Permanent Obse cr Misswn

of the State of Palestine

to the UnitedNations
Statement by Ambassador Dr. Rivad Mansour, Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the
United Nations, before the United Nations Securitv Council Open Debate on the Situation in the
Middle East, including the Palestine Ouestion, 22 Yulv 2014: (Check against delivery)
Mr. President,
I thank you for your skilled stewardship of the Security Council this month and the efforts to
address the crisis being faced by the Palestinian people, particularly due to the Israeli military
aggression in the Gaza Strip. I thank Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for his briefing and convey
our deep gratitude to him for undertaking an emergency mission to the region in support of the
regional and international efforts to secure an urgent ceasefire based on the Egyptian initiative and
with the active engagement of President Mahmoud Abbas and other concerned parties.
Today, we also recognize the efforts of UN Special Coordinator Robert Serry on the ground,
including with regard to the calls for the humanitarian pause, and the valiant efforts of UN agencies
on the ground, including UNRWA, under the leadership of Commissioner-General Pierre
Krahenbuhl, and OCHA, under the leadership of Under-Secretary-General Valerie Amos, and the
other UN agencies and humanitarian organizations, including the ICRC, that are providing vital
emergency assistance to the Palestinian people at this time of crisis.
Mr. President,
Regrettably, despite all of these regional and international efforts, hundreds more Palestinian
civilians have been killed, thousands have been injured and tens of thousands have been displaced by
the Israeli military aggression in Gaza since we last came before the Security Council on Friday.
Israeli bombardment - including missile airstrikes, bombs and artillery shelling by air, land
and sea at densely-populated civilian areas - has also resulted in the destruction of more than 1,000
homes and damage to more than ! 8,000 other homes. Fear and panic have gripped the population,
leading to displacement of more than ! 00,000 people, who are now sheltering in UNRWA schools,
already double the number of Palestinians who sought refuge in the Agency's schools in the Israeli
war on Gaza of 2008-2009 Here, we urgently appeal for efforts to address the immense
humanitarian needs of the Palestinian civilians in Gaza, including through donor support to UNRWA
emergency appeals.
With no regard for human life, Israel, the occupying Power, continues to slaughter entire
families. A family of 26 people in Khan Younis, A1 Jami' family; a family of 8 people in northern
Gaza, Abu Jarad family; a family of 10 people in Shujaiya, Ayyad family; a family of 7 people in
Shujaiya, A!-Hallaq family; a family of 6 people in Shujaiya, A1-Sakafi family; a family of 5 people
also in Shujaiya, Sleem family; a family of 4 people in Shujaiya, A1-Hayyeh family; and a family of
4 people in northern Gaza, A1-Zuweidi family, were among the many victims of Israel's heinous
attacks in just the past three days, with children and women constituting the majority of the dead.
The casualties are mounting with every passing minute. In one day alone, Sunday (20 July),
95 Palestinians were brutally killed, with at least 72 people, including 17 children, 14 women and 4
elderly persons, massacred in Shujaiya by the occupying forces, who left the streets of the area
littered with bodies and with many victims trapped under the rubble of homes, ensuring a rising death
toll. Overwhelmed paramedics there declared: "There are no injured in Shujaiya, only dead".
It is nearly impossible to keep up with the pace of killing and injury caused by the occupying
Power with all means of heavy weaponry against a defenseless civilian population. For instance, in a
period of just two hours following my letter to the Security Council yesterday, another 23
Palestinians were killed, their names and stories not yet included in the vast documentation of the
Israeli war crimes against the Palestinian people, which we will continue to insist be officially
recorded by the United Nations in our tireless pursuit of justice for the victims and our nation.
The death toll now stands at more than 600 Palestinians and more than 3,500 people injured.
We are haunted by the images of babies, boys, girls, women and men murdered by the Israeli
occupying forces in their homes, in the streets and in refugee camps; by the images of the thousands
of wounded people, their lives forever marred; by the sight of thousands of Palestinian families again
dispossessed and fleeing for safety from the Israeli assaults in this endless Nakba against our people.
When hospital floors are drowning in the blood of innocents, corridors are filled with the
deafening screams of pain of the wounded and the cries of grief and anguish for loved ones killed,
and doctors, with barely any supplies and deprived of sleep and sustenance struggle courageously to
save human lives, despite themselves being targeted for attack by the Israeli war machine, we know
that the international community has failed - failed to its commitment to protect civilians in armed
conflict, failed to enforce the rule of law, and failed its promise to humanity.
