Palestine: The United Nations Middle East envoy has stated that more than 200 Palestinians and nearly 30 Israelis have been killed so far in 2023 in the occupied West Bank and Israel, the highest number of fatalities since 2005.
Mr. Tor Wennesland, UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, told the UN Security Council that rising violence is being fuelled by Palestinians’ growing uncertainty about the future, including achieving an independent state.
“Palestinians and Israelis are killed and injured in near-daily violence, including just hours before this briefing when another fatal shooting attack killed an Israeli in the West Bank. The lack of progress towards a political horizon that addresses the core issues driving the conflict has left a dangerous and volatile vacuum, filled by extremists on all sides,” the UN special coordinator told the Security Council.
Mr. Wennesland pointed out the continuous expansion of illegal Israeli settlements, Israel’s demolition of Palestinian homes, operations by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank areas under Palestinian administrative and police control, and attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinian villages.
The UN envoy also cited Palestinian “militant activity,” and he added that the current situation is compounded by “the fragility” of the Palestinian Authority’s financial situation as well as severe funding shortages faced by UN agencies, including the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.
“The Council members were clear today that the violence must stop. I urge leaders to act now to calm the situation. This spiral of violence is leading nowhere but to more bloodshed,” Mr. Wennesland posted on social media. The United States Ambassador to the UN, Ms. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who chaired the meeting, urged the participants to adopt immediate steps to prevent the escalating violence and reiterated her government’s support for a two-state solution.
Russia’s deputy UN ambassador Mr. Dmitry Polyanskiy told the council that the long-term stagnation of the peace process was “compounded by the ongoing illegal unilateral actions of Israel to create irreversible facts on the ground,” and described the “unprecedented pace” of Israel’s illegal settlement expansion as a huge threat.
Ms. Isis Jaraud-Darnault, France’s UN political coordinator, also condemned “the Israeli colonisation of the Palestinian territories” that Palestinians want for their future state and the continuing Israeli demolitions of Palestinian homes and infrastructure.
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