YouSaid · the spoken record

Riad Al-Malki

lines on the record: 70
first: 2020-06-24
most recent: 2021-05-16
sittings or episodes: 5
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

“And one day soon, even the Security Council will not be able to deny that reality. The Council must act now to end the aggression and the assault on our people, our homes and our land. It must act now so that freedom can prevail over apartheid. As the Palestinian people mark the seventy-third anniversary of the Nakba, Israel pursues the same policies of dispossession, forced displacement, discrimination and denial of Palestinian rights. Israel may believe it is winning, but it is nowhere closer to defeating the Palestinian people. Our people will never surrender or forgo their rights. Palestinian freedom is the only path to peace. Since peace is the responsibility of the Security Council, helping achieve Palestinian freedom is its legal and moral duty.”
2021-05-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/480 (2021) · source
“Where are those real-estate agents who decided that they could sell what they do not own to those who have no rightful claim? We told them then and we say again now: Jerusalem is not for sale. Our roots are deep, our history long and our heritage etched in every stone, street and alley in this city. War and peace start from Jerusalem. If we want to save peace, we should start by saving Sheikh Jarrah. We should protect Al-Haram Al-Sharif from attempts to divide it temporally and spatially. Israel continues to proclaim that Jerusalem is the unified capital of Israel. Has anyone ever seen the city more divided? The international consensus that the Council has helped to shape and defend is being destroyed in front of our very eyes. The alternative that Israel chose is apartheid. Yes, apartheid.”
2021-05-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/480 (2021) · source
“Some wonder why Palestine enjoys so much solidarity and support from so many nations around the world, and the reason is that those nations are informed by their own history and their own struggle for freedom, and they know oppression when they see it. The countries that are members of the United Nations would be dishonouring the memory of those who fought for freedom in their respective countries if they were to accept colonialism and apartheid in Palestine. Where are those who proclaimed that they had achieved peace in the Middle East by brokering agreements between countries that were actually not at war? Where are those who proclaimed that peace in the Middle East could be achieved without the Palestinians and at their expense?”
2021-05-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/480 (2021) · source
“They deserve compassion, solidarity and action. The Palestinian people have risen everywhere because they are victims everywhere. They are victims of dispossession, forced displacement, discrimination and the denial of rights, on both sides of the Green Line and in exile. When listening to Israeli officials speak, one might be led to wonder how horrible it must be for Israelis to live under our occupation, with our forces deployed in their streets and our settlers terrorizing their people and taking over their land and homes, and with millions of them under blockade. Just like many colonial Powers before it, Israel holds its victims responsible for their own death. Israel is the victim forced to kill the Palestinians because they do not behave. If only the Palestinians could coexist with their occupiers and oppressors in peace.”
2021-05-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/480 (2021) · source
“Two hundred Palestinians have been killed, a third of them children and women. What is the threshold for outrage? Is an entire family wiped out of existence not enough? Are dozens of families killed not enough? Is it not enough to bring residential buildings to the ground and displace tens of thousands of Palestinians for the fourth or fifth time? All of this is happening in the midst of a pandemic. Israel is not only an occupying Power, but it is also a nuclear Power. It has a military arsenal, the Iron Dome and shelters, while our people in Gaza are besieged and trapped, with nowhere to go and no safe haven. Even the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East schools that provide shelter are vulnerable to Israeli attacks. It is Palestinian civilians who need protection.”
2021-05-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/480 (2021) · source
“Israel is the armed thief that has entered our house and is terrorizing our family. It destroys our homes and oppresses our people, generation after generation, decade after decade, and then claims a right to security that it denies us. Perhaps Israel should put itself in our shoes. What would it do if it were occupied, its people persecuted, besieged and massacred? Better yet, what did it do to achieve its independence and end the oppression of its people? We made a difficult choice to pursue a peaceful path to freedom and it is in everybody’s interests for that journey to be successful. But that will not happen without ensuring that Israel bears the cost of occupation instead of reaping its benefits. How many Palestinian civilians killed is enough for a condemnation? We know that a single Israeli is enough, but how many Palestinians?”
