Palestine has ‘natural, legal right’ to become full state member of UN, Ambassador Riyad Mansour tells Arab News

Exclusive Palestine has ‘natural, legal right’ to become full state member of UN, Ambassador Riyad Mansour tells Arab News
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Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour attending a UN Security Council meeting in 2018. (AFP file)
Exclusive Palestine has ‘natural, legal right’ to become full state member of UN, Ambassador Riyad Mansour tells Arab News
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Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour (C) attends the UN Security Council emergency session on Israel-Gaza conflict in New York City. (AFP)
Exclusive Palestine has ‘natural, legal right’ to become full state member of UN, Ambassador Riyad Mansour tells Arab News
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Palestinians protests against Israeli abuses outside the UNWRA office in Gaza City on September 19, 2022. (AFP)
Exclusive Palestine has ‘natural, legal right’ to become full state member of UN, Ambassador Riyad Mansour tells Arab News
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A member of Israeli security forces stands guard as Palestinians arrive in large numbers at the Qalandia checkpoint in the West Bank on April 27, 2022. (AFP)
Exclusive Palestine has ‘natural, legal right’ to become full state member of UN, Ambassador Riyad Mansour tells Arab News
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Israeli police carry a wounded young Palestinian demonstrator at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound on April 22, 2022. (AFP)
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Updated 21 November 2022
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Palestine has ‘natural, legal right’ to become full state member of UN, Ambassador Riyad Mansour tells Arab News

Palestine has ‘natural, legal right’ to become full state member of UN, Ambassador Riyad Mansour tells Arab News
  • Says Palestine would have been a member state a long time ago if the US did not have the veto power to stop it
  • Expresses gratitude to Arab countries, especially Saudi Arabia, for remaining united in support of Palestine at UN

NEW YORK CITY: Granting Palestine full state membership status at the UN would be a “practical” step that could preserve the two-state solution and help reinvigorate the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians, according to Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to the UN.

Mansour initiated consultations this year with members of the UN Security Council to push for a resolution to elevate Palestine from its current status as an observer state at the global organization and recognize it as a full member.

In an exclusive interview with Arab News at the UN headquarters in New York, Mansour, whose official title is Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations, said his initiative is anchored in Palestine’s “natural and legal right to become a full member in (the) UN system.”

The quest for statehood is all the more urgent, he said, amid Israeli attempts to unilaterally undermine the prospect of a reasonable solution that can deliver an independent Palestinian state, by “creating not only a one-state reality (but) an apartheid reality.”

Mansour said he has already gained enough support from members of the Security Council — including votes from Ireland, Albania and Norway — to secure its recommendation that Palestine be granted full state membership in the General Assembly.

Paulina Kubiak Greer, a spokesperson for the president of the General Assembly, told Arab News: “Article 4 of the UN Charter states that membership is a decision of the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council. The General Assembly cannot decide on membership without the recommendation from the Security Council.”




Paulina Kubiak Greer, spokesperson for the president of the UN General Assembly. (UN photo)

Although granting full state membership status to Palestine would be consistent with the current US administration’s pursuit of “practical measures” to achieve a two-state solution, Mansour said Washington “is not enthusiastic about the idea.”

He said: “I told Linda (Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the UN), in more than one meeting, that if you do not like our idea, put on the table your alternative — a practical idea to shield and protect the two-state solution. But if you tell me you don’t like my idea, and you are not proposing an alternative solution, that is unacceptable.”




US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield speaking at a meeting of the UN Security Council. (AFP file)

Mansour believes the reticence in Washington relates to its preference for a “negotiated two-state solution,” an avenue Mansour said the Palestinians continue to support.

Palestinians “have no objection to negotiating with anyone, including the Israeli side — (provided the talks are conducted) on the basis of international law and the global consensus, including the Arab Peace Initiative — if the Israeli side is willing to do so.”

The Arab Peace Initiative is a Saudi-initiated proposal for an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict that was initially endorsed by the Arab League in 2002. It includes the offer of normalization of relations between Arab states and Israel in return for a full Israeli withdrawal from the Occupied Territories, a “just settlement” of the Palestinian refugee issue, and the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Mansour thanked Arab countries for remaining united in support of Palestine at the UN and never failing to vote in its favor. In particular, he highlighted the role played by Saudi Arabia.




Members of the Arab Peace Initiative Committee meeting in New York on Sept. 21, 2022, on the sidelines of the 77th United Nations General Assembly. (SPA file photo)

“Saudi Arabia has a very, very important and powerful position,” he said. “We are grateful for the fact that Saudis do not deviate from supporting the rights of the Palestinian people. And they don’t deviate from honoring and respecting the Arab Peace Initiative, which they launched 20 years ago at the Arab summit in Beirut.

