The United Nations Security Council plans to hold a closed-door meeting Friday on the IDF military raid on the West Bank city of Jenin to destroy Palestinian terror infrastructure.
The United Kingdom, which holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council for the month of July, convened the session at the request of the United Arab Emirates, France, China, and Brazil.
The Security Council last held a closed-door session on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict less than two weeks ago when the 15-member body gathered to discuss accelerated West Bank settlement activity.
Palestinian Authority demands
Palestinian Authority envoy Riyad Mansour had written this week to British Ambassador Barbara Woodward asking for a Security Council meeting and demanding action to “hold Israel accountable for its crimes” in Jenin and elsewhere in the Palestinian territories.
He asked that the UNSC take steps such as imposing an “arms embargo” against Israel and the “withholding of any assistance that can be exploited to sustain its colonization schemes, with a view to ending this illegal, deplorable situation.”
A general view of the United Nations Security Council during a meeting on ”Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe,” at the UN headquarters in New York, US, May 4, 2023. (credit: REUTERS/DAVID ‘DEE’ DELGADO)Mansour also called on the UNSC to ensure international protection for the Palestinian people, whom he said, are “entitled to defend themselves” against Israeli aggression.
“They must not be left to the mercy of Israel and its military forces and settler militias who have taken the paralysis of the international community as a green light to carry on with their crimes and terror against them,” he said.
Already on Tuesday, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called on Israel “to adhere to the principles of necessity and proportionality when defending their legitimate security interests” including in Jenin.
He clarified that the UK was also “opposed to any settlement expansion and we have asked the Israeli government to halt and reverse its policies.”
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