Today's Edition
NEW YORK CITY (ALETIHAD)
Her Excellency Lana Nusseibeh, Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN) in New York, delivered the UAE explanation of the vote before the vote at the UN Security Council (UNSC) meeting on the Situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question, expressing the UAE’s support of the resolution drafted by Malta and steadfastness in achieving a lasting humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
She expressed the UAE’s displeasure with the ongoing impasse, as the Council has fallen short of producing any concrete measures that would alleviate the suffering of the civilians in Gaza.
“Outside this building, and in our region in particular, the Council appears indifferent to the carnage and dismissive of the suffering,” Nusseibeh said.
She explained that the submitted draft resolution has the goal of bringing the Council together to “act under one fundamental common aim”.
“The protection of children has been the North Star that has guided this Council’s approach on this draft and brings us together today to vote on the text before us,” Her Excellency added.
She stressed that the resolution’s key elements and their practical implications for the people of Gaza, should not be underestimated.
“For the children and other Palestinians sheltering from the hostilities, for the Israeli children and others still held hostage, and for UN humanitarian and medical workers who are risking their lives to help alleviate the enormous humanitarian suffering on the ground,” Nusseibeh added, referring to the purpose of the resolution.
She underlined that the resolution text is “the bare minimum” of what is needed to enable the humanitarian workers to do their lifesaving work, adding that it would also provide “enough time and space for search and rescue operations to save those children who are buried under the rubble, including the 1,500 who have been reported missing there”.
Nusseibeh also stressed that the resolution would facilitate a scaled delivery of the necessary food, fuel, water, medicine, and other essential goods and that sick and injured children could be evacuated.
“These extended pauses will also help reach those held hostage, particularly children, whose release this resolution calls for unconditionally,” she added.
Nusseibeh said that the text is “unequivocal” in its demand that all parties to the conflict respect their obligations under international law and that it rejects the forced displacement of Palestinians.
“Two-thirds of the population in Gaza are Palestinian refugees who have already suffered from the consequences of forced displacement in their past. And once again, in the last 40 days, nearly 80% of those living in Gaza have been uprooted again,” Her Excellency pointed out, noting that the intention of the resolution is to facilitate the work of humanitarian actors.
“This resolution is a first, important, and overdue step by the Council, and it is for these reasons that we will vote in favour of it, and it has the support of my group. However, the UAE remains resolute that we must work towards a lasting humanitarian ceasefire. We must not lose sight of this urgent goal,” Nusseibeh said in conclusion.
During the same session, following the vote of the resolution, which was approved by the Council with twelve votes in favour, the UAE welcomed the adoption of the resolution in a statement delivered by Nusseibeh.
“The UAE welcomes the adoption of today’s resolution, the first one on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since 2016. It is crucial that this body has come together today around the urgent need to protect civilians, especially children,” she said, recognising that the vote required difficult negotiations and compromises by all sides.
“Over the past week, I’ve seen us all work together across our geographical divides in a way that made this moment possible, and I thank you for that. I believe lives will be saved because of this work,” Her Excellency added.
She stressed that the adoption of Wednesday’s resolution is only the beginning of the Council’s response to the ongoing war and crisis in the Gaza Strip.
“Too much time has passed, too many people have been killed, and too much destruction has been wrought,” Nusseibeh lamented, reminding that, since the beginning of the war, almost 200 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank as a result of settler violence and raids.
“This must stop, and Israel must hold those committing these attacks fully accountable. For the UAE, this resolution will enable our efforts, our humanitarian efforts on the ground, for example, to receive 1,000 Palestinian children and their families for medical treatment in the UAE, and that work has already begun,” Nusseibeh said, adding that the first group is expected to come next week and that the resolution will be vital for the UAE’s establishment of an emergency field hospital in Gaza.
The UAE urged all Member States, as well as the UN and humanitarian organisations, to use the resolution’s adoption to scale up assistance, stressing that the Council must act decisively to ensure that the resolution is implemented in full.
“Israel must cease attacks on civilians and civilian objects; they must uphold the special protections afforded by international law to hospitals and schools; and they must ensure safe and unhindered humanitarian access,” Nusseibeh added.
The UAE reiterated its condemnation of Israel’s raid on the Al Shifa Hospital in the last 24 hours, as well as other attacks on hospitals.
“Hospitals are sacrosanct spaces that must be protected. We’ve all received countless, unbearable messages of despair from medical workers in these hospitals, who have stayed and are pleading for their patients to be protected,” Nusseibeh said, stressing that, should the parties violate the resolution, the UAE will work to ensure that the Council steps in to support its implementation.
Nusseibeh highlighted the importance of prioritising the resolution of the conflict and a permanent ceasefire. She pointed to the warning signs that, over the last decade, have threatened the two-state solution.
“What emerges from the ruins of Gaza may be our last chance to save it. But it will need all of us to continue working together, like we have done here today, to resurrect it. The fate of peace and security in our region is a shared responsibility and not the burden of a few,” Nusseibeh added, stressing the “desperate point” the crisis has reached.
“The fact is, Israel does have an absolute right to security and peace free from the attacks that we saw on October 7, but so does a future Palestine. Israel’s security, genuine and lasting, will remain elusive if it’s built on the continued denial of the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination. Any policy that seeks to obscure that fact is doomed to failure,” Her Excellency added.
