Seventy-ninth Session,
45th & 46th Meetings (AM & PM) 3 December 2024
‘Bury the Hatchet’, Assembly President Appeals to Warring Parties, as Delegates Demand Ceasefire, More Aid Deliveries in Gaza ahead of Winter
The General Assembly today emphasized that a two-State solution remains the “only path to lasting peace” in the Middle East, adopting three resolutions to advance this goal, with speakers overwhelmingly urging a Gaza ceasefire and pressing Israel to permit food and aid deliveries into the enclave ahead of the cold winter months.
“Peace and security will never be achieved through force or occupation,” Assembly President Philemon Yang (Cameroon) stressed, as he emphasized that the continued denial of Palestinian statehood “has only perpetuated cycles of violence and deepened despair”. It has been over a year of hostilities that have caused thousands of deaths and widespread destruction. Now is the time for all to “bury the hatchet for once and for all”, he stressed, calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the unconditional release of all hostages.
The Assembly adopted a resolution titled “Peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine” (document A/79/L.23), as orally revised, with 157 votes in favour, 8 against (Argentina, Hungary, Israel, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, United States) and 7 abstentions (Cameroon, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Georgia, Paraguay, Ukraine, Uruguay). By terms of that text, the 193‑member organ stressed the need to urgently commit to a Middle East peace process. Israel, the occupying Power, must comply with international law, including ceasing all settlement activities and evacuating settlers from the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the text demanded.
Adopting a text titled “Division for Palestinian Rights of the Secretariat” (document A/79/L.24) by a recorded vote of 101 votes in favour, 27 against and 42 abstentions, the Assembly requested the Secretary-General continue to provide resources and ensure that the Division continues to effectively carry out its work.
The Assembly also adopted by 97 votes in favour to 8 against (Australia, Canada, Israel, Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, Papua New Guinea, United Kingdom, United States), with 64 abstentions, a resolution on “The Syrian Golan” (document A/79/L.19), declaring that Israel has failed to comply with Security Council resolution 497 (1981). Israel’s decision to impose its jurisdiction on the occupied Syrian Golan is null and void, the text declared, calling on Israel to resume talks on the Syrian and Lebanese tracks and to withdraw from all occupied Syrian Golan.
Presenting the report of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People for the period 2 September 2023 to 31 August 2024 (document A/79/35), Chair Cheikh Niang pledged to protect Palestinian rights and revive a two-State solution. The Committee strongly condemns the indiscriminate Israeli military campaign in Gaza, he said, calling for an immediate ceasefire in the enclave. The State of Palestine must become a full UN member. Israel must rescind its classification of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) as a terrorist organization, he added.
“Every single day — from sunrise to sunset, from sunset to sunrise — has been a journey of struggle and survival, of pain and agony, of loss and death,” said the Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine. Israel has spared no means in its destruction of the Palestinian people. The question of Palestine has been on the UN agenda since the Organization’s inception and remains the most critical test to the very existence of an international law-based order.
“It is the question of a people denied the very rights that lie at the heart of the UN Charter,” he went on to say. Solidarity with the Palestinian people must be translated into this decisive action to uphold international law. The Israeli Government's plan is obvious — destroy and displace the people to annex the land. “This illegal occupation must end,” he said, calling for “supremacist ideologies” to be defeated.
Israel’s representative said that in the upcoming week the Assembly will convene three meetings to discuss the Middle East and resolutions based on a “reckless disregard for the truth”. “In the wake of Hamas' 7 October massacre, now over more than a year ago, the UN's entrenched anti-Israeli bias has been laid bare for all to see,” she added. Hamas’ murder, rape and torture of 1,200 people, and the kidnapping of 240 remain insufficiently addressed by the UN. Instead, the Assembly fixates on resolutions sponsored by Cuba, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Venezuela and the Syrian regime.
If they were “truly interested in bringing solutions to the war-torn region, they would abandon their obsessive efforts to delegitimize Israel”, she said. They would also focus on how to bring home the hostages, how to dismantle Hamas and how to get the hatred of Israel out of the Palestinian school system. “Is it not time to hold Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations accountable for the blood they have spilled,” she asked.
Many Member States urged a ceasefire in Gaza, spotlighting the plight and suffering of the Palestinian people. Lebanon’s delegate, speaking on behalf of the Arab Group, expressed alarm that people in Gaza are going through genocide and warned that the onset of the winter will certainly aggravate the suffering and add to the current humanitarian crisis. He welcomed the entering into force of the stoppage of hostilities in Lebanon and expressed hope that that pause in fighting would bring about a ceasefire in Gaza and prevent escalation in the West Bank.
Israel’s attacks against the Palestinian people are intensifying even as the death toll stands at 44,000 lives, Qatar’s delegate said. “We are at a turning point on the Palestinian question,” she added. Türkiye’s delegate called the toll on human life in the Gaza Strip unconscionable, stressing that the breaches of international human rights law and international humanitarian law “cannot be tolerated any longer”.
Speakers expressed concern that the UN has not done more to combat crimes committed against the Palestinian people, with the delegate from Malaysia stressing that the Organization has failed to translate words into action. “We have remained impotent as injustice persists,” he stressed.
Jordan’s speaker, echoing a similar sentiment, said that Israel’s actions are the result of the international community’s failure to confront “Israeli arrogance”. Member States must do more to prevent Israel’s access to weapons. Egypt’s delegate said Israeli aggression has expanded to include Lebanon, Syria and other countries in the region, complicating and compounding crises in the Middle East.
“These measures could not continue without the unlimited and multifaceted support that Israel receives from the United States,” Syria’s delegate pointed out. Washington D.C. is constantly trying to prevent any accountability for “Israeli war criminals” and its repeated use of the veto in the Council is an example of “being blind”. Recent attacks on Syria are “part of a continued Zionist plot”, he added.
Representing the Group of Friends in Defense of the UN Charter, Venezuela’s speaker also condemned the latest veto by the United States which he said “amounts to further complicity” with Israels’ policy and practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.
However, “one-sided resolutions will not help advance a durable peace or bring us closer to a two-State solution”, the delegate of the United States said, also adding that they only perpetuate long-standing divisions at a time “when we urgently need to work together”. Because the draft texts neither achieve this objective nor create conditions for direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, his delegation will vote against all three resolutions, he said, calling for a stabilization of the situation and the need for accountability.
Other delegations such as Chile’s speaker condemned Israel’s expansionist policy in the West Bank and demanded the immediate and unconditional release of Hamas hostages. He also urged Member States to continue contributing to UNRWA so it can maintain its operations.
Other delegations pointed out initiatives they have taken to improve the situation on the ground and hold perpetrators accountable. South Africa’s delegate, recalling the decision to turn to the International Court of Justice to seek an order to prevent Israel from committing genocide in Gaza, welcomed the recent International Criminal Court’s issuance of warrants of arrest for Israel and Hamas’ senior leadership.
Saudi Arabia’s representative said his country, in partnership with the European Union and Norway, has launched the Global Alliance for the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, which held its first meeting in Riyadh on 30 and 31 October. He urged countries to support the initiative to hold an international conference in 2025 under the auspices of the Assembly, with the chairmanship of his country and France to implement the relevant UN resolutions and the two-State formula.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment