We must not fail Palestinians at this juncture, Qureshi tells UN

Ag Agencies

NEW YORK: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Thursday said “it is time to say enough” and urged the world not to fail the Palestinian people while speaking at the 67th plenary meeting of the United Nations General Assembly here to highlight Israeli atrocities against Palestinians.

He called for a cessation of hostilities and the deployment of an international protection force in Gaza.

“There are times in history when decisions of nations are remembered by posterity. This is one such moment,” Qureshi said, as he began his address.

“What we do today or cannot do will be recorded in history. Driven by arrogance and emboldened by impunity, Israel has mounted a relentless onslaught on the occupied and beleaguered people of Palestine,” he said.

He said one week of Israeli attacks have led to more than 250 Palestinians being killed and thousands injured — one third of which are women and children.

“Death echoes in every home in Gaza,” Qureshi said, to lay stress on the gravity of the situation. He also recalled one such tragedy, in which all ten members of the Abu Hattab family had perished in Israeli strikes. “Let that sink in.”

“Hundreds of such tragedies are being enacted every hour in Gaza and other parts of the Palestinian territories. So far over 50,000 Palestinians have fled their homes in Gaza,” he said, adding that these people have very poor and limited access to water, food, hygiene and health services.

The foreign minister said hospitals and sanitation services rely on electricity but fuel for power plants “has almost run out”. “Gaza has plunged in darkness [...] the only light is that of Israeli explosions,” he said.

Qureshi said such is the existence of Palestine, where “in full view of the world Israeli airstrikes bring down entire buildings to kill and terrorise innocent Palestinians and even silence the media”. “It is time to say enough. The voice of the Palestinian people cannot and will not be silenced,” he said.

The foreign minister said the representatives of the Islamic world are there to speak with and for Palestine. He said it is “appalling” that the United Nations Security Council has been unable to do what it is tasked with — to maintain international peace and security.

He said it has even failed to demand a cessation of hostilities, and warned that those preventing it from doing so “bear a heavy responsibility”. He said the United Nations General Assembly, must then, assume its own responsibility. “We must not fail the Palestinian people at this critical juncture.” Earlier, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavosuglu spoke. Continued crossfire between Israeli forces and militant groups including Hamas is “unacceptable,” Guterres said, calling for “the fighting must stop immediately.” “I am deeply shocked by the continued air and artillery bombardment by the Israeli Defence Forces in Gaza,” Guterres said.

He added that “indiscriminate firing of rockets by Hamas and other militant groups” towards population centers in Israel — which have left 12 dead, including two children — was also “unacceptable.” “If there is a hell on earth, it is the lives of children in Gaza.”

The General Assembly meeting was requested by Niger and Algeria, respectively the current chairs of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Arab Group at the United Nations.

“It is imperative that we achieve de-escalation, to prevent an uncontainable crossborder security and humanitarian crisis,” Guterres said, calling for the “resumption of negotiations” pursuing “a two-state solution on the basis of the 1967 lines.”