Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Ayman Safadi, said that the UN Security Council did not even request a ceasefire in Israel’s current war on Gaza, while “this council was created to implement international law, preserve peace, stop violence and war, prevent injustice, and say that there is no difference between one human being and another, and that no state is above the law, no matter how powerful it is and no matter how oppressive it can be.” In a keynote speech of the Arab group at the UN Security Council’s open debate on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian Question, on Tuesday, Safadi said that it appears that Israel is above international law by violating it without deterrence, and ignoring Security Council resolutions. He added that bombing schools, mosques and churches while civilians inside is not self-defense. He noted that “Israel is building settlements in the occupied West Bank in a clear violation of international law without response, confiscating lands of Palestine without accountability, expelling Jerusalemites from their homes without accountability and killing the right of the peoples of the region to peace without concern.” “The war on Gaza kills 14 Palestinian civilians every hour, takes the life of a Palestinian woman every 20 minutes, breaks the heart of a mother or father over a child who was killed by a shell that destroyed his home or school every 15 minutes. What does a Palestinian mother has to say to her child when he asks for a drink of water, but she is unable to give him water? Will he ever forget this, even if he lives? If he, amidst the roar of death, knew that depriving him of food, water, and medicine is a war crime, but you are Palestinian, your rights are violated. International law wasn’t created for the likes of you. Your life has no value like anyone else’s,” Safadi elaborated. He said, “Enough death, enough violence, enough wars, enough misery, enough oppression, and enough double standards in applying international law.” “To our friends who believe that they are serving Israel by supporting its war on Gaza and who believe that their humanitarian and legal responsibility towards the Palestinians is fulfilled through delayed calls for the delivery of aid to the Gazans, we say frankly: Neither this position in support of Israel benefits it nor does the position regarding the Palestinian catastrophe convince them or us,” Safadi added. “Whoever wants to support Israel must support stopping the war and a just and comprehensive peace, and whoever wants to bear his responsibility towards the Palestinians must support stopping their killing and a just and comprehensive peace, so that an independent, sovereign Palestinian state with occupied Jerusalem as its capital can live on the pre- June 4, 1967 borders, in security and peace alongside Israel,” Safadi said. He noted that “condemning violence and war is a position that, if we do not take it today, we will contradict our humanity and become prisoners, exposed by discriminatory policies in approaching other conflicts.” He pointed out that any attempt to displace Palestinians inside or outside their occupied land is a “war crime according to the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 and its 1977 Annex”. “Any attempt to transfer the crisis created and exacerbated by the occupation, which will not end until the end of the occupation, to neighboring countries is a threat to our national security, which we will confront with all our powers.” He stressed that only a just peace guarantees the security of Israel and the security of Palestine, and promoting the possibility of achieving regional peace by overlooking the Palestinian people is a deception.” “Either the Security Council will stand up for justice and peace, or it will say that Israel has rights that no one else has,” Safadi concluded.
Source: Jordan News Agency