United Nations Security Council briefings on the situation in the Middle East

UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL BRIEFINGS AND CONSULTATIONS ON THE SITUATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST-THE QUESTION OF PALESTINE

I thank you Special Coordinator, Tor Wennesland for your monthly briefing on the Middle East-The Question of Palestine. It is regrettable that after many decades of the Council’s engagement on this question, today’s briefing continues to be far from our aspirations. Ghana remains deeply concerned about the lack of progress in finding a just and lasting solution to the protracted conflict, and the deteriorating security situation in the West Bank and in other towns in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, caused by communal violence, arbitrary arrests and detentions of mostly Palestinian youths, demolitions and building of new settlements by Israeli settlers, political and social unrest in the OPT. We are equally concerned about the sharp increase in violent attacks on unarmed Israeli civilians which has resulted in fatalities, kidnapping of innocent Israelis in Jerusalem and other Israeli settlements. The current situation in the region does not only negatively affect the lives of Israelis and Palestinians, but that of millions of people in the Middle East region, and many other people all over the world who are denied of the benefits of the natural and human resources that the regions is blessed with.

Ghana remains concerned about the dire humanitarian situation faced by Palestinian refugees across the Occupied Palestinian Territory, especially in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. It is regrettable that children, women and the aged continue to suffer the most devastating impact of protracted conflicts. We join others in condemning the recent increase in the spate of violent clashes across the Middle East region, which according UNICEF, has brought untold suffering and fatalities to children in the region. We emphasize the need to ease humanitarian access to allow inhabitants in the Occupied Palestinian Territories to have access to basic supplies and a dignified life, as a shared international responsibility, pending a just and durable solution in accordance with international law, including relevant resolutions of the United Nation.

We commend the effort of all humanitarian agencies on the ground, particularly United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and its staff for working under difficult circumstances to provide critical assistance to the Palestinian refugees, especially the aged, women and children who constitute the most vulnerable in the Agency’s area of
operations. While solidarizing with the families of at least 21 people who were killed and injured when a fire tore through an apartment complex in the crowded Jabaliya refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, we welcome the Israeli authorities offer to lift Gaza’s normal travel restrictions to allow survivors to seek medical treatment in Israel in response to a request from the Palestinian Authority.

We call on the leadership of Israel, Palestine and all stakeholders in the region to work toward good neighbourliness and continue to engage in a meaningful and transparent manner for significant policy changes on both sides. I concluding, I wish to reiterate Ghana’s commitment to the Council’s collective aspiration for Israel and Palestine to live peacefully, side by side as two sovereign States with Jerusalem as the shared capital. We look forward to renewed and constructive dialogue on a political horizon that would ultimately lead to the two-state solution.

I thank you,