Palestinian permanent envoy to the United Nations Dr. Riyad Mansour sent on Saturday three letters to the UN to condemn Israel’s “provocative” policies that are hampering the two-state solution and paving the way for a new round of bloodshed in the region.
The official sent a letter to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, head of the Security Council for January Kairat Umarov of Kazakhstan and General Assembly president Miroslav Lajcak of Slovakia.
Mansour added that in wake of the US administration’s provocative decision on Jerusalem, Israel had intensified its blatant violations across occupied Palestinian territory. This included killing and imprisonment operations in the Gaza Strip, which has left 16 Palestinians dead in the few recent weeks.
US President Donald Trump announced on December 6 that he was recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, sparking outrage across the Muslim and Arab world.
Mansour also referred to “illegal provocative unilateral decisions by the hardline Israeli government” which included a recent agreement to annex parts of the West Bank.
In addition, he noted the Israeli Knesset’s passing of a law that says that restoring any part of Jerusalem to Palestinians requires a vote by 80 of the body’s 120 members.
Mansour hailed some Knesset members for deeming the law as “illegal.”
The envoy warned against attempts to alter the status of the city, saying that any move in that direction would violate UN General Assembly resolution 181 and international law.
He concluded his letters to the UN officials by demanding that the international community take a clear stance on the developments in the Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem.
He called for rejecting the Israeli violations that are aimed at altering the status in these regions, reiterating that Israeli settlements are the greatest threat to peace and the two-state solution.
