LONDON: Palestine faces “erasure” unless the international community does more to ensure the end of the conflict with Israel and the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state, Algeria’s foreign minister told the UN General Assembly on Monday.
This, and the threat Israel poses to its neighbors, are the most important issues on the agenda at the global forum, said Ahmed Attaf.
“Palestine faces the greatest threat ever today, which is the threat of erasure through annexation and displacement, as well as through suffocating the legitimate institutions that represent the Palestinian question, and that may also eliminate the two-state solution that has been the consensus on the issue,” he added.
“The threat isn’t limited to Palestine … The Israeli occupation is now loud and proud in its intention to revive what it calls Greater Israel.
“This situation makes it incumbent on the international community as a whole to uphold (its) responsibilities.”
Attaf said: “It’s the responsibility (of the UN) to work in order to prevent Palestinian neighbors — in particular Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and Jordan — (suffering) the horrors of what Greater Israel promises.”
He called on UN members to push ahead with support for Palestinian statehood, saying: “It’s (our) responsibility to seek to preserve the two-state solution, and to build a Palestinian state that’s sovereign and independent on the borders of 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital, as a just and lasting settlement for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
He added: “We appreciate the increasing recognition of the State of Palestine, and we also reiterate the call, launched by our President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, to empower the State of Palestine with full-fledged membership in the UN.
“The entire world ... must realize that the establishment of the State of Palestine isn’t a choice but a necessity, and it’s not a favor but a right, an integral right of the Palestinian people.
“It’s not a hope but a necessary condition that’s indispensable, and it can’t be evaded in order to restore security and stability in the Middle East as a whole.”
Attaf called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, with fighting in the Palestinian enclave approaching its third year since the invasion by Israeli forces in October 2023.
“Algeria follows with great concern the ongoing negotiations under the auspices of the US in order to end the tragedy in Gaza,” he said.
“Algeria encourages these efforts and hopes they’ll lead to an end to the Nakba, the catastrophe in Gaza … as a step on the road to a final settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
Attaf said: “The Libyan crisis deepens and complicates further day by day, while the international community is losing interest in Libya, and while any practical prospects for a peaceful settlement is absent.
“Fourteen years after the start of the crisis, this sisterly nation remains trapped in divisions that are fueled and invested by foreign interventions, as per plots that don’t desire the best for Libya or desire Libya’s stability or security.
“If the matter was left to the Libyans alone, they’d have reached an end to their divisions by now and would’ve charted a path forward that ends the crisis a long time ago.
“It’s high time to end the foreign interventions in Libya, in order for the resilient Libyan people to heal and reunite.
“Only then would we have paved the road to a consensus leading to a settlement and elections by which the Libyans would choose their representatives — representatives who are loyal to the Libyan nation and the Libyan people.”
Attaf reiterated Algeria’s commitment to the security of the Sahel region, highlighting the importance of maintaining peacekeeping efforts in various parts of Africa and of fighting terrorism, a “scourge” to which the continent is “vulnerable.”
He emphasized the importance of cooperation between African and European countries on security in the Mediterranean, noting Algeria’s continued role as a “constructive” and “reliable partner that’s fully engaged in all the efforts that aim to achieve security and prosperity in this shared Mediterranean space.”
He called for European nations to make “economic development on the southern front a shared priority in a strategic and urgent manner, and that will restore the balance of rules so that the countries of the north (can) be a driver for growth and development within a balanced partnership based on investment and technology transfer … expanding the prospects of shared prosperity.”
