Security Council Briefing, Death of Palestinian Activist in Detention, Use of Rubber-coated Bullets, Restrictions on Gaza Rebuilding Aid – 24 June 2021 Daily Press Briefing – (Excerpts)

24 JUNE 2021

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

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Middle East

Back here, Tor Wennesland, the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, told the Security Council today that the cessation of hostilities reached last month between Israel and Hamas remains very fragile.  He said the UN is working closely with all concerned parties and partners, including Egypt, to solidify a ceasefire, allow the entry of urgent humanitarian assistance and stabilize the situation in Gaza.

Mr. Wennesland urged all sides to refrain from unilateral steps and provocations, to take steps to reduce tensions, and to allow these efforts to succeed.

He also said that recent weeks have witnessed an alarming increase in the level of violence between Israelis and Palestinians, including hostilities between Israel and factions in Gaza at a scale and intensity not seen in years.  He is especially concerned by the attempt to exploit the sensitive status of Jerusalem and to use it to justify a broader armed conflict.

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Questions and Answers

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Question:  Thanks, Steph.  On the briefing today… so the UN Envoy talked about also that today or yesterday, a Palestinian activist and parliamentary candidate, Nizar Banat, was pronounced dead, hours after being arrested by Palestinian Security Forces.  Do you… at house in Hebron.  So Mr. Banat… Banat was actually also very well-known to many Palestinians, because he also posted a lot of videos about corruption regarding the Palestinian Authority, and this is… that was not the first time that he was attacked.  He didn’t live in his house for the last two months, according to his wife in an interview with my colleagues on the ground.

Do you have more to say on that?  And do you believe that this should be investigated?

Spokesman:  Yes, I think Mr. Wennesland said it very clearly.  He was deeply concerned by the death of Nizar Banat and called for, clearly for an independent and transparent investigation.

Question:  Now, a follow-up… the problem with such investigations, is that they are, whether… when such attack happens, whether by Israeli forces or by Palestinian Authority or anybody, that when such investigations happens, it happens from the same bodies that did these human rights violations.  So, do you see a problem there, that these investigations could be not independent and not transparent, et cetera?

Spokesman:  I… you know, first of all, Governments have the primary responsibility for protecting civilians, for ensuring their respect for human rights.  And they should have the capacity to run independent investigations, right, outside of those services which are… which may have been involved in the initial incident.  It is their primary responsibility, and Governments everywhere have a responsibility to ensure that the results are made public.

Question:  A follow-up on this report.  In many of his statements and in many… a lot of times, when he talks about Palestinians being killed by Israeli forces, often, he uses the term “reportedly attempting to carry out an attack”, or stabbing, etc., but we do not know actually if… I assume that this is the Israeli position, or this is how the Israelis are reporting about such attacks or incidents, in which Palestinians are killed.

My question to you why… if you are not able to verify… first of all why don’t you include also the position of the families, how their loved one were killed by Israeli forces?  And why it’s not clear whether you can verify or not verify such incidents?

Spokesman:  Well, we try to verify things inasmuch as we’re able to.  We don’t have… you know, whether it’s there or in many other places, we don’t actually have a mandate to actually run our own investigations, so we work with partners, with all interested parties and try to get as much information as we can and report back with the information that we feel that we have confidence is close enough to the reality.

Correspondent:  That is very often in these cases that you are taking the Israeli official position and that’s… [cross talk]

Spokesman:  I think if you look at the body of reports, I think, that have been produced to the Security Council, we report back to the best of our ability on incidents wherever they occur.

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Question:  Thank you, Stéphane.  Follow-up on Ibtisam’s question.  Mr. Wennesland also said in his briefing today that the Israeli… or 66 Palestinians, including 12 children, were injured by rubber bullets, and we know, or at least many activists from the ground and Palestinians believe that there is nothing called “rubber bullets”, because these are bullets, actual bullets, covered by rubber.  So, what do you mean when you say, “rubber bullets”?

Spokesman:  The term “rubber bullets” is one that is commonly used as referring to… like you said, that are bullets coated in rubber.

We have condemned the use of disproportionate force against children, against unarmed demonstrators, but I think the reports… you know, Mr. Wennesland’s report speaks for itself.  I don’t have anything else to add to it.

Correspondent:  Because many people believe it’s not an accurate term.

Spokesman:  I hear you.  It is a term that is used in referring to that type of ammunition commonly across the world.  I can look to see if we can use another nomenclature, but I hear what you say.

Question:  And also another question, if I may, also on this.  The US Ambassador said in the Council today that we need a mechanism, which allows authorities to mitigate any risk of diversion… she means in Gaza.  Is the UN working on such a mechanism?  Mr. Wennesland working on it?  Are you part of it?

Spokesman:  If you’ll recall, I think Lynne Hastings, when she briefed you, and I think it probably wouldn’t be bad to get her back here, is that there is already a mechanism when it comes to aid provided by the UN of inspection and verification.  This is something that had been put in, if I’m not mistaken, after 2014… after the conflict in 2014, and that system still exists.  Aid that comes through the UN is tracked in a very transparent manner.

Okay, Abdelhamid.

Question:  Thank you.  I might have missed the question of Ibtisam, and I want to ask again about Nizar Banat and to see if the SG was briefed about this heinous crime committed by the PA (Palestinian Authority).  What you can tell me about this?

Spokesman:  I mean, I would refer… the Secretary-General is very much aware of the situation.  He fully backs Mr. Wennesland, who spoke on his behalf in the Security Council and spoke about it in his remarks to the Council.

Question:  Yeah, I have a question now about the statement given by Mr. Wennesland to the Security Council.  He mentioned that… he called for Hamas to release two Israeli soldiers after captive… captive in Hamas prisons and two bodies.  And he also asked Israel to release the Palestinian bodies, for a long time.  He didn’t mention the number.  Why is that?

Spokesman:  He didn’t mention what?

Question:  Why he didn’t mention the number of bodies kept by Israeli forces?

Spokesman:  I don’t know.  I don’t know.  We can…

Correspondent:  [inaudible]

Spokesman:  Okay.  I understand.  I can’t answer your question, because I don’t have that knowledge.

Question:  Okay.  My second question is… also said that Israel should observe international humanitarian law governing armed conflict.  So, is he qualifying what happened in the last… in May as armed conflict between two equal groups?  Armed conflict is between two armies, between two countries.  Why he used this term, “armed conflict”?

Spokesman:  Because there was an armed conflict.

Correspondent:  But there wasn’t aggression.  There was… Gaza is under siege… [cross talk]

Spokesman:  I mean… we’re not… I’m not… I mean, I’m not going to start analysing the roots in how far you want to go back.  It seems pretty obvious to me, as sitting here in New York, looking at a picture, that it was an armed conflict.

Correspondent:  But that term means that two equal armies, two equal States, two equal… [cross talk]

Spokesman:  That’s what you infer from it.  I infer from it that there were… there was a conflict and arms were used and violence [was] used and civilians suffered.

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For information media. Not an official record.