Sabbagh: International community must intervene to end the suffering of Palestinians due to US and western-backed crimes of Israel

Syria’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Bassam Sabbagh, confirmed that the continuous Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people comes within a continuous series of war crimes and aggression against the Palestinians in an attempt to displace them from their lands and change its demographic character. These crimes would not have happened had it not been for a green light and American Western support for the Israeli occupation entity.

In a written statement during a session of the UN Security Council today via video about “developments in the situation in the Palestinian territories in light of the continuous Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people”,  Sabbagh expressed Syria’s disapproval of the US delegation’s procrastination in holding this session, considering this as an open American attempt to grant the Israeli occupation authorities more time to continue its attacks on the Palestinian people.

The escalation of barbaric Israeli practices against the Palestinian people in Jerusalem coincided with the seventy-third anniversary of the usurpation of Palestine and comes as part of a continuous series of war crimes and aggression against the Palestinian people to displace them from their lands and change its demographic and religious character, Sabbagh said. The Israeli settlers attacked unarmed Palestinians in the neighborhoods of Sheikh Jarrah, Bab Al-Amud and Silwan, violated the sanctity of their homes and attempted to rob them of by unfair decisions, in a  clear violation of the occupying power’s obligations under the four Geneva Conventions of 1949.

Sabbagh indicated that the Palestinians were also provoked by the storming of settlers and the Israeli occupation authorities into the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem, preventing the Palestinians from fulfilling their religious duty during the holy month of Ramadan, and then the occupation forces’ aggressive measures inside the mosque with the aim of fueling tension and serving the racist policies of Netanyahu’s government against the Palestinians.

“The Syrian Arab Republic condemns the continuous barbaric behavior of the Israeli occupation authorities against the Palestinian people in Jerusalem, Gaza Strip and others, as well as the Western coverage of the attacks and the killing of civilians, most of them women and children, and the massive devastation caused by the Israeli air attacks in Public and private property and civilian facilities”, Sabbagh added.

Sabbagh pointed out that the  bombing of Al-Jala’a  tower in Gaza City, which includes headquarters for international media offices, means that “Israel” wants to prevent the world from uncovering the truth and to veil  its war crimes against the Palestinian people, which caused hundreds of deaths and injuries.

Sabbagh pointed out that it is shameful for the United States and some European countries to characterize what is happening in the occupied Palestinian territories as a “cycle of mutual violence” by transforming the criminal into a victim under the pretext of being in  a “state of self-defense.

Sabbagh stressed that the silence of the United States, France and Britain about the Israeli war crimes against the Palestinians, especially women and children, and their attempt to cover them up in the Security Council under flimsy pretexts reveals the hypocrisy of these countries and the falsity of their allegations in ensuring the protection of human rights and exposing their false allegations and their hysterical campaign over the years against Syria. It is shameful for those countries to speak out with slogans of democracy and protection of  human rights while at the same time they use them as a tool  to interfere in the affairs of many member states to destabilize them. Those countries work to prevent the anti-war and peace advocates from demonstrating peacefully to denounce the  Israeli practices and to express their support and solidarity with the Palestinian people. All of this  exposes the double standard policy adopted by Western countries when it comes to protecting “Israel” and ensuring that it escapes from accountability for its violations of international law and the provisions of the United Nations Charter.

Sabbagh called on the international community to take effective and immediate steps to end the suffering of the Palestinian people, stop the continuous Israeli attacks on them, support their right to self-determination, establish their independent state with Jerusalem as its capital in accordance with the relevant United Nations resolutions, and guarantee the right of refugees to return to their homes in accordance with Resolution 194 of 1948.

In the conclusion of his statement, Sabbagh called on the UN Security Council to move from the state of speeches and statements to the state of action and assume its responsibilities in ending the Israeli occupation of Arab lands, including the Syrian Arab Golan, by implementing its relevant decisions, foremost of which are Resolutions 242, 338 and 497, and putting an end to this long, continuous and unprecedented violation of the international law and the provisions of the United Nations Charter.

Inas Abdulkareem