YouSaid · the spoken record

Salam

lines on the record: 964
first: 2007-07-19
most recent: 2017-10-18
sittings or episodes: 144
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

“Mr. Salam (Lebanon) (spoke in Arabic): At the outset, I would like to thank you, Mr. President, for convening this meeting. I would also like to thank Mr. Feltman, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, for the briefing he gave us this morning. I would like to make the following three comments. First, the Lebanese Government affirms today, as it always does, its respect for its obligations under international resolutions, including resolution 1701 (2006). On numerous occasions, the Lebanese Government has called for the implementation of all the provisions of that resolution. By the same token, it has often called upon the international community to urge Israel to fulfil its obligations and to end its violations of Lebanese sovereignty by land, sea and air, also in accordance with resolution 1701 (2006).”
2013-04-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6950Resumption1 (2013) · source
“Antonio Guterres, High Commissioner for Refugees; Mr. Anthony Lake, Executive Director of UNICEF; and Ms. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization - in exhorting the Council to take action, (spoke in English) "In the name of all those who have so suffered, and the many more whose futures hang in the balance: Enough! Summon and use your influence, now, to save the Syrian people and save the region from disaster."”
2013-04-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6949 (2013) · source
“He said that the conference should not simply collect donations that had been pledged at the earlier Kuwait conference, but should work towards finding a way of sharing the burden of costs in accordance with the principle of shared responsibility, in order to reduce the negative impact of the refugee flow on internal and regional peace and security. Lebanon's President reiterated that message at the beginning of this month, when he encouraged the creation of camps on Syrian territory far away from the combat zones and under the protection ofthe United Nations. We urge the Council to look into that possibility. Finally, Lebanon would like to join its voice to those of United Nations officials - Ms. Valerie Amos, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs; Ms. Ertharin Cousin, Executive Director of the World Food Programme; Mr.”
2013-04-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6949 (2013) · source
“Etienne Labande, head of country operations for the World Food Programme in Lebanon, said that "In one month, and with the current funding, more than 400,000 Syrian refugees in Lebanon will no longer receive food assistance". Mr. Antonio Guterres, the High Commissioner for Refugees, who has joined our meeting today, aptly summed up the situation when he said, (spoke in English) "Lebanon needs massive support; it cannot do it alone." (spoke in Arabic) Allow me to reiterate the call addressed by the President of Lebanon, Mr. Michel Sleiman, to the Doha summit last month on the holding of an international conference on Syrian refugees.”
2013-04-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6949 (2013) · source
“The truth, as witnessed by representatives of the United Nations and its agencies, is that Lebanon will not be able to provide the necessary care to refugees if the numbers keep growing as they are now, whether the refugees be Syrians, Palestinians or even Lebanese returning from Syria. Lebanon will not be able to cope without an increase in assistance from the international community. Among those who have spoken out on this situation is the regional representative of the High Commissioner for Refugees, Ms. Ninette Kelley, who, earlier this month, said, with regard to assistance, "The plans are in place, the staff is ready, but the funds are drying up. At this level of funding, vital programmes to ensure food, clean water, schooling for children, health care and shelter for newly arrived refugees are simply impossible". Furthermore, Mr.”
2013-04-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6949 (2013) · source
“Lebanon remains committed to providing assistance to all refugees from Syria and to seeing to all their essential needs in terms of protection, shelter, food, health care and education. But it is the right of Lebanon to ask neighbouring States and the international community to share the burden, given that ours is the smallest country in terms of size and the one with the least resources, even though we are the country receiving the greatest number of Syrian refugees. That number will very soon reach almost a quarter of the Lebanese population, which is the highest reception rate of all the countries hosting refugees.”
2013-04-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6949 (2013) · source
“With regard to the impact of the serious issue of refugees arising from the crisis, it has begun to affect Lebanese society and its composition. It is also having a substantial socioeconomic and security impact, given that the majority of refugees live in the poorest areas of my country. As a result, there is growing pressure on the labour market and more demand for basic resources, such as food, with the concomitant inflation and increases in housing costs that entails. Let me reiterate today that Lebanon will never close its borders to anyone, individuals or families, who, fleeing the horrors of violence and destruction, come to seek refuge in our country. We will not send anyone back who comes to us.”
