Agenda Item 55: Report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices
Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People
and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories
Statement by H.E. Mr. Ahmed Sareer, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Maldives
New York, 12 November 2015
Mr. Chair,
The Republic of the Maldives wishes to express its appreciation to His Excellency Mr Amrith Rohan Perera, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, in his capacity as Chair of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories. We express our thanks to the Committee for the report it has presented and welcome the recommendations contained therein.
The reports of this Special Committee joins a body of work composed of resolutions of the General Assembly and the Security Council. It joins legal rulings from the International Court of Justice and numerous reports from various mechanisms and subsidiary bodies of the United Nations and other international organizations. It joins an ever-growing collection that represents the overwhelming global will for an immediate and unequivocal halt to the harmful, ongoing Israeli practices which deprive inalienable rights from the populations of the occupied territories.
Mr Chair,
Israel's national policies consistently, blatantly violate international law and constitute a system of apartheid which has affected generations already. The blockade of Gaza is the collective punishment of a population that has already been beaten into the ground. With over two thousand Palestinians killed over the last year, with over 25,000 housing units destroyed, and with half a million Palestinians, representing a third of its population, displaced during recent hostilities, there is no justification, no excuse the further deprivation of aid and assistance to this population. The creation of a destitute population dependent on foreign aid is the direct result of military occupation.
Through occupation Israel perpetuates a cycle of hatred, fear and violence. The State is directly responsible for systematic violations of fundamental rights, including through the demolition of homes, forced displacement, excessive force, illegal confiscations, condoning settler violence, and arbitrary arrests and detentions, including that of minors. Occupation is not and has never been the solution, but rather a force that feeds upon itself while destroying communities' ability to do anything more than simply survive.
Mr Chair,
We express our solidarity with the Palestinian people and reiterate our unwavering support for the legitimate and inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to a sovereign and independent state. My delegation reaffirms its support for a two state solution, with Palestine and Israel co-existing side by side, based on the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as Palestine's capital. Further, we call for the immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from all occupied territories.
Mr Chair,
Though these statements fall on deaf ears and though the overwhelming weight of international law and global will goes unheeded by the occupying power, the Maldives once again joins other delegations here today, to call upon Israel to end decades of injustice, of violence, and of hatred.
Thank you Mr Chair.
