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Madam President,
We thank the Secretary General for his briefing today. His continued personal engagement in the Middle East gives us hope. His visit to the Occupied Palestinian Territory last week provided him an opportunity to witness first hand the frustrating “build-destroy-build, destroy-cycle”.
We fully support his two-pronged strategy of “spare no effort to rebuild Gaza; spare no time to jump-start peace talks”.
Madam President,
We meet here for the last open debate of the Security Council on the subject this year - a year that we ourselves had declared the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.
We cannot put a spin on what happened this year: the peace process collapsed; Gaza was devastated once again; Israel announced its largest land grab for over three decades; and tensions around the Al-Aqsa Mosque increased.
This Council failed to fulfill its responsibility, as Gaza was burning and 2,100 of its citizens were killed, one third of them women and children.
We appreciate the pledges of US$ 5.4 billion made in Cairo to rebuild Gaza. But Gaza, as we all know, will remain vulnerable, if the status quo continues.
An overwhelming majority of the international community continues to support a clear path towards full Palestinian statehood and sovereignty. The British House of Commons has recognized the “State of Palestine”. Sweden’s new Government has also decided to recognize it. These weighty pronouncements, coming from two major European Union members, raise the hopes of the beleaguered Palestinian people. This Council must acknowledge these realities on the ground.
Sustainable peace in the region is not possible without establishing an independent, viable and contiguous state of Palestine, with 1967 borders and Al Quds Al-Sharif as its capital, living side by side, in peace and security with Israel. All Arab lands, including the Syrian Golan, must also be vacated.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said in the General Assembly last month, "the United Nations should facilitate a just and lasting solution of the Palestinian issue, based on the relevant UN resolutions."
We appreciate the United States’ persistent efforts in the quest for peace. We hope that Secretary Kerry’s efforts to reinvigorate the peace process would bear fruit. The Quartet also needs to be re-energized.
Dialogue should, however, not be pursued for the sake of dialogue. It should not forever remain a mirage. It should have clear goals, timelines and benchmarks.
Madam President,
In Syria and Iraq, the international community has been challenged to face down the rising tide of primeval barbarism and criminality. The so-called Islamic State does not draw its authority or writ from any religion. We must all, collectively, oppose and defeat its evil ideology of ‘hate, murder and destroy’. We must remain united in our fight against this new face of terrorism and violent extremism.
The political process must be revived to resolve the continuing conflict in Syria. This is not the time to abdicate diplomatic responsibilities in the hope that the warring parties would force the outcome through guns and blood.
The United Nations and regional players should use all diplomatic means at their disposal to prevent further deterioration. It is now clear that if the Syrian conflict had been addressed two years ago, we would not have witnessed the rise of the ISIS. We should hold fast to this lesson we have learnt in our contemporary history.
Madam President,
As the Secretary General said in Gaza, “this endless, needless, mindless cycle of suffering” must end. Whether it is Palestine or Syria, dialogue and diplomacy need to be pursued with a real sense of purpose and urgency. This was the rationale behind creating the United Nations and we must not fail in fulfilling our duties in this regard. We know from experience that failure to resolve the Palestine issue has spawned many more conflicts. The object lesson is: fix Palestine, fix the Middle East; fix the Middle East, and some major ailments in our international polity will be fixed.
I thank you.