2021-05-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/480 (2021) · source
“Did it believe that its troops storming the holiest of sites, Al-Aqsa Mosque, on the holiest of months, Ramadan, and on the holiest of nights, the night of destiny, would bear no consequences? Did it believe Palestinians would accept to live in enclaves and wait for the Israeli settlers to seize the next house? Did they expect Palestinians to coexist with the occupation, its walls, its blockades, its settlements and its prisons? There is no people on Earth that would tolerate this reality. Israel keeps calling for others to put themselves in its shoes. But Israel is not wearing shoes; it is wearing military boots. It is an occupying and a colonial Power. Any assessment of the situation that fails to take into account that fundamental fact is biased, invalid and unjust. We are not two neighbours living side by side in peace.”
2021-05-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/480 (2021) · source
“The second question is, what tools used regularly in other conflicts is the international community ready to deploy in order to ensure Israel’s compliance with its obligations and put an end to its occupation? Is it ready to deploy military intervention and sanctions? Is it ready to suspend bilateral relations and prosecute the perpetrators of crimes? Is it ready to deploy protection forces and impose an arms embargo? Or will it simply rely on the possibility of convincing the occupying Power to end its colonial occupation, when history has proven that Israel is not willing to listen? Israel keeps doing the same things and expecting a different result.”
2021-05-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/480 (2021) · source
“Is violence considered terrorism when committed by Palestinians and self-defence when committed by Israel? Who will be arrested, the settlers or those resisting their presence and assaults? Will our peaceful protesters enjoy international protection or be left to face Israeli bullets and slander? Will we receive support for the investigations by the International Criminal Court or will some countries search for reasons to object, thus shielding war criminals and depriving Palestinian victims of any avenue to justice? Will products from Israeli settlements be banned or will those who call for a boycott be prosecuted? What are we entitled to do apart from hope that one day Israel will take it upon itself to end its occupation and negotiate peace?”
2021-05-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/480 (2021) · source
“And I wish to recall that each time Israel hears a foreign leader speak about a country’s right to defend itself, it is further emboldened to continue murdering entire families in their sleep. Israel is killing Palestinians in Gaza, one family at a time. Israel is trying to uproot Palestinians from Jerusalem, expelling families one home and one neighbourhood at a time. Israel is persecuting our people, committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. Some may not want to use those words, but they know they are true. Israel is unapologetic and relentless in pursuing its colonial policies. We are therefore left with two questions. The first one is, what are the Palestinian people entitled to do in order to resist such policies and defend themselves? The following questions hold the answer.”
2021-05-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/480 (2021) · source
“His family is not the only one to suffer such fate. Members of the Abu Hattab family were killed, including Alaa, 5, Bilal, 10, and Youssef, 11. In the Al-Tanani family, Rawya, who was four months pregnant, was killed along with her husband and sons Ismael, 6, Ameer, 5, Adham, 4, and Mohammed, 3. A few hours ago, 15 members of the Al-Qolak family were killed, including Zeid, 8, Adam, 3 and Qossai, 1, as well as their parents. Aziz, who is 10, survived. When members of the Council embrace their children and grandchildren tonight, I implore them to think of our children and how they can honour those killed and spare those still alive. I urge them to think about how it would feel to see their world crumbling down and not to be able to protect their children. I ask them to think about what it means to sleep without knowing who will wake up.”
2021-05-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/480 (2021) · source
“Allow me to thank China for having convened this important meeting and for being represented at the ministerial level, as well as Tunisia for its relentless efforts in the Council. I also thank my Arab brothers who have decided to participate in this meeting as an integral part of their efforts to end the aggression against our people, land and holy sites. Allow me to also thank the Secretary-General for his participation and ongoing efforts, together with Special Coordinator Tor Wennesland, to end this latest aggression against our people. There are no words that can describe the horrors that our people are enduring. Baby Omar Al-Hadidi was born just 5 months ago and will now have to go through life without his mother and brothers Osama, 6, Abdelrahman, 8, and Suheib, 14, who were all killed by an Israeli air strike.”
2021-05-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/480 (2021) · source
“In this period of electoral campaigns, some, in trying to secure votes, remain committed to international law, the two-State solution and peaceful means, and some instead announce settlements, advance annexation and persist in their provocations. May people not be duped by the ills of demagogy, supremacy and domination and choose instead the path of equal rights, mutual respect and shared dignity. With your help, may our future be one of freedom, security and prosperity for all, a future of peace, not apartheid.”
2021-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/404 (2021) · source
“As we pursue our long journey to freedom and peace, we call for the immediate protection of our people, who are entitled to security until such time when we can ensure their protection as a sovereign State. President Abbas issued a decree calling for Palestinian legislative and presidential elections, as well as elections for the Palestinian National Council. This is an integral part of efforts to resume our democratic life and achieve national reconciliation and unity. We thank those that support such efforts and ask for international support and assistance to ensure the integrity of these elections, including by helping to avert and remove all Israeli obstacles to said elections, notably in East Jerusalem, and ask that their outcome be respected.”
2021-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/404 (2021) · source
“Why not conduct final-status negotiations under international auspices? Why reject the idea of binding time frames? This is the path to changing the unfolding tragic reality in Palestine. We stand ready to do our part and will continue fulfilling our obligations. An entire nation is yearning for freedom and its calls must be answered. We do not ask for more than what the Charter of the United Nations prescribes for all peoples, nor will we accept less. We cannot accept a future of walls, blockades, humiliation and subjugation. We will spare no effort to advance an independent, sovereign, viable, contiguous and democratic State of Palestine along the pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital. We will do so through peaceful means only, even in the most challenging of circumstances.”
2021-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/404 (2021) · source
“Or does it find the necessary resources to push parties towards negotiations and away from unlawful unilateral actions, including by upholding the obligations of third parties? Does it merely condemn violations or does it make sure that their cost far outweighs their benefits by creating incentives for compliance and disincentives for non-compliance? When adopting resolutions, does the Council complement them with the means to ensure their implementation, per its Charter duties, or does it offer resolutions as mere advice for the parties to decide whether or not to heed them? Since both parties say they are committed to peace, why not allow the deployment of international observers truly empowered to assess compliance? Why fear consequences for whoever breaches their legal obligations?”
2021-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/404 (2021) · source
“Without such action, neither reversing negative trends on the ground — first and foremost illegal settlement activities — nor resuming meaningful final-status negotiations, will be possible. The deterioration of the situation on the ground is directly linked to the attempts of one party to prejudge and dictate the outcome of negotiations and to pursue annexation, which would destroy any prospect of a sovereign and contiguous State of Palestine, and to do so while pretending to accept a two-State solution. There are those who ask — what can be done that has not been tried already? But did the world truly use the toolbox available to it to end this occupation and conflict? How does the world deal with other conflicts? Does it say that the parties shall negotiate and simply wait for them to be ready and agree?”
2021-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/404 (2021) · source
“Now is the time to heal and repair the damage done by the previous United States Administration. President Abbas congratulated President Biden on his election and expressed our hope for the resumption of relations and positive engagement. We look forward to the reversal of the unlawful and hostile measures undertaken by the Trump Administration and to working together for peace. We welcome the decision of the new Administration to rejoin the international law-based order, and hope that the United States will play an important role in multilateral efforts to establish peace in the Middle East. This is not a time for passive resignation, but for resolute action.”
2021-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/404 (2021) · source
“Even the most vulnerable — millions of Palestine refugees — were not spared as the Trump Administration withdrew United States funding from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in an attempt to dismantle the Agency despite international consensus on its indispensable role, pending a just solution. What if these considerable resources were used to advance freedom, justice and peace, not annexation and apartheid? The last four years have tested our collective resolve, yet international consensus has endured and prevailed. The members of the Council, the Quartet, the Munich Group and the international community, as a whole, stood up against annexation, reaffirmed their support for Palestinian rights, backed UNRWA and continued to work for a just and lasting peace.”
2021-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/404 (2021) · source
“He stressed that the “critical decision about the future — one State or two States — is effectively being made on the ground every single day”, noting that “the status quo is leading towards one State and perpetual occupation, but most of the public either ignores it or has given up hope that anything can be done to change it”, adding that “with this passive resignation, the problem only gets worse, the risks get greater and the choices are narrowed”. This lucid assessment about the urgency to act to salvage the two-State solution was followed by four years during which the Trump Administration used the might and influence of the United States to support Israel’s unlawful efforts to entrench its occupation and control, breaking with decades of United States diplomacy.”
