Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the UN said failure to hold Israel accountable thus far has greatly emboldened its crimes, including acts of violence, destruction, and terror by Israeli settlers across Occupied Palestine.
Mansour sent three identical letters to the UN Secretary-General, President of the UN Security Council, and President of the UN General Assembly, briefing them on the critical situation in the occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem due to the escalating illegal policies and practices of Israel, the occupying Power, against the Palestinian people.
“Although the international community has explicitly called for the cessation of home demolitions, forced evictions, land confiscation and all settlement activities, as reflected in relevant UN resolutions, and while governments, parliamentarians, human rights groups, and other international organizations have equally called for an end to these illegal actions, Israel continues to violate international law with absolute impunity. The consequences for the Palestinian people have been dire and the prospects for a just peace have been suffocated,” he said.
Turning to the situation in the Gaza Strip, we again sound the alarm about the deplorable humanitarian and socio-economic conditions there due to the illegal Israeli blockade that has caused such severe deprivation, hunger, and misery on its two million inhabitants, the majority of Palestine refugees, who continue to bear the hardships of the original dispossession and displacement inflicted on them by Israel. Today, in yet another act of inhumanity, the occupying Power blocked the entry to Gaza of 2,000 doses of coronavirus vaccines intended for frontline health workers, including personnel in ICU units treating patients with the virus. This constitutes yet another grave breach of Israel’s obligations under the 4th Geneva Convention, said the letter.