I am thus again compelled to at least read the names of our many innocent children killed by
the Israeli occupying forces in these past days and to honor their memories:
Tawfiq Abroad Abu Jami (age 5)
Haifa Tawfiq Ahmad Abu Jami (age 9)
Shahinaz Walid Muhammad Abu Jami (age 1)
Rayan Tayseer Abu Jami (age 8)
Rozan Abu Jami (age 14)
Ahmad Ayman Mahrous Siyam (age 17)
Mustafa Nabil Mahrous Siyam (age 12)
Ghayda Nabil Mahrous Siyam (age 8)
Dalai Nabil Mahrous Siyam (8 months)
Mayar Nayif al-Yaziji (age 2)
Arias al-Yaziji (age 5)
Ibrahim Ammar (age 13)
Assem Ammar (age 4)
Iman Ammar (age 9)
Saji Hasan AI-Hallaq (age 4)
Kinan A1-Hallaq (age 6)
Mohammed A1-Hallaq (age 2);
Shadi Isleem (age ! 5)
Alaa Isleem (age 11)
Fadi Isleem (age 10)
Samia A1-Sheikh Khalil (age 3)
Hiba Khalil (age 13)
Khalit A1-Hayyeh (age 7)
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Umama AI-Hayyeh (age 9)
Dima Isleem (age 2)
Mohamad Ayyad (age 2)
Rahaf Abu Jumaa (age 4)
Tala A1-Attawi (age 7)
Dina Hamada (age 15)
Omar Hamouda (age 10)
Ghada Ayyad (age 9)
Marah A1-Jammal (age 11)
Marwa A1-Sirsawi (age 3)
Ahmad Ismail Abu Musallam (age 10)
Wala Abu Musallam (age 12)
Muhammad Abu Musallam (age 15)
RahafKhalil A1-Jbour (age 4)
Yassin A1-Humaidi (age 4)
Mohammad Shadi Natiz (age 15)
Mohammed Salim Natiz (age 4)
Siham Mousa Abu Jarad (age 15)
Ahlam Na'im Abu Jarad (age 13)
Haniyeh Abdelrahman Abu Jarad (age 3)
Samih Na'im Abu Jarad (12 months old)
Mr. President,
While Council members may be fatigued by our repeated lists, we must bear witness to the
despair of our people and insist on their dignity. These Palestinian children, whose lives have been
so cruelly taken by the occupying Power, are not just figures; they had names, dreams and mothers,
fathers, sisters, brothers, grandparents and friends, who are grieving their deaths and devastated by
this massive loss of human life, for which there can be no justification and no consolation.
Mr. President,
On behalf of the Palestinian people, we ask: What is the international community doing to
stop this bloodletting, to stop Israel's atrocities? What is the Security Council doing to uphold its
commitment to protect civilians in armed conflict and uphold the law and the Charter?
Without decisive action, the Council's resolutions and statements ring hollow as defenseless
civilians find no relief from the murderous Israeli war machine. In A1-Shuja'iya and all of Gaza City,
in Khan Younis, Beit Hanoun, Jabaliya, Nuseirat, Beit Lahiya, Bureij, Rafah, Deir AI-Balah and
everywhere in Gaza, the Palestinian people are suffering gravely. And, the ability to cope with the
humanitarian fallout is on the brink of collapse under the impact of the Israeli aggression and eight-
year blockade. As the obligation to ensure the safety and well-being of the civilians under its
occupation is gravely breached by Israel, we reiterate our appeal to the Security Council to uphold its
duty to maintain international peace and security, without conditions, without exceptions and without
delay. Even as efforts in the region to secure a ceasefire continue, the Security Council still has a
responsibility to act to stop the slaughter of innocent men, women and children.
Israeli impunity must be halted and the pretexts for its crimes rejected. The world can no
longer deny that such crimes are being deliberately planned and carried out to exact maximum loss
and punishment against an occupied people, whether via military attacks and reprisals, colonization
of the land, imprisonment of thousands, blockade, or humiliation of the people and leadership. This
is a fact verified by the many declarations by Israel's Prime Minister and other government officials
and by settler leaders and terror gangs, regarding the "price" they will make the Palestinians pay, for
daring to demand their rights, and it is a fact repeatedly proven by the violent, racist and illegal
actions of the occupying Power.
Moreover, we reject the cynical Israeli arguments labeling an entire people as terrorists. Our
children, women and men are not terrorists and no family would allow their loved ones to be used as
human shields. The reality is that they have been held captive by Israel, in an open prison called
Gaza, which remains under Israeli occupation and control, regardless of the false Israeli narrative
regarding the 2005 redeployment. Yet, we have never once heard the Israeli representative mention
before this Council the word "occupation", conveniently ignoring the fact that Israel is an occupier,
yet somehow claiming the right to defend itself from the people it is viciously occupying and
repressing - an Israeli-fabricated fight certainly not ordained under international law, as opposed to
the legitimate right to resist foreign occupation and the right to self-determination.
And, we reiterate that it is no coincidence that this latest aggression was launched amid
increased international pressure on Israel in the peace process; international acceptance of the
Palestinian unity government; intensifying world condemnation of the settlements, settler terror,
........ ;" ;' East ..... I,,, h Gaza blockade, h,r.o.oo ;; m, Pa!estinian prisoners and detainees,
and Israel's destruction of the two-State solution, and the growing global calls for boycott,
divestment and sanctions against Israel.
Mr. President,
The Council must live up to the demands of the Charter, as well as the expectations of the
international community, where the injustices being endured by the Palestinian people under this
depraved Israeli occupation has again rallied millions of people - of every race, color and creed - in
the streets of capitals all over the world demanding an end to the Israeli aggression, colonization and
collective punishment in Occupied Palestine, including East Jerusalem, and demanding
accountability for Israeli war crimes, including at the International Criminal Court.
The Council must play its rightful role and contribute to the urgent efforts to secure a
ceasefire. Moreover, it must exert efforts to ensure that the ceasefire is sustainable, preventing
recurrence of such crises and addressing core issues, including the need to end the Israeli blockade of
Gaza and ensure the sustained movement of persons and goods, the need to ensure protection for the
Palestinian people and the need for a political horizon forward.
Despite all the odds and the immeasurable loss and grief, the Palestinian people hold firm to
their conviction in the United Nations and the promises and commitment to bring an end to their
oppression and achieve justice. We reaffirm that we continue to strive for a peaceful political
solution for this conflict, for which there is no military solution. And, we appeal again to the
international community to lend all support possible to the long-running efforts to achieve a just,
lasting and peaceful settlement and the long-overdue realization by the Palestinian people of their
rights and national aspirations, including to freedom and independence in their State of Palestine,
with East Jerusalem as its capital.
I thank you, Mr. President.
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