New York, October 18, 2018.In her statement at the United Nations Security Council Open Debate, on the situation in the Middle East, the Deputy Permanent Representative of Cuba to the UN, Ambassador Ana Silvia Rodríguez Abascal, regretted the lack of progress in favor of the just cause of the Palestinian people. She reflected how the situation on the ground continues to deteriorate, with arbitrary decisions such as the withdrawal of financial support from a Member State to the Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Middle East, which obstructs any decision within the Council to condemn Israel due to the escalation of violence and tragic events occurred in the Gaza Strip, since March 30. She demanded the Security Council to comply with the responsibility enshrined in the UN Charter, demanding that Israel immediately ends the occupation of the Palestinian territories and the aggressive policies and colonizing practices.
The Cuban diplomat also reiterated her strong rejection of the use of disproportionate and indiscriminate force by Israel against Palestinian civilians in the occupied territory. She added that the illegal construction and expansion of Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the demolition or seizure of Palestinian-owned structures are also violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention and erode the viability of a two-State solution.
Rodríguez Abascal once again reaffirmed Cuba's unrestricted support for a comprehensive, just and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, based on the creation of two States, which would enable the Palestinian people to exercise the right to self-determination and to have an independent and sovereign State within the pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital and the right of refugees to return. She also stated the support of the island to the admission of Palestine as a full member of the United Nations and the proposal made by President Mahmoud Abbas to hold an international peace conference based on agreed parameters and terms of reference.
The Ambassador called for bringing peace to the Middle East, not only through the solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but also with the total and unconditional withdrawal of Israel from the Syrian Golan and all the occupied Arab territories.
Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations