Itongadol.-The meeting, held under a process known as the Arria Formula, focused on the question of whether West Bank settlements are a stumbling block to peace.
"There is an endless list of human rights violations that the Palestinian people are victims of and we are convinced that Israel has committed war crimes against Palestinians that have to be investigated and punished,” Venezuela’s Ambassador Rafael Ramirez said on Friday during an informal meeting of the UN Security Council on Friday.
The meeting, held under a process known as the Arria Formula, focused on the question of whether West Bank settlements are a stumbling block to peace.
It is part of a push by the Palestinians to convince the council to hold a session on the matter and issue a resolution against the settlements.
Vowing to “put an end to Israeli occupation”, Ramirez added that acts of violence of both sides of the conflict cannot be equated, and attempts to do so are a “double standard” in favor of Israel.
“We say we reject any terrorist acts but we are using that argument to establish an equivalency between the disproportionate violence of Israel against the Palestinian people and the isolated acts of violent reactions of the Palestinian people against Israel,” he said.
“Here, certainly there can’t be a double standard. We cannot allow the continuation of settlements and killings of Palestinian people,” Ramirez continued.
“We believe time has come for this security council to do something specific and concrete. We have had enough rhetoric and declarations.”
In his statement, the Venezuelan Ambassador also pointed fingers at the United States for “maintain a permanent blockade” on the issue of settlements in the Security Council.
“Time come to set aside any group pressure, lobbies and national positions to be able to resolve this matter,” he stated.
“We can’t keep asking Palestinians to be patient,” Ramirez added. “Israeli settlements are illegal, everything Israel has done in Palestine is illegal.”
Shortly after the remarks, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon responded that Ramirez’s statement is “hypocritical and laced with anti-Israel hatred.”
Back in May, during another informal Security Council meeting on the Palestinian question, Ambassador Ramirez had also asked if Israel aims to perpetrate a "final solution" against the Palestinian people, Danon recalled.
“Nothing is more ludicrous than accusing Israel of war crimes. Our record on behalf of human rights and democracy speaks for itself. We do not accept hypocritical criticism from countries whose own record on human rights can only be described as horrendous.”
Representatives of the left wing Israeli organizations Peace Now and B’Tselem also spoke at Friday’s meeting, convened at the request of Angola, Malaysia, Venezuela, Senegal and Egypt, and urged the International community to act to stop settlement expansion.
Director of policy and government relations for the affiliated Americans for Peace Now, Lara Friedman accused the Israeli government of conducting an “ugly campaign” against “courageous” NGOs and activists who are against the country’s settlement policy.
“The occupation is a threat to Israel’s security and Israel’s existence,” she said. “If these policies are not rolled back they will destroy the possibility of ever reaching a political agreement between Israel and Palestine.”
Executive director of B’Tselem, Hagai El-Ad added that the UN security council has “a moral responsibility” to act on the issue.
“Israel cannot have it both ways,” he said. “You cannot occupy a people for 50 years and call yourself a democracy.”
The third panelist invited to speak at the forum, law professor at the Universite libre de Bruxelles Francois Dubuisson, urged the international community and member states of the UN to take economic measures to ensure the end of settlement activities.
He called on them to ban imports of products coming from the settlements, end the financing of entities established there, and adopt measures to sanction national companies carrying out economic activities linked to the settlements.
“To be truly effective, these measures against the settlements must be adopted collectively,” he said. “Unfortunately the United NAtions has failed to ensure that International law is respected by Israel.”
Dubuisson then compared the situation in Israel to the one in South Africa in the 1970s.
“Apartheid was a violation of international law , a situation which was condemned universally,” he said. “But because of certain political alliances, no binding measure was able to be adopted by the Security Council for a long time.”
“It’s only with the pressure of certain states within the United Nations and pressure by civil society around the world that the Security Council put an arms embargo and adopted a resolution asking states to take economic measures against the apartheid regime,” he said. “Today we should be inspired by that precedent.”
After questions from member states, Dubuisson also added he believes the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction movement is a legitimate form of expression from civil society on the issue.
Ambassador Danny Danon harshly criticized the paneslist’s statements, and in particular those of the left wing Israeli groups present.
“Just two days after anti-Israel forces approved a resolution intending to sever the historical bond between the Jewish people and Jerusalem, Israeli organizations chose to slander and besmirch Israel’s good name at an event organized by the Palestinian delegation,” he said. “We will continue to fight and tell the truth about Israel despite the attempts to spread lies about us.”
“It is unfortunate that Israeli organizations have joined the Palestinian attempts to wage diplomatic terror against Israel at the UN,” Danon added.