Statement by H.E. Ambassador Vitaly I. Churkin, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations, during the Security Council Meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question
First of all, we would like to confirm our support for the resumption of the negotiations between Israel and Palestine on 29 July. We trust that they will be substantive and continuous and outline a clear path towards a two-State solution, a cessation of the conflict and the establishment of lasting peace based on international legal documents known to all of us, including Security Council resolutions.
We take note of how difficult it is to reach consensus on the two-State solution. The parties are seeking fullyto solve all final status issues, where in many cases it will not be as easy to find a compromise solution. Whatever the situation, reaching final agreements is undoubtedly the responsibility of the direct participants in the negotiations, who must demonstrate full responsibility for the future of their peoples. Of course, any eventual agreement must be developed by the Palestinians and the Israelis themselves, and not imposed externally. Otherwise, it would not be viable and would not last.
We deem it very positive that a meeting of the Middle East Quartet of international mediator was held here at the ministerial level last month — the first such meeting in a year and a half. The Quartet is still the internationally recognized Security Council-authorized mechanism to faciliate the Middle East settlement.
We are convinced that fostering cooperation with the League of Arab States, which is making a significant contribution to the negotiation process, will help step up efforts to find a fair resolution to chronic problems. We support the efforts of the League to promote the Arab Peace Initiative. Its role is very important, among other things for restoring the intra-Palestinian unity on the platform of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Clearly, implementing any eventual agreement, which the parties intend to achieve no later than April 2014, would not be possible if there were to be a split.
The Quartet’s adoption of a statement on the resumed negotiation process (see SG/2202) is of particular importance. However, we cannot dwell on that. We need to move further by encouraging parties and sending clear signals to show that the international community does not wish to see the Palestinian issue being pushed into the background, given all of the upheavals in the Arab world over recent years. Achieving a comprehensive, fair and lasting Arab-Israeli settlement would be a key contribution to normalizing the situation in the region.
It is a source of serious concern that illegal Israeli settlement activities continue in the occupied territories. Unilateral and provocative acts are unacceptable. Measures by both sides to improve the atmosphere surrounding the renewed negotiations should be a sine qua non. The measures should be sustainable, gradual and regular in nature.
The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is consistently deteriorating, despite the basic climate of calm and certain concessions introduced by Israel on the importation of fuel and building materials. It is clear that giving the citizens of Gaza a normal life is only possible by fully lifting the blockade of the Strip and restoring the unity of the Palestinian territories.
Russia is fully assisting the current negotiation efforts, both as part of the Quartet and through ongoing dialogue that we have been carrying out with the Palestinians, Israelis and Governments of the region. Apart from the meetings that took place on the sidelines of the sixty-eighth session of the General Assembly, the Special Representative of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation for reaching a settlement in the Middle East recently visited the region. We will continue to assist Palestine with our traditional assistance as well as by strengthening the institutional basis for statehood and the economy.
Resolution 2118 (2013) opened a window of opportunity for convening an international conference on Syria. We must not drag our feet. The Syrian conflict is increasingly taking on an obvious and very dangerous interfaith aspect. Christians find themselves under the threat of being chased off their lands and are experiencing terrible suffering at the hands of the Islamists. We are hearing of new cases of the desecration and destruction of religious facilities and murders and violence. Bandits, cloaked in Islam, are instilling religious hatred in people and casting a shadow over the community on behalf of whom they act. We need to really urge all the Syrian parties to meet in Geneva and make their choice, using political methods to resolve the various problems.
The Syrian Government has frequently said that it was ready to participate in the Geneva meeting. We welcome the fully fledged accession by Syria to the Chemical Weapons Convention. The authorities of the country are demonstrating openness and preparedness to work closely with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the United Nations and to ensure the international inspectors access to their declared facilities. The destruction of equipment linked with the chemical weapon programme is fully underway. In that regard, there is a need for the armed opposition also to comply unswervingly with the requirements in resolution 2118 (2013) in terms of providing full assistance to the OPCW and United Nations support during the joint mission. It is clear that at least part of the opposition is trying to undermine the efforts to implement the resolution.
In conclusion, I would like once again to underscore that in terms of finding a political and diplomatic settlement and in working on chemical disarmament, there is no option to pooling the collective mutually complementary efforts of the international community. Russia is prepared to work jointly on that.
