PA observer at UN warns of slide toward ‘religious’ conflict with Israel

The Palestinian Authority’s observer at the UN, Riyadh Mansour, warned on Tuesday that the conflict with Israel may be sliding toward a “religious” context as a result of the “illegal” ongoing actions at Al-Aqsa Mosque and [occupied] East Jerusalem, Anadolu has reported.

“The Israeli aggression and provocative violation of the historic status of Al-Haram Al-Sharif and East Jerusalem aggravates religious sensitivity and explodes the situation,” Mansour told an open meeting of the UN Security Council. “As such, we are warning for the second time of the dangers of these provocations and incitement which could trigger another wave of violence that will surely have long term consequences in such a volatile atmosphere.”

The envoy pointed out that the Palestinians in Jerusalem have been facing expulsion, oppression, racism, house demolition and violence in order to force them out of the city. “Israel overtly, without feeling any shame, adopts racist policies based on nationality and religion,” he argued. “The Palestinian people are currently resisting the latest provocative measures, including the closure of Al-Aqsa Mosque and banning Friday prayer therein, as well as the restrictions put on access to the holy sites, by performing prayers in the streets. They are expressing peacefully their rejection of the measures taken against their holy sites.”

Read: Al-Aqsa in crisis

Regarding the peace process, Mansour said that the PA leadership would continue responding to any efforts for peace with Israel, noting that the two-state solution based on the pre-1967 borders remains the basis of any potential peace deal in the future. He also called for the UN Security Council members to lift the Israeli-led siege of the Gaza Strip, telling them that Gaza “has become an unliveable place.”

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A few weeks ago, the UN Envoy to the Peace Process, Nicolay Mladenov, said that while the international organisation had previously said that Gaza would be “unliveable” by 2020, the situation there has deteriorated much earlier.