2013-04-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6949 (2013) · source
“According to United Nations agency statistics, approximately 34.8 per cent of those refugees have special needs, with 22.9 per cent of them being children in a precarious situation and approximately 10 per cent having serious medical conditions - bearing in mind that about half of the refugees in Lebanon and its neighbouring countries are children and young people. We and others have ceaselessly issued warnings about the impact of the unending crisis, not only on Syria but also on neighbouring countries. We are now seeing the impact of the fighting in Syria, which has reached military dimensions, reaching the borders of Lebanon, which is threatening the security of my country. We condemn such violations, whatever their origin or whatever the reason for them.”
2013-04-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6949 (2013) · source
“According to statistics from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, by 31 March, more than 35,000 Palestinian displaced persons had come to Lebanon from Syria, with more than 3,000 refugees arriving every day. We expect that figure to reach 1.2 million before the end of the year. Furthermore, the number of people affected by that movement of people - combining Syrians, Palestinians and Lebanese returning from Syria, in addition to Lebanese host families - will reach 2.5 million before the end of the year.”
2013-04-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6949 (2013) · source
“It has also remained faithful to the historical, geographical and neighbourly ties between the Lebanese and the Syrian peoples. Lebanon has not forgotten that the Syrian people hosted hundreds of thousands of Lebanese refugees during the barbaric Israeli aggression against Lebanon during the July 2006 war. As the Council is aware, the number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon who have been registered or who have received aid from the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees is approximately 416,000, up until 12 April of this year. That number does not include the tens of thousands who have not asked to be registered with the Office of the High Commissioner.”
2013-04-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6949 (2013) · source
“All of them deserve a better life that will meet their aspirations and hopes - a life in which their dignity and aspirations are respected. From the Council, Lebanon has consistently reiterated its firm principled position of support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria, as well as Lebanon's policy of distancing, which is aimed at preserving unity and stability. That policy, which has received support at the national and international levels, does not represent a distancing by Lebanon from the Syrian people in their humanitarian crisis. As the Minister for Social Affairs of Lebanon said last August in the Council (see S/PV.6826), Lebanon has never distanced itself from international law or international legality.”
2013-04-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6949 (2013) · source
“Two years have passed since the crisis began in Syria, and the painful figures mentioned by the representative of the United Nations and its various organizations speak not only to the magnitude of that humanitarian disaster, but also to the inability of the international community to take the measures necessary to put an end to the cycle of violence and the intensifying massacres, as well as to the violations of human rights and the targeting of civilians going about their daily life. It is the responsibility of the Council and of the United Nations to ensure that the suffering of those people is recognized. The brotherly Syrian people - men, women, children and the elderly, wherever they may be 7 are always under the threat of bombings, or they have been displaced or become refugees in neighbouring countries.”
2013-04-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6949 (2013) · source
“Mr. Salam (Lebanon) (spoke in Arabic): I should like at the outset, Mr. President, to congratulate you on your assumption of the presidency of the Council and on its work during the month of April. I am fully confident that, given the crisis and the suffering that your country, Rwanda, has known during its contemporary history, you more than anyone are aware of the human tragedy that is being experienced by the brotherly Syrian people. I should like to express my thanks to Ms. Valerie Amos, Mr. Antonio Guterres, Ms. Zainab Hawa Bangura and Ms. Leila Zerrougui for their respective important briefings.”
2013-04-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6949 (2013) · source
“Borrowing the words of my fellow countryman, I will conclude by saying that it is also high time for the Council to give meaning to meaning by living up to its responsibilities under the Charter and putting an end by all legal means to the illegal settlement activity in the occupied territory.”
