enforce it? We were told that the tools were lacking. Never has that statement been less convincing than today. I started my speech speaking of the holy fire that manifests itself each year to celebrate resurrection. Palestinians everywhere, every day, embody that holy fire, a light that cannot be extinguished.”
2022-04-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9021 (2022) · source
“Is it not the Council’s job to implement its will and decisions and, above all, international law and the principles contained in the Charter of the United Nations? We all stand united in our defence of international consensus in international forums, but on the ground, it is Palestinians who are killed, displaced, arrested, besieged and suffering. Their rights are recognized by the Council, but they are denied on the ground — we all know by whom. Settlements are condemned by the Council, but continue to expand on the ground. A two-State solution based on the pre-1967 borders was forged by the Council, but it is being destroyed on the ground. The historic status quo has been affirmed by the Council, but it is being undermined on the ground.”
2022-04-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9021 (2022) · source
“But there is an Israeli Prime Minister who says no to a two-State solution; who says that there are no occupied territories; who says no to negotiations and the international terms of reference; and who says that what Palestinians need are jobs, not human rights. There is an Israeli Government that continues expanding settlements and consolidating Palestinian Bantustans. What will the Council do about it? Does it not have a role to play? What was the Security Council established for, if not for the maintenance of international peace and security? Is what is happening in our region not a threat to international peace and security? The Council continues to observe and repeat statements on a just solution to the conflict, but it does nothing.”
2022-04-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9021 (2022) · source
“The Palestinian people are asking the Security Council why Israel is allowed to get away with it. How does it get away with murder in broad daylight and while everyone is watching, perhaps in the most-documented conflict in the entire world? Why do some countries come to talk to us about singling out Israel when what most singles out Israel is the fact that it has never been held accountable for its actions, even those that all here condemn? The international law is crystal clear and the international consensus on how to end the occupation and the conflict has been solid and consistent, thanks to the Council.”
2022-04-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9021 (2022) · source
“The only multilateral order possible is one based on international law. There is one set of rules, one United Nations Charter, one Fourth Geneva Convention, one Universal Declaration of Human Rights, one set of peremptory norms. Does Israel violate those rules? Does Israel violate Security Council resolutions reflective of those rules? It does, and I am certain that no one around this table can say otherwise. The question therefore is what has been done to hold Israel accountable for grave violations that have spanned decades. Let me rephrase that. Is it not true that the fact that Israel’s impunity has never been truly challenged is the main reason that Israel has persisted in its disregard for international law? Double standards, selective outrage and justice denied will fuel only despair and anger, when what we need is hope.”
2022-04-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9021 (2022) · source
“Wennesland told us what the United Nations stands for, which is an end to the occupation and the achievement of a two-State solution on the basis of the 4 June 1967 lines, with, of course, East Jerusalem as our capital. We are grateful to the international community for that global consensus. What the international community lacks is the political will to implement it with the same stake in it that it shows regarding other issues, and not to be selective or ignore us when it comes to implementing that global consensus and the relevant international law and resolutions. When we speak of the rules-based multilateral order, we do not mean that one of us gets to set the rules while others have to observe them. Nor do we mean that there are different rules depending on whom they are being applied to.”
2022-04-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9021 (2022) · source
“We are seeking a peaceful path to freedom and remain committed to that. The international community and the Security Council have a responsibility to help us chart that path and not to allow Israel to continue blocking it. They have a responsibility to afford the Palestinian people international protection, including in East Jerusalem, or to provide them with the means to defend themselves against aggression. They have a responsibility to summon the will and the means to end the occupation and the conflict. In the absence of such a horizon, no one can expect anything but more suffering and the bloodshed of innocents. The Council has adopted resolutions to solve the Palestinian question. Mr.”
2022-04-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9021 (2022) · source