New York, January 22, 2019. Cuba reiterated today its concern about the deterioration of the situation of the Palestinian people, in its statement at the Security Council Quarterly Open Debate on the Situation in the Middle East, including the Question of Palestine. Ambassador Anayansi Rodríguez Camejo, Permanent Representative of Cuba to the United Nations, underscored that unilateral actions such as the withdrawal of financial support from the United States to the Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East, the repeated obstruction of that country so that the Security Council does not condemn the escalation of violence, the tragic events that occurred in the Gaza Strip, since March 30, 2018 and the establishment of its diplomatic representation in the city of Jerusalem, only contribute to aggravate the situation.
The Cuban representative reiterated the strong rejection to the use of disproportionate and indiscriminate force by Israel against Palestinian civilians in the occupied territory, including East Jerusalem and particularly the Gaza Strip. She also condemned the illegal construction and expansion of Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the demolition or seizure of Palestinian property structures. She called on the Security Council to fulfill its responsibilities and thereby demand from Israel the immediate end to the occupation of the Palestinian territories and to the aggressive policies and colonizing practices, as well as the fulfillment of resolutions on the situation in the Middle East, including the Question of Palestine, approved by that body, particularly resolution 2334 (2016).
Rodríguez Camejo ratified the unrestricted support for a comprehensive, just and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, based on the creation of two States, which allows the Palestinian people to exercise the right to self-determination and to have an independent and sovereign State with the pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and the right of refugees to return.
Likewise, the representative of the island, once again demanded the total and unconditional withdrawal of Israel from the Syrian Golan and from all the occupied Arab territories, while reminding that any measure or action in order to modify its legal, physical and, demographic condition, and its institutional structure, constitute a violation of International Law and of the Charter of the United Nations.
Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations