Note: A complete summary of today's Security Council meeting on the Middle East will be made available after its conclusion.
Briefing
TOR WENNESLAND, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, said a dangerous cycle of violence persists amidst increased political tensions and a stalled peace process in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, even as a new year is dawning. "The violent trends that dominated the last months of 2022 continue to take a devastating human toll," he said, adding: "Preventing more loss of life and reversing negative trends on the ground must be our collective priority." At the same time, the global community must not lose sight of the ultimate goal - to end the occupation, resolve the conflict and realize a two-State solution.
Since his last briefing, a new Government has been sworn into power in Israel, he said. Reiterating the United Nations steadfast support to both sides in achieving a sustainable peace, he outlined recent developments on the ground, noting that a total of 14 Palestinians were killed between 8 December 2022 and 13 January 2023, and another 117 were injured by Israeli security forces. Israeli settlers or other civilians perpetrated 63 attacks against Palestinians resulting in 28 injuries, including six children. According to Israeli sources, five Israeli civilians and four security forces personnel were injured by Palestinians in attacks, clashes, the throwing of stones and Molotov cocktails, and other incidents. Palestinians perpetrated a total of 89 attacks against Israeli civilians during the reporting period.
Giving a detailed report on how violence continued to affect children, he reported that five Palestinian children killed during the reporting period. Among them, a 16-year-old boy was killed near Ramallah as he was apparently preparing to throw stones and paint at Israeli vehicles. On 5 January, Israeli security forces shot and killed another 16-year-old during an arrest operation in Balata Refugee Camp in Nablus, and an 18-year-old Palestinian was subsequently shot and killed by an armed Israeli near the settlement outpost of Havat Yehuda on 11 January. Emphasizing that the perpetrators of all acts of violence must be held accountable and swiftly brought to justice, he added that security forces must exercise maximum restraint and use lethal force only when strictly unavoidable in order to protect life. Children must never be the targets of violence or put in harm's way.
Turning to settlement-related developments, he said that, on 2 January, the Israeli Government informed the High Court of Justice that it intends to legalize, under Israeli law, the outpost of Homesh - which is built on private Palestinian land - by repealing part of the 2005 Disengagement Law. On the same day, the Court issued a decision giving the State 90 days to explain why the outpost should not be evacuated and the Palestinian rights holders not allowed to exercise their rights. Reiterating that all settlements are illegal under international law and remain a substantial obstacle to peace, he said demolitions and seizures of Palestinian-owned property also continued through the reporting period, and remain a serious concern.
Describing several additional developments of concern, he said that, on 27 December 2022, Israeli settlers accompanied by security forces forcibly took control of a parcel of agricultural land that a Palestinian family has leased from the Greek Orthodox Church since 1931, in occupied East Jerusalem. Israeli forces arrested at least five Palestinians protesting the takeover. The settlers maintain that they purchased the land from the Greek Orthodox Church, in a deal the Church has rejected as fraudulent. In addition, on 1 January, some 30 gravestones were desecrated at the Protestant Cemetery on Mount Zion in Jerusalem. Two Israelis, aged 14 and 18, were arrested for the act, and according to a statement issued by Israeli police following an investigation, a formal indictment is expected.
He went on to recall the 3 January visit by Israel's new Minister for National Security to the holy sites in Jerusalem, which was condemned by the Palestinian Authority and Jordanian officials, among others, calling it was a provocation and violation of the status quo. Following the visit, senior Israeli officials, including the Prime Minister's Office, reaffirmed that the Government is committed to upholding the status quo and stated that the visit did not represent a deviation from that. Reiterating the Secretary-General's call for all parties to refrain from steps that could escalate tensions in and around the holy sites, he urged all to uphold the status quo, in line with the special role of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
He also recalled that, on 30 December 2022, the General Assembly adopted a resolution containing a request to the International Court of Justice for an advisory opinion relating to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory. In response, on 6 January, the Israeli security cabinet approved a series of measures against the Palestinian Authority, including the withholding of Palestinian tax funds to pay damages to the families of Israelis killed in Palestinian attacks. A directive was also issued to the Israeli police to increase enforcement of the removal of Palestinian flags from public spaces in Israel and occupied East Jerusalem.
