United Nations S/PV.7792 Security Council Provisional Seventy-first year 7792th meeting Wednesday, 19 October 2016, 10 a.m. New York President: Mr. Churkin/Mr. Safronkov/Mr. Iliichev .............. (Russian Federation) Members: Angola. Mr. Lucas China ......................................... Mr. Liu Jieyi Egypt ......................................... Mr. Aboulatta France ........................................ Mr. Delattre Japan ......................................... Mr. Bessho Malaysia ...................................... Mr. Ibrahim New Zealand ................................... Mr. Van Bohemen Senegal ....................................... Mr. Seck Spain ......................................... Mr. Oyarzun Marchesi Ukraine ....................................... Mr. Yelchen ko United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland .. Mr. Rycroft United States of America .......................... Mr. Pressman Uruguay ....................................... Mr. Rosselli Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) ................... Mr. Ramírez Carreño 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). 16-33267 (E) *1633267* S/PV.7792 The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question 19/10/2016 The meeting was called to order at 10.05 a.m. There being no objection, it is so decided. The Security Council will now begin its Adoption of the agenda consideration of the item on its agenda. The agenda was adopted. I give the floor to Mr. Mladenov. The situation in the Middle East, including the Mr. Mladenov: I would like to begin by thanking Palestinian question the Council for its support, expressed during the previous briefing, for the work of the Office of the The President (spoke in Russian): In accordance United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle with rule 37 of the Council’s provisional rules of East Peace Process on the ground under challenging procedure, I invite the representatives of Argentina, circumstances, particularly as the situation in Israel Bangladesh, Brazil, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, and Palestine, unfortunately, continues to deteriorate. Guatemala, Iceland, Indonesia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, International focus on the question of Palestine Maldives, Morocco, Namibia, Nicaragua, Norway, may have been overtaken by the tragedy in Syria and Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, events elsewhere in the Middle East, but it cannot be the Syrian Arab Republic and Turkey to participate in allowed to be relegated to a secondary problem. Sadly, this meeting. settlement announcements, outbreaks of violence and terror, and the absence of visionary leadership continue I propose that the Council invite the Permanent to define the conflict. The inability to see beyond the Observer of the Observer State of Palestine to the United horizon and grasp the benefits of resolving the Arab- Nations, to participate in the meeting, in accordance Israeli conflict, ending the occupation and establishing with the provisional rules of procedure and the previous a two-State solution that meets the national aspirations practice in this regard. of Israelis and Palestinians alike is a historic loss to the There being no objection, it is so decided. region as a whole. In accordance with rule 39 of the Council’s The absence of progress has led to growing anger provisional rules of procedure, I invite the following and frustration among Palestinians and profound briefers to participate in this meeting: Mr. Nickolay disillusionment among Israelis. It has strengthened Mladenov, Special Coordinator for the Middle East radicals and weakened moderates on both sides. On Peace Process and Personal Representative of the 9 October, a Palestinian opened fire, killing two Secretary-General; and Mr. Stephen O’Brien, Under- Israelis and injuring six others in a terror attack in Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and occupied East Jerusalem. Our thoughts and prayers go Emergency Relief Coordinator. out to the families of the victims. Deplorably, Hamas and many others chose to justify and glorify the attack Mr. Mladenov is joining today’s meeting via video- and its perpetrator. This tragic incident once again teleconference from Jerusalem. underscores an undeniable truth — if Palestinians In accordance with rule 39 of the Council’s genuinely hope to reach the long-overdue goal of provisional rules of procedure, I also invite the Palestinian statehood and an end to the occupation, following to participate in this meeting: Her Excellency that will not be achieved through violence but must be Ms. Joanne Adamson, Chargé d’affaires ad interim of reached through negotiations. the Delegation of the European Union to the United In separate incidents during the recent clashes in Nations; and His Excellency Mr. Mahmoud Saikal, East Jerusalem, a 20-year-old Palestinian civilian died Vice-Chair of the Committee on the Exercise of the after being shot by Israeli security forces. In a separate Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. incident, an unarmed 12-year-old girl was shot in the legs by security guards while approaching a checkpoint. I propose that the Council invite the Permanent Observer of the Observer State of the Holy See to During the reporting period, Israel has continued the United Nations to participate in the meeting, in with settlement planning, including the recent accordance with the provisional rules of procedure and promotion of an initial 98 out of 300 housing units the previous practice in this regard. in Shilo, located deep in the occupied West Bank. If 2/64 16-33267 19/10/2016 The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question S/PV.7792 implemented, that plan will drive a wedge between Last week I travelled to Gaza, where I witnessed north and south in the West Bank and jeopardize the warehouses empty of construction materials, as the contiguity of a future Palestinian State. Israeli officials reconstruction process is significantly slowing down have defined that move as an attempt to relocate settlers due to limitations of imports. No new residential from the illegal Amona outpost, which has been slated reconstruction projects have been approved since for demolition by the Israeli Supreme Court. I once March. In the recent days the approval of some 80 again reiterate the position of the Secretary-General projects, some of which had already been started, has that settlements are illegal under international law and been revoked by Israel. I saw residential buildings undermine the two-State solution. half built. I met with families whose projects had been cleared for reconstruction, yet had not received any Adding to that troubling overall picture, cement for months. I heard from those who had tried Palestinians have again been unable to exercise their to navigate the web of rules governing the import of democratic rights after local council elections in the materials considered dual-use, with no luck or response. West Bank and Gaza were postponed. The political I stand with the people in Gaza who have suffered bickering, mutual accusations, legal challenges and through conflicts and closures and who continue to counter-challenges that followed have left the people face unimaginable suffering. of Gaza and the West Bank feeling more apart. I am concerned by recent calls by Hamas legislators in Gaza At current rates, it will take more than one year for the Hamas-led Government to resume its work to catch up with the backlog of approved projects, and in Gaza. Such a step would seriously undermine the years to address the full housing and reconstruction Palestinian Government of National Consensus, and shortage in Gaza. Those trends are worrying, and I call would also make the reconciliation almost impossible. on the parties to the Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism to recommit once again to ensuring its smooth operation. In August I raised United Nations and international Failing to do that will put in question the viability of concerns about the steady continuation of Israel’s the mechanism and undermine the precarious calm policy of expanding its presence in the occupied West in Gaza. Bank (see S/PV.7762). Today I wish to discuss another impediment to a negotiated solution — the security, According to some estimates, in the past decade humanitarian and political situation in Gaza. militants in Gaza have fired nearly 16,000 rockets and mortars at Israel. Approximately 200 projectiles have Three deadly conflicts in the past eight years have been fired since the end of the last conflict. While since eroded both Palestinian belief that Israel wants anything 2014 there has been little damage or injury, there is an more than Gaza’s destruction and Israeli conviction ever-present risk of a potentially catastrophic escalation that their Palestinian neighbours desire peace. Fuelling that neither wants nor needs.