2021-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/404 (2021) · source
“In response to the rapid deterioration of the situation on the ground, the Security Council adopted resolution 2334 (2016), a road map to salvaging the two- State solution and achieving peace. In a speech explaining why the United States did not resort to the use of the veto, Secretary Kerry explained that the two-State solution was not only a Palestinian interest, an Israeli interest, a regional and international interest, but also a United States interest.”
2021-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/404 (2021) · source
“We know the outcome of that policy — millions of Palestinians enduring oppression, discrimination and blatant segregation, denied their most basic rights and deprived of control over their land, their resources, their borders and their lives. Who would accept that? We cannot. Would any of you? The question therefore remains how to convince Israel to choose peace, not annexation, or, in the words of former United States President Jimmy Carter, peace, not apartheid? In 2016, the Quartet stressed the urgent need for affirmative steps to reverse the negative trends on the ground in order to “prevent the entrenchment of a one- State reality of perpetual occupation and conflict that is incompatible with realizing the national aspirations” (S/2016/595, annex, p. 2) of the Palestinian and Israeli peoples.”
2021-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/404 (2021) · source
“Our call for multilateral engagement is not an attempt to evade bilateral negotiations, but rather an effort to ensure their success. Does anyone here believe that Israel has really dropped its annexation plans? Or is it in reality finalizing those plans in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, as we speak? Israel has advanced over 3,000 new settlement units in the past few weeks alone, accelerating the demolition of Palestinian homes and the displacement of our people, with settlers’ violence reaching an all-time high and with repeated provocations at holy sites, especially Al-Haram Al-Sharif? Israel’s goal has always been the same — to grab maximum Palestinian geography with minimum Palestinian demography.”
2021-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/404 (2021) · source
“The momentum for peace is something we create, not something we wait for, and I know that there is no lack of willingness around this table and beyond to see peace prevail. We therefore reiterate our call for a collective approach mobilizing the international community and demonstrating its resolve to achieve peace. In that context, we call for the revival of the Quartet and its engagement with partners and the parties, as well as for the continued mobilization of the Security Council. We also reiterate our call for the convening of an international peace conference that could signal a turning point in this conflict, like the Madrid Conference did three decades ago, and the launching of final-status negotiations based on the international terms of reference and parameters.”
2021-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/404 (2021) · source
“But the very reasons that demonstrate how difficult achieving peace is going to be, including the situation on the ground, the mistrust and the unilateral illegal actions, should prompt more, not less, international involvement, especially since we all agree that we are running out of time. How much trust was there when the parties to the conflict met in Madrid 30 years ago? How ready were they to negotiate? How willing was Shamir, who was then Israeli Prime Minister, to make peace? How pleased were the Palestinians that the Palestinian Liberation Organization could not even send its own delegation? What did the situation on the ground look like? The world decided it was time to solve this conflict and was not going to take “no” for an answer. I can tell you with certainty that without Madrid we would not have made it to Oslo.”
2021-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/404 (2021) · source
“I also wish today to express our appreciation to the States that concluded their term on the Security Council — Belgium, the Dominican Republic, Germany, Indonesia and South Africa. I thank them for their commitment to international law and peace, and for their support for the rights of the Palestinian people. I congratulate India, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico and Norway on beginning their term on the Council and wish them every success. The countdown for the demise of the two-State solution is under way. Some say the time has already elapsed. It is our collective responsibility to salvage the two-State solution on the basis of the pre-1967 borders before it is too late. Some wonder if this is the right time for peace.”
2021-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/404 (2021) · source
“I also take this opportunity to thank Russia for its leading role in the Middle East Quartet amid the most difficult of circumstances, and President Putin for his repeated efforts to bring the parties together, as well as the Foreign Ministers of Ireland, Mr. Simon Coveney; Mexico, Mr. Marcelo Ebrard Casaubón; and Norway, Ms. Ine Eriksen Søreide, colleagues with whom I have worked closely to advance peace, and the Deputy Foreign Minister of Estonia, Mr. Rein Tammsaar, for participating in this meeting. I congratulate Mr. Tor Wennesland on assuming his functions as the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process. We look forward to working with him in his new capacity in order to advance a just peace. I also welcome my brother Mr. Aboul Gheit, who remains a tireless advocate of peace.”
2021-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/404 (2021) · source
“Allow me at the outset to congratulate Tunisia on its skilled presidency of the Security Council and to express our appreciation for the convening of this high-level open debate. In addition, I wish my brother, Othman Jerandi, and President López Obrador of Mexico a swift recovery. May this year witness an end to this terrible pandemic. Let me note in that regard that the occupying Power has not provided any vaccines to the Palestinian Government for the benefit of the Palestinian people under occupation, insisting instead that it is under no obligation to do so. Allow me to also thank Foreign Minister Lavrov for his participation.”
2021-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/404 (2021) · source
“May people not be duped by the ills of demagogy, supremacy and domination and rather choose the path of equal rights, mutual respect and shared dignity. With your help, may our future be one of freedom, security and prosperity for all — a future of peace, not apartheid.”
2021-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/91 (2021) · source
“President Abbas has issued a decree calling for Palestinian legislative and presidential elections, as well as elections for the Palestinian National Council. That is an integral part of the efforts to resume our democratic life and to achieve national reconciliation and unity. We thank all those who are supporting these efforts and ask for international support and assistance to ensure the integrity of the elections, including by helping to avert and remove any Israeli obstacles to their conduct, notably in East Jerusalem, as well as respect for the outcome. In this period of electoral campaigns, there are those who, in trying to secure votes, remain committed to international law, the two-State solution and peaceful means, and those who instead announce settlements, advance annexation and persist in their provocations.”
2021-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/91 (2021) · source
“We do not ask for anything more than what the Charter of the United Nations prescribed for all peoples, and neither will we accept anything less. We cannot accept a future of walls and blockades, humiliation and subjugation. We will spare no effort in advancing an independent, sovereign, viable, contiguous and democratic State of Palestine on the pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital. We will do so by resorting to peaceful means alone, even in the most challenging of circumstances. While we pursue our long journey to freedom and peace, we call for immediate protection for our people, who are equally entitled to security, until such time when we can ensure their protection as a sovereign State.”
2021-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/91 (2021) · source
“Does the Council, in adopting its resolutions, accompany them with the means to ensure their implementation as per its Charter duties, or does it offer its resolutions as mere advice for the parties to decide if they take it or not? Since both parties say that they are committed to peace, why not allow the deployment of international observers truly empowered to assess compliance? Why fear consequences for whomever breaches their legal obligations? Why not conduct final-status negotiations under international auspices? Why reject the idea of binding time frames? That is the path towards changing the dramatic reality that is under way in Palestine. We stand ready to do our part and will continue fulfilling our obligations. An entire nation is yearning for freedom, and its calls must be answered.”
2021-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/91 (2021) · source
“There are those who ask: what can be done that has not been tried already? But did the world truly use the toolbox available to it to end this occupation and conflict? How does the world deal with other conflicts? Does it say that the parties shall negotiate and just wait for them to be ready and agree? Or does it find the necessary resources to push parties towards negotiations and away from unlawful unilateral actions, including by upholding third parties’ obligations? Does it only condemn violations, or make sure that their cost far outweighs their benefits by creating incentives for compliance with obligations and disincentives for their breach?”
2021-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/91 (2021) · source
“We welcome the decision of the new Administration to rejoin the rules-based international order and hope that the United States will play an important role in multilateral efforts for peace in the Middle East. This is not a time for passive resignation but a time for resolute action. Without such action, neither reversing negative trends on the ground, first and foremost illegal settlement activities, nor resuming meaningful final-status negotiations will be possible. The deterioration of the situation on the ground is directly linked to the attempts of one party to prejudge and dictate the outcome of negotiations, implementing annexation that would destroy any prospect for a sovereign and contiguous State of Palestine while pretending to accept a two-State solution.”
2021-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/91 (2021) · source
“The last four years have tested our collective resolve, and the international consensus has endured and prevailed. The members of the Council, the Quartet, the Munich Group and the international community as a whole stood up against annexation, reaffirmed their support for Palestinian rights, supported UNRWA and continued working for a just and lasting peace. Now is the time to heal and repair the damage left by the previous United States Administration. President Abbas has congratulated President Biden on his election and expressed our hope for the resumption of relations and positive engagement. We look forward to the reversal of the unlawful and hostile measures undertaken by the Trump Administration and to working together for peace.”
