New York, 13 November 2019. Cuba participated today in the general debate of the Special Political and Decolonization Committee on agenda item 51 "Report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories."
Ambassador Humberto Rivero Rosario, Cuba's representative to the United Nations, described how the reports of several experts show Israel's policy of annexation of the occupied territories, through actions such as: occupation of the Palestinian territory; confiscation of Palestinian lands and properties; illegal construction and expansion of settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem; forced displacements; illegal colonizing practices and collective punishments against the Palestinian people; as well as attempts to change the status quo regarding Palestinian refugees and the right to return.
To all that, he stressed, is added the serious humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, with a population of 1.9 million people, half of whom are children, aggravated by the ongoing Israeli naval and land blockade now entering its thirteenth year; and the lack of funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
Rivero Rosario also stated that after 51 years of occupation, Israel also continues to fail to comply with the Security Council resolution calling for its withdrawal from the Syrian Golan, while ignoring Security Council resolution 497 (1981). He added that all such measures and actions, including the illegal construction and expansion of Israeli settlements in the Syrian Golan since 1967, are violations of international law, international agreements, the Charter of the United Nations and United Nations resolutions, including Security Council resolution 497 (1981) and of the Fourth Geneva Convention, as well as a challenge to the international community.
Cuba, which demands Israel's total and unconditional withdrawal from the Syrian Golan and all occupied Arab territories and advocates a constructive and respectful dialogue among the peoples of the region, has regretted on several occasions that the Security Council, the organ responsible for maintaining international peace and security, has not been able to reach an agreement that would put a definitive end to the aggressions and colonizing practices against the Palestinian and Syrian peoples of the occupied Golan.
Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations