Palestine must not be marginalized on international agenda, UN Permanent Observer Riyad Mansour tells Arab News

Riyad Mansour
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Updated 22 September 2023
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Palestine must not be marginalized on international agenda, UN Permanent Observer Riyad Mansour tells Arab News

  • Amid violence in the West Bank, Mansour says Palestinians are turning to international courts to seek justice
  • Mansour says the international community is not yet bold enough to implement resolutions on Palestine

NEW YORK CITY: Riyad Mansour, Palestine’s permanent observer to the UN, outlined the key priorities and challenges facing the Palestinian cause in a wide-ranging interview with Arab News on the sidelines of the ongoing 78th session of the UN General Assembly. 

Mansour discussed Palestine’s efforts to update UN resolutions, navigate the International Court of Justice, address the crisis facing the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, and contend with escalating violence. 

He said “a ton of work” remains to be done, all geared toward having a political horizon and putting an end to Palestinian suffering at the hands of “those who keep telling us: ‘You just have to wait and wait and wait.’”

Mansour told Arab News: “The Palestinian people are fed up and frustrated and angry that they’ve been waiting for way too long, and the situation is moving from bad to worse.

“Something has to happen and a process needs to start that will end this occupation as quickly as possible and allow the Palestinian people to enjoy the independence of their own state, (based) on the June 4, 1967, borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.”




Mansour said the Palestinians were also appealing to the International Criminal Court to investigate possible crimes against humanity. (FILE/AFP)

Palestine’s top priority at this year’s General Assembly is to ensure UN resolutions related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are updated to reflect new realities and developments that have occurred over the past year. 

Mansour emphasized the importance of keeping the Palestinian issue on the international agenda, especially in light of what he called “the obsession with what is really happening in Ukraine.” 

He said: “In the atmosphere of Ukraine, (it is important) to remain relevant and (keep) your issue alive and on the table and to succeed in receiving more votes.”

He underscored the need to maintain and increase the number of votes in favor of Palestinian resolutions, as traditionally, Palestine has received overwhelming support from member states.

There are also efforts underway to push for the implementation of these resolutions, which as Mansour said, contain all the elements that would allow for a just and comprehensive solution to the conflict. 

“(When) there are sides that are shielding Israel from accountability and the consequences of getting away with not implementing (international) resolutions, then we look for additional ways of trying to maximize the pressure,” said Mansour. 

“One of these ways is seeking legal options.” 

The ICJ earlier this year had accepted a request from the UN for an advisory opinion on the legal consequences arising from the policies and practices of Israel in the occupied territories. 

The opinion could potentially lead to accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against the Palestinian people.

Mansour said the ICJ, the world’s top court, is a crucial avenue for pressuring the Israeli occupying authorities to comply with international law and UN resolutions. 




19-year-old Palestinian Qusai Jamal Maatan was shot by Israelis on Aug. 4. (FILE/AFP)

In August, the ICJ confirmed that 58 written statements from various countries have been filed in the court’s registry. 

Mansour said the Palestinians were also appealing to the International Criminal Court to investigate possible crimes against humanity.

“We are pushing the ICC to begin official investigations of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against the Palestinian people,” he said, citing the “crime of settlement” and the “horrific aggression” of repeated incursions into Palestinian territory, such as in the Gaza Strip in 2014.  

Palestinians are also asking the ICC to “deal with the illegal policies and practices committed by Israel,” such as home demolition and annexation, Mansour said, referencing the proposed annexation of Area C, “which constitutes a significant portion of the land of the occupied West Bank.”

He added: “All these practices and policies (fall) under the title of annexation and Judaization of the occupied Palestinian territory. 

“And finally, as we (mentioned in) those questions that we asked (the ICJ), there was, during the last 20 years, (an) intensification of plans to put in place systems of discrimination. 