2021-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/91 (2021) · source
“This lucid assessment about the urgency to act to salvage the two-State solution was followed by four years during which the Trump Administration used the United States’ might and influence to support Israel’s unlawful efforts to entrench its occupation and control, breaking with decades of United States diplomacy. Even the most vulnerable, millions of Palestine refugees, were not spared as the Trump Administration withdrew United States funding from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), seeking to bring the Agency to collapse in spite of the international consensus on its indispensable role pending a just solution. What if these considerable resources were used to advance freedom, justice and peace, not annexation and apartheid?”
2021-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/91 (2021) · source
“In his speech explaining why the United States did not resort to the veto, Secretary Kerry explained that the two-State solution was not only a Palestinian interest, an Israeli interest, a regional and international interest, but also a United States interest. He stressed that the “critical decision about the future — one State or two States — is effectively being made on the ground every single day”, noting that “the status quo is leading towards one state and perpetual occupation, but most of the public either ignores it or has given up hope that anything can be done to change it”, adding that “with this passive resignation, the problem only gets worse, the risks get greater, and the choices are narrowed”.”
2021-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/91 (2021) · source
“The question therefore remains how to convince Israel to choose peace, not annexation, or, in the words of former United States President Jimmy Carter, peace, not apartheid. In 2016, the Quartet stressed the urgent need for affirmative steps to reverse negative trends on the ground in order to “prevent the entrenchment of a one-State reality of perpetual occupation and conflict that is incompatible with realizing the national aspirations” (S/2016/595, annex, p. 2) of the Palestinian and Israeli peoples. In response to the rapid deterioration of the situation on the ground, the Security Council adopted resolution 2334 (2016), a road map to salvaging the two-State solution and achieving peace.”
2021-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/91 (2021) · source
“Or is the reality actually that it is finalizing those plans on the ground as we speak, advancing more than 3,000 new settlement units in the last few weeks alone, accelerating the demolition of Palestinian homes and the displacement of our people, with settler violence reaching an all-time high and with repeated provocations at holy sites, especially Al-Haram Al-Sharif? Israel’s goal has always been the same: grabbing maximum Palestinian geography with minimum Palestinian demography. The outcome of that policy is known: millions of Palestinians enduring oppression, discrimination and blatant segregation, denied their most basic rights and deprived of control over their land, their resources, their borders and their lives. Who would accept that? We cannot. Would any of those you?”
2021-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/91 (2021) · source
“We also reiterate our call for the convening of an international peace conference that can signal a turning point in this conflict, as the Madrid Conference did three decades ago, and to launch final-status negotiations based on the international terms of reference and parameters. Our call for multilateral engagement is not an attempt to evade bilateral negotiations but, rather, an effort to ensure their success. Does anyone here believe that Israel has really dropped its annexation plans?”
2021-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/91 (2021) · source
“I can tell Council members with certainty that, without Madrid, we would not have made it to Oslo. The momentum for peace is something we create, not something we wait for, and I know there is no lack of willingness around this table and beyond to see peace prevail. We therefore reiterate our call for a collective approach mobilizing the international community and demonstrating its resolve to achieve peace. In that context, we call for the revival of the Quartet and its engagement with partners and the parties, as well as for the continued mobilization of the Security Council.”
2021-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/91 (2021) · source
“But the very reasons that demonstrate how difficult achieving peace is going to be, including the situation on the ground, the mistrust and the illegal unilateral actions, should prompt more, not less, international involvement, especially since we all agree we are running out of time. How much trust was there when the parties to the conflict met in Madrid 30 years ago? How ready were they to negotiate? How willing was the Prime Minister of Israel at that time, Mr. Yitzhak Shamir, to make peace? How pleased were the Palestinians that the Palestine Liberation Organization could not even send its own delegation? What did the situation on the ground look like? The world decided it was time to solve the conflict, and it was not going to take “no” for an answer.”
2021-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/91 (2021) · source
“I also wish to express our appreciation to the States that recently concluded their Security Council terms, namely, Belgium, the Dominican Republic, Germany, Indonesia and South Africa, thanking them for their commitment to international law and peace and for their support for the rights of the Palestinian people. I would also express our congratulations to India, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico and Norway and wish them every success as they undertake their new terms on the Council. The countdown for the demise of the two-State solution is under way. Some say the time has already elapsed. It is our collective responsibility to salvage the two- State solution on the pre-1967 borders before it is too late. Some wonder if this is the right time for peace.”
