Statement by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia at the UNGA 10th Emergency Special Session on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question
Mr. President,
It has been almost a year since the current escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict began. As the result of the Israeli military operation nearly 42,000 Palestinians have died, at least 100,000 have been wounded. It is the most unprecedented conflict over the recent decades, and it continues to claim the lives of thousands of children, women, humanitarian workers and United Nations personnel. Nothing can justify such collective punishment of the Palestinian people.
After the Hamas attack almost a year ago (which we all condemned), eliminating Palestinians and turning the territory they call their home into an unlivable zone seem to have become the main goal of the current Israeli leadership. However, as the UN Secretary-General rightly noted at that time, this absolutely unacceptable outbreak of violence, accompanied by the taking of large numbers of hostages, did not happen in a vacuum. It needs to be looked at in the context of years-long Israeli actions that violate the UNSC decision to establish two states – Palestine and Israel – living in peace and security. For decades, Israel has been illegally occupying Palestinian territory, building illegal settlements and violating the basic rights of Palestinians living in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip.
In this regard, we support the draft resolution under consideration today and are ready to implement its provisions in full compliance with the UN Charter and in line with the mandates of UN principal organs and with the international legal obligations of our country. The draft is underpinned by the conclusions of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which were set forth in its advisory opinion of July 19, 2024. The opinion itself, although it is not legally binding in nature, contains a number of important provisions regarding international legal obligations.
The ICJ unequivocally indicated that Israel's actions on the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) violate the fundamental principles of international law, in particular the right of peoples to self-determination.
The importance of the right of peoples to self-determination is hard to overstate. Its denial could lead to grave consequences and trigger protracted crises. The international community has unwaveringly supported the Palestinian people in realizing that right through the establishment of an independent Palestinian State, which is reflected in the documents of the General Assembly, the Security Council and the International Court of Justice. The realization of that right in the context of Israeli occupation is not possible, which means that this occupation, which the ICJ recognized as illegal, must end. We join the respective call contained in the draft resolution under consideration today.
The ICJ also provided exhaustive conclusions regarding Israel's activity to expand its settlements. The ICJ has recognized that this activity runs counter to international law and creates significant obstacles to the establishment of a viable Palestinian State. Russia allies itself with the calls of the International Court of Justice, reflected in today’s draft resolution, for an immediate cessation of Israel's unlawful actions, including the ongoing annexation and demographic changes to the OPT.
Mr. President,
The Russian Federation has consistently maintained a principled position to champion the rights of the Palestinian people. We are convinced that achieving a just and lasting solution can be only be possible through ending the occupation and realizing the right of the Palestinians to create their own independent state within the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The international community has an obligation not only to disallow Israel's unlawful actions, but also to take specific measures to ensure compliance with international law. All UN Member States should continue their efforts to create necessary conditions for negotiations to resume, which should be focused on finding a solution, once and for all, based on the principles of justice, security and peaceful coexistence of the two states.
In this connection, we can’t but mention the destructive role of the United States. It acts as a self-proclaimed sole “peacemaker”, and through its actions it has been undermining all the previous achievements of the international community on the Israeli-Palestinian track. Now Washington is de facto directly supporting Jerusalem in pursuing the so-called policy of “creating facts on the ground”. The central element of this policy is the settlement activity in the occupied territory, which violates international law. American support allows Israel to escape the responsibility for the crimes committed in Gaza and the West Bank and not to worry about the reaction of the Security Council, since any document that Israel doesn’t like will be vetoed by Washington. I would like to recall that in the course of the current spiking Israeli-Palestinian escalation, Washington has already used its veto five times.
The UNSC resolution 2735 pushed by the Americans was initially based on the mendacious claim that Israel had allegedly agreed to the so-called “Biden plan”. However, we see that Israel has increasingly demanded control of the Philadelphi corridor and the Netzarim line, which was out of the question in the beginning. Thus, we can conclude that not only did the US and Israel sell a pig in a poke to the Council, but they also put one more pig in that poke by substituting the modalities of the agreed parameters of the deal. At the same time, Washington is trying to persuade the entire international community of the need to exert pressure exclusively on Hamas, ignoring the unambiguous position of the Israeli cabinet in favor of the continuation of this uncompromising war without regard for the international community and the relevant decisions of the Security Council and the UNGA.
Moreover, the Americans, alongside their NATO allies, continue to provide Israel with weapons, including aerial bombs, and they are fully aware of the fact that these weapons will be used to attack civilians and civilian facilities in Gaza. They have not stopped these supplies even when the ICJ saw plausible signs of genocide in the situation in Gaza, which raises the question of compliance with the obligations under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, not only by Israel but also by the countries of the collective West. This kind of pandering to lawlessness is unacceptable. We all need to put an end to the crimes against Palestinians that the US is complicit in.
Mr. President,
Russia reaffirms its commitment to peace in the Middle East and is willing to assist in all good-faith diplomatic efforts that are genuinely aimed at resolving this protracted conflict.
However, in order to pave the way for a lasting peace, it is necessary to put an end to Israel's long-standing and serious violations of the international legal obligations mentioned in the ICJ advisory opinion.
We trust that the Secretary-General will keep the focus on the situation in the OPT and provide the General Assembly with objective and substantive reports on how this resolution has been implemented.
We also hope that the UN Security Council, which has effectively been held hostage by the USA and its Israeli allies, will be able to fulfill its role in maintaining international peace and security. The Council has the toolkit to address the problem. Let us together send a strong message to Washington that the US and its partners in crime are on the wrong side of history. The upcoming vote on the draft presented by Palestine is an important step in the right direction.
Thank you for your attention.