“We did not use the word of apartheid, but there is enough documentation and reports from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, B’Tselem, Al-Haq and others who have documented and argued in very sophisticated and convincing legal ways of the reality of apartheid that our people are living under.”

Lastly, Mansour said, Palestinians hope the court will determine what the legal consequences are for the Israeli occupation, “including the prolonged occupation itself, since occupations are supposed to be of a temporary nature and … many legal scholars consider it as being illegal because it moves from being temporary and to being annexation.”




The Israeli army demolished the house of Abdel Fatah Khroushah accused of an attack which killed two Israelis in the occupied West Bank at the end of February. (FILE/AFP)

Referring to the recent surge in violence, Mansour attributed the escalation to the Israeli government’s push for annexation and its implementation of plans in the occupied territories, particularly the West Bank and East Jerusalem, with extremist elements within the Israeli government advocating for the exclusion of Palestinians.

More than 200 Palestinians and nearly 30 Israelis have been killed so far this year in the occupied West Bank and Israel — a level of violence surpassing last year’s entire death toll and the highest number of fatalities since 2005, Tor Wennesland, the UN’s Middle East envoy, told the UN Security Council in August. 

Mansour said the current Israeli government is “in a hurry to expedite the process of annexation. They want to literally take most of the West Bank and East Jerusalem and make it exclusively for the Jewish settlers.”

He added: “They are pushing the Palestinian people to the wall, and people are taking issues into their (own) hands in order to protect themselves, to protect their families and to fight against this plan of annihilation.”

One of the main issues discussed at the UN this week is the new, emerging multipolar world order, where, as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres put it, “power is diffuse,” and more and more countries are having a say in international matters. 

Despite the challenges posed by the world’s changing geopolitical dynamics, Mansour stressed the need to maintain the focus on Palestine’s plight to ensure that it is not marginalized.




In Palestine’s message to world leaders at the 78th UN General Assembly session, Mansour highlighted the immediate priorities of ending aggression, achieving financial stability, and gaining international recognition for the State of Palestine. (FILE/AFP)

He highlighted his efforts to keep the Palestine question prominent at the UN, including frequent discussions in the Security Council and successful resolutions related to Palestine, such as the “historic” resolution acknowledging the Nakba, and Palestinians’ engagement with the ICJ. 

“Many people thought that the Palestine question would be (brushed) under the rug,” said Mansour. “It’s our duty to expose the double standards and not allow our question to be the victim of the new realities.” 

While Israel “does not want the UN (to) even mention the question of Palestine,” Mansour said he was “delighted that to a great extent the international community does not accept this kind of behavior.”

However, he lamented that the international community “is not yet bold enough to say that we’ve adopted resolutions and they need to be implemented.”

He said: “If you don’t implement them, there will be consequences because it is required from all member states (to) honor and respect (the) principles enshrined in the (UN) Charter and the resolutions adopted by the Security Council and the General Assembly.”

In Palestine’s message to world leaders at the 78th UN General Assembly session, Mansour highlighted the immediate priorities of ending aggression, achieving financial stability, and gaining international recognition for the State of Palestine. 

He also stressed the need to “actualize the global consensus on the two-state solution to become a reality,” and for a collective political process that would lead “in a relatively short period of time” to the end of the occupation.


Chinese embassy in Sudan urges citizens to evacuate amid security concerns

Updated 11 sec ago
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Chinese embassy in Sudan urges citizens to evacuate amid security concerns

The embassy warned of dwindling supplies of water, electricity and fuel

BEIJING: The Chinese embassy in Sudan on Thursday issued a statement urging Chinese citizens in the country to evacuate as soon as possible, citing deteriorating security situation and rising security risks.
The embassy warned of dwindling supplies of water, electricity and fuel, and advised citizens to evacuate via ships to Saudi Arabia or available international flights, or to travel by land to Egypt.

Drone strikes spark civilian exodus from army-controlled Sudan aid hub

Updated 08 May 2025
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Drone strikes spark civilian exodus from army-controlled Sudan aid hub

  • Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast had been regarded as a safe haven, hosting United Nations offices and hundreds of thousands of displaced people
  • RSF drone strikes on Port Sudan this week hit key facilities including the country’s last functioning international airport

PORT SUDAN: Paramilitary drones struck army-held areas of eastern and southern Sudan for a fifth straight day Thursday, army sources said, prompting an exodus of civilians from Port Sudan, seat of the army-backed government.
Attacks targeted the country’s main naval base outside Port Sudan, as well as fuel depots in the southern city of Kosti, two sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“The militia launched another drone attack on the Flamingo Naval Base north of Port Sudan,” one source told AFP on condition of anonymity, referring to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), at war with the regular army since April 2023.
Explosions were heard across the city, an AFP correspondent reported.
Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast had been regarded as a safe haven, hosting United Nations offices and hundreds of thousands of displaced people, until drone strikes blamed on the RSF began on Sunday.
The port city is the main entry point for humanitarian aid into Sudan, and UN chief Antonio Guterres warned the attacks “threaten to increase humanitarian needs and further complicate aid operations in the country,” his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
Nearly 1,100 kilometers (some 680 miles) to the southwest, in the army-controlled city of Kosti in White Nile state, RSF drones struck fuel depots, setting off massive fires, a military source said.
“The militia targeted the fuel depots that supply the state with three drones, causing fires to break out,” the source told AFP on condition of anonymity.
There were no immediate reports of any casualties.
More than two years of war have killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted 13 million, according to UN figures.


RSF drone strikes on Port Sudan this week hit key facilities including the country’s last functioning international airport, its largest working fuel depot and the city’s main power station.
An army source said air defenses had shot down 15 drones over the city overnight.
At Port Sudan’s bustling main bus station, civilians were scrambling to leave.
“You can’t get a ticket without booking over a day in advance now, all the buses are booked,” said bus company employee Mahmoud Hussein.
Among those fleeing was Haidar Ibrahim, preparing to travel south with his family.
“The smoke is everywhere and my wife suffers from asthma,” he told AFP. “We have no choice but to leave.”
Many of those who had sought refuge in Port Sudan have been displaced multiple times before, fleeing each time the front line closed in.
Transport costs have nearly doubled as a result of fuel shortages triggered by the attacks.
“Now, we have to buy fuel on the black market,” said tuk-tuk driver Abdel-Meguid Babiker.
On Wednesday evening, drones were also seen over the army-held eastern city of Kassala and northern city of Merowe, prompting anti-aircraft fire.
Eight-country east African bloc, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), called the attacks on civilian infrastructure in Port Sudan “unacceptable” and demanded an “immediate end.”
“Any assault on this critical hub further compounds human suffering and impedes the delivery of urgently needed assistance,” IGAD executive secretary Workneh Gebeyehu said in a statement.
The RSF has not commented on the drone strikes, which have hit targets hundreds of kilometers away from their closest known positions on the outskirts of greater Khartoum.
The paramilitaries have ramped up their drone campaign since losing control of nearly all of greater Khartoum to the army in March.
On Tuesday, the army-backed government severed ties with the United Arab Emirates, accusing it of supplying the RSF with advanced weapons systems.
The UAE denied the allegation, adding that the internationally recognized administration “does not represent the legitimate government of Sudan.”
The paramilitaries and their allies have moved to establish a rival administration in areas under their control.
Abu Dhabi has repeatedly denied arming the RSF, despite reports from UN experts, US politicians and international organizations.
The war has effectively split the country in two, with the army holding the north, east and center, and the RSF in control of most of Darfur and parts of the south.


Lebanon reports one dead in strikes that Israeli says targeted Hezbollah

Updated 4 min 23 sec ago
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Lebanon reports one dead in strikes that Israeli says targeted Hezbollah

  • The health ministry said the strikes killed one person and wounded eight others
  • The Israeli military said it struck “a terrorist infrastructure site” used by Hezbollah “to manage its fire and defense array“

BEIRUT: Lebanon said heavy Israeli strikes on the country’s south on Thursday killed one person as the Israeli army said it struck Hezbollah “infrastructure,” the latest raids despite a fragile ceasefire.
Israel has continued to launch regular strikes on its neighbor despite the November truce which sought to halt more than a year of hostilities with the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group including two months of full-blown war.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) said “Israeli warplanes carried out a wide-scale aerial aggression on the Nabatiyeh region, launching a series of heavy raids in two waves” targeting hills and valleys in the area, located around 12 kilometers (seven miles) from the border.
The health ministry said the strikes killed one person and wounded eight others, adding that the toll was provisional.
The Israeli military said it struck “a terrorist infrastructure site” used by Hezbollah “to manage its fire and defense array.”
It said it struck Hezbollah operatives, “weapons, and tunnel shafts,” adding that “this infrastructure is part of a significant underground project that... has been rendered inoperable” by Israeli military raids.
It called the site and activities there “a blatant violation of the understanding between Israel and Lebanon.”
The NNA said “huge explosions... echoed in most areas of Nabatiyeh and the south,” causing “terror and panic” among residents, who rushed to pick up their children from school, as ambulances headed to the targeted areas.
An AFP photographer saw smoke rising from hills in the region.
“We heard a loud strike, about 10 consecutive blows,” said Jamal Sabbagh, a 29-year-old doctor who was giving schoolchildren health checks near the city of Nabatiyeh.
“Some of the children were scared and there was panic, the teachers were also frightened,” he told AFP.
The raids come a day after an Israeli strike killed a commander from Palestinian militant group Hamas in the southern city of Sidon.
Under the ceasefire agreement, Hezbollah was to pull back its fighters north of Lebanon’s Litani River, some 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli border.
Israel was to pull all its forces from Lebanon, but it has kept troops in five areas that it deems “strategic.”
The Lebanese army has been deploying in the area as the Israeli army has withdrawn and has been dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure there.
President Joseph Aoun said late last month that the Lebanese army is now deployed in more than 85 percent of the south and that the sole obstacle to full control across the frontier area was “Israel’s occupation of five border positions.”
Lebanon has called on the international community to pressure Israel to end its attacks and withdraw all its troops.
Hezbollah, long a dominant force in Lebanon, was heavily weakened in its latest war with Israel.
Lebanese authorities have vowed to implement a state monopoly on bearing arms, though Aoun has said disarming Hezbollah is a “delicate” matter that requires dialogue.
The November truce was based on a UN Security Council resolution that says Lebanese troops and United Nations peacekeepers should be the only forces in south Lebanon, and calls for the disarmament of all non-state groups.


Israel closes 6 UN schools for Palestinians in east Jerusalem

Updated 08 May 2025
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Israel closes 6 UN schools for Palestinians in east Jerusalem

  • 550 pupils aged six to 15 were present when the closure was enforced

JERUSALEM: Israel permanently closed six UN schools in east Jerusalem on Thursday, forcing Palestinian students to leave early and throwing the education of more than 800 others into question.
Last month, heavily armed Israeli police and Education Ministry officials ordered six schools in east Jerusalem to close within 30 days, which ended on Wednesday. The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, runs the six schools. UNRWA also runs schools in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which continue to operate.
The closure orders come after Israel banned UNRWA from operating on its soil earlier this year, the culmination of a long campaign against the agency that intensified following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel that ignited the war in Gaza. Israel claims that UNRWA schools teach antisemitic content and anti-Israel sentiment, which UNRWA denies.
UNRWA is the main provider of education and health care to Palestinian refugees across east Jerusalem, which Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war. Israel has annexed east Jerusalem and considers the entire city its unified capital.
The Israeli Ministry of Education says it will place the students into other Jerusalem schools. But parents, teachers and administrators caution that closing the main schools in east Jerusalem will force their children to go through crowded and dangerous checkpoints daily, and some do not have the correct permits to pass through.
In a previous statement to The Associated Press, the Ministry of Education said it was closing the schools because they were operating without a license. UNRWA administrators pledged to keep the schools open for as long as possible.


