UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued this warning to the Security Council on 18 April:
The Middle East is on a precipice
Recent days have seen a perilous escalation – in words and deeds
One miscalculation, one miscommunication, one mistake, could lead to the unthinkable – a full-scale regional conflict that would be devastating for all involved – and for the rest of the world.
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Guterres finally acknowledged the reason for this dire situation:
The horrific terror attacks by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups on 7 October, including mass killings, the use of sexual violence, torture, and the taking of hostages, were an intolerable denial of the most basic values of humanity, and a breach of the most fundamental rules of international law.
Guterres's long-awaited condemnation of the 7 October atrocities requires him to adopt the following policies to replace failed policies pursued by him since 7 October:
- Abandoning calls for ceasefires that would inevitably allow those Gazan monsters responsible to regroup and repeat their barbaric acts
- Demanding the unconditional surrender of Gaza's Hamas Government
- Supporting Israel as it seeks to rescue the hostages and hunts down those responsible for abducting them
- Relocating Gaza's children, women, the sick and the elderly - penned inside Gaza and being used as human shields by those responsible for the 7 October atrocities - to the safety of 50 UNWRA camps located outside Gaza.
- Rejecting the continuing refusal of 87 Islamic states worldwide to take in any of Gaza's trapped civilians - by shaming those countries for failing to help rescue their fellow Muslims
Guterres remains wedded to pursuing the failed two-state solution contained in United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 – that has gone nowhere since being adopted on 23 December 2016:
The ultimate goal remains a two-state solution – Israel and Palestine living side-by-side in peace and security, with Jerusalem as the capital of both states, on the basis of UN resolutions, international law and previous agreements.
This means an end to the occupation and the establishment of a fully independent, democratic, contiguous, viable and sovereign Palestinian State, with Gaza as an integral part.
The international community has a responsibility and a moral obligation to help make this happen.
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A pathetic attempt by the General Assembly on 10 May to achieve this result through the backdoor -by getting a non-legally-compliant "State of Palestine" admitted to full membership of the UN has been consigned to the diplomatic graveyard.
Guterres refuses to consider an alternative revolutionary solution - The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution (HKOPS) - first published in the Saudi-Government-controlled Al Arabiya News on 8 June 2022.
Authored by Ali Shihabi, an advisor to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, HKOPS trashes Resolution 2334 calling instead for the merger of Jordan, Gaza and part of the West Bank into one new territorial entity to be called the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine, to be governed by Jordan's current Hashemite rulers, with its capital being located in Amman.
Guterres's quarterly reports to the Security Council have never once mentioned HKOPS. His failure to do so after 7 October 2023 is especially reprehensible.
Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu declared on 15 May:
No reward will be given for the terrible massacre of Oct. 7, which 80% of the Palestinians, both in the West Bank and in Gaza, support. We will not allow them to establish a terrorist state from which they can attack us even more.
Attempting to implement HKOPS has now become even more critical to avoid the Middle East going over that precipice that so rightly concerns Guterres.
Would the United Nations Correspondents Association please confront Guterres and ask him why he refuses to do so?
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