Ambassador Sabbagh: Syria calls on Security Council to abandon its silence and assume its responsibilities to end Israeli occupation of Arab lands

Syria affirmed that the UN Security Council must assume its responsibilities, work to stop the repeated Israeli attacks on its territory, stop the occupation’s crimes against the Palestinian people, hold them accountable for their violations and aggressive practices. It also underlined the  need to end the Israeli occupation of Arab lands, and implement the relevant United Nations resolutions.

During a Security Council session on the situation in the Middle East on Wednesday, Syria’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Bassam Sabbagh, said that at a time when the world was looking forward to a new year; in which the severity of crises recedes and peace, prosperity and stability prevail, the Israeli occupation authorities  decided to add new attacks to their record of acts of aggression and violations of international law, and breaches of the United Nations Charter. This proves only one thing that Israel continues to escalate its aggression, and that it is the cause of undermining the state of security and peace in the Middle East.

Sabbagh noted that on the second of this month, the Israeli occupation launched a new aggression on the Syrian territories by targeting Damascus International Airport with barrages of missiles, which resulted in the death of some people and the injury of others in addition to causing material losses, and the airport was out of service for some time. In the next day, the minister of the Israeli occupation government, Itamar Ben Gvir, acted provocatively by storming into the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Mosque, and desecrating Islamic sanctities without respecting the feelings of Palestinians and Muslims around the world, not caring about the repercussions that this might have on various levels.

Sabbagh pointed out that Syria sent, on the second of this month, a letter to the Security Council about the Israeli occupation’s continued attacks on its territory, including vital civilian facilities, in which it called for taking the necessary measures to stop the repeated Israeli attacks on its territory, and to hold the occupation authorities accountable for all its violations and aggressive practices.

Sabbagh pointed out that Israel, the occupying power in the Syrian Golan, has continued for more than five decades its aggressive policies against our people there. It practices the most heinous violations of international law and intensifies its systematic expansionist settlement policies in the occupied Golan with the aim of perpetuating occupation, increasing the number of settlers, imposing demographic change, as well as stealing its natural resources, seizing lands, and establishing settlement plans on them that cause catastrophic effects on the lives of the people of the Golan.

Syria’s permanent representative to the United Nations affirmed that these Israeli crimes would not have continued without the impunity provided by successive US administrations and their allies to Israel, which pushes the region to unprecedented levels of tension and instability. He stressed that the countries supporting Israel bear responsibility for the continuation of its occupation of the Golan Heights and its continued aggressions on Syrian lands, and the consequences of that on regional and international peace and security.

Sabbagh expressed Syria’s denunciation of the European Union delegation’s insistence on including issues in its statement related to Syria and unrelated to the subject of the session, in order to confuse this discussion and divert it from its main goal. He pointed out that the statement ignores Israel’s violations in the occupied Syrian Golan and its continuous attacks on Syrian territory and represents a political hypocrisy, and proves the policy of double standards that they have been practicing.

Sabbagh pointed out that the occupation authorities took collective punitive measures against the Palestinian people after the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution that includes a justified request to call for an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice regarding the legal implications arising from Israel’s continued violation of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, and the impact of policies and practices on the legal status of the occupation. He expressed Syria’s condemnation of the occupation’s imposition of these illegal punitive measures, affirming its support for the Palestinian people in their legitimate struggle to liberate their land, restore their rights, and protect their sanctities.

Sabbagh called on the United Nations to condemn these violations and work to stop them and ensure that they are not repeated, and to implement the relevant resolutions of international legitimacy related to the Palestinian cause. He also called on the Security Council to abandon its silence and assume its responsibilities to end the Israeli occupation of Arab lands and implement the relevant United Nations resolutions, foremost of which are Security Council Resolutions No. 242 and  338 and Resolution No. 497 which is considered the decision of Israel’s annexation of the Golan is null and void, and has no legal effect.

Inas Abdulkareem