Checked Against Delivery
And let me also start by thanking Acting Special Coordinator Alakbarov, High Representative Mladenov and Ms. Rayburn for their important briefings.
Colleagues,
Today, we take stock of the implementation of Resolution 2803, nine months after its adoption.
High Representative Mladenov asked this Council to say plainly and repeatedly what this Council has already decided. And plainly said, despite the continuous efforts of the Board of Peace and regional mediators, we must face the facts. We have not seen the progress we had hoped for and promised nine months ago.
Resolution 2803 sets out several important requirements. The disarmament of Hamas; the deployment of the International Stabilization Force; the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza assuming its responsibilities in Gaza and; the phased withdrawal of IDF from Gaza. We welcome the progress made towards a disarmament agreement, and call on all parties to embrace it and commit to it in good faith.
Resolution 2803 and the 20-point plan also called for full humanitarian access, including the rehabilitation of infrastructure. Yet severe restrictions persist. Civilians in Gaza continue to live in appalling conditions. Many live in tents exposed to the elements, without sanitation, clean water, or sufficient food. This leaves them dangerously vulnerable to disease. Hundreds of thousands of children remain out of school, denying them not just an education today, but years of opportunity in the future.
The 20-point plan specifically required the rehabilitation of hospitals.
However, we continue to hear reports that there has been little to no improvement in the healthcare situation since the ceasefire.
Most hospitals in Gaza are fully or partially destroyed and medical care is taking place in makeshift facilities or tents. Despite the ceasefire, no health facility in the Gaza Strip has been rehabilitated to full functionality.
Denmark therefore again calls for the medical corridor between Gaza and the West Bank including East Jerusalem to be re-opened.
We also once again call for the lifting of all restrictions on humanitarian aid in line with international humanitarian law. This includes the unreasonable restrictions on dual-use items. As we heard today from Ms. Rayburn, International NGOs play a crucial role in humanitarian aid operations in Gaza. They should be allowed to operate.
Colleagues,
Allow me to turn to the West Bank, where the situation has deteriorated even further since our last meeting, just two weeks ago.
The acting Special Coordinator has described the situation in detail, and we have all seen the images of the settlers terrorising Palestinian communities. Such acts of violence should be adequately addressed and accountability ensured.
As discussed in our last meeting, settlements continue to expand. With tenders issued last week for the E1 settlement project, de-facto annexation has moved one step closer. As Foreign Minister Løkke Rasmussen has stated, this tender is a destructive move by the Israeli government, undermining the two-state solution. Denmark again calls for the immediate halt of the E1 plans, and underscore that settlements are a flagrant breach of international law.
Economically, Palestinian life in the West Bank is suffocating in an ever-tighter chokehold. Israel’s continuing withholding of tax revenues is driving the Palestinian Authority’s debt even deeper and undermining its capacity to deliver services as well as the necessary reforms.
And finally, many today have mentioned Israel’s latest unauthorized seizure of UNRWA’s Kalandia facility in East Jerusalem yesterday. Also this is unacceptable. We urge Israel to abide by its international obligations to ensure the protection and inviolability of UN premises. Denmark fully supports UNRWA’s indispensable mission.
In closing,
It has been said many times in this Chamber, but it bears repeating today: Gaza and the West Bank are two parts of the same story, and two integral parts of a future Palestinian state. We cannot address one while allowing the other to deteriorate.
We all see the trends clearly. If we continue down this trajectory, we will very soon be in a situation where the two-state solution we all committed to will no longer be a possibility, and where steps towards a de-facto annexation will be irreversible.
Lasting peace can only be achieved through the two-state solution, most recently reaffirmed in the New York Declaration. Denmark will continue to work towards its full realisation, for both Palestinians and Israelis alike.
