Cuba supports
Palestinian resolution to end Israeli occupation
Cuba today expressed its support for
the draft resolution presented by Palestine to the
UN Security Council to ensure a swift end to the
Israeli occupation, in place since 1967, Prensa
Latin reported.
We fully support the initiative to
set a deadline for the end of the military
occupation, and to enable the exercise of the
inalienable rights of the Palestinian people,
including the right to an independent State, with
the pre-1967 borders and East Jerusalem as its
capital, the Secretary of the Cuban Council of State,
Homero Acosta, stated.
The senior official spoke in a
debate of the Fourth Committee of the General
Assembly on the work of the Special Committee
responsible for investigating Israeli practices
affecting the human rights of the inhabitants of
Palestine and other occupied Arab territories.
According to Acosta, the
construction and expansion of illegal settlements
and a wall in the West Bank are unacceptable, as is
the destruction and confiscation of land and
property and the forced displacement of hundreds of
thousands of families.
He noted Cuba’s condemnation of the
recent announcement to build more than two thousand
new Israeli settlements in occupied East Jerusalem.
"These are aggressive colonial
policies and practices that deliberately contravene
UN resolutions, International Law and International
Humanitarian Law and constitute a threat to
international and regional peace and security," he
warned.
Similarly, he reiterated Cuba's
solidarity with the Palestinian people, who in July
and August suffered 50 days of bombing and ground
incursions in the Gaza Strip, killing nearly 2,200
and wounding11,100 mostly children, women and
elderly.
The Secretary of the Cuban Council
of State cited the deteriorating humanitarian
situation in Gaza, where bombs have devastated the
civilian infrastructure, and the need for Israel to
end the eight-year blockade of the territory to
allow aid to be delivered to victims.
The day before, the Palestinian
Ambassador and Permanent Observer to the UN, Riyad
Mansour, told reporters of his hope that the
Security Council would submit the initiative to a
vote this month in order to stop the occupation
within a given time frame.
The diplomat urged the body of 15
member states to act with responsibility, given
their mandate to guarantee world peace.
"The moment to recognize the
Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and
to put an end to 47 years of occupation has arrived,
those who continue to deny this are responsible for
what happens and the violence that this could
generate in the future", he added.
