Tag Archives: diplomats

Diplomats prepare ground for June conference on two-State solution for Israel and Palestine

Posted on by
Reply

The preparatory session brought together UN Member States to align expectations and finalise arrangements for eight thematic roundtables that will help shape the conference’s outcome.

General Assembly President Philémon Yang urged countries to seize the crucial opportunity to finally make progress.

“The horrors we have witnessed in Gaza for over nineteen months should spur us to urgent action to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The devastating cycles of death, destruction, and displacement cannot be allowed to continue,” he said.

“This conflict cannot be resolved through permanent war, nor through endless occupation or annexation. It will only end when Israelis and Palestinians can live side by side in their own sovereign, independent States, in peace, security, and dignity,” he added.

General Assembly President Yang addresses the preparatory meeting.

Concrete outcomes needed

Co-chairs France and Saudi Arabia emphasised the need for the June conference to go beyond reaffirming principles and achieve concrete results on the ground.

“We must urgently move from words to deeds. We must move from ending the war in Gaza to ending the conflict itself,” said Anne-Claire Legendre, Middle East and North Africa advisor to French President Emmanuel Macron.

“Faced with the facts on the ground, the prospects of a Palestinian State must be maintained. Irreversible steps and concrete measures for the implementation thereof are necessary.”

Alongside, she reiterated calls for a lasting ceasefire, an immediate influx of humanitarian aid and the release of hostages.

Historic moment

Manal bint Hassan Radwan, head of the Saudi Arabian negotiating team, called the moment “historic,” stating that the preparatory meeting must “chart a course for action, not reflection.”  

“Civilians continue to pay the price of a war that must end immediately. The escalation in the West Bank is equally alarming. Despair grows deeper by the day,” she said.

“This is precisely why we must speak not only of ending the war, but of ending a conflict that has lasted nearly eight decades,” she continued, adding efforts to end fighting and secure release of hostages and detainees must be “anchored in a credible and irreversible political plan that addresses the root cause of the conflict and offers a real path to peace, dignity and mutual security.”

Outcome document

The General Assembly decided to convene the conference in its resolution ES-10/24. Further details were outlined in resolution 79/81.

As outlined in General Assembly resolution 79/81, the Conference will produce an action-oriented outcome document entitled “Peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine and implementation of the two-State solution”.

The aim is to chart a clear and irreversible pathway toward a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace in accordance with UN resolutions.

About the Conference

The conference will include a plenary session with statements from the President of the General Assembly, the UN Secretary-General, and the co-chairs, followed by interventions from Member States and observers.

According to a concept note from the co-chairs, the conference will also feature eight thematic roundtables, each focused on critical dimensions of the two-State solution. 

The working groups include security arrangements for both Israelis and Palestinians, the economic viability of a Palestinian State, and humanitarian action and reconstruction.

Source link

Guterres strongly condemns killing of Israeli diplomats in US capital

Posted on by
Reply

The diplomats were gunned down on Wednesday night as they left an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in central Washington DC, where the American Jewish Committee was hosting a reception. 

They were identified as Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and Sarah Milgrim, 26, who were about to be engaged, according to officials and family members. A suspect was taken into custody.

Justice and sympathy

“The Secretary-General reiterates his consistent condemnation of attacks against diplomatic officials,” the statement said.

He called for the perpetrator to be brought to justice and extended his sympathies to the families and loved ones of the victims and to the Government of Israel.

The lone suspect, identified as Elias Rodriguez from Chicago, was apprehended shortly after the murders.  

He shouted pro-Palestinian slogans while in custody, according to media reports.

A ‘heinous antisemitic act’

The head of a UN platform that promotes intercultural dialogue and understanding also voiced his strong condemnation.

“This heinous antisemitic act is unacceptable and unjustifiable. My thoughts go to their families, their colleagues, and the State of Israel,” said Miguel Ángel Moratinos, High Representative for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC).

Virginia Gamba, Acting UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, called for an end to antisemitism saying “there is no place in the world where such a horrific antisemitic hate crime as the murders of Mr. Yaron Lischinsky and Miss Sarah Milgrim can be justified.” 

Senior politicians from across the world have also expressed their condemnation.

The killings occurred against the backdrop of the war in Gaza, which began on 7 October 2023 following Hamas-led attacks on Israel which left roughly 1,200 people dead while another 250 were taken hostage.  More than 53,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the health authorities.

Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar described the attack as “the direct consequence of the virulent and toxic antisemitic rhetoric against Israel and Jewish communities around the world that has been going on since October 7.”

‘An unbearable loss’

Mr. Lischinsky was a research assistant in the political department at the Israeli Embassy in Washington while Ms. Milgrim organized trips to Israel, according to media reports.

They were killed after attending the American Jewish Committee’s annual Young Diplomats reception which this year focused on response to humanitarian crises throughout the Middle East and North Africa.

The Spokesperson of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, Tal Naim, described their deaths as “an unbearable loss.”

She tweeted a photo of the couple below a message which said that “instead of walking you down the aisle, we are walking with you to your graves.” 

Source link

UN alarmed after warning shots fired at foreign diplomats in the West Bank

Posted on by
Reply

Media reports said soldiers fired warning shots near the diplomats, who were on an official visit to view humanitarian conditions around the camp where a major Israeli military operation has been ongoing since January. 

The mission was hosted by the Palestinian Authority and approved by Israel, however it strayed from the approved route, media reports said, citing a statement by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). 

Diplomats from more than 20 countries were in the group, along with staff from the UN agency that assists Palestine refugees, UNRWA.  No injuries were reported.

Diplomats must be respected

UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric was asked about the incident during his regular media briefing from New York.  

He said Secretary-General António Guterres was alarmed by reports that “the IDF fired what they called warning shots” at diplomatic and UN personnel.

“It is clear that diplomats who are doing their work should never be shot at, attacked in any way, shape or form, and their safety, their inviolability, must be respected at all times,” he said.

“Any use of force against them is unacceptable, and we urge the Israeli authorities to conduct a thorough investigation, to share those findings with us, and to take any measures that would prevent any other such incident to take place.”

‘Lax use of excessive force’

UNRWA Director of Affairs in the West Bank, Roland Friedrich, spoke out against the Israeli military’s actions.

“This incident is a stark reminder of the lax use of excessive force routinely deployed by Israeli Security Forces in the West Bank, often with lethal consequences,” he said in a tweet.

He noted that “while the West Bank is not a war zone,” 137 Palestinians have been killed there since January in occupation-related violence.

“The IDF has said they are investigating the incident. However, claims such as ‘mistakenly identifying [the delegation] as a threat’ and firing ‘warning shots’ do not fully capture the severity of today’s events,” he said.

“This raises serious concerns over the way rules of engagement are applied to unarmed civilians,” he added.

Meanwhile, several countries have voiced their condemnation. Germany’s foreign ministry issued a statement calling for Israel to investigate the matter.

“The Federal Foreign Office strongly condemns this unprovoked fire. We can count ourselves lucky that nothing more serious occurred,” it said.

Jenin camp situation

The UN continues to highlight the situation at the Jenin camp and elsewhere in the West Bank.  

Mr. Friedrich said access to the camp “has been near-impossible” since Israel launched Operation ‘Iron Wall’ on 21 January. All residents have been forcibly displaced and UNRWA services there have been fully suspended. 

He called for safe humanitarian access to the camp to be restored, while those displaced must be allowed to return immediately.