NEW YORK — United Nations Secretary-Common Antonio Guterres condemned violence on the two sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and claimed Israeli actions ended up fueling tensions, in a Thursday deal with to the Protection Council.
“2022 was a lethal yr for the two Palestinians and Israelis. We condemn all unlawful killings and functions by extremists. There is no justification for terrorism,” Guterres mentioned at a discussion on worldwide regulation held at UN headquarters in New York.
“At the identical time, the expansion of settlements by Israel, as effectively as residence demolitions and evictions, are driving anger and despair,” Guterres mentioned.
“I am also pretty worried by the unilateral initiatives that we have viewed in latest days. The rule of legislation is at the coronary heart of accomplishing a just and comprehensive peace, dependent on a two-point out solution, in line with UN resolutions, worldwide regulation and prior agreements,” he reported.
UN officials and the worldwide local community have extensively condemned Countrywide Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s take a look at to Jerusalem’s flashpoint Temple Mount before this month, describing it as a unilateral Israeli danger to the fragile standing quo that governs the holy web-site.
The Safety Council held an crisis session on the take a look at that observed heated debate amongst the Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian representatives.
Hayashi Yoshimasa, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, chairs a Protection Council meeting at United Nations headquarters in New York, January 12, 2023. (AP Photograph/John Minchillo)
Israel’s envoy to the UN, Gilad Erdan, termed the session “absurd” in gentle of the council’s inaction on other international developments, though the Palestinian ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, warned of an “uprising” bordering the Temple Mount at the session, expressing the website could turn into “the epicenter of religious conflict.”
Guterres highlighted the Intercontinental Court docket of Justice and its position in enforcing international law in his Thursday address. The top UN court docket is set to look into Israel right after a extremely contentious Basic Assembly vote final month that Israel termed biased and dismissive of its safety considerations.
“I observe the value of accepting the obligatory jurisdiction of the court docket and contact on all member states to do so without having any reservations,” Guterres mentioned.
He also pressured the relevance of the UN’s commissions of inquiry and truth-obtaining missions.
There are open up-ended investigations from Israel being carried out by a UN fee of inquiry, and by a special rapporteur, the only place underneath these scrutiny. Associates of equally investigations are on the record as producing antisemitic statements, but have not confronted any repercussions from the UN for their opinions.
Israel was one particular of only a few international locations Guterres pointed out, along with Russia, North Korea, Afghanistan, Myanmar and Haiti.
Israel and the US have prolonged accused the UN of owning a lopsided concentration and bias towards the Jewish condition. Last 12 months, the Basic Assembly passed far more resolutions crucial of Israel than from all other nations mixed.
