Delivered by: Her Excellency Lana Nusseibeh, Ambassador and Permanent Representative

Mr. President,

I’d like to reflect on the vote we just held, and what it says, though, about this conflict and this body. 

We welcome its adoption, and we’re grateful for this Council’s support.

We believe that the resolution begins to unblock life-saving aid whose denial has condemned more than half a million people, in Gaza, to famine.

The text compels the international community to finally share in the burden that Egypt has been shouldering; and it commits all of us to breaking the cruel blockade strangling Gaza for the last 16 years.

But the Palestinian struggle is singular in how every instance of progress serves as a reminder of the scale of the tragedy.

It is not lost on us, that while today we start building a humanitarian architecture that responds to an intolerable situation, we are still unable to stop the war.

It is not lost on us, that despite the incalculable damage visited upon them with impunity, Palestinians are asked to accept that “diplomacy is the art of what is possible.”

It is not lost on us, that even though what has been possible has been brutally inadequate, they have kept faith with this international system.

But what is possible is not predetermined. It is the product of active choices.

The collective choices of this Council, influenced by its structure, have shaped this grim reality.

They can help shape a different future.

Doing that must begin by understanding that 30 years after they recognized the State of Israel, there is very little left for the Palestinians to concede.

The injustice of the occupation persists, with the international community’s complicity.

If you have a moral, national, or political interest in saving the two-State solution, you must act now.

This resolution gives us an opportunity to demonstrate that at the very least, the world will not tolerate the continued deprivation of the people of Gaza from basic necessities.

It puts in place a system that is necessary now and that will remain necessary when the war ends. We are all responsible for making sure that it works.

Mr. President,

We thank each and every Council member for their dedication and support to this process, including the E10 for their steadfast unity on this file. And I’d like to thank the United States again, and the United Kingdom, for their important, constructive, diplomatic work behind the scenes on this. I’d also like to thank the Ecuadorian presidency for their patience and wisdom in enabling this adoption, despite really challenging negotiations. And to the United States, I’d like to thank Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, whose personal dedication and commitment to help save lives made today possible. This outcome will enable lifesaving humanitarian assistance to get into Gaza and reach those in need. It will, quite literally, make the difference between life and death for hundreds if not thousands of civilians.

It is vital that this Council lives up to its responsibility by ensuring its full implementation.

But as we help save lives here in Gaza, so too we must focus here on restoring the hope in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Today’s resolution is an important step on the long journey ahead. Any lasting and comprehensive solution demands an end to the war in Gaza, addressing the dramatic situation of those internally displaced, uniting Gaza and the West Bank under a single, legitimate and representative Palestinian Authority, reconstructing what has been destroyed – and ensuring that never again shall violence, incitement and terror be allowed to thrive.

None of this – none of this – will be sustainable if there is no equality between Israelis and Palestinians in charting their shared destiny together. It can never be a just peace if equality and dignity are not the basis of it. This resolution gives us a signal of that political horizon ahead.

The two-State solution with an independent and sovereign Palestinian State is the only path to achieving a just peace that guarantees security, stability and prosperity for the Palestinian and Israeli people alike, who both have a right to statehood in their ancestral land.

The UAE will never tire in its pursuit of that goal.

Thank you, Mr. President.