Fuel, aid shortages cripple Gaza emergency services and relief efforts amid Israeli blockade

Updated 08 May 2025
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Fuel, aid shortages cripple Gaza emergency services and relief efforts amid Israeli blockade

  • Gaza’s civil defense agency said that a lack of fuel had forced three-quarters of its emergency vehicles to stop operating
  • World Central Kitchen halted operations after running out of food, having served 133,000 meals and baked 80,000 loaves daily in recent weeks

GAZA CITY: Gaza’s worsening humanitarian crisis deepened Thursday as fuel shortages forced most civil defense vehicles off the roads and a major aid group shut down its soup kitchens amid Israel’s continued blockade on humanitarian supplies.

Gaza’s civil defense agency said Thursday that a lack of fuel had forced three-quarters of its emergency vehicles to stop operating, more than two months into an Israeli aid blockade.
“Seventy-five percent of our vehicles have stopped operating due to a lack of diesel fuel,” the agency’s spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP, adding that its first responders were also facing a “severe shortage of electric generators and oxygen devices.”

Meanwhile, Israel’s ongoing blockade of humanitarian assistance for Gaza forced a leading aid group on Thursday to shut its community soup kitchens, faced empty warehouses and no replenishment of supplies in the war-battered enclave.
World Central Kitchen was serving 133,000 meals per day and baking 80,000 loaves of bread over the past weeks, but said it was forced to suspend operations since there is almost no food left in Gaza for the organization to cook.
The lack of food is threatening Gaza’s population, already battered by 19 months of war. In April, the World Food Program said its food stocks in Gaza have run out under Israel’s blockade, ending a main source of sustenance for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the territory.
Malnutrition and hunger are becoming increasingly prevalent in the Gaza Strip as Israel’s total blockade enters its third month. Aid agencies say a shortage of food and supplies has driven the territory toward starvation and supplies to treat and prevent malnutrition are depleted and quickly running out.
Israel imposed the blockade on March 2, then shattered a two-month ceasefire by resuming military operations in the territory on March 18. It said both steps aim to pressure the militant Hamas group to release hostages the extremists still hold. Rights groups call the blockade a “starvation tactic” that endangers the entire population and a potential war crime.
Community kitchens such as the ones run by World Central Kitchen are a lifeline for hundreds of thousands for their daily meal, but many are shutting down due to lack of supplies.
At those still open, chaotic scenes of desperate men, women and children fighting to get meager rations are common. Bakeries have closed, while water distribution is grinding to a halt due to lack of fuel.
Since the start of the war, World Central Kitchen said it has served more than 130 million meals and baked 80 million loaves of bread. The organization also said on Thursday there was no flour left in their mobile bakery.
“Our trucks— loaded with food and supplies— are waiting in Egypt, Jordan and Israel, ready to enter Gaza,” said José Andrés, the celebrity chef who founded the organization. “But they cannot move without permission. Humanitarian aid must be allowed to flow.”
COGAT, the Israeli defense body overseeing aid to Gaza, said the blockade would continue unless the Israeli government changed its policy.
Since the start of the year, more than 10,000 children have been admitted or treated for acute malnutrition, according to the World Health Organization. The increase was particularly dramatic in March, with 3,600 cases — an 80 percent increase, compared to the 2,000 children in February, UNICEF reported.
Nearly half the 200 nutrition centers around Gaza have shut down because of displacement and bombardment.
World Central Kitchen had previously suspended operations in April of last year after seven aid workers were killed in Israeli strikes on their convoy, before resuming weeks later.