Note: A complete summary of today’s Security Council meeting will be made available after its conclusion.
THE SITUATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST, INCLUDING THE PALESTINIAN QUESTION
Briefings
KHALED KHIARI, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East and Asia and the Pacific, detailing the “alarming” situation in the Middle East, said that fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas in Gaza continues. Israel continues its intense ground operations, while Hamas continues to fire rockets from Gaza into Israel. “Civilians from both sides – particularly the Gaza Strip – continue to bear the brunt of this conflict,” he said. Expressing grave concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, he called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire therein. “Further, the risk of regional spillover of this conflict remains high, given the multitude of actors involved,” he said. The continued daily fire across the Blue Line poses great risk to regional stability. There have been several instances of strikes deeper into the territories of Lebanon and Israel, raising the risk of conflict with potentially devastating consequences for the people of both countries. With the risk of miscalculation increasing, it is crucial that all actors immediately de-escalate and return to the cessation of hostilities.
Further, he said attacks on United States bases in Iraq in Syria take place on a daily basis, with Washington, D.C., conducting operations against groups suspected of these actions. There are also reported Israeli air strikes inside Syria, he added. The continued Houthi threats to maritime navigation in the Red Sea are of growing concern, risking further escalation, he observed, adding that the UN continues to encourage de-escalation so that traffic through the Red Sea can return to its normal state.
Across the occupied West Bank, heightened tensions between Israeli security forces and Palestinians, intensive violence and widespread movement restrictions have continued, he said. Since 7 October, 304 Palestinians, including 79 children, have been killed in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Meanwhile, four Israelis, including three members of the Israel Defense Forces, have been killed in attacks by Palestinians in the West Bank. Another four Israelis have been killed by Palestinians during an attack in West Jerusalem. Despite the reduction in settler attacks throughout November and December since the spike in violent settler attacks against Palestinians following 7 October, settler violence remains a grave concern. He further spotlighted the deteriorating human rights situation in East Jerusalem. To prevent the endless cycle of violence, he emphasized that the current hostilities throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory must end with a plan to meaningfully advance the parties towards a two-State solution, with Gaza as an integral part of an independent Palestinian State, living side by side with Israel.
MARWAN MUASHER, Vice President for Studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and former Deputy Prime Minister of Jordan, said he wanted to focus on the first day after the war and the prospects for a political settlement. Before that, however, he pointed out that the immediate priority must be ending the war on Gaza. “The Palestinians have suffered enough,” he said, adding that there is no international or humanitarian law that condones the carpet-bombing of civilians the world is witnessing today. He noted that the question that is being asked repeatedly by the international community is “Who is going to rule Gaza after Hamas?” It is the wrong question to pose, if the implication is that this is the endgame as any policy based on this will lead to disastrous results. “The repeated killings of civilians on both Israeli and Palestinian sides, the destruction of Gaza once again, the creation of another potential 1.5 million Palestinian refugees, and the looming danger of mass transfer should teach us that we cannot solve the problems by sticking to old paradigms that did not work,” he said.
The scenarios presented so far are unrealistic because they focus on the day-after Gaza rather than present solutions that address the root cause of the problem: the Israeli occupation. “This is the context in which 7 October took place,” he said. “As abhorrent as targeting of civilians is on both sides, the big prison that Gaza practically was, coupled with the lack of any political horizon in the last 10 years to end the occupation, are factors that cannot be ignored.” He said it was important to acknowledge that the elements necessary for a serious political process are not there since the three parties needed do not seem to be ready. The United States is approaching an election year. The Israeli Government has repeatedly and publicly declared it has no intention of ending the occupation. And no side can claim to represent the Palestinians without elections. “For all these reasons, the stars are not aligned for a political process that is going to be serious,” he said.
He encouraged Council members to engage at least hypnotically in imagining the elements of a process that would learn from the past and would be seen as serious, outlining an eight-point plan that, among other things, included the United States leading a political plan with the clearly defined objective to end the occupation; that settlement activity would be completely frozen, and fresh elections in both Israel, Gaza and the West Bank would be held. “If the international community decides that this is too unrealistic, let us look at what the alternatives might look like,” he said, noting that, by ignoring the root cause of the problem – the occupation – the international community is partly to blame for the situation today. He argued that either a bold decision is taken to end the conflict now and effect a viable two-State solution or the world will have to deal not only with the occupation but the more difficult question of Apartheid. “The choice is ours,” he said.
MARWAN MUASHER, Vice President for Studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and former Deputy Prime Minister of Jordan, said he wanted to focus on the first day after the war and the prospects for a political settlement. Before that, however, he pointed out that the immediate priority must be ending the war on Gaza. “The Palestinians have suffered enough,” he said, adding that there is no international or humanitarian law that condones the carpet-bombing of civilians the world is witnessing today. He noted that the question that is being asked repeatedly by the international community is “Who is going to rule Gaza after Hamas?” It is the wrong question to pose, if the implication is that this is the endgame as any policy based on this will lead to disastrous results. “The repeated killings of civilians on both Israeli and Palestinian sides, the destruction of Gaza once again, the creation of another potential 1.5 million Palestinian refugees, and the looming danger of mass transfer should teach us that we cannot solve the problems by sticking to old paradigms that did not work,” he said.
The scenarios presented so far are unrealistic because they focus on the day-after Gaza rather than present solutions that address the root cause of the problem: the Israeli occupation. “This is the context in which 7 October took place,” he said. “As abhorrent as targeting of civilians is on both sides, the big prison that Gaza practically was, coupled with the lack of any political horizon in the last 10 years to end the occupation, are factors that cannot be ignored.” He said it was important to acknowledge that the elements necessary for a serious political process are not there since the three parties needed do not seem to be ready. The United States is approaching an election year. The Israeli Government has repeatedly and publicly declared it has no intention of ending the occupation. And no side can claim to represent the Palestinians without elections. “For all these reasons, the stars are not aligned for a political process that is going to be serious,” he said.
He encouraged Council members to engage at least hypnotically in imagining the elements of a process that would learn from the past and would be seen as serious, outlining an eight-point plan that, among other things, included the United States leading a political plan with the clearly defined objective to end the occupation; that settlement activity would be completely frozen, and fresh elections in both Israel, Gaza and the West Bank would be held. “If the international community decides that this is too unrealistic, let us look at what the alternatives might look like,” he said, noting that, by ignoring the root cause of the problem – the occupation – the international community is partly to blame for the situation today. He argued that either a bold decision is taken to end the conflict now and effect a viable two-State solution or the world will have to deal not only with the occupation but the more difficult question of Apartheid. “The choice is ours,” he said.
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