The United States on Tuesday criticized the UN Security Council’s allocation of monthly sessions to the Palestinian issue.
This came in a statement by the US delegate to the United Nations, Ambassador Linda Thomas Greenfield, during a session of the Council on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian issue.
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“The Israelis are concerned that the United Nations is fundamentally biased against them,” Greenfield said.
They interpret the overwhelming focus on Israel in this (Security Council) as a denial of their right to exist, and they consider it an unfair focus on one country, and rightly so.”
For years, the Security Council has devoted a monthly session during which representatives of member states (15 countries) speak.
It is about developments related to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories since 1967, including the city of East Jerusalem.
And she considered that “these monthly meetings of the Security Council on the situation in the Middle East focus exclusively on Israel.”
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“We believe that the concern of this Council should reflect all areas that threaten international peace and security.
That is why we should have regular open meetings in Lebanon and Iran.”
In her testimony, Greenfield mentioned a visit she made to the occupied Palestinian territories, Israel and Jordan between 14 and 19 November.
She said that the Palestinian and Israeli sides need “confidence-building measures between them, and the Security Council can play a role in facilitating constructive steps.”
Peace negotiations between the Palestinian and Israeli sides have been suspended since April 2014 due to Israel’s insistence on settlements.
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In addition to its refusal to release former prisoners and its repudiation of the two-state solution (Palestinian and Israeli).
And she added: “We can implement Security Council resolutions aimed at restricting the regional activities of nuclear threats (Iran’s nuclear program) and support for terrorist organizations, such as Hamas and Hezbollah.”
Israel has a nuclear arsenal that is not subject to international control, and it accuses Iran of seeking to produce nuclear weapons, while Tehran says its program is designed for peaceful purposes.
The Palestinian Hamas movement and the Lebanese “Hezbollah” group assert that they are resisting the continuing Israeli occupation in Palestine and southern Lebanon.
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“The council can also demonstrate its support for efforts to facilitate humanitarian assistance and reconstruction in the Gaza Strip while ensuring that transfers do not reach terrorist organizations,” Greenfield added.
In Gaza, more than two million Palestinians live in deteriorating conditions due to the continuous Israeli siege on the Strip since the Hamas movement won the parliamentary elections in the summer of 2006.
