NEW YORK (ALETIHAD)
Her Excellency Lana Nusseibeh, Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN) in New York, delivered the UAE’s explanation of the vote, as well as the UAE statement at the UN Security Council (UNSC) meeting on the Situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.
The explanation of the vote represented the general position of the UAE on the current situation, while the statement after the explanation of the vote came at a meeting that was called for jointly by the UAE, China, and the Russian Federation with the goal of discussing the humanitarian situation.
“It is perhaps beyond me to put into words the abject horrors we are witnessing in Gaza,” Her Excellency said, noting the UAE’s support of the Council to take action on the current situation.
“For nearly two weeks, we have borne witness to the relentless and indiscriminate bombardment of Gaza following the heinous attack on Israel on October 7. In Gaza, as a result, one million people are now displaced and more than 500,000 people are sheltering in UN facilities, and the UN system is not equipped for this response,” Nusseibeh noted.
“The steps that need to now be taken are clear and practical. This morning, the President of the United Arab Emirates, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, discussed some of those steps with the UN Secretary-General. We need an immediate cessation of hostilities, as called for in the resolution that failed to be adopted today. We need the unconditional release of all hostages, all hostages, being held, and their humane treatment. This must happen now. We need safe and unhindered access for all humanitarian aid workers, including medical aid, food, water and fuel, and humanitarian workers,” Her Excellency urged.
Referring to the strike on Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital, she said: “On Tuesday, more than 500 Palestinians were killed in a strike that hit the hospital,” Nusseibeh indicated, noting that “each passing hour of this ruinous war makes a mockery of the principles of international humanitarian law”.
“The United Arab Emirates has opened an air bridge to transport the much-needed supplies, but without firm guarantees from all the parties that the trucks and civilians gathering to receive aid will not be targeted, they remain out of the hands of those who so desperately need them,” Nusseibeh firmly pointed out, adding that the UAE’s government has announced an additional $70 million in aid for Gaza.
At Egypt’s border with Gaza, life-saving humanitarian aid is piling up, she noted.
“Gaza is laid to waste, and nobody feels safe,” she continued, expressing the UAE’s call for a full, independent investigation into this incident and accountability measures for those who are responsible for the attack.
Nusseibeh also said that the UAE is verifying information about the strike and emphasised that more Palestinians have lost their lives in this outbreak of violence “than in any other in the history of the conflict”.
“In less than two weeks of bombardment, more than 3,500 Palestinians have been killed and more than 14,000 injured, while we continue to sit here and compare the casualties on both sides,” Her Excellency pointed out.
“We don’t ask for this to be done at the expense of Israel’s security, but so that people may tend to their wounded, bury their dead in dignity, and begin putting their lives back together,” she said, noting that the ceasefire is also crucial for enabling the entry of humanitarian aid and ensuring the safety of aid workers.
Her Excellency also mentioned that the UAE hopes that Wednesday’s announcement by the United States and by President Biden that Israel has agreed to allow humanitarian access via Rafah will result in the rapid and safe delivery of aid.
“There’s no ambiguity under international law: in providing care to the wounded and sick, hospitals and medical personnel must at all times be protected, and they must never, never be the target of an attack,” she reminded.
“Hamas is indeed responsible for sparking this latest fire that is now engulfing the streets of Arab Capitals around the region. We have called them out on this openly for the heinous attacks on October 7,” Nusseibeh said, stating that the situation was fuelled by “decades of violent dehumanisation, dispossession, and despair”.
“As I and others said, the current escalation must drive all of us, but most importantly, Israelis and Palestinians, to the urgent work of achieving the two-state solution,” she noted, adding that “the only alternative to that is the violence we see right now.”
Her Excellency discussed the diplomatic relations between the UAE and Israel, referring to The Abraham Accords, which are grounded in the belief that “peace and dialogue are better than violence and enmity”.
“Along with our Israeli and American partners, we sought a new Middle East where co-existence and cooperation deliver prosperity, security, and peace for all,” she added, underlining that the “indiscriminate damage visited upon the people of Gaza in pursuit of Israel’s security risks extinguishing that hope”.
She reminded the Council that the region is already contending with the “spill-over” of the crisis, and pointed out that “the enemies of peace” are unapologetic about their goals.
“Let us not play into their hands,” Nusseibeh urged, adding that this crisis is a “test” for the international community, as well as the UNSC.
“The test, colleagues, is whether or not we sustain that hope for peace that shines even through a parent’s unspeakable anguish and a child’s aspiration to just be normal, like the rest of us. We cannot doom millions of people to misery because diplomacy is hard. We must keep trying, again, and again, and again,” Her Excellency urged.
She cautioned the Council that failing to respond to the Palestinian people’s “legitimate aspirations for a country in their homeland, we fuel this unrelenting cycle of violence and hatred.”
“Let us not fail this test, for the sake of Israelis, for the sake of Palestinians, and for the sake all of the peoples of the Middle East,” Her Excellency told the Council.