UN Chief Suggests Options for Improved Palestinian Protection

Date: 18 August 2018 - 21:27

News ID: ۵۶۴۳۳

UNITED NATIONS (Dispatches) – The protection of Palestinians could be improved by the deployment of UN-mandated armed forces or unarmed observers, a beefed-up UN civilian presence or expanded UN assistance, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres wrote in a report.
The United Nations General Assembly requested the report in a resolution adopted in June that condemned the Zionist regime for excessive force against Palestinian civilians.
The resolution asked for proposals to ensure "the safety, protection and well-being of the Palestinian civilian population under Israeli occupation, including ... recommendations regarding an international protection mechanism.”
Guterres outlined four options, but he did not make a specific recommendation. He noted that all options would need the cooperation of both parties, a sustained cessation of hostilities and additional resources to ensure they were viable.
"The combination of prolonged military occupation, constant security threats, weak political institutions, and a deadlocked peace process provides for a protection challenge that is highly complex politically, legally and practically,” he wrote.
He further stressed that the UN was already undertaking many protection initiatives but that "these measures fall short” of the concerns raised in the UN General Assembly resolution.
The resolution garnered a strong majority of 120 votes in the 193-member assembly, with 8 votes against and 45 abstentions. It was put forward by Algeria, Turkey and Palestine after the United States vetoed a similar resolution in the UN Security Council earlier.
Elsewhere in his report, the UN chief underlined the need for a political solution to the Zionist-Palestinian conflict, adding however that "until such a solution is achieved, member-states may further explore all practical and feasible measures that will significantly improve the protection of the Palestinian civilian population.”
On Friday, Zionist troops killed three Palestinians, two in Gaza and another one in al-Quds.
Tensions have been running high near the Gaza fence since March 30, which marked the start of a series of protests demanding the right to return for the Palestinians driven out of their homeland.
The Gaza clashes reached their peak on May 14, marking the 70th anniversary of the Nakba Day (the Day of Catastrophe), which this year coincided with the U.S. embassy relocation from Tel Aviv to occupied al-Quds.
At Least 167 Palestinians have been killed and over 18,000 others wounded in the fresh wave of violence, according to the latest figures released by the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Smoke from a tire fire rises as Palestinians protest near the Gaza fence on August 17, 2018.