Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said Monday that the United Nations is required to be more credible by starting to translate Palestinian-related international statements and positions into actions.
The PM was speaking ahead of a UN Security Council open debate scheduled for Wednesday to discuss the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
“At the request of the Palestinian government, the UN Security Council will discuss Wednesday the breaches committed by the occupation forces, the continuous attacks by settlers in the West Bank, including the occupied city of Jerusalem, and the ongoing Israeli siege on our people in the Gaza Strip,” the PM said following a cabinet meeting.
Shtayyeh said there has been a noticeable escalation in settler violence, house demolitions, forced displacement, detention and killing of Palestinian civilians, including children.
“The occupation soldiers killed a child from Deir Nidham while on Monday morning another child from Abwein died from his injuries after he was shot by Israeli bullets,” the PM said, adding that dozens of people were also injured in confrontations with Israeli soldiers in several areas in the Jordan Valley and Masafer Yatta.
Palestinians are hoping the Security Council would adopt resolutions to support the Palestinian cause, although such a position is unlikely to happen.
Last Friday, Palestine’s Permanent Representative to the UN Riyad Mansour slammed the international community’s inaction towards the Israeli violations of international law, including the UN Charter, Fourth Geneva Convention and UN resolutions.
He made his accusations in letters sent to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the President of the General Assembly and this month’s President of the Security Council (France) and tackling the deteriorating situation resulting from Israel’s violations in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry asked the UN Security Council to respect its legal and moral obligations regarding Israeli violations and crimes against Palestinians.
It condemned in the strongest terms the occupation forces and called on the US administration, the Israeli government and some European countries to immediately recognize the State of Palestine.