New York, 22 October 2018.At the debate on item 62 Permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and of the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan over their natural resources, of the Second Committee of the United Nations, Biana Leyva Regueira, Third Secretary of the Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations, highlighted how Israel deprives the Palestinian people of their right to development by stripping them, among other things, of their sovereign right over their natural resources. This, she added, had been shown in the report submitted by the Secretary-General on the issue, which stated that half a century of Israeli occupation had had a detrimental effect on the social and economic development of the population in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including East Jerusalem, and of the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan.
The diplomat listed several of the negative effects of the Israeli occupation: in 2018, the demolition or confiscation of Palestinian-owned structures in the West Bank increased by 10%; water shortage worsened; in East Jerusalem, water, sanitation and hygiene services were inadequate; only 59% of residents were legally and adequately connected to the water supply network; food insecurity affected almost one-third of the population (1.56 million people).
Leyva Regueira also illustrated the situation of the Gaza population: More than 1 million people in the West Bank and Gaza need help to access affordable and quality medical services; residents of the occupied Syrian Golan continue to face difficulties due to Israel’s discriminatory policies on land, housing and development; in this region, it is almost impossible to obtain building permits, which has exacerbated overcrowding in the villages, limiting development opportunities.
On behalf of Cuba, she condemned Israel's continued military occupation of the Palestinian Territory; the illegal Israeli policies and colonizing practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including East Jerusalem and the Syrian Golan; the human rights violations; and the systematic war crimes that have caused immense suffering to the people.
At the same time, she called for the necessary decisions to be undertaken and demanded Israel to put an immediate end to the occupation of the Palestinian territories and to the aggressive policies and colonizing practices, as well as to comply with the resolutions adopted by that body on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.
She rejected the unilateral action of the United States Government to establish its diplomatic mission in the city of Jerusalem, in blatant disrespect for international law and the United Nations resolutions, and expressed her strongest condemnation of the recognition by the Government of the United States of the occupied Syrian Golan as a territory of Israel, which is a grave and flagrant violation of the Charter of the United Nations, the international law and the relevant Security Council resolutions, in particular resolution 497 of 1981.
Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations