Statement by Ambassador Dr. Ibrahim Khreisheh, Permanent Representative of the State of Palestine to the United Nations – Geneva.

Voting in favor of today's resolutions that condemn Israeli abuses of Palestinian human rights and call for effective mechanisms to end them is an evident fulfillment of your legal and moral responsibilities, as members of the international community, towards international law, UN resolutions, and universal human rights. 
 
The international community's inaction and tolerance to Israeli violations and crimes have effectively prolonged the suffering of the people of Palestine for 52 years and led to the systematic denial of our rights. Therefore, your solid stance in favor of today's resolutions has delivered a powerful message to our people. Your countries have stood tall to the principles of justice, freedom, equality, and peace. 
 
On the other hand, Governments that stood for Israel's impunity in front of this council today have once again failed the Palestinian people by dismissing their very obligations under international law. Only yesterday we heard some of your delegates talking passionately about accountability. Yet when it comes to Palestine, you have chosen to side with the oppressor, the occupying power, and therefore with the denial of our rights.
 
The international community is obliged to protect our people and to hold Israel accountable for its systematic violations of international humanitarian law and UN resolutions. The British Government, specifically, has an added obligation to assume its historical responsibility in the creation of the tragedy of Palestine. Instead,  the UK has chosen to vote against the Palestinian right to self-determination and with rewarding grave violations of international law and UN resolutions that it claims to oppose. 
 
Item 7 is a permanent item in the Human Rights Council agenda for an issue created by the international community, and that has been perpetuated due to its inaction. Just as the permanent agenda items on Chile and South Africa, Item 7 should be terminated once the problem is solved by implementing international law and UN resolutions, ending the Israeli occupation of Palestine. So, the voting patterns have shown that the issue is not about Item 7, it's about how to grant Israel, the occupying power  impunity.  
 
Positions presented by the United Kingdom, Australia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Austria, and Hungary, among a few others, cannot challenge a single legal argument of those presented in the resolutions. Instead, they have proven to be the outcome of political decisions that reward the Israeli occupation and deprive the Palestinian people of their right to make use of all UN instruments to put an end to decades of systematic denial of our inalienable rights.
 
The State of Palestine will continue to make use of all available diplomatic and legal tools to exercise its long-overdue inalienable rights, protect our people and hold Israel accountable for over half a century of systematic oppression, domination, and violence.