2013-01-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6906 (2013) · source
“Surely the Council will recall that, on 11 January, a group of around 200 young Palestinians set up tents in parts of the E-l area and announced the establishment of a village dubbed Bab Al-Shams - "Gate of the Sun" - after the novel by the internationally renowned Lebanese writer Elias Khoury, observing that "the time has now come to change the rules of the game, for us to establish facts on the ground - our own land". Before their eviction two days later by the occupying forces, Khoury addressed them from Beirut with the following words: "When you built your wonderful village you gave back meaning to meaning. You became the sons of this land and its masters "You are the olives of Palestine that shine under the sun ofjustice, and as you build your village, the light of freedom flares up with you. "Light upon light".”
2013-01-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6906 (2013) · source
“If you support E-l, you cannot possibly be in favour of the two-State solution; if you are in favour of the two-State solution, you must oppose E-l". For those who brush off criticism ofE-l by insisting that Israel is not pursuing construction and that it is just planning, the non-governmental organization Terrestrial Jerusalem is right to remind us that "when approved, Israel asserts a plan is 'only planning"; when implemented, 'it is not new". By now, anyone hearing this refrain should immediately understand: Israeli planning in settlements equals Israeli construction in settlements, sooner rather than later".”
2013-01-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6906 (2013) · source
“According to the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem, if built, the 3,426 housing units that were approved on 5 December 2012 for the E-l area "will exacerbate the isolation of East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank, will interrupt the territorial contiguity between the northern and southern parts of the West Bank and will create a physical and functional barrier between East Jerusalem and the Palestinian population in adjacent West Bank communities for which the city serves as the main metropolitan and religious centre". For the Israeli non-governmental organization Terrestrial Jerusalem, E-l "is not a routine settlement. If built, it is a game-changer, maybe a game-ender. E-l is the binary settlement.”
2013-01-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6906 (2013) · source
“A copy of the alarming report released by that group one week ago, on 16 January, detailing the record of Prime Minister Netanyahu's Government on settlements over the course of its full term in office, that is from April 2009 to the present, can be found at www.peacenow.org. Yet, no less alarming than that unprecedented level of settlement activity is the strategic location for the recently approved construction plans. In that regard, the case of the E-l area is most indicative.”
2013-01-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6906 (2013) · source
“Stressing how detrimental to the prospects of peace the settlements could be, he wrote in a 19 December 2002 essay in the New York Review of Books: "Imagine the effect on the peace process in Northern Ireland if the British government continued moving thousands of Protestants from Scotland into Ulster and settling them, at government expense, on land confiscated from Irish Catholics." To help assess the magnitude of the ongoing settlement activity, let me underline here that approvals of settlement plans jumped 300 per cent in 2012, and that, in just one week of December of that year, the Israeli Government pushed forward plans for over 11,000 homes beyond the 1967 border - nearly as many settler homes as were approved in the previous 10 years combined, as clearly demonstrated by the Israeli Peace Now movement.”
2013-01-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6906 (2013) · source
“To that effect, most telling is a quote from Amos Elon, the late Israeli journalist, essayist and author, who was referred to in a New York Times obituary as a cultural giant who was for many years Israel's "most renowned public intellectual".”
2013-01-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6906 (2013) · source
“Meron summarized his conclusions as follows: "civilian settlement in the administered territories contravenes the explicit provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention." In the text of his memorandum, the Legal Counsel of the Israeli Foreign Ministry is unequivocally clear that the Geneva Convention prohibition on the occupying Power to deport or transfer parts of its civilian population into the territory it occupies is a prohibition that is "categorical and not conditional upon the motives for the transfer or its objectives. Its purpose is to prevent settlement in occupied territory of citizens of the occupying state". There is no need to dwell then any longer on the legal aspect of settlements, I assume. Let me, then, turn to the political effects of settlements and how they prejudice the prospects for peace negotiations.”
2013-01-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6906 (2013) · source
“I see no need to demonstrate it anew. Yet, for whoever may still have any doubt on the matter, let me only recall that one of the first people to recognize the illegality of such activity was no one other than Mr. Theodor Meron, a child survivor of the Holocaust who became one of the world's most eminent international jurists and was recently elected President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. Mr. Meron was the Legal Counsel of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in September 1967. He was asked by the Office of Mr. Levy Eshkol, then Prime Minister of Israel, for his opinion on the legality of civilian settlements in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights. In a cover note dated September 18, 1967 to the legal memorandum that he submitted on the matter, Mr.”
2013-01-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6906 (2013) · source
“Therefore, we truly hope that, sooner rather than later, the Council, based on Article 4 of the Charter of the United Nations, will recommend to the General Assembly the admission of Palestine as a full Member of the United Nations. Most important, the State of Palestine remains occupied. It is our duty - the duty of the international community - to help it put an end to occupation and to achieve real independence. Then, and only then, can we have a genuine and lasting peace in that part of the world. You, Mr. President, and your 14 colleagues around this table all know that there is no greater obstacle towards such a noble end than the unrelenting Israeli policy of settlement in the territory occupied since 1967. Time and again, the question of the illegality of settlement activity has been stressed in the Council.”
2013-01-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6906 (2013) · source
“I would like to first thank Mr. Robert Serry for his comprehensive briefing. Allow me also to also warmly welcome His Excellency Mr. Riad Malki, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the State of Palestine. We are delighted that Mr. Malki is here today, but we are even more delighted that the name plate of State of Palestine is here for the first time, and here to stay, as an expression of the international will to recognize Palestinian statehood. Indeed, it is a major leap in the uphill battle of the Palestinian people to exercise their inalienable national rights. However, we are not even half way there. Palestine could only be granted observer status by virtue of General Assembly resolution 67/19. But like any other peace-loving State, it should be granted full membership in the Organization.”
2013-01-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6906 (2013) · source
“An interim step in that direction would be to secure non-member State observer status for Palestine during this General Assembly session.”
2012-10-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6847 (2012) · source
“That bulletin addresses the illegal detention of children who are subjected to acts "tantamount to torture by the Israeli army and police" and who experienced being "hand-tied, blindfolded, strip searched, verbally abused, subjected to physical violence". In that regard as well, the Council is failing to live up to its responsibility to sustain the relevant provisions applicable to the situation of Palestinian children; hence the survival of yet another form of Israeli exceptionalism. In that context, advocating that international and humanitarian law has not applied to Palestine since it is not a State only adds insult to injury. The time for ending all forms of Israeli exceptionalism is long overdue. The time for recognizing the State of Palestine and granting it full membership of our Organization is long overdue as well.”
2012-10-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6847 (2012) · source
“Unfortunately, the same can be said about the protection of children's rights. Need I further remind members that this Council has recognized the paramount importance of the protection of children in armed conflict, namely through its adoption ofresolution 1261 (1999), followed by resolution 1612 (2005), in which the Security Council established a monitoring and reporting mechanism for grave violations committed against innocent girls and boys? But Palestinian children have been deprived of that elaborate protection system. According to a recent UNICEF bulletin, of the total amount of killings and injuries perpetrated against Palestinian children, 84 per cent have been at the hands ofthe Israeli security forces.”
2012-10-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6847 (2012) · source
“According to the Public Committee against Torture in Israel, the interrogation methods used by Israeli agents include "beating; slapping; kicking; stepping on shackles; bending the interrogee and placing her in other painful positions; intentional tightening of shackles; violent shaking; sleep deprivation; prolonged shackling behind the back; cursing, humiliating and threatening the detainee; depriving the detainee of essential needs; exposing her to extreme heat or cold; isolation and secrecy; and imprisonment under inhumane conditions". The Security Council is clearly failing to live up to its responsibility to sustain the relevant legal provisions applicable to the situation of Palestinian women; hence the survival of yet another form of Israeli exceptionalism.”
2012-10-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6847 (2012) · source
“The Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem documents how such requirements are particularly problematic for pregnant women, who need to get to hospital in time to give birth, and how women have had to give birth at checkpoints because of the Israeli permit regime, leading to numerous infant deaths in the process. Furthermore, according to a UN-Women publication entitled Suspended Lives." Palestinian Female Prisoners in Israeli Prisons, an estimated 10,000 Palestinian women have been arrested and/or detained under Israeli military orders since 1967.”
