- Checked Against Delivery -
Thank you, Madam President,
We thank Deputy Special Coordinator Alakbarov, Mr. Epshtain and Ms. Barghouti for their briefings.
For years, the situation in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, has been steadily deteriorating. The developments on the ground are not new, but the speed with which conditions are worsening has been accelerated.
The developments have been documented repeatedly before this Council including through the SG’s quarterly reports on the implementation of resolution 2334. The Council also had the opportunity to discuss these developments during the Arria meeting held on the West Bank last month.
Allow me to highlight a few of the most concerning developments:
We are currently witnessing all-time high levels of settler violence against Palestinians. The stories we hear from the ground are brutal, as we have also heard from our briefers today, and civilians are being displaced from their communities as a consequence. Reports of Israeli authorities failing to prevent or hold perpetrators to account, are deeply alarming.
And recently a seven-month-old Palestinian infant was killed in Hebron by Israeli Defense Forces. This incident is not only deeply tragic but also a clear reminder of the devastating human costs that the civilians in the West Bank are paying.
At the same time, settlement expansion is advancing at an alarming pace. Particularly concerning is the advancement of plans to establish settlements in the E1 area East of Jerusalem where evacuation orders for the Bedouin community of Khan al-Ahmar have now been issued. If implemented, the E1 plan would cut the West Bank in two and compromise the territorial contiguity of a future Palestinian state as well as hamper the prospects of a two-state solution.
Denmark is equally concerned by reports of expected establishment of the first permanent Israeli military presence in Area A, an area that under the Oslo Accords falls under Palestinian civil and security control.
We are also deeply concerned by demolition and eviction orders in East Jerusalem including the Silwan neighbourhood that continue to threaten Palestinian communities and alter the demographic character of the city.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority faces a severe financial crisis, not least due to the withholding of Palestinian tax revenues that Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority. The consequences are not least being felt in the Palestinian health sector that is struggling to provide the basic assistance due to lack of resources.
An effective and reformed Palestinian Authority remains essential for stability, governance, and the prospect for peace.
Israel’s restrictions on international NGOs operating in the occupied Palestinian territory and the unlawful demolition of UNRWA’s headquarters further undermines stability and access to basic services for Palestinians.
Taken together, these developments are not isolated incidents. They amount to a systematic consolidation of Israeli control across the occupied West Bank. They change realities on the ground, alter the map, and heighten the risk of annexation.
This trajectory must be reversed.
All settlement expansions must be halted immediately and any attempt at de facto annexation prevented. We reiterate that Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law.
Accountability for settler violence must be ensured and we call on Israeli authorities to hold perpetrators to account. With strong Danish support the European Union has introduced sanctions against extremist Israeli settlers and organisations responsible for serious and systematic human rights abuses against Palestinians.
Security Council Resolution 2334 must be fully implemented.
Palestinian tax revenues must be transferred without delay. And the Palestinian Authority must continue its reform efforts. In this regard, Denmark welcomes the announcement to hold presidential elections.
Madam President,
Denmark’s position is clear: Israel’s legitimate security concerns must be ensured. But crushing all possibilities for a Palestinian state through illegal settlements, settler violence and financial suffocation is not an acceptable way forward.
Lasting security cannot be separated from the two-state solution as charted in the New York Declaration. It remains the only viable option for long term peace and security.
I thank you.
