As the war between Israel and Palestine continues, the Palestine Envoy to Nigeria Abdullah M. Abu Shawesh has called out the United States over its stand on Palestinian request to the United Nations Security Council for full membership and becoming the 194th member state of the United Nations.
According to Shawesh in a press release titled: “On the 202 day of the frenzy genocidal war against the Palestinian people,” the US said that the “full membership of Palestine in the United Nations will not help in reaching a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.” Not only did they repeat their unfair position and fully back the Israeli occupation but they also considered the Israeli brutal occupation a just conflict.
“April 19, US has vetoed a Palestinian request to the United Nations Security Council for full membership and becoming the 194th member state of the United Nations”, he added.
“America continues to support the occupation, refusing to compel Israel to stop its genocidal war. It provides Israel with weapons and funds that kill our children and destroy our homes”
“The United States has violated all international laws and abandoned all promises regarding the two-state solution and achieving peace in the region” President Mahmood Abbas.
According to the United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres “The United States stands strongly against Palestinian legitimate rights.
The United States is the iron shield of the Israeli occupation.
The United States is against the Palestinians’ right to self-determination, which is a basic human right.
The United States is the largest sponsor of the Israeli occupation.
The US veto green light to the current Israeli genocide and entrenches the Israeli occupation.
The current carnage and genocide could not have occurred without the full political complicity and unlimited military support of the United States.
USA took the same Israeli political stand of the Palestinian UN membership.
As of 23 April, 34,183 Palestinians have been killed, 77,143 injured, 8,425 arrested, including 280 women, 540 children, 45 journalists, and 5,210 administrative detentions. I would like to stress that this does not include the Gazans who have been arrested and forcibly hidden.
More than 450 Palestinians, including 112 children, have been killed in the occupied West Bank since 7 October – the majority by Israeli forces in the course of their operations…… others were killed by armed Israeli settlers, sometimes in the presence of Israeli security forces who reportedly stood by and did nothing to prevent these killings”.
As of April 17, on the anniversary of Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, there are more than 9,500 Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons, including 80 women, over 200 minors, 21 senior detainees, 3,660 administrative detainees, and 56 journalists. The National Campaign for the Retrieval of Palestinian and Arab War Victims announced that the Israeli occupation authorities are holding the bodies of 26 prisoners who died due to Israeli medical negligence policies. It is important to note that Israel is the only state in the world that legally legislates punishment after Death to the martyrs and their families, allowing their bodies to be kept for later use as a means of pressure and bargaining with the Palestinians.
According to the United Nations “Six months into the war, 10,000 Palestinian women in Gaza have been killed, among them an estimated 6,000 mothers, leaving 19,000 children orphaned …. More than one million women and girls in Gaza have almost no food, no access to safe water, latrines, washrooms, or sanitary pads, with disease growing amidst inhumane living conditions.”
On 18 April 2024, UN experts expressed grave concern over the pattern of attacks on the educational system. “After six months of military assault, more than 5,479 students, 261 teachers and 95 university professors have been killed in Gaza, and over 7,819 students and 756 teachers have been injured – with numbers growing each day. At least 60% of educational facilities, including 13 public libraries, have been damaged or destroyed and at least 625,000 students have no access to education. Another 195 heritage sites, 227 mosques and three churches have also been damaged or destroyed, including the Central Archives of Gaza, containing 150 years of history. Israa University, the last remaining university in Gaza was demolished by the Israeli military on 17 January 2024. Without safe schools, women and girls face additional risks, including gender-based violence. More than 1 million Palestinian children in Gaza are now in need of mental health and psychosocial support and will suffer the trauma of this war throughout their lives.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini briefed the Security Council on Wednesday, April 17, on the current situation on the Gaza, stating that “Israel is blocking the life-saving deliveries as part of an insidious campaign to push it (UNRWA) out of the Occupied Palestinian Territory”. 178 UNRWA workers have been killed and 160 premises destroyed or damaged, killing more than 400 Gazans.
According to the Human Rights Watch “children in Gaza have been dying from starvation-related complications since the Israeli government began using starvation as a weapon of war, a war crime…concerned government should impose targeted sanctions and suspend arms transfer to press Israel to insure access of humanitarians aid and basic services in Gaza in accordance to Israel obligations under the international law.”
At the beginning of the ongoing genocidal war, we raised the alarm that numerous Israeli accusations regarding October 7 are false and fraudulent. We advocated for an independent inquiry commission, acting as a neutral third party, to investigate the events of that day. This commission should be established by the UN Human Rights Council, along with various other committees and fact-finding missions. Our expertise lies in recognizing Israeli occupation propaganda and their manipulation of facts. Israel was fabricated many narratives to justify their planned crimes, which should be investigated by a third party.
On Monday, 22 April, the UNSG Antonio Guterres accepted the recommendation of the independent review of UNRWA ability to ensure neutrality and respond to allegations of breaches that was established after the alleged Israeli accusation that at least 12 UNRWA staff were directly involved in the October 7 attack. This accusation caused a widespread and chronic financial crisis for UNRWA, as many Western countries suspended their financial support to the agency. This is further proof that Israel lying through its teeth and conducting a truly insidious campaign against the UNRWA.
Chris Sidoti, a member of a commission of inquiry into abuses committed in Israel and the Palestinian territories, accused Israel of obstructing the probe on October 7, stating that they saw “active obstruction” by Israel “in our efforts to receive evidence from Israeli witnesses and victims”. On the other hand, the Israeli diplomatic mission in Geneva called out the traditional Israeli and Zionist movement scarecrow and Sacred Cow to stifle any natural voice and to kill on the bed the independent inquiry commission by accusing the UNHRC of anti-Semitic saying that the Victims would “never get any justice or the dignified treatment they deserve from the Commission of Inquiry and its members,”, describing the commission as having “a track record of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel statements.”
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs OCHA launched last Wednesday Aril 17, flash appeal for more than $2.8 billion in order to provide assistance to 3.1 million people in Gaza and West Bank including East Jerusalem through the end of the year. Calling for major changes to operation conditions on the ground where humanitarian organizations must have safe and sustained access to all people in need across the Gaza strip and West Bank.[1]