Statement by H.E. Mr. Majid Takht Ravanchi

Ambassador and Permanent Representative of

the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations

On “The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question”

Before the United Nations Security Council

New York, 26 January 2021

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In the Name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful

Mr. President,

The Palestinians ended the year 2020 while the occupation of their lands and the brutalities of the Occupying Power persisted.

The killing of over 70 Palestinians, including nearly 20 children and women, wounding over 6740 others, including a large number of women and children, demolishing or seizing over 590 Palestinian structures, as well as displacing nearly 690 people, were only the tip of submerged iceberg of the oppressions of the Israeli forces against the Palestinians in the year 2020.

The Occupying Power also continued its illegal settlement activities, declared its illegal policy to annex further parts of Palestine, and also sustained inhumane blockade of the Gaza Strip.

In 2020, the plight and sufferings of the Palestinians have become manifold and were further deteriorated as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Israeli regime also continued its military adventurism and destabilizing practices in the region, including through invading some regional countries, particularly Syria. It also continued further saber rattling and openly and repeatedly threatened regional States.

The Occupying Power also started the year 2021 with new round of brutalities against Palestinians, which include hampering the access of Palestinians to COVID-19 vaccines, as well as its subversive and disruptive activities in the region.

All such policies and practices are in contravention of the basic principles and norms of international law and gross violation of purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Despite the fact that the Palestinian question, as the world’s longest crisis, has been top on the agenda of the General Assembly and the Security Council since the inception of the United Nations, during the past 75 years, the Security Council has been unable to end decades long occupation of Palestine, to protect the very basic rights of millions of oppressed Palestinians at home and abroad, and to confront an occupying regime that has shamelessly committed all four core international crimes, not once but several times.

Needless to say, the Council’s failure in fulfilling its duties is the complete and systematic shielding of the Israeli regime by the United States in violation of international law and principles of humanity and morality.

The decades-long inaction by the Security Council has seriously emboldened the Israeli regime to brazenly continue all its unlawful acts and inhumane practices with total impunity, one example of which is the killing of about 100,000 Palestinians and Arabs since 1948 until this day, as recently announced by President of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.

Similarly, during the same period, the Israeli regime has pursued systematic ethnic cleansing and racial discrimination against Palestinians, intensive and systematic Judaization of Palestine, particularly through changing the demographic composition and Islamic and Arabic identity of Al-Quds Al-Sharif, systematic confiscation of lands and demolition of homes of the Palestinians, and the list goes on and on.

Inaction of the United Nations, particularly the Security Council that is responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security, has seriously eroded the trust and confidence in the Council and resulted in the credibility and legitimacy crisis of this body.

This inaction cannot continue indefinitely and must therefore come to an end. The Security Council has a special responsibility in this regard and must act decisively in resolving the question of Palestine in accordance with the principles of justice and international law.

The international community must also do whatever it can to address this crisis and prevent its further deterioration and its negative consequences on regional and international peace and security.

To that end, the United States must be compelled to put an end to its irresponsible policy of unreservedly supporting the unlawful acts of the Israeli regime as well as complete and systematic shielding of Israel against the Security Council’s criticism.

Furthermore, the Israeli regime must be compelled to end the occupation of all the Palestinian territories, the occupied Syrian Golan and parts of Lebanon and to stop all its destabilizing activities in the region, including the systematic violation of the sovereignty of Syria and Lebanon.

The Israeli regime must also be forced to put an end to its continued construction and expansion of settlements as well as to inhumane blockade of the Gaza Strip.

I would like to reiterate that the Islamic Republic of Iran continues to support the just cause of the Palestinian people and the full realization of all their inalienable rights, including their inherent right to self-determination and to establish an independent Palestinian State in entire Palestine with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.

Today, the representative of Israeli regime made unsubstantiated claims about Iran’s nuclear program and, through certain fabrications, desperately attempted to portray our peaceful nuclear activities as a threat. This is but to divert attentions away from the development, by Israel, of hundreds of nuclear weapons, which continue to threaten the peace and security of the region and beyond.

Likewise, recalling that during the past five years, the Israeli regime, in clear violation of Security Council resolution 2231, has spared no efforts and missed no opportunities to destroy the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Deception and playing victim are inspirable elements of Israel’s foreign policy, which are pursued to cover its oppressions and crimes against Palestinians as well as its destabilizing policies in the region. The Council must therefore be vigilant about the ill-intent and disinformation campaign of Israeli regime.

At the same time, we reserve our inherent right to self-defense and to vigorously respond to any threat, including those made today by Israeli regime’s representative in clear violation of Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter, requiring the Security Council to hold that regime accountable for such threats.

I thank you, Mr. President.