Jordan has renewed its rejection of illegal Israeli policies in the occupied Palestinian territories, including settlement activities, discriminatory legislation, obstruction of aid delivery to the Gaza Strip, and the withholding of Palestinian Authority clearance revenues.
Jordan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Walid Obeidat, said during a United Nations Security Council discussion on Palestine that Jordan also condemns violations targeting the historical and legal status quo in Jerusalem.
Obeidat called for supporting the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), compliance with UN Security Council Resolution 2803, and the implementation of the two-state solution.
The UN Security Council, under Bahrain’s presidency, held a meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian issue. The council listened to a briefing by UN official Khaled Khiari and Executive Committee member of the Council for Peace Tony Blair.
Khiari, Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific in the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations, said that tensions and hostilities that have swept the Middle East in recent weeks have shifted attention away from the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory, where conditions in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, continue to witness “steady deterioration.”
He said civilians continue to bear the greatest burden of the ongoing violence, while humanitarian needs on the ground remain immense.
He stressed that “plans must urgently move forward, not only regarding humanitarian aid, but also for early recovery and reconstruction.”
Regarding the situation in the West Bank, the UN official said that “violence — including widespread settler violence — displacement, and the accelerated pace of settlement activity threaten entire communities and further erode the prospects for a political process leading to a viable two-state solution.”
He reported that between March 14 and April 16, Israeli authorities advanced plans to build 1,080 housing units in the West Bank, including 680 units in several settlements located in Area C, as well as a plan to build 400 housing units in East Jerusalem.
He also noted the killing of 21 Palestinians, including six children, by Israeli occupation forces or settlers, and the injury of 310 others, including 45 children, in addition to the killing of one Israeli and the injury of 11 others in attacks carried out by Palestinians, according to Israeli sources.
Khiari pointed out that the situation in refugee camps in the northern West Bank remains alarming, adding that economic conditions continue to deteriorate across the West Bank.
