UN 'not doing enough' on Israeli-Palestinian conflict

By Umar Farooq

WASHINGTON

The UN Security Council is not doing enough to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian issue, Sweden’s ambassador to the UN said Tuesday.

“Resolving it should be a priority. Has it been a priority? I am afraid not,” said Olof Skoog, speaking at the UN at the end of his country's Security Council presidency.

Skoog said recent events “have been moving us away from peace” in the region, citing the U.S.’s decision to move its embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and Israel’s Jewish nation-state law.

"We are very close to another Gaza war. Almost on a daily basis the tensions are there that could escalate very quickly. So it is a very very dangerous situation.

"And I do not think that the Security Council has done enough about it," Skoog said.

He also said the council had failed to take a humanitarian approach in Gaza, Palestine, adding he did not see any movement forward for resolving the conflict.

Sweden did not approve of the embassy decision announced by the U.S. in May, which was met with discord among the international community, he recalled.

On July 19, Israel’s parliament passed a law which declares the country to be “the nation-state of the Jewish people”.

The law does not promote Palestinian participation in political life in the country, Skoog said.

“We’ve made sure that every member on the Security Council understands exactly what life is in Gaza,” he added.

*Betul Yuruk in New York contributed to this story.