2012-10-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6847 (2012) · source
“And yet, when it comes to Palestinian women, the Council exhibits paralysis, and is unable to take any concrete action to redress their dire situation. Palestinian women are particularly vulnerable to the immediate effects of the Israeli occupation. The fact is that roadblocks, patrols, curfews, checkpoints and the construction of the wall all have a negative impact on the health, education and economic security of Palestinians in general, and women in particular. The restriction of movement created by such repressive measures has seriously impeded their access to health care, for example. People living in villages around East Jerusalem need so-called permits to enable them to reach hospitals.”
2012-10-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6847 (2012) · source
“They include the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, C6te d'Ivoire, Chad, Haiti, Libya, Liberia and the Sudan. But when it comes to the Arab-Israeli conflict, exceptionalism is king. The Security Council has dramatically failed to respond in any tangible manner to the offences it has voted to address, namely, the targeting of civilians in armed conflict, particularly Palestinian women and children, and the deliberate obstruction of humanitarian assistance, let alone even considering sanctions against the perpetrator - Israel, the occupying Power. Need I recall here that resolution 1325 (2000) called on all parties to armed conflict to fully respect international law applicable to the rights and protection of women and girls, especially as civilians?”
2012-10-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6847 (2012) · source
“Let me then repeat, has the time not come to put an end to such exceptionalism and to hold Israel accountable for its international obligations? On 29 October, the Council will hold another open debate on resolution 1325 (2000), on women and peace and security. The Security Council is to be commended for having adopted a landmark resolution - resolution 1265 (1999) 4 by which it expresses its willingness to respond to situations of armed conflict where civilians are being targeted or humanitarian assistance to civilians is being deliberately obstructed. Since that time, the Council has begun to mainstream an approach based on the protection of civilians into its work, and has enhanced the role of its peacekeeping operations to that effect in various country-specific situations.”
2012-10-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6847 (2012) · source
“Moreover, since 1967, Israel, as an occupying Power, has constantly and systematically violated its basic duties under international humanitarian law. Such violations have included the transfer of populations, the annexation of land, collective punishment, the punitive demolition of houses, the use of torture and political assassinations. In addition, Israel has been charged with grave violations of human rights and with a number of war crimes in its conduct of military operations in the occupied territories. Nonetheless, it continues to behave as if it were above the law. Has the time not come to put an end to such exceptionalism and to hold Israel accountable for its international obligations? That is not a rhetorical question.”
2012-10-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6847 (2012) · source
“It also continues to build settlements in the occupied territories, in violation of international law, international humanitarian law, General Assembly and Security Council resolutions and the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (see A/ES-10/273). Indeed, Israel's annexation of Jerusalem, its extension of the wall close to the Golan Heights and the erection of the wall itself also constitute similar violations. Similarly, the punitive blockade to which Gaza has been subjected represents collective punishment in a form that violates articles 33 and 55 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which govern the conduct of an occupying Power in relation to a civilian population living under occupation.”
2012-10-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6847 (2012) · source
“While the day after tomorrow the Security Council will be holding an open debate on strengthening the rule of law in the maintenance of peace and security, it is important to keep in mind that one country in our region continues to challenge, with unquestioned impunity, the principles and norms of international law, and to ignore all resolutions adopted by the General Assembly and the Council on the situation in the Middle East and the question of Palestine. As it happens, that exceptionalism is best illustrated by the fact that Israel has failed to withdraw from the Palestinian territories it occupied in 1967, as per its legal obligations under resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973).”
2012-10-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6847 (2012) · source
“That has laid waste to the idea of Arab exceptionalism, a pseudo theory advanced by some pundits to explain the so-called Arab resistance to democratization, whether based on the racist cliche' that democracy is incompatible with Islam or inimical to Arab culture, or on the erroneous prejudice that Arabs are not yet ready for democracy or hold democratic values in lower esteem than other people. That pseudo theory of Arab exceptionalism has been swept away by the winds of change that have been blowing in our region. Unfortunately, some other forms of exceptionalism continue to survive in our part of the world.”