“We are also grateful for Saudi when they very clearly and courageously, at the Jeddah summit, in the presence of President Joe Biden, said that the Palestine question is a central question for Arab countries and that the Arab Peace Initiative is still honored and respected.

“These things to us constitute the essence of the Arab position (and) we expect from them no less than that.”

Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian National Authority, has lately stepped up the push for full state membership status at the UN. Since the summer he has raised the matter with French President Emmanuel Macron and King Abdullah II of Jordan, and with Biden during the US president’s visit to Bethlehem in July.




Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas shows a photo as he speaks at the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly on September 23, 2022 in New York. (Getty Images via AFP/file)  

“The key to peace and security in our region begins with recognizing the state of Palestine,” Abbas told Biden at the time.

The Palestinian National Authority first applied for full membership status of the UN in 2011. It argued that the organization in 1947 adopted Resolution 181, which partitioned Palestinian land into two states, an act that effectively served as “the birth certificate for Israel.” It said the UN now has a “moral and historic duty” to salvage the chances for peace by issuing a similar birth certificate for Palestine.

The matter was referred to the Committee on the Admission of New Members for consideration but opposition at the time from the administration of US President Barack Obama prevented the committee from issuing a unanimous recommendation to the Security Council.

In 2012, a majority in the General Assembly voted to elevate the status of Palestine from a mere “entity” to that of an observer state, the same status granted to the Vatican; 138 countries voted in favor, nine against and 41 abstained.




Delegates cheer as PA President Mahmoud Abbas (upper photo) addresses the UN General Assembly before voting to upgrade Palestine to non-member observer state on Nov. 29, 2012 in New York. (Getty Images/AFP)

The vote was largely symbolic, as observer states cannot vote on General Assembly resolutions, but it nevertheless led to the Palestinians joining more than 100 international treaties and conventions as a state party.

These have allowed Palestinians, Mansour said, “to be part of humanity,” taking their place in the world and sharing in its concerns.

US authorities have sought to convince the Palestinians not to go through with their efforts to gain full membership of the UN, repeating their same arguments that it would merely circumvent proper peace negotiations with Israel.

“The US has been clear about our opposition to the Palestinian bid for full membership at the UN,” a US official told Arab News. “There are no shortcuts to Palestinian statehood outside direct negotiations between the parties.

“The US is focused on trying to bring the Palestinians and Israelis closer together in pursuit of this goal of two states, for two peoples, living side by side in peace and security. The US remains committed to a two-state solution. As President Biden said, alongside President Abbas in July, ‘The Palestinian people deserve a state of their own that’s independent, sovereign, viable and contiguous.’




US President Joe Biden (L) is received by Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas (R) during a welcome ceremony in Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank on July 15, 2022. (AFP file)

“The only realistic path to a comprehensive and lasting peace that ends this conflict permanently is through direct negotiations between the parties. As we have seen, those conditions are not yet present for direct negotiations. That said, US efforts are aimed at setting such conditions.”

It is a familiar argument that has been applied by the US on previous occasions when the UN adopted measures seen as advancing Palestinian representation on the world stage. Washington described the 2012 resolution granting Palestine observer status as “unfortunate and counterproductive” and a “grand pronouncement that would soon fade.”

In the same vein, Washington also opposed a 2015 decision to allow Palestinians to fly their flag at the UN headquarters in New York. And when Palestine was admitted to UNESCO, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, in 2011, the US Congress cut all US funding for the agency. Former President Donald Trump went so far as to withdraw the US entirely from UNESCO in 2019, accusing it of anti-Israel bias.




Palestinians call for an end to Israeli atrocities during a demonstration next to the UNESCO headquarters in Gaza City on May 16, 2018. (AFP file)

Although a Democrat-controlled Congress recently authorized a US return to UNESCO, it was on the condition that Palestine is not granted membership of other UN bodies. US lawmakers have even enacted legislation prohibiting funding for any UN agency that admits Palestine as a member.

“That offensive reaction means that even the small steps that Palestinians are creating with this initiative, this momentum … I don’t want to say they are afraid of our initiative but they take it seriously,” said Mansour.

After experiencing years of alienation during the Trump administration, Mansour expressed gratitude to the Biden White House for reinstating humanitarian funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, and taking “practical steps” toward achieving peace.




Palestinians receive their monthly food rations from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, on June 14, 2022. It was defunded during the term of US President Donald Trump but Joe Biden restored support when he became president. (AFP)

But he lamented what he described as Biden’s reluctance to deal with the political dimensions of the issue, given that a number of promises, such as the reopening of the US consulate in East Jerusalem and the Palestinian Liberation Organization office in Washington, remain unfulfilled.

“While we appreciate the economic and humanitarian help, (we) need a political process to move (toward) the end of this occupation and actualize the global consensus over the two-state solution,” said Mansour.

“With regard to that issue, we don’t see progress and they keep telling us to wait. We’ve been waiting since the Nakba, almost 75 years. Waiting since the occupation of 1967, which is almost 55 years. How much longer do you want us to keep waiting?

“If (the Americans) did not have the veto power to stop us, then we would have been a member state a long time ago.”

 


Bahrain FM meets UN secretary-general

Bahrain FM meets UN secretary-general
Updated 13 sec ago
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Bahrain FM meets UN secretary-general

Bahrain FM meets UN secretary-general

Bahrain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani held talks recently with Antonio Guterres, the secretary-general of the UN, on the sidelines of the 78th Session of the UN General Assembly.

Al-Zayani and Guterres discussed Bahrain’s cooperation with the UN and its agencies, and various topics of common interest, state news agency BNA reported on Sunday. 

Guterres thanked Bahrain for its support of the UN, and progress in developing a sustainable economy, and wished the kingdom further prosperity.


UAE, Japan hold first top-level meeting under Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Initiative

UAE, Japan hold first top-level meeting under Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Initiative
Updated 6 min 43 sec ago
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UAE, Japan hold first top-level meeting under Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Initiative

UAE, Japan hold first top-level meeting under Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Initiative

TOKYO: Sultan Al Jaber, the UAE’s Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, met with Japanese Foreign Minister KAMIKAWA Yoko in Tokyo on Monday in the first ministerial level meeting under the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Initiative.

“It is my pleasure to meet you for the first time,” said Kamikawa, who was appointed Foreign Minister on Sept. 13. “Please let me begin by expressing my heartfelt appreciation for the congratulations message you sent me on my appointment as the Foreign Minister of Japan.”

Kamikawa expressed her appreciation for the UAE’s stable supply of crude oil to Japan and the UAE’s generosity in helping Japanese companies participate in upstream development over many years. She also asked for the UAE to help in stabilizing the crude oil market and for possible production increases. 

“I must congratulate you for your new post and want you to know that I want to establish a very direct dialogue and relationship and partnership with you and expand our strategic partnership and the relationship between our two countries,” Al Jaber told Kamikawa.

The two ministers exchanged views on the “Japan-UAE Innovation Partnership” and the “Global Green Energy Hub” concept discussed during Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio’s recent visit to the UAE.  

Kamikawa expressed her appreciation for Minister Jaber’s support in receiving Prime Minister Kishida in the UAE in July this year. 

“Prime Minister Kishida’s visit to the UAE in July was very fruitful,” she said. “I thank you once again for your support. Japan puts great importance on its relationship with the UAE as its strategic partner. I look forward to working together with the UAE and enhancing bilateral cooperation in various fields, as well as responding to the challenges in the Middle East region and for the international community.” In response, Minister Jaber expressed his strong hopes to strengthen bilateral relations with Japan. 

Kamikawa stated that Japan is fully committed to making its utmost contribution to the success of COP28, which will take place in the UAE from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12. As COP28 President-Designate, Jaber explained the status of preparations for COP28 and looked forward to Japan’s contributions. 

The two ministers also exchanged views on cooperation in the fields of defense, cooperation in the international arena, including the UN Security Council, expos and other issues.

The ministerial level meeting of the CSPI was established through the “Joint Declaration on the Implementation of the CSPI” signed between Japan and the UAE in September 2022. The two ministers agreed to continue utilizing the CSPI framework as a forum for consultation between the two countries. 

This article was first publishing on arabnews.jp 


Libya orders 23 officials arrested after flood: prosecutor

Libya orders 23 officials arrested after flood: prosecutor
Updated 45 min 36 sec ago
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Libya orders 23 officials arrested after flood: prosecutor

Libya orders 23 officials arrested after flood: prosecutor
  • The official death toll keeps rising, passing 3,800 on Saturday

DUBAI: Libya’s Public Prosecution on Monday ordered the arrest of several officials in relation to the flash flood that devastated the Libyan port city of Derna two weeks ago – killing thousands.
In a statement the Public Prosecutor’s Office said it was decided to detain 16 officials responsible for managing the country’s dam facilities, 6 officials from the Water Resources Authority, and the Derna mayor “for deviating from the obligations of the mandate of managing funds allocated for the reconstruction and development of the city.”
The official death toll keeps rising, passing 3,800 on Saturday from a flash flood that broke through two ageing dams upstream from Derna.
A wall of water swept through the area on Sept. 10, washing thousands of people into the sea.
According to the statement, investigators finished conducting the initial interrogations and recommended detaining the responsible in pre-trial detention.
They went on to request the necessary investigation into the rest of those responsible for the Derna flood incident.


