Jerusalem/Washington/Beijing/New York: The escalation of violence has resulted in the killing of more than 100 Palestinians in the West Bank and more than 30 in Gaza this year alone. More than 20 Israelis and other civilians, too, have lost their lives in terrorist attacks.
The United States and China today stated separately that both were deeply concerned by the heightened tension in Jerusalem and the deteriorating security situation in the West Bank. The United Nations Security Council too discussed the matter and Tor Wennesland, the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, yesterday briefed the Security Council members on the continued Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
The United States called on “all parties to do everything in their power to de-escalate the situation and return to a period of calm”. It stated that this was in the interest of all Israelis and Palestinians.
“As we have said for some time, we call on the parties themselves to contain the violence. The United States and other international partners stand ready to help but we cannot substitute for vital actions by the parties to mitigate conflict and to restore calm,” US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price told reporters in Washington.
Taking note of the tensions between Palestine and Israel have risen with recurring clashes in East Jerusalem, especially around the al-Aqsa mosque, China today said it opposed any action to unilaterally alter the historical status quo of Jerusalem and call on relevant parties, notably Israel, to stay calm and exercise restraint in order to prevent the situation from getting out of control.
“The root cause of the recurrence of Palestine-Israel conflict lies in the long absence of the implementation of the two-state solution. The international community needs to act with a stronger sense of urgency and facilitate the early resumption of peace talks between Palestine and Israel on the basis of the two-state solution so that peace could prevail as early as possible between the two sides,” Beijing stated. Russia too had expressed a similar viewpoint at the UNSC, stating that the August escalation demonstrated that the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory will remain explosive until the parties reach a mutually acceptable compromise on all final-status issues. “The worrying regularity of violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are related to the stagnated peace process, and Israel seems to enjoy carte blanche to use force against the Palestinians.” Expressing concern about potential provocations at the Aqsa Mosque compound in the coming months due to upcoming holidays and elections, Russia also pointed out that Israel had conducted mass arrests, infringed on the freedom of the press, limited the work of human rights organizations and continued its settlement activities in violation of international law.
Wennesland reported that settlement activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as well as violence against civilians, have continued. He told the UNSC that the high number of Palestinians killed and injured by Israeli security forces in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, remains deeply troubling, particularly reports that some did not appear to pose a threat. He also condemned all acts of terrorism against civilians, including August 14, 2022, attack targeting Jewish worshippers near Jerusalem’s Old City. The glorification of such acts, he said, was unacceptable. The Special Coordinator warned that the absence of a meaningful peace process to end the Israeli occupation and resolve the conflict is fuelling a dangerous deterioration across the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly in the West Bank, and driving the perception that the conflict is unresolvable. Urging Palestinian factions to redouble efforts in reuniting Gaza and the occupied West Bank, he also called for support from the international community for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNWRA).
There is reportedly a growing perception among Palestinians that they don’t have much hope other than perhaps resort to violence.
Washington though said it was re-engaging with the Palestinian Authority and people to offer hope. “What is perhaps more meaningful when it comes to that hope and that opportunity is what we have provided, what we have been in a sense able to deliver to and for the Palestinian people. And in addition to the more than half-billion dollars the United States has provided to the Palestinian people since January of 2021 when this administration came into office, President [Joe] Biden when he was in the region in May announced an additional $316 million to support the Palestinian people when he was in the West Bank. And last week, this department, we were in a position to announce nearly $64 million, additional funding for UNRWA providing health care, providing emergency relief to hundreds of thousands of potentially vulnerable Palestinian children and families,” Price said. He continued: “Together, this brings total support in 2022 to nearly $350 million. It brings our total assistance to the Palestinian people to some $680 million since April of 2021. This assistance, of course, is not a panacea. This is assistance that can help to do what we talked about the other day – to lay the predicate for greater levels of opportunity and optimism and opportunity and hope for the Palestinian people so that this can be cemented and ultimately can translate into progress in what is our ultimate goal, and that’s the two-state solution, a negotiated two-state solution negotiated between Israelis and Palestinians.”
At the UNSC, speakers yesterday welcomed statements by the leaders of Israel and the State of Palestine during the seventy-seventh General Assembly session as a positive sign toward resuming the peace process. They called for those words to be turned into action and for progress to be delivered on a two-State solution.
India noted that the developments in Palestine only reaffirmed the urgent need for political dialogue and resumption of direct negotiations between the parties towards establishing a sovereign, independent and viable State of Palestine with secure and recognized borders, she stressed, adding that “there is no alternative to a negotiated two-State solution.”
However, the United Arab Emirates pointed to recent reports of Israel’s plan to build 560 new settlement units in the southern part of East Jerusalem, specifically on lands considered to be a “buffer zone” of a World Heritage Site designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). “Such settlement activity undermines the two-State solution and constitutes a flagrant violation of both international law and relevant Council resolutions,” it stated.
Photo: The al-Aqsa mosque overlooking East Jerusalem
– global bihari bureau
