The United Nations Security Council's elected member states consider Israel's settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank illegal and call on the country to halt such activities, the 10 countries said in a joint statement read by Germany's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Jurgen Schulz on Wednesday
UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st November, 2019) The United Nations Security Council's elected member states consider Israel's settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank illegal and call on the country to halt such activities, the 10 countries said in a joint statement read by Germany's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Jurgen Schulz on Wednesday.
"We would like to reaffirm our constant and unequivocal position in line with international law and relevant Security Council resolutions that Israeli settlements activities are illegal," Schulz said. "We call on Israel to end all settlement activity in line with its obligations as an occupying power."
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Monday that Washington no longer considered Jewish settlements established by Israel in the West Bank as inconsistent with international law.
Belgium, Cote d'Ivoire, the Dominican Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Germany, Indonesia, Kuwait, Peru, Poland and South Africa are the 10 non-permanent members of the Security Council.
Kuwaiti Ambassador to the UN Mansour Al-Otaibi said that his country, along with Indonesia, had proposed a press element to be issued following the UN Security Council meeting on the Israeli-Palestinian question that was held earlier on Wednesday. Yet, one member state objected to the circulation of the document.
"Unfortunately, there was no consensus on that [the press element]," Al-Otaibi said. "We actually wanted just two short paragraphs, emphasizing that the settlement activity is illegal and undermines the two-state solution, and it violates the Security Council resolution 2334."
Palestinian envoy to the UN Riyad Mansour said that Russia and China also supported the position by the 10 non-permanent members of the Security Council, as well as the proposal to issue a press statement by Kuwait and Indonesia.
He also called on countries to further implement Security Council resolutions, stressing that it is a direct obligation of UN member states, outlined in the Charter of the organization.
"Security Council resolutions, including 2334, are part of international law. It is binding," Mansour added. "If we abandon international law, including Security Council resolutions, it will be the law of the jungle."
UN Security Council Resolution 2334 - adopted unanimously in 2016 - states the Israeli activity of building settlements on Palestinian territories occupied since 1967 constitutes a violation of international law.
