Arab States Call an Emergency U.N. Security Council Meeting: Palestinians Urge International Protection in an Escalating Conflict with Israel, Where Long-simmering Palestinian Anger Has Been Transformed into Outright Rage
On November 29, 2012, the 193-nation U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a resolution to upgrade the Palestinian Authority's observer status at the United Nations from "entity" to "non-member state," implicitly recognizing a Palestinian state. There were 138 votes in favor, nine against and 41 abstentions. The vote amounts to a massive international show of displeasure with Israel, particularly over its continued construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Moving forward, the resolution could weaken Israeli claims to keeping parts of the West Bank and east Jerusalem, the section of the holy city claimed by both sides for their capitals. After years of deadlock in peace efforts, the world seems to be laying the blame on Israel.Palestinians urge international protection, Israel says no
AP - The Palestinians urged the U.N. Security Council on Friday to immediately provide international protection for the Palestinian people in an escalating conflict with Israel, which rejected any international presence at Jerusalem's holiest site.The exchange at an emergency council meeting — called by Arab states after a spate of Palestinian stabbing attacks and an Israeli security crackdown — highlighted the deepening anger and distrust between the two sides after decades of conflict.
Mansour called on the council to implement a 1994 resolution adopted after a Jewish settler killed 29 Muslim worshippers at a holy site in Hebron. It called on Israel "to guarantee the safety and protection of the Palestinian civilians throughout the occupied territory" including by "a temporary international or foreign presence," and to disarm settlers.
Danon said "any such intervention would violate the decades-long status quo."
Jordan's U.N. Ambassador Dina Kawar, whose country is custodian of the al-Aqsa compound, said Jordan is not pushing for a new international force. But she said Israeli security forces should stay away from al-Aqsa.
Taye-Brook Zerihoun, the U.N. assistant secretary-general for political affairs, told the council that Israel's long occupation of Palestinian territory and diminishing prospects for achieving a Palestinian state "have transformed long-simmering Palestinian anger into outright rage."
He said "this stark reality" has been compounded by increasingly dire economic conditions, including bleak employment prospects for Palestinian youths and expanding Israeli settlement activities.
Zerihoun warned Israel that the current crisis cannot be resolved by security measures alone.
France's U.N. Ambassador Francois Delattre said it's crucial it's crucial the two-state solution does not fall apart, given the risk that Islamic State extremists "might one day take up the Palestinian cause, with the consequences we can imagine."
France is drafting a council statement that will appeal for calm, restraint by all parties, and maintaining the status quo at the Jerusalem religious site, he said.
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