NEW YORK: The international community鈥檚 inability to address the Palestinian cause and to hold Israel accountable is the biggest failure in UN history, a Kuwaiti diplomat said on Thursday.
Addressing a General Assembly session on the Palestinian issue, Kuwait鈥檚 Permanent Representative to the UN Tarek Al-Bannai questioned the international community for 鈥渁llowing the Israeli occupation (to) carry out systematic criminal violations without being held accountable or punished as if it is above the law.
鈥淔or how long UN member countries continue to deal with the just Palestinian cause with double standards? And for how long this silence continues to deprive the Palestinian people of their legitimate rights, as if the rights of the Palestinian people are exempted from international laws?鈥� asked Al-Bannai.
Kuwait鈥檚 News Agency cited the diplomat as saying that decades have passed and these questions have not been answered, 鈥渁nd the inability of the international community to address the Palestinian cause and its inability to hold Israel, the occupying force, accountable, is the biggest failure in the UN鈥檚 history in general, and (the) Security Council in particular, this is a disgrace.鈥�
He added that the Palestinian people are suffering under the Israeli occupying force 鈥渨ithout any clear-cut international reactions to lift this suppression and injustice.鈥�
The Israeli occupation continues violating the UN Charter, international law, international humanitarian law and international law of human rights, the 1949 Geneva Convention and other global treaties, he noted.
鈥淭he occupation is the disease which ... fought, killed, displaced, destroyed families and houses and environment ... of our Palestinian people,鈥� Al-Bannai said.
He cited a report about the Palestinian people which mentioned that expansion of Jewish settlements, namely in East Jerusalem, was threatening creation of the Palestinian state.
According to KUNA, Al-Bannai quoted the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland as saying: 鈥淎fter decades of continuous violence, illegal settlement expansion, stalled negotiations, the conflict has once again reached a boiling point.鈥�
He touched on what was stated by Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese on the human rights situation in Palestine鈥檚 occupied territories since 1967, describing it as 鈥渁 deliberately obsessive, racist and repressive regime aimed at preventing the realization of the Palestinian people鈥檚 right to self-determination.鈥�
He added that by demolishing symbols that express Palestinian identity, the occupation jeopardizes Palestinian cultural existence, and by suppressing Palestinian political activity, the occupation violates the ability of Palestinians to free themselves from foreign domination and control.
The diplomat affirmed that Kuwait strongly supports Palestine to obtain full membership in the UN, and calls on all countries that do not recognize Palestine as a state to review themselves and align their positions with international law.
Al-Bannai renewed Kuwait鈥檚 full support for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, UNRWA, believing in the importance of its role in easing the suffering of Palestinian refugees.