Attaf: Algeria Has Introduced “Key Amendment” to Security Council’s Resolution on Gaza Peace Plan
The Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs, the National Community Abroad and African Affairs, Ahmed Attaf affirmed Tuesday that Algeria has introduced “a key amendment” to the United Nations Security Council’s draft resolution on “the Gaza peace plan” during negociations on this document.
During a press conference he hosted at the ministry’s headquarters, Attaf stated that Algeria “succeeded during the negotiations in introducing a key amendment to this resolution, an amendment which stipulates that the ultimate goal of this resolution is to create conditions conducive to opening up the prospect of a political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and enabling the Palestinian people to establish their independent and sovereign state.”
The FM affirmed that “the adopted resolution in no way undermines the foundations of a just, lasting, and definitive solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as approved by the international community and in accordance with the relevant resolutions of international law.” He said that the resolution also recalls “all previous Security Council resolutions on the Palestinian issue, which constitute the UN doctrine for enabling the Palestinian people to achieve their legitimate and legal rights through ending the occupation of their territories, the realization of their national project, and the establishment of their independent and sovereign State.”
In this regard, he highlighted that the fundamental objectives of this resolution is essentially part of what can be called “the urgent priorities for the current stage, or the priorities after the aggression on Gaza,” which are the same priorities that Algeria has not stopped advocating for since the beginning of its term at the Security Council, three months after the launch of the blatant Zionist aggression on Gaza, consisting of “consolidating the ceasefire agreement and providing international protection to the Palestinian people” and “enabling humanitarian relief efforts in Gaza without restrictions or conditions,” in addition to “paving the way for launching the reconstruction process in Gaza.”
Attaf stressed that the adopted resolution “provides a binding ground for pushing towards addressing these urgent priorities without affecting the constants of resolving the Palestinian cause,” where “it emphasizes the need to respect the ceasefire and rejects any justifications or excuses for resuming Israeli aggression on Gaza” and “establishes in a notable precedent, an international force to maintain security and stability in the Strip,” which is considered in itself “a prominent development in the history of the Palestinian cause towards providing international protection to the Palestinian people.”
The adopted resolution also confirms the rejection of forced displacement and of Zionist plans aimed at occupying Gaza by military force, in addition to lifting all restrictions on humanitarian relief efforts directed to the Palestinian people in Gaza and “paves the way for launching the reconstruction process in Gaza,” added the minister.
As for the positions of the main regional actors towards this resolution, the Minister affirmed that Algeria has taken upon itself since the beginning of its current term at the Security Council to coordinate all its steps, movements and initiatives with its Palestinian brothers in particular and with its Arab brothers in general, highlighting that it “adopted the same approach during the negotiation phase on this draft resolution, where it worked in full coordination with all these missions in New York.”
Attaf emphasized that “Algeria cannot diverge from the Palestinian position, nor can it step outside the Arab and Islamic consensus backing the draft resolution and urging its Security Council adoption,” and cannot “take a stance contradicting its longstanding advocacy for an urgent, binding resolution to end all suffering imposed on Palestinians in Gaza.” He highlighted that such a position “does not represent overlooking the deficiencies that marred the content of the resolution, as much as it is a responsible response to the Palestinian, Arab and Islamic position, without the slightest violation, neither of the constants of Algeria’s historic position supporting the Palestinian cause nor of the constants of Arab consensus on ways to settle the Palestinian cause nor of the constants of the just, permanent and final solution internationally agreed upon for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
The minister stressed that despite the existence of some shortcomings in the resolution, the priority in the current circumstances lies in “consolidating the ceasefire agreement and ending the crimes of genocide, starvation, and torment that the people of the Gaza Strip can no longer bear beyond what they have endured over two years,” and in “enabling humanitarian relief efforts, launching the reconstruction process, and stripping the occupying power of any pretext or justification for resuming the war on Gaza and reviving its plans aimed at displacing Palestinians from their lands and imposing military control over Gaza.”
Attaf underscored that these are “the objective considerations to which Algeria has adhered with full responsibility, commitment, wisdom, and foresight in making its sovereign decision to vote in favor of this draft resolution in the Security Council,” expressing Algeria’s aspiration that this step will contribute to alleviating the burdens of the tragedies inflicted on the Palestinian people in Gaza and that it will be followed in future stages by similar steps that address the root causes of the conflict and ensure the acceleration of establishing the independent Palestinian state with Al-Quds as its capital.
