The Jordanian monarch added in a speech at the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York yesterday, Tuesday, that the Israeli aggression caused one of the fastest death rates compared to recent conflicts and resulted in the fastest rates of famine due to wars, the largest group of children with amputated limbs, and unprecedented levels of destruction.
Abdullah II stated that the Israeli government killed more children, journalists, humanitarian aid workers and medical personnel in this war than any war in modern history.
“We must not forget the attacks on the West Bank. Since October 7, the Israeli government has killed more than 700 Palestinians, including 160 children. The number of Palestinians held in Israeli detention centers has exceeded 10,700, including 400 women and 730 children. More than 4,000 Palestinians have been displaced from their homes and lands. Armed violence by settlers has also escalated dramatically, and entire villages have been displaced,” he continued.
He stated that the flagrant violations of the historical and legal status quo in the Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem continue unabated, with the protection and encouragement of members of the Israeli government.
“Some 42,000 Palestinians have been martyred since October 7 in Gaza and the West Bank,” the King continued. “Is it any wonder that many are asking: How can this war not be considered a deliberate targeting of Palestinians? This level of massive civilian suffering cannot be justified as unavoidable collateral damage.”
“I grew up as a soldier in a region where conflict is commonplace, but there is nothing commonplace about this war and the violence that began on October 7. In the absence of international accountability, these atrocities are becoming commonplace, threatening a future where crimes of all kinds are allowed to be committed anywhere in the world. Is this what we want?” he added.
The King stressed the need to ensure the protection of the Palestinian people, noting that the moral duty requires the international community to adopt a mechanism to protect them in all occupied territories, which would provide protection for Palestinians and Israelis from extremists who are pushing our region to the brink of all-out war.
He stated that this includes extremists who constantly promote the idea of Jordan as an alternative homeland, continuing by saying: “So let me be absolutely clear, this will never happen.. and we will never accept the forced displacement of Palestinians, it is a war crime.”
The Jordanian monarch stressed that escalation is not in the interest of any country in the region, and this is clearly evident in the dangerous developments in Lebanon in the past few days, and this escalation must stop.
“For years, the Arab world has extended its hand to Israel through the Arab Peace Initiative, ready to fully recognize it and normalize relations with it in exchange for peace. However, successive Israeli governments have chosen confrontation and rejected peace as a result of the immunity they have acquired over the years in the absence of any deterrent, and in the absence of a deterrent, this immunity has gradually increased,” he added.
The Palestinians have endured more than 75 years of occupation, injustice and oppression, and during these years the Israeli government has been allowed to cross one red line after another. But now Israel’s decades-long immunity has become its own worst enemy, and the consequences are evident everywhere. This Israeli government has been accused in the International Court of Justice of committing genocide, and the reverberations of anger at Israel’s actions are reverberating around the world. Cities everywhere have witnessed mass protests, and calls for sanctions against Israel have been raised.
In his speech, he said that the brutality of the war on Gaza forced the world to look closely and see the truth, and now many people are looking at Israel through the eyes of its victims, and the contradiction between these two images has become so clear that it cannot be ignored. The modern and developed Israel that has won the admiration of many cannot coexist with the Israel that the Palestinians know. Israel must eventually become one of these two images completely.
The Jordanian monarch stressed that the world is watching us and that history will judge our courage. Not only will the future hold us accountable, but the peoples of this time will as well. They will judge us as a United Nations if we choose to surrender to inaction or decide to fight to preserve the principles on which this organization and our world are based.
“Over the past quarter century, I have stood at this podium as regional conflicts, global turmoil and humanitarian crises have plagued and tested our international community,” he added in his speech.
“There is hardly a moment in our world without turmoil, but I cannot remember a more dangerous time than the one we are experiencing now,” he added.
“Our United Nations is facing a crisis that strikes at the core of its legitimacy and threatens to undermine global trust and moral authority,” the king continued.
“For nearly a year, the blue UN flag flying over shelters and schools in Gaza has failed to protect innocent civilians from Israeli military bombardment. UN aid trucks stand idle, just miles away from starving Palestinians. Humanitarian workers who proudly wear the UN emblem are targeted and attacked. The decisions of the UN International Court of Justice are defied and its opinions ignored. It is no wonder that confidence in the UN’s core principles and values has begun to crumble, both inside and outside this hall. The painful reality for many is that some peoples are effectively above international law, that international justice is subject to force, and that human rights are selective, a privilege granted to some and denied to others at will.”
Source: Petra
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2024-09-26 09:33:04
