Statement by Dr Robert Golob, Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, at the high-level briefing on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question

I shall now make a statement in my capacity as the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia.

I want to start by thanking the Secretary-General for his briefing and recognize a number of high level participants at this meeting.

Excellencies,

After this week’s debate on Leadership for Peace, I am convinced that making a daily choice for peace is also a sign of courage. To ensure peace in the region we must make tangible and bold steps to protect the two-state solution. I am not talking about an empty slogan. We need courage from leaders in the region and from this Council to change the trajectory we are facing. Facts on the ground are making the prospects for a two-state solution almost non existing. 

Firstly, I agree, we can no longer stand idle: every single leader must contribute. It has been almost a year of the war in Gaza. A year of hostages kept in the tunnels. A year which brought suffering, killing and destruction.

And this is in addition to decades of suffering, killing and destruction of the entire Occupied Palestinian territory.

Many of us around the table have stepped up our efforts to ensure humanitarian assistance and contribution to different organizations providing glimpses of humanity to the people in Gaza, including UNRWA.

Merely humanitarian efforts are not enough. We need concrete political signs. Slovenia recognized the State of Palestine this June and I call on the others to do the same. The recognition of Palestine is an extremely important political sign and a message of encouragement for the Palestinians in their struggle for statehood.

We must support initiatives empowering the Palestinian Authority Government to take control over the entire Palestinian state and regain trust of the Palestinian people.

Secondly, we must work together. This Council has adopted numerous resolutions on this conflict, including four on this war. ICJ has been clear in its provisional measures and its latest advisory opinion. Occupation must end. Practices and policies such as illegal settlements, settler violence and human rights violations must end. This Council must be united and adamantly clear in its call for immediate implementation of its resolutions and decisions of the ICJ. There should be no double standards and selectivity. If only one of us is not protected by international law, none of us can no longer rely on it.

Thirdly, we must act to prevent peace in the region slipping away. We can no longer express our concern about the potential regional spill over. However, the spiral of violence has gradually become more complex. This week and in the last days, we have seen an enormous escalation in Lebanon. Attacks must cease. We call for restraint of all actors and respect for international law. The Council must clearly respond to this threat to international peace and security. We cannot let another Gaza happen. Lebanon is a further sign that we urgently need to deliver on the ceasefire deal.

Fourth, we must not forget about the West Bank and East Jerusalem. As the world focuses on Gaza, the situation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem has reached a boiling point. Israeli dehumanization of Palestinians has reached a new height. The number of Palestinian children in the West Bank alone who have been killed by Israeli forces nearly tripled in a year. Death toll in the West Bank since October 7 is the highest in the last 15 years. There is a dramatic increase in the intensity of settlement expansion, which involves numerous human rights violations.

Excellencies,

Standing for peace cannot be in the form of hatred, escalation, provocation, occupation or terrorism. Standing for peace is through normalization of ties, negotiation in good faith, equality and respect for international law. Only a just solution of two states, Israel and Palestine, side by side in peace and security can turn a new page for the security and prosperity of the region.

And what is this Council doing? Definitely not enough!

I have therefore instructed my Ambassador to the United Nations to start consultations on a possible new humanitarian resolution on Palestine.

Thank you.

I resume my function as President of the Council.

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