Israel seeks military solution to Gaza crisis by 'disappearing' a nation: Palestinian envoy to UN

HAMILTON, Canada

The Palestinian envoy to the UN accused Israel on Wednesday of attempting to impose a military solution to the Gaza crisis by "disappearing a nation."

"Israel has unleashed a full-fledged war against the Palestinian people. Israel is seeking to impose a military solution to the conflict by disappearing a nation," Riyad Mansour said at a UN Security Council session.

Saying that Israel is employing "genocide" and "apartheid" tactics to achieve its colonial aims, Mansour asserted that Palestinians are suffering "disposition, displacement, devastation, destruction and death" at a scale not seen since the Nakba.

In May 1948, the state of Israel was established on occupied Palestinian lands, displacing over 750,000 Palestinians in what is known as the Nakba, or “Great Catastrophe.”

"Instead of ending the Nakba, Israeli fascist extremist leaders have decided to try to bring it to its ultimate conclusion: Palestine with no Palestinians," Mansour added.

Emphasizing the impact of Israeli actions in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem since last October, he said around 700 Palestinians have been killed, including over 150 children, and 6,000 injured.

“How can anyone justify sending weapons to an army listed for its crimes against our children, or provide any kind of support to a government that is pursuing annexation and genocide, denying the right of our people to self-determination and denying our nation and those comprising it their right to life?

“It cannot be justified, so no arms, no money, no trade, no shield to help Israel commit its crimes against the Palestinian people. In other words, no complicity,” he said.

He argued that Israel’s military aggression, framed as a "security" measure, actually creates "insecurity."

Mansour also said that Israel's policies are designed to prevent a two-state solution and called for decisive international action against Israel’s "illegal actions."

"Palestine remains the most important test for the international law-based order, a test it cannot afford to fail," he added.

Algeria's permanent representative to the UN, Amar Bendjama, echoed Mansour's concerns, criticizing the failure of diplomacy and the international community’s inaction.

"If we are gathered here today, it is because diplomacy has failed. It is because this Security Council, entrusted with maintaining international peace and security, has not fulfilled its duty," he said.

He said that had a cease-fire been enforced, "more than 33,000 Palestinians, half of them women and children, would have been spared."

Bendjama stressed that "there can be no double standard in recognizing suffering" and condemned the continued violence in Gaza and the occupied West Bank as "collective punishment."

He urged the Council to take immediate action to prevent further escalation and uphold international law.