2012-10-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6847 (2012) · source
“Allow me, at the outset, to reiterate to the Council that my Government remains committed to the letter of resolution 1701 (2006) and looks forward to its implementation in its entirety. In that context, I would also like to say that all Lebanese parties, whether in the Government or the opposition, would like the Council to exercise its leadership in urging Israel to abide by its obligations under that resolution, that is, to bring a complete halt to its violations of Lebanese sovereignty, whether on land, sea or air, and to withdraw forthwith from any Lebanese territory that it continues to occupy. For almost two years now, hundreds of thousands of young men and women across the entire Arab world have been taking to the streets, seeking freedom, dignity and good governance.”
2012-10-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6847 (2012) · source
“(A/ES-10/273, advisory opinion, para. 120) The legal provisions on settlements are very clear, as they are with regard to the ongoing Israeli practices since 1967, which themselves are in defiance of those same provisions. The number of settlers exceeds half a million. The more than 120 settlements, to say nothing of the outposts, the bypass roads and the camps, have devoured approximately 42 per cent of the territory of the West Bank. Our question remains: how long will the Council continue to be paralysed, its will held hostage, failing in the face of Israeli settlement activity to shoulder its responsibilities under Article XXIV of the Charter of the Nations?”
2012-07-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6816 (2012) · source
“We have frequently recalled before the Council that article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War states that "The occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies." We have also recalled repeatedly that the Security Council, in paragraph 1 of resolution 446 (1979), adopted more than 30 years ago, after recalling the fact that the Fourth Geneva Convention applied to Arab territories occupied by Israel since 1967, determined that "the policy and practices of Israel in establishing settlements in the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967 have no legal validity and constitute a serious obstruction to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East." Do I really need to recall that the International Court of Justice decided in its advisory opinion on the Legal consequences ofthe construction ofa wall in the occupied Palestinian territory that "The Court concludes that the Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory (including East Jerusalem) have been established in breach of international law".”
2012-07-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6816 (2012) · source
“If any good could come out of the Levy committee, it is the unveiling of the hypocrisy that under the perception of occupation lies a regime which better resembles a combination of colonialism and apartheid." (spoke in Arabic) Faced with the gravity of the recommendations and the discussions of the Levy committee, allow me to ask, once again, are there any steps that members intend to take in the Council to recall the provisions of international law and the resolutions of the Council and the General Assembly on the illegitimacy of settler activities, or will the Council remain paralysed with its will held hostage?”
2012-07-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6816 (2012) · source
“The members of the Levy committee apparently fell down the rabbit hole, and their report was written in Wonderland, governed by the rules of absurdity: there is no occupation, there are no illegal outposts and there is apparently no Palestinian people either. To that we must say in the words of Alice: 'This is the silliest tea party I 9" have ever been to . In the same context, Aeyal Gross wrote, on 10 July, in an editorial on the report of the Levy committee in Haaretz: "What would you call an occupation where the occupying State moves its citizens in as inhabitants while exploiting ground, water and other natural resources? And what would you call a regime where two populations live under different law, applied according to their nationality?”
2012-07-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6816 (2012) · source
“It also called for the revocation of the Jordanian land law, which is valid in the West Bank, as well as for the revocation of the Israeli Supreme Court decision of 1979, so as to facilitate the building of settlements and the exercise by Jews of settlers' rights all over Judea and Samaria. A comment in the Levy committee report made by Michael Sfard, a lawyer and legal adviser to the Israeli human rights organization Yesh Din, expressed the eloquent view that, (spoke in English) "The Levy committee was conceived in sin to legalize a crime, and it has fully accomplished its mission. Its report is not a legal report but an ideological report that ignores the basic principles of the rule of law.”
2012-07-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6816 (2012) · source
“The Council may well be aware that the committee established by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and led by retired Supreme Court Justice Edmund Levy, to consider the legal status of Israeli outposts in the West Bank and find a way to legalize them concluded in its report issued earlier this month that Israel was "not an occupying State from the perspective of international law" and that "all settlement activities are legitimate, in particular those described as 'illegitimate"'. The Levy committee recommended that settlers be given property rights and that a parallel Israeli land cadastre be established for them.”