2021-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/91 (2021) · source
“Allow me also to thank Foreign Minister Lavrov for his participation and take this opportunity to thank Russia for its leading role in the Quartet in the most difficult of circumstances, and President Putin for his repeated efforts to bring the parties together, as well as the Foreign Ministers of Ireland, Mexico and Norway, colleagues with whom I have worked closely to advance peace, and the Deputy Foreign Minister of Estonia, for participating in this meeting. I also congratulate Mr. Tor Wennesland for assuming his functions as the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process. We look forward to working with him in his new capacity to advance a just peace. I also welcome my brother Mr. Aboul Gheit, who remains a tireless advocate of peace.”
2021-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/91 (2021) · source
“Allow me at the outset to congratulate Tunisia on its skilled presidency of the Security Council and to express our appreciation for the convening of today’s high- level open debate, as well as to wish my brother Othman Jerandi a swift recovery. I also wish the President of Mexico a swift recovery. May this year witness an end to this terrible pandemic. Let me note in this regard that the occupying Power has not provided any vaccine to the Palestinian people under occupation to this day, insisting it is under no obligation to do so.”
2021-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/91 (2021) · source
“Ask the mother of the child killed on his way to school, the athlete whose leg was amputated after a sniper acted as if he were playing a video game, the owner of a house built through years of sweat and destroyed in an instant, and the farmer whose crops were burned by settlers. All of them will say: “we will not coexist with occupation”. We want to end occupation so we can coexist, so we can know justice, so we can be free and so our region can know true peace and security.”
2020-10-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1055 (2020) · source
“It is now time to take the initiative. There is not a people too many in the Middle East, but there is an independent State missing. The Middle East equation cannot be solved by denying this fundamental factor. This conflict cannot be ended without freedom for the Palestinian people. Our freedom will never be compatible with Israeli soldiers in our streets, Israeli S/2020/1055 drones in our skies and Israeli control over our borders. Ask Maher Al-Akhras, who has been risking his life in a hunger strike for over 90 days in order to denounce the most arbitrary form of detention, the so-called administrative detention. Ask Amer Snobar, who, barely 18, was beaten to death yesterday by Israeli soldiers who had apprehended him and kept hitting him on his head and neck with the butt of their rifles until he could no longer breathe.”
2020-10-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1055 (2020) · source
“The equivalent of half of our male population — over 800,000 Palestinians — has been arrested, and we have not surrendered. What makes anyone think we would surrender now? Israel often wonders why we enjoy such international solidarity. It is because former colonial Powers and liberation movements alike know these colonial policies well: violence, subjugation, intimidation, mass arbitrary imprisonment, discrimination, humiliation, fragmentation of land, confinement of the occupied people, expansion of illegal settlements and exploitation. They cannot support such actions. History has taught them better. International consensus, the mandate and role of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East and the Palestinian people’s resilience have all been sorely tested, and yet they prevail.”
2020-10-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1055 (2020) · source
“The international community must address the shortcomings of the past by linking its relations with the parties to their respect of their obligations under international law and the peace process, by helping them reach an agreement and implementing it and by enforcing a binding time frame. The international peace conference can generate the momentum necessary and mobilize the international community at large to help the parties negotiate a peace agreement that will forever change our region. Anything else is volatile — and futile. Two thirds of our people were forced into exile, and we did not surrender. Tens of thousands were killed, and we did not surrender. Hundreds of thousands were displaced, and we did not surrender.”
2020-10-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1055 (2020) · source
“However, it has not renounced its decades- long policy aimed at controlling the amount of Palestinian land with the least number of Palestinians — in other words, maximum Palestinian geography with minimum Palestinian demography. Its de facto annexation continues with the advancement in recent days of 5,000 settlement units deep into the West Bank, including in and around occupied East Jerusalem. The international community must act to salvage peace, or we will all bear the consequences. As long as Israel does not bear the cost of occupation, but instead continues to reap its benefits, it will never negotiate in good faith.”
2020-10-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1055 (2020) · source