Turning to the Gaza Strip, he said the United Nations continues to deliver vital humanitarian and development assistance, while also engaging in diplomatic efforts to further ease restrictions on the movement of people and goods. Nevertheless, Gaza's socioeconomic situation remains of grave concern. Neither humanitarian nor economic support alone will resolve the situation in Gaza - or the broader conflict. "Political solutions are required, [and] there are no quick fixes," he said. The ultimate goal remains to fully lift the closures in line with Council resolution 1860 (2009), and to reunite Gaza and the occupied West Bank as part of a two-State solution.
Turning finally to regional developments, he noted that, on 9 10 January, senior officials from Bahrain, Egypt, Israel, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and the United States gathered for the inaugural meeting of the Negev Forum Working Groups and released a framework through which they affirmed that the new regional relationships can be harnessed to create momentum towards a negotiated solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Nonetheless, the Special Coordinator warned: "Israelis and Palestinians remain on a collision course amid escalating political and inflammatory rhetoric, as well as heightened violence in the West Bank - both with potentially grave consequences." Courageous political leadership, along with concerted support from partners around the globe, is urgently needed to prevent spoilers and extremists from "pour[ing] more fuel on the fire", he stressed.
Statements
RIYAD MANSOUR, Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine, noting that 15 Palestinians - including 4 children - have already been killed in 2023, underscored that "peace is still possible", albeit less probable with every day that passes. "Our reality is not a fatality," he stressed, but only if the Council and the international community take immediate, sustained and collective action, grounded in international law. Spotlighting the impunity enjoyed by those who violate the law and the collective punishment endured by those entitled to its protection, he said that Israel shows no respect, consideration or regard for anyone, and yet, demands it from everyone, even when breaching fundamental rules of international law. Questioning whether the problem lies in the international community's positions or in the impunity that Israel enjoys, he asked who was held accountable for Israeli settlements; the killing and maiming of Palestinians; mass arbitrary arrests; and the withholding of hundreds of Palestinians bodies, preventing their families from burying their loved ones in dignity, sometimes for decades. "Give me one name," he implored.
At the end of the Second World War, the international community decided to build an international law-based order, with two principles - the right of peoples to self-determination and the prohibition against the acquisition of land by force - at its heart, he continued. "Palestine exemplifies the denial of the former and the breach of the latter," he said, adding that the Israeli Government openly states it will advance settlements and annexation. It does not recognize Palestinian rights anywhere but proclaims rights for its settlers everywhere. Further, it denies the Palestinian people's very existence as a nation, banning the Palestinian flag in public spaces as the latest manifestation of this denial. Peace will not come from the negation of Palestinians' existence, but from recognition of their plight and rights. "Whatever leverage you have, whatever tools are at your disposal, whatever influence you enjoy - they must be used now, or it will no longer matter later," he stressed.
NAME TO COME (Israel) said the statement just delivered by the Permanent Observer of Palestine is yet another award-winning, dramatic charade of false victimization. Over and over again, the Council has heard that 2022 was the deadliest year ever for Palestinians. However, those number and statistics are not facts, but are instead based on a fundamentally flawed methodology of discrimination. Indeed, they vastly exaggerate Palestinian statistics, while minimizing and distorting Israeli numbers. Stressing that no steps are taken to verify or fact-check such information, he said such data also lack any context, and therefore result in a compilation of lies and half-truths. Outlining some examples, he said one of the civilians killed by Israeli security forces and listed today by the Palestinian delegate was in fact a terrorist who was openly targeting Israelis. Indeed, the vast majority of Palestinian fatalities and casualties are not civilians, but, instead, terrorists who were "neutralized in the midst of their acts of violence".
Decrying the fact that such false numbers are fed to the Security Council before every meeting, he pledged to use all upcoming meetings to unpack the Palestinian representative's lies and fabrications. Turning to another misleading and harmful statement, he said the representative alluded to a seemingly "innocent, non-toxic resolution" adopted recently in the General Assembly, requesting an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice. In reality, that was a poisonous and one-sided text - one of more than a dozen adopted at the United Nations every year - whose aim is to destroy the Israeli State. Israel's guilt was predetermined in the resolution's language, and all that remains is for the Court to hand down a sentence. Unilateral steps must be met with unilateral steps, he emphasized, underlining that Israel is absolutely not the root of this conflict. Only the Palestinians' constant rejectionism stands in the way of peace, he stressed, warning: "Supporting the Palestinians' lies only serves to further escalate and inflame the situation on the ground."
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