2012-07-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6816 (2012) · source
“As a country that upholds the Charter of the United Nations, we are duty-bound to recall that the Security Council must play its full role in the maintenance of international peace and security. Does the Council intend to take any steps to put an end to such Israeli actions? What are those steps? Or will the Council remain paralysed, its will held hostage in the face of ongoing Israeli violations of the provisions of international law and its total disregard for the resolutions of the Council and the General Assembly?”
2012-07-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6816 (2012) · source
“The Council may be aware that, the day before yesterday, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak approved a decision to demolish eight villages south of Hebron, in the occupied West Bank. Those are villages, in which Palestinian Arabs have lived for more than 200 years, include Majaz, Tabban, Safti, Fakheit, Halaweh, Mirkez, Jinba and Kharuba. The decision will result in the expulsion of more than 1,500 people, on the pretext that the Israeli army needs the land for military exercises. This is a step aimed at appropriating more Palestinian territory and establishing another buffer zone in the southern West Bank, along the Blue Line. Ultimately, this will serve to displace people and destroy their property.”
2012-07-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6816 (2012) · source
“Mr. Salam (Lebanon) (spoke in Arabic): Allow me to first thank Mr. Robert Serry for his comprehensive briefing. I should like to reiterate Lebanon's insistence on the full implementation of the provisions of resolution 1701 (2006). I would also like to pay tribute to the commendable efforts of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon. I would also like to emphasize to the Security Council that Lebanon continues to adhere to its principled position in defence of Syria's unity and sovereignty, as well as the right of the Syrian people to live in dignity and freedom and enjoy safety and security. Allow me now to turn to the main topic on our meeting today, namely, the Arab-Israeli conflict and its repercussions.”
2012-07-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6816 (2012) · source
“We all know that, ever since the idea of an inalienable right made its first appearance in a political document - none other than the 4 July 1776 Declaration of Independence of the United States of America - it has been clear that what is meant by an inalienable right is a right that can be neither surrendered nor negotiated. In line with the words of the chief author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, who wrote that nothing is unchangeable but the inherent and inalienable rights of man, we can safely assert that, in the case of Palestinian self-determination, nothing is non-negotiable except their inherent and inalienable right to a State.”
2012-04-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6757 (2012) · source
“Hence it would not be enough for the Council to recommend to the General Assembly the admission of the State of Palestine to the United Nations. It is also the Council's duty to ensure an end to the occupation of the State of Palestine. Accordingly, the question of Palestinian statehood can in no way be subjected to the outcome of negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis. Otherwise, Israel, the occupying Power, would be granted a right of veto over the right to self- determination of the Palestinian people - a right that was recognized by the General Assembly as inalienable in 1974 in its resolution 3236 (XXXIX).”
2012-04-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6757 (2012) · source
“By not doing so the Council will regrettably also fail to stand up for its obligation to meet its responsibilities in the maintenance of peace and security in our part of the world. Let me conclude by saying that inasmuch as we consider the road map statement commendable in calling for all parties to abide by their road map obligations, we also find it profoundly inappropriate that it uses such a term as "a future Palestinian State". The State of Palestine is not an entity to come into being in the future. It exists at the present time. As a matter of fact, the State of Palestine has been recognized as such by a large majority of the States Members of the United Nations. As a State it is a full member of UNESCO. But the State of Palestine is an occupied State.”
2012-04-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6757 (2012) · source
“Households not connected to the water network, or those supplied on an irregular basis, rely on them as a coping mechanism to meet domestic needs, particularly during the summer." Such Israeli practices are in clear violation of international law, international humanitarian law and international human rights law. In that regard, I need not remind the Council of General Assembly resolution 64/292, on the human right to water and sanitation. In paragraph 1, the resolution "recognizes the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights". The Security Council should condemn in the strongest terms such Israeli practices and uphold the indisputable right of the Palestinians to the water in their own land.”
2012-04-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6757 (2012) · source