Iran says 28 Daesh members held over bomb plot timed with anniversary of Mahsa Amini protests

Iran's police forces walk on a street in Tehran, Iran, April 15, 2023. (REUTERS)
Iran's police forces walk on a street in Tehran, Iran, April 15, 2023. (REUTERS)
Updated 25 September 2023
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Iran says 28 Daesh members held over bomb plot timed with anniversary of Mahsa Amini protests

Iran's police forces walk on a street in Tehran, Iran, April 15, 2023. (REUTERS)
  • Iran's intelligence ministry says 30 bombs meant to explode simultaneously were defused 
  • The explosions in Tehran were timed during the anniversary of last year’s Mahsa Amini protests

TEHRAN: Iranian authorities have arrested 28 people linked to the Daesh group for plotting to target Tehran during the anniversary of last year’s protests, the intelligence ministry said on Sunday.

The protests erupted after the death in custody on September 16, 2022, of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd arrested for allegedly flouting the Islamic republic’s strict dress code for women.

“In recent days, during a series of simultaneous operations in Tehran, Alborz and West Azerbaijan provinces, several terrorist bases and team houses were attacked, and 28 members of the said terrorist network were arrested,” the ministry said on its website.

“These elements are affiliated to the professional crime group of Daesh (Daesh group) and some of them have a history of accompanying takfiris in Syria or being active in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Kurdistan region of Iraq,” it added.

In Shiite-dominated Iran, the term “takfiri” generally refers to jihadists or proponents of radical Sunni Islam.

The intelligence ministry said two security personnel were wounded during the arrest operations, and a number of bombs, firearms, suicide vests and communications devices were seized.

It said it had neutralized a plot to “carry out 30 simultaneous terrorist explosions in densely populated centers of Tehran to undermine security and incite riots and protests on the anniversary of last year’s riots.”

The months-long demonstrations saw hundreds of people killed, including dozens of security personnel, in what Tehran called “riots” fomented by foreign governments and “hostile media.”

On Thursday, a court sentenced to death a Tajik Daesh member convicted over a deadly gun attack on a Shiite Muslim shrine last month.

The attack on the Shah Cheragh mausoleum in Shiraz, capital of Fars province in the south, came less than a year after a mass shooting at the same site that was later claimed by the Daesh group.
 


US allocates $73m to UNRWA amid funding crisis

Palestinians carry bags of flour received as aid to poor families, at the UNRWA distribution center, in the Rafah refugee camp.
Palestinians carry bags of flour received as aid to poor families, at the UNRWA distribution center, in the Rafah refugee camp.
Updated 24 September 2023
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US allocates $73m to UNRWA amid funding crisis

Palestinians carry bags of flour received as aid to poor families, at the UNRWA distribution center, in the Rafah refugee camp.
  • UNRWA requires between $170 and $190 million just to keep its services running until the end of the year

LONDON: US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield announced an additional $73 million in funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, Jordan Press Agency reported on Sunday. 

The ambassador said that the funding would help supply food to needy families, provide healthcare for children and pregnant women, assist students in furthering their education, and support people affected by the conflict through mental health services.

It will also provide emergency humanitarian assistance to residents of Jenin and Ain Al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camps, both of which have suffered from recent violence. 

Earlier on Thursday, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said the funding crisis for Palestinian refugees in Jordan and other host countries has created an “absolutely unbearable” situation that could soon approach a tipping point. 

Lazzarini said that the agency required between $170 and $190 million just to keep its activities in Jordan, Lebanon, Gaza and elsewhere running until the end of the year. 

Jordan’s King Abdullah II told the UNGA in New York on Tuesday that the world must not abandon Palestinian refugees to the forces of despair. 

“In Jordan, where refugees make up over a third of our 11 million population, cuts have already thrown the lives of hundreds of thousands of refugees into uncertainty. The impact of such humanitarian shortfalls is never limited to a country or region,” the king said.

Despite several UN member states pledging Thursday to boost their contributions to UNRWA, the agency still only has the means to provide services until October.