Statement by Ambassador Vassily A. Nebenzia, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations, at the Security Council on the explanation of vote on the draft resolution submitted by Kuwait (S/2018/516), on the protection of civilians in the occupied Palestinian territories
I shall now make a statement in my capacity as the representative of the Russian Federation.
The Russian Federation voted in favour of the draft resolution submitted by Kuwait (S/2018/516), on the protection of civilians in the occupied Palestinian territories, because its provisions corresponded to the Russian Federation’s principled approach to a settlement in the Middle East.
The international community must of course deal with the important questions reflected in the draft resolution, including the humanitarian situation in Gaza, the re-establishment of Palestinian unity and the return of control over the sector to the Palestinian authorities.
We must not slack off our efforts in support of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, whose work significantly eases the burden on Palestinian refugees. But all of these steps should be subordinate to a resolution of the main strategic objective of achieving a Palestinian-Israel settlement based on the international legal foundation that we are all familiar with.
That settlement presupposes the implementation of a two-State solution based on the relevant Security Council resolutions, the Arab Peace Initiative and the decisions of the Middle East Quartet. We reiterate that imposing a solution through force and a rejection of direct dialogue is not a viable choice.
Such an approach would only exacerbate mistrust and make the prospects for relaunching the negotiation process ever more distant. We firmly condemn the indiscriminate attacks on civilians that have resulted in significant numbers of victims, as well as the firing of rockets into residential areas of Israel. For our part, as a permanent member of the Security Council and a member of the Quartet, we will continue to encourage both sides to resume direct negotiations as soon as possible, since it is their absence that is the reason for the current problematic situation regarding a Palestinian-Israeli settlement.
Russia has repeatedly proposed its services as a mediator and offered to host a summit between the leaders of Palestine and Israel in order to relaunch a direct dialogue, and our proposal still stands. We are ready to work sincerely and energetically with every partner interested in achieving a speedy end to the current impasse on a Middle East settlement.
