NEW YORK / PNN / 

The Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, stressed yesterday that the gravest form of terrorism is one in which an entire nation’s rights, people and land are under a constant and systematic campaign of terror.

In the speech of the State of Palestine during the general discussion of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy in the United Nations General Assembly Hall in New York, Mansour said the Israeli occupying forces and settlers continue killing and maiming Palestinians, terrorize children. steal land, demolish homes, burn villages, desecrate mosques and churches, while openly chanting “death to the Arabs", with complete impunity.

The Palestinian people, from Hawara to Turmus Ayya, al-Lubban al-Sharqiya, Burqa, Beita, Jenin, Nablus, Jerusalem, Hebron, Masafer Yatta to Ain Samia, Khirbet Humsa, al-Khan al-Ahmar and Gaza, and in every place in Palestine, are victims of this state-sponsored terrorism, said Mansour, stressing that the Palestinian people deserve the solidarity of the international community, and have the right to international protection.

He said that this is the most dangerous form of terrorism, and it is terrorism that is motivated and sponsored by the state, colonial terrorism stemming from the denial of the existence of the nation and its rights; terrorism in which a people are forcibly displaced and their land and resources are pillaged, stressing that under this military colonial rule there is no human security or human dignity.

Mansour stressed that the international community has recognized that upholding international law and fundamental freedoms and developing counter-terrorism measures are mutually reinforcing. It has learned that violating the former, under the pretext of pursuing the latter, undermines global efforts to eliminate terrorism. Israel’s unlawful criminalization of civil society organizations, under the rubric of “terrorism”, aims to oppress any opposition to its perpetual military colonial rule. “The counter-terrorism discourse cannot and must not become the way to justify a counter-rights strategy,” he added. The Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy should be about promoting the rule of law, not justifying its breach. It should address the root causes of terrorism, not perpetuate them, he stressed.

Mansour said that it is shameful that Israel and its occupying army and settlers have not yet been included in the list of perpetrators of crimes against children, stressing that Palestinian children deserve the best, and that the rule of international law deserves the best.

He pointed out that double standards only serve to undermine the authority and credibility of this list, and this multilateral system.