I welcome Secretary General Antonio Guterres and thank him for his statement. I also thank Special Coordinator Wennesland for his briefing.
Estonia is deeply concerned about the ongoing escalation of violence in Israel and in the occupied Palestinian territory. We join the Secretary-General’s urgent appeal for all parties to immediately cease the fighting.
We strongly condemn the indiscriminate firing of around 3000 rockets from Gaza by Hamas and other militant groups against Israeli civilian population. There can be no justification for such indiscriminate violence and it must stop immediately.
Israel has a legitimate right for self-defence against such attacks. However, it is essential to ensure proportionality of these actions, in line with international humanitarian law.
The increasing number of civilian casualties on both sides is highly alarming. All parties have an obligation to protect civilians, especially children.
We join the Secretary-General to remind all sides that any indiscriminate targeting of civilian and media structures violates international law and must be avoided at all costs. Estonia expresses support to the independent journalists and news agencies covering the conflict. Their work is vital and often plays an important role in protection of civilians.
It is also important to calm the volatile situation and incitement around the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif. The status quo of the holy sites must be respected.
The continued clashes in other parts of occupied West Bank as well as the upsurge of communal violence in several Israeli cities is also of utmost concern.
We call upon the political, community and religious leaders of both sides to make all efforts to calm the situation, which has a potential to escalate to full-scale war. All parties need to exercise maximum restraint and refrain from further provocation and incitement.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has lasted already too long and I would like to reiterate that the solution to it can be through meaningful negotiations only. Estonia will remain committed to supporting all efforts, especially by the Middle East Quartet, to resume direct negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians, to achieve a two-state solution, based on international law, relevant Security Council resolutions and internationally agreed parameters.
We reiterate our call on all parties to refrain from any unilateral steps that undermine the viability of the two-state solution.
We welcome the mediating efforts and strong calls by the UN and other international and regional actors to de-escalate the situation. We also welcome organizing this open debate and we call for a continued active engagement of this Council to address this situation.
