Statement by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia at UN Security Council open debate on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question
Mme.President,
We thank the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Mr.Tor Wennesland, for his meaningful briefing on the situation in the Middle Eastern region.
We closely follow the developments in the West Bank and Eastern Jerusalem in the context of continuing clashes at Al-Aqsa mosque compound which already resulted in 152 Palestinians sustaining wounds after the Israeli security forces used tear gas and rubber bullets to contain the protestors.
We are deeply concerned over escalation of tension that took place against the backdrop of a general outbreak of violence in Israeli cities which caused deaths of more than 40 people over the past month – both Palestinians and Israelis.
In this regard, we underscore the importance of reserved behavior and rejection of provocative steps and unilateral action. This must be done to preclude recurrence of last May’s scenario, when riots in Jerusalem transformed into violent Palestinian-Israeli armed clashes that lasted for many days. We remind again that historical and legal status quo of the Holy Sites must not be violated, and note the stabilizing role played by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan that historically has protected Jerusalem’s holy places of Islam and ensured free access to them.
Mme.President,
As we heard from Special Coordinator Wennesland, the situation is aggravated by Israel’s aggressive settlement policy in the West Bank and Eastern Jerusalem that runs counter to the international law. Thus, expansion of 132 settlements is being endorsed at the moment. Last year alone Israel started constructing 1270 housing units for the settlers, opened bids for building 3467 further housing units in the West Bank, and 500 – in Jerusalem. There still remain more than 140 settlers’ outposts that are illegal, i.a. in terms of Israel’s legal system. Settlement plans regarding the occupied Syrian Golans are also fraught with region-wide destabilization. Given forbearance of Israeli authorities, we are seeing a considerable increase of acts of violence on the part of the settlers.
We call on Israel to keep from radical steps that create irreversible trends on the ground, including demolition of Palestinians’ homes, confiscation of property and arbitrary arrests. We also call to get back to peaceful settlement within the universally recognized international legal framework.
Mme.President,
The lack of solution to the Palestinian question is the fundamental reason why the Middle East is having these regular outbreaks of tension and cycles of escalation of violence. The recent developments in Jerusalem clearly indicate that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict requires an urgent resolution. In order to avoid such recurrence of armed confrontation, both international and regional efforts must focus on creating conditions for relaunching direct negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis within the endorsed formula of two states, Palestine and Israel, living side by side in peace and security within the 1967 borders.
At the same time, we are convinced that multilateral efforts aimed at creating favorable environment for negotiations stand in high need and demand today. On our part, we keep interacting with Palestinians and Israelis, as well as regional and international stakeholders. On 18 April President of Russia Vladimir Putin had a phone conversation with President of Palestine Mahmud Abbas, during which the importance of relaunching direct Palestinian-Israeli dialogue was underscored, in particular under the auspices of the international Quartet of intermediaries for the Middle East.
We again reiterate our commitment to effective engagement with our partners in the Quartet in order to boost efficiency of this Security Council-endorsed mechanism. At the same time, we emphasize the importance of proper coordination between international mediators and regional partners. This exact consideration gave rise to Russia’s initiative of convening an extended ministerial meeting of the Quartet that should also involve key members of the Arab League.
Middle Eastern peace process can hardly move forward unless Palestine recovers its unity on the basis of the PLO platform. We are ready to render the required assistance at this track while working together with other interested sides, first of all our Egyptian friends.
Mme.President,
Russia will keep working to facilitate international consensus and coordinate joint action in order to find a just solution to the Palestinian problem. We are disappointed that our colleagues in the Quartet would again and again refuse to work together to resume the Middle Eastern settlement. As we see, attempts to monopolize this process and impose an economic truce on Palestinians instead of accommodating their aspirations for having a sovereign state of their own bring no concrete results.
Mme.President,
To our regret, today we again heard some delegations try to shift responsibilities and accuse Russia of a looming food crisis, i.a. in the Middle East. We perceive it as an attempt to divert attention from miscalculations of Western states who introduced sanctions and unilateral coercive measures that constitute the root cause of current trends. If they wish it, our Western colleagues can easily solve this problem. There is no need to spout empty rhetoric and mislead Security Council members.
Thank you.
