Security Council Session on Deplorable Middle East Conditions
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org – Home – Stephen Lendman)
Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process/Personal Representative of the Secretary‑General Nickolay Mladenov warned of escalating tensions, foreign interference, and growing risks of miscalculations in Syria, Yemen and Gaza, saying:
“What happens in the Middle East today has immediate implications for the rest of the world. Everyone in the (region) needs to step back from the brink” to prevent further deterioration of deplorable and dangerous conditions.
Addressing the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, he stressed Gaza is “coming apart as we speak,” adding another Israeli war on the Strip would be catastrophic for its long-suffering people.
He called blockade-caused humanitarian crisis conditions in Gaza an injustice no one should have to endure.
People should not be forced to be virtually imprisoned within borders forbidden to cross or waters forbidden to navigate, he stressed, adding:
“These challenges are political, man‑made and, thus, resolvable if all sides firmly commit to supporting practical solutions in Gaza that can be implemented quickly, effectively and sustainably.”
“But, Gaza is only part of the story. We must also step up our efforts to support parties in advancing a sustainable Israeli‑Palestinian peace on the basis of the two‑State solution.”
Legitimate nonviolent protests are for fundamental rights Israel denies. “Exercising their right to peaceful assembly, these men, women and youths are protesting an oppression that cannot be endured any longer, pleading for their voices to be heard.”
Illegal Israeli settlement construction continues. Palestinians have endured the most protracted, oppressive occupation in modern times – lawless by any standard.
The international community failed to condemn Israeli crimes, or protect Palestinians in harm’s way, Mladenov explained, stressing “Israel does not want peace,” adding:
It must not be supported and rewarded by the Security Council it lacks respect for, mocking its authority. Its flagrant Fourth Geneva violations demand accountability so far not forthcoming.
Responding to Mladenov’s remarks, Islamophobic/Ziofascist supporter Nikki Haley changed the subject.
Ignoring Israeli crimes of war and against humanity, she raged against Hamas, Iran, Hezbollah, and Yemeni Houthis – turning truth on it head, showing contempt for Palestinian suffering, supporting what demands condemnation.
Palestinian “children, women and men (are used by Hamas) as human shields,” she roared, adding “this outrageous practice is reaching epic proportions in the region,” implying Syria against its people.
Fact: In three wars of aggression on Gaza since December 2008, Israel used countless numbers of Palestinians as human shields, the practice exposed by former IDF soldiers – members of the activist “breaking the silence” group.
Fact: Not a shred of evidence suggests Hamas engaged in the disgraceful practice – or Assad in Syria, just US-supported terrorists in the country Haley ignored, unleashing her venom on victims of US and Israeli aggression.
Haley: “The use of human shields deliberately advantages those with no regard for human life, and disadvantages those who seek to minimize civilian casualties. And the use of human shields isn’t confined to any one conflict. It is present across the Middle East in virtually every conflict.”
Fact: All instances of this practice are by aggressors and/or their imperial foot soldiers, not victims of their aggression.
Haley: “Hezbollah…endangered civilians by positioning its fighters and its weapons among them…us(ing) schools, hospitals, and apartment buildings to shield its war arsenal in Lebanon” – a bald-faced lie!
Haley: “…Hamas has exploited and endangered the very Palestinian people it claims to represent by locating rocket launchers near schools, apartment buildings, hotels, churches, and UN facilities” – another bald-faced lie!
All Gazans, including Hamas, are victims of illegal Israeli blockade, wars at its discretion, intermittent cross-border aerial, ground and offshore attacks, along with holding the entire Strip hostage to its ruthless agenda.
Haley: “Iran is the patron and protector of (terrorist groups) that fight from behind the bodies of innocent civilians…part of (its) overarching efforts to destabilize the region” – more despicable lies!
In her remarks, Haley mentioned Israel only once, blaming Hamas for Israeli crimes against two million long-suffering Gazans.
Not a word said about flagrant IDF Fourth Geneva violations, nothing about over half a century of brutal, illegal, militarized occupation harshness – silence about an entire Palestinian population held hostage to Israel’s ruthless agenda.
As US UN envoy, Haley represents Washington’s imperial lawless on the world stage – blaming victimized nations and their people for high US crimes committed against them, supporting what all just societies condemn!
Haley represents the worst of what US imperial ruthlessness is all about!
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