Malaysia will put Palestine on UNSC agenda
An earlier statement by Malaysia’s Siti Hajjar Adnin follows the main report. There are links at foot to the many statements and resolutions by the UNSC on combatting ISIL.
Gaza terrorists launch rockets (no nuclear warheads) – a photo somehow taken or obtained by the IDF and released from their office. .
Security Council session on Iran deal to include discussion on Israel
Malaysia asks to reintroduce perceived mistreatment of Palestinians on meeting’s agenda Monday
By Tamar Pileggi, Times of Israel
July 20, 2015
The UN Security Council session on Monday on the new nuclear deal between Iran and the world powers is expected to include a discussion on Israel.
In addition to the council’s expected endorsement of the Iranian nuclear deal, the 15-member body will also reportedly discuss Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.
Malaysia, a non-permanent member of the Security Council, proposed adding the discussion to the agenda, according to a report in the Hebrew-language website NRG on Sunday.
The Foreign Ministry said the expected discussion was “an ugly and cynical attempt to further cement the Palestinian issue on the agenda of the international community.”
The ministry rejected the use of multilateral organizations such as the UN to coerce it into any sort of action vis-à-vis the Palestinians, and said that progress in peace talks can only be achieved in direct bilateral negotiations.
Continued discussions of Israel’s perceived mistreatment of Palestinians, it said, was a waste of agency resources given the ongoing and fierce violence in the region.
An unlikely ally of Israel, Foreign Minister Walid Al-Moualem of Syria addresses the General Assembly on the need for UN action against Islamic extremist ISIL. UN Photo/Cia Pak
“Its absurd that while attacks are taking place at the hands of radical Islamists throughout the Middle East, a special discussion on Israel is to take place,” a Foreign Ministry statement read.
Malaysia’s initiative to put the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the council’s agenda came after France announced last month that it wouldn’t propose a resolution on Palestinian statehood to the Security Council if the United States was certain to would veto it.
Malaysia, a Muslim-majority country, welcomed the nuclear deal signed between Iran and world powers last week, calling it “historic” and a “positive step and augurs well for international efforts aimed at enhancing nuclear security.”
Congress has 60 days to review the Iran deal. While lawmakers can’t block the agreement itself, they can try to pass new sanctions on Iran or block the president from waiving existing penalties.
Israel is expected to focus its diplomatic efforts on lobbying US lawmakers not to support the nuclear deal.
The 10-year agreement struck in Vienna last week calls for a lifting of punishing international sanctions on Iran in exchange for measures to ensure Iran does not build nuclear weapons.
According to diplomats, the resolution endorsing the deal should pass the Security Council with little difficulty, since the five veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — were among those countries that negotiated the accord.
If passed, the new resolution would replace the existing framework of seven sets of Security Council sanctions imposed since 2006 on Iran, enshrining a new set of restrictions.
AP contributed to this report.
Ms. Siti Hajjar Adnin, centre front row, speaking on Palestine at the UN in 2012.
Statement made at the quarterly open debate of the UNSC, New York.
From the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia
April 21 2015
Mr. President,
I thank you, Your Excellency, for convening and chairing today’s meeting. Your Excellency’s presence here today clearly demonstrates the importance Jordan attaches to today’s open debate.
2. I also thank the Secretary-General, His Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon, for his briefing.
3. My delegation associates itself with the statements to be delivered by Iran and Saudi Arabia on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation respectively.
Mr. President,
4. We have all heard loud and clear the message conveyed by the Secretary-General to the Council, repeatedly, on the untenable situation in Occupied Palestinian Territory. The situation on the ground is undoubtedly moving further and further away from a two-state solution on a daily basis.
5. Over the years, we have witnessed relentless and systematic actions by the Israeli authorities to chip away the conditions for a two-state solution. This includes the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements in Occupied Palestinian Territory, in complete disregard of international law and the overwhelming views of the international community.
