Occupied West Bank to witness the deadliest year: UN was told
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London: The United Nation's Security Council was told that Palestinians in the Occupied West Bank might witness the deadliest year after the international organisation started noting the violence there in 2005, Arab News reported.
Middle East Peace Process Coordinator Tor Wennesland informed the council, at its quarterly open debate, that both the Israeli military and settlers have escalated their offence on the Palestinians in the region.
This year, Israeli forces killed 101 Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, as per the UN's figures. This is the highest since 2005.
Wennesland said that hopelessness, anger and tension were surging and had created a deadly cycle of violence, reducing the chances of containing the same.
At the council, members and non-members condemned the recent escalation in conflicts caused by Israel in the region.
Meanwhile, the Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine, Riyad Mansour, raised at the council that it allowed Israel to violate its own resolutions for decades. He said that the council's role was to protect Palestine, and if it was not done, it is abandoning the two nations' solution itself. He said that the council could do many things to pacify the situation and wondered what it was waiting for.
But Israeli representative to the council, Gilad Menashe Erdan, claimed that Palestine Authority is playing the victim there while praising terrorists in Nablus and Jenin. He also claimed that Israel is facing a "terror wave", adding that the UN was biased against Israel.
Al-Wasil condemned Israeli settlement policies and measures in the occupied territories, including land annexation, settlement construction and expansion, forced displacement and property destruction.
Kuwait urged the council to accept its responsibility enshrined in the UN Charter and hold Israel accountable for its crimes. It, along with Qatar, lauded Australia for withdrawing its recognition of West Jerusalem as Israel's capital and urged the nations of the globe to do the same.