S/PV.8138 the Situation in the Middle East, Including the Palestinian Question 18/12/2017
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United Nations S/ PV.8138 Security Council Provisional Seventy-second year 8138th meeting Monday, 18 December 2017, 10 a.m. New York President: Mr. Bessho ..................................... (Japan) Members: Bolivia (Plurinational State of) ..................... Mr. Inchauste Jordán China ......................................... Mr. Lie Cheng Egypt ......................................... Mr. Aboulatta Ethiopia ....................................... Mr. Alemu France ........................................ Mr. Delattre Italy .......................................... Mr. Cardi Kazakhstan .................................... Mr. Sadykov Russian Federation ............................... Mr. Safronkov Senegal ....................................... Mr. Seck Sweden ....................................... Mr. Skoog Ukraine ....................................... Mr. Yelchen ko United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland .. Mr. Rycroft United States of America .......................... Mrs. Haley Uruguay ....................................... Mr. Rosselli Frieri Agenda The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question This record contains the text of speeches delivered in English and of the translation of speeches delivered in other languages. The final text will be printed in the Official Records of the Security Council. Corrections should be submitted to the original languages only. They should be incorporated in a copy of the record and sent under the signature of a member of the delegation concerned to the Chief of the Verbatim Reporting Service, room U-0506 ([email protected]). Corrected records will be reissued electronically on the Official Document System of the United Nations (http://documents.un.org). 17-44653 (E) *1744653* S/PV.8138 The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question 18/12/2017 The meeting was called to order at 10.10 a.m. respectively. All three have been designated for either those evicted from the “illegal outposts” of Migron Adoption of the agenda in 2012 and Amona in February of this year, or those soon to be evicted from the outpost of Netiv ha’avot, The agenda was adopted. which has been planned for demolition and evacuation in March 2018. In October, the Government announced The situation in the Middle East, including the that it would issue a tender for 296 housing units in the Palestinian question Beit El settlement, adjacent to Ramallah. However, that The President: In accordance with rule 39 of tender has not yet been published. The authorities also the Council’s provisional rules of procedure, I invite conditionally approved building permits for 31 housing Mr. Nickolay Mladenov, Special Coordinator for the units in Hebron’s H2 area, the first such approvals Middle East Peace Process and Personal Representative since 2001. of the Secretary-General, to participate in this meeting. In East Jerusalem, preparations began for the The Security Council will now begin its construction of infrastructure in Givat Hamatos, consideration of the item on its agenda. which, if built, would solidify the ring of settlements isolating East Jerusalem from the southern West Bank. I give the floor to Mr. Mladenov. In October, the Jerusalem municipality conditionally Mr. Mladenov: On behalf of the Secretary-General, approved building permits for 168 housing units in I devote my regular briefing on the situation in the the settlement of Nof Zion located in the Palestinian Middle East today to presenting the fourth report on the neighbourhood of Jabel Mukaber; and in November, it implementation of resolution 2334 (2016), covering the also granted building permits for at least 418 housing period from 20 September to 18 December. I will focus units in Gilo and Ramat Shlomo. on developments on the ground in accordance with the Let me reiterate that the United Nations considers provisions of the resolution, including on regional and all settlement activities to be illegal under international international efforts to advance the peace process. law and a major obstacle to peace. Let me note from the outset that none of the As the Middle East Quartet report noted in developments on the ground can be divorced from 2016, all structures lacking permits from the Israeli the broader context in which they are happening: authorities in Area C and East Jerusalem are potentially uncertainties about the future of the peace process, subject to demolition. According to the Office for the unilateral actions that undermine the two-State Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, during the solution, occupation and violence. As 23 December reporting period the authorities demolished or seized 61 will mark one year since the adoption of the resolution, structures for lacking building permits. Consequently, I will also take this opportunity to address some of the 110 people, including 61 children, were displaced and broader trends we have witnessed during the past year. the livelihoods of over 1,000 people were affected. In its paragraph 2, the resolution reiterates its Meanwhile, over 10 Bedouin communities, demand that Israel comprising some 1,500 residents, remain at heightened “immediately and completely cease all settlement risk of demolition and displacement. This includes activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, herding communities in Ain al-Hilwe and Um a1-Jmal including East Jerusalem”. in the northern Jordan valley, as well as Jabal al-Baba in the sensitive El area. No such steps were taken during the reporting period. Some 1,200 units in the occupied West Bank were The reporting period also saw several potentially approved for construction, approximately 460 of them in significant legal developments. In an opinion issued the settlement of Ma’ale Adumim. Israel also advanced, in November, the Attorney General approved the through the various stages of the planning process, legalization of an access road built on private Palestinian some 1,400 housing units in Area C of the West Bank. land, leading to the illegal outpost of Haresha. The Plans promoted included units in the new settlement of opinion came in light of a court decision by Supreme Amihai, a new neighbourhood in Kochav Yaakov, and a Court Justice Salim Joubran, who determined that the new site near Alon Shvut, north and south of Jerusalem, confiscation of private Palestinian land for the public 2/8 17-44653 18/12/2017 The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question S/PV.8138 interest, including in the exclusive interest of settler stones at a group of Israelis. Both shooting incidents communities, may under certain conditions be legal are under investigation by Israeli authorities. in the West Bank, if done proportionally and with During the reporting period, 28 rockets and 12 fair compensations to the landowners. However, the mortar rounds were fired from Gaza towards Israel. In Attorney General did not soften his stance on the Land response, the IDF continued to target a number of Hamas Regularization Law. On 22 November, he wrote that and Palestinian Islamic Jihad military posts across the “there is no alternative to a judicial ruling declaring the Gaza Strip, in which two Palestinian militants and one Land Regularization Law unconstitutional”. civilian were killed, and at least 28 people were injured. Separately, and still in November, the Government Since 7 December, there has been a visible increase informed the Court that, for the first time, it intended in rockets fired by Gaza militants. Of the 40 projectiles to implement a clause in military law allowing the fired during the reporting period, 27 were launched confiscation of private land if it has been used by a since Hamas called for an escalation. Four rockets third party unknowingly. This may clear the way for were intercepted by the Iron Dome system. One rocket the retroactive legalization of settlement homes and and the remains of an intercepted rocket landed in the possibly illegal outposts. town of Sderot, causing damage to a kindergarten and Allow me to turn to the problems of violence and to vehicles, but resulting in no injuries. At least eight terrorism that remain a hallmark of the conflict. more rockets landed in Israel. During the reporting period, the security situation Allow me to now turn to some of the problems of in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory remained inflammatory rhetoric and provocations. Resolution relatively calm. During the past three months, 22 2334 (2016) calls on all to refrain from such acts and Palestinians have been killed by Israeli security forces, undertake efforts to combat them. During the reporting including in clashes and security operations, and one period, while on a visit to Iran Hamas leaders continued was killed by an Israeli civilian in the West Bank. Four to make deplorable calls for the destruction of the State of Israelis have been killed by Palestinians in attacks. Last Israel. The level of provocative rhetoric has heightened week, Israel reported that it had foiled a kidnapping since 6 December, including with calls for escalation, plot by Hamas in the West Bank. violence and an intifada. On its official social media pages, Fatah continued to celebrate perpetrators of Since 6 December, in the wake of the decision of past attacks against Israelis, including a 26 September the United States to recognize Jerusalem as the the attack in Har Adar in which two security guards and capital of Israel, the situation has become more tense, a border policeman were killed.