Algeria’s Sustained Efforts to Defend Palestinian Cause, Top Priority During Security Council Tenure
During its tenure on the UN Security Council, as in different international forums, Algeria spared no effort to defend the Palestinian cause. Despite repeated vetoes blocking its initiatives, Algeria has persistently demanded an end to the Zionist genocide in Gaza, while reaffirming the Security Council’s duty to protect the Palestinian people.
Following the firm instructions given by the President of the Republic Abdelmadjid Tebboune designating the Palestinian issue as Algeria’s “top priority” at the Security Council, Algeria’s diplomatic mission in New York has played a key role in advocating for this just cause, intensifying efforts and pushing for consecutive Security Council’s meetings.
Algeria began its Security Council tenure in January 2024, less than three months after the genocidal war in Gaza erupted, by championing the Palestinian cause as a “central issue” that must not be ignored. It has repeatedly taken the lead in submitting draft resolutions on the situation in Palestine, particularly in Gaza.
As the Arab and African representative on the Security Council, Algeria has repeatedly secured widespread support for its draft resolutions, including measures calling for a Gaza ceasefire, ensuring humanitarian aid delivery, and condemning Zionist entity’s threats to ban UNRWA operations in the occupied Palestinian territories.
In its ongoing efforts to halt the assault on Gaza, Algeria recently made a sovereign decision to support the UN Security Council’s draft resolution on the “Gaza Peace Plan,” a choice grounded in objective considerations aimed at easing the Palestinian people’s sufferings in the Strip and advancing the establishment of an independent, sovereign Palestinian State.
During negotiations over the resolution, Algeria successfully “introduced a critically important amendment stipulating that the resolution’s ultimate goal is to create favorable conditions for a political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and enable the Palestinian people to establish their independent and sovereign State,” said Minister of State, Minister of Foreign Affairs, National Community Abroad and African Affairs Ahmed Attaf.
The adopted resolution reaffirms, Attaf emphasized, “all previous Security Council resolutions on the Palestinian issue, which form the UN doctrine for enabling the Palestinian people to realize their legitimate legal rights through ending the occupation of their territories, fulfilling their national aspirations, and establishing their independent and sovereign State.” The resolution’s core objectives align mainly with what Attaf calls the “urgent priorities of this phase, or post-Gaza aggression priorities,” issues that Algeria has consistently championed throughout its Security Council tenure.
These priorities include “strengthening the ceasefire agreement,” “ensuring international protection for the Palestinian people,” “facilitating unrestricted humanitarian aid delivery to Gaza,” and “laying the groundwork for Gaza’s reconstruction process.” Concerning regional stakeholders’ positions on the resolution, Algeria has pledged, since the start of its mandate, to coordinate all diplomatic efforts, actions, and initiatives with the Palestinian brothers specifically and the Arab brothers more broadly.
Attaf said that Algeria maintained “the same approach throughout negotiations on this draft resolution, operating in full coordination with all New York missions.” Throughout its Security Council tenure, Algeria, which achieved its stated goals despite a challenging environment, has remained firmly committed to its principles, especially as the Council failed to address several critical issues, most notably the Gaza tragedy.
Algeria was left with no option but to convey its profound disappointment to the Palestinian people through its UN Permanent Representative, Ambassador Amar Bendjama, who reaffirmed that Algeria, true to the President’s pledge, will never forsake the Palestinian cause and will tirelessly advocate for an independent Palestinian State with al-Quds as its capital.
