UNITED NATIONS (AP) – Palestinians and plenty of Muslim and non-Muslim supporters disagreed sharply with Israel at an emergency UN Safety Council assembly on Thursday over an ultranationalist Israeli cupboard minister’s go to to a hotspot of the holy website in Jerusalem and its implications.
The Palestinians warned it might result in one other lethal rebellion, whereas Israel dismissed it as a “trivial matter” and a “non-event.”
Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour mentioned Israel’s new Nationwide Safety Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a West Financial institution settler chief who takes inspiration from a racist rabbi, went to not go to the positioning “however to see his extremist perspective.” to trace the top of the “historic establishment” beneath which Jews have been allowed to go to however not pray there since Israel seized the world within the 1967 struggle.
Recognized to Jews because the Temple Mount and to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif, Arabic for the Noble Sanctuary, the positioning is the holiest in Judaism, dwelling to the traditional Biblical temples. In the present day it homes the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest website in Islam. The location has been the scene of frequent clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli safety forces.
Mansour referred to as Ben-Gvir “an extremist minister from an extremist state” convicted of incitement and identified for his “racist views,” and mentioned the Israeli minister is dedicated to encouraging Jews to hope in al-Haram al-Sharif allowed to. He referred to as on the Safety Council and all international locations to stop this and “uphold worldwide regulation and the historic establishment,” warning that “if they do not, our Palestinian folks will.”
Israeli Ambassador Gilad Erdan, who additionally visited the Temple Mount as Public Safety Minister in 2017, criticized the Safety Council for holding the emergency session, saying Ben-Gvir’s 13-minute go to was non-violent and per the established order and his proper as a Jew.
Erdan advised reporters that calling the assembly was “an insult to our intelligence” and “pathetic” and that the council ought to as an alternative contemplate the struggle in Ukraine or Iran’s killing of protesters.
“Israel has not harmed the established order and has no plans to take action,” Erdan mentioned. “The one aspect altering the established order is the Palestinian Authority. Why? As a result of by turning the place right into a battlefield, the Palestinian Authority is making it clear that not solely is Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount insupportable, however so is any Jewish presence.”
“That is pure anti-Semitism,” he added.
Briefing the council in the beginning of the assembly, Khaled Khiare, the UN Deputy Secretary-Normal for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, mentioned Ben-Gvir’s go to was not accompanied or adopted by violence. However, he mentioned, “it’s seen as significantly inflammatory” given the Minister’s “earlier advocacy of modifications to the established order”.
The go to prompted widespread condemnation within the area and internationally “as a provocation that risked triggering additional bloodshed,” he mentioned.
Khiare mentioned UN efforts to de-escalate the scenario proceed and that “leaders on all sides have a duty to douse the flames and create the circumstances for calm.”
In September 2000, Ariel Sharon, then Israel’s opposition chief, visited the Temple Mount, which helped spark clashes that led to a full-blown Palestinian insurgency referred to as the Second Intifada. The Safety Council deplored Sharon’s go to, which it described as a “provocation”.
Most not too long ago, in April 2021, clashes between Israeli safety forces and Palestinian protesters in and across the compound have additionally fueled an 11-day struggle with Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.
Visiting the Temple Mount on Tuesday, Ben-Gvir described it as “an important place for the Jewish folks” and condemned what he referred to as “racial discrimination” in opposition to Jewish visits to the positioning.
With the Islamic shrine Dome of the Rock within the background, he mentioned visits would proceed. Relating to threats from the Hamas militant group in Gaza, Ben-Gvir mentioned in a video clip recorded in the course of the go to: “The Israeli authorities is not going to give up to a murderous group, a heinous terrorist group.”
On the emergency assembly, convened collectively by the Palestinians, the United Arab Emirates, China, France and Malta, all 15 council members expressed their issues about Ben-Gvir’s go to and the doable penalties, and strongly supported the established order at Jerusalem’s holy websites.
US Deputy Ambassador Robert Wooden underscored President Joe Biden’s agency help for “the historic establishment,” significantly the “Haram Al-Sharif/Temple Mount.”
Wooden mentioned the US, Israel’s closest ally, took notice of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s platform to protect the established order, including, “We anticipate the federal government of Israel to honor that dedication.”
Wooden additionally mentioned that the potential of a two-state resolution to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian battle should be preserved, “and we should be sure that all Israelis and Palestinians get pleasure from equal ranges of liberty, justice, safety and prosperity.”
The UAE’s Deputy Ambassador Mohamed Abushahab, the Arab consultant on the Council, and Jordanian Ambassador Mahmoud Hmoud, whose ruler is the custodian of Jerusalem’s Islamic and Christian holy websites, each referred to as Ben-Gvir’s act “the storming of Al-Aqsa.” Mosque” beneath the safety of Israel’s forces. They mentioned it was a “provocative” transfer that violated the historic and authorized standing of Jerusalem’s holy websites.
Abushahab mentioned the minister’s motion additional destabilizes the delicate scenario within the Palestinian territories, strikes the area additional away from a path to peace and threatens to escalate present tensions, “and helps gas extremism and hatred within the area and to stoke”.
Hmoud warned that severe penalties and repercussions might consequence from any unilateral Israeli motion “geared toward imposing new realities on the bottom,” similar to annexing extra land, increasing settlements, violating Jerusalem’s holy websites, or destroying it of homes.
Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, expressed “severe concern” about Ben-Gvir’s go to and mentioned he hoped the brand new Israeli cupboard “is not going to take the trail of escalation” and “create irreversible realities on the bottom”.
“The explosive developments in Jerusalem present as soon as once more the urgency of resolving the Israeli-Palestinian battle,” he mentioned.
He reiterated Russia’s name for a ministerial assembly of the so-called Quartet of Center East mediators – the UN, the US, Russia and the European Union – and key regional actors to renew direct dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians.
Nebenzia mentioned the US has “repeatedly refused to cooperate in resuming the peace course of” beneath the Quartet, which he described as the one internationally acknowledged mechanism sanctioned by the Safety Council.