6. The escalating settlement constructions further led to demolition of Palestinian homes, forced displacement of Palestinian families, and increasing violence and provocations by Israeli settlers.
7. We have heard condemnations by the international community but no real action, including by the Security Council, to halt the emerging one-state reality. Instead, the international community continues to tackle the symptoms of the problem, such as humanitarian crisis and terrorism, since it lacks the political will to address the root causes of the problem and end the longest occupation in modern history.
Mr. President,
8. Based on repeated failures in bilateral negotiations for the past decades to resolve the Israel-Palestine conflict, Malaysia believes the time has come for the international community in general, and the Security Council in particular, to lead the way to end the status quo in Occupied Palestinian Territory.
9. Prolonged foreign occupation of Palestine by way of oppression, injustice and discrimination will do nothing to safeguard Israel’s long-term security concerns. Instead, it has brought about despair, anger and extremism, with repercussions that continue to resonate far across the globe.
10. For those who insist that the only way to create a Palestinian state is through bilateral negotiations, I urge them to apply the same standard on Israel. Would the State of Israel have existed if the international community had insisted that Israel could only be created through direct bilateral negotiations with its neighbouring Arab countries? Isn’t it time for the Council to act decisively on the creation of a Palestinian State, just as the General Assembly did in 1947 to create the State of Israel?
Mr. President,
11. One aspect of the unsustainability of the situation in Occupied Palestine Territory that Malaysia wishes to highlight is related to the gross violations of Palestinian children’s rights. About 300 Palestinian children are now being detained by the occupying forces in the West Bank, including in Occupied East Jerusalem.
12. Over the past three years, the number of child detainees has increased by 87%. Moreover, the existence of a juvenile military court in Israel, the only such court in the world, is clearly in violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Fourth Geneva Convention and other provisions of international law.
13. According to the Defence for Children International, more than 700 Palestinian children are sentenced in Israeli military courts every year. Ill treatment of Palestinian children in the Israeli military detention system is widespread and systematic, with nearly three out of four kids experience some form of physical violence during arrest, transfer or interrogation. Such practice is causing widespread trauma, loss of childhoods and increasing radicalisation.
14. Malaysia condemns this unacceptable situation and calls for the release of Palestinian children detained by Israel. We urge Israel to adhere to its obligations under international law, including the Convention on the Right of the Child, to which it is a State party.
Mr. President,
15. Malaysia welcomes the recent accession by Palestine to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Such action will go a long way to end impunity and deter war crimes and crimes against humanity by both sides.
16. Similarly, we welcome Palestine’s decisions to accede to various international and multilateral conventions and treaties. We continue to support peaceful, legal, and multilateral efforts by Palestine to be a respectable member of the international community, who abides by international law, norms and standards.
Mr. President,
17. After last month’s poignant final briefing by the outgoing Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Mr. Robert Serry, we have seen some positive momentum among Council members to initiate concerted effort towards resolving the Israel-Palestine conflict.
18. Malaysia stands ready to play a constructive role in the Council to realise the two-state solution. We reiterate our longstanding support for the inalienable right of self-determination for the Palestinian people, and a just, comprehensive and final solution to the Palestine-Israel conflict.
I thank you, Mr. President.
Links
UN Security Council votes yes to cutting off ISIL funding, 12th February, 2015
UN Security Council: ISIS replacing Taliban in Afghanistan, 17th March 2015
UNSC has obligation to act against ISIL: UN rights expert
“The Security Council has an obligation to act,” Ben Emmerson, the UN special rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism, said on Monday after submitting a report on ISIL’s crimes.He called on the Security Council to take immediate action to protect civilians living “in daily fear for their lives” in areas controlled by the ISIL Takfiri group, where “shocking crimes are being committed on an industrial scale.”
23rd June 2015.Security Council approves resolution targeting sources of financing for ISIL
12th February 2015Security Council, in Statement, Expresses Deep Outrage at ‘ISIL’, Urging Expanded Support for New Iraqi Government to Defeat It
19th September 2014