Israel Atrocities Prevent End of Violence in Region

A high-ranking Iranian diplomat says the Middle East region will never live to witness an end to the current vicious cycle of violence as long as the Israeli regime is allowed to carry on with its atrocities with impunity.
Esmaeil Baqaei Hamaneh, Iran’s permanent ambassador to the UN office in Geneva, made the remarks on Thursday during a special United Nations Human Rights Council session. The gathering had been formed to address “the grave human rights situation” in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, IRNA reported.
The regional turmoil, he said, would bubble up, while the “criminals” keep avoiding accountability because of this impunity and the occupation of Palestine sustains as a result of “compromise or silence,” he said.
Instead, administration of justice and pressing of the regime to answer for its crimes against the Palestinians should turn into the international community’s urgent demand, the official noted.
Hamaneh said the regime’s supporters, who try to explain its savagery, under the pretext that it should be able to “defend itself” must also be held to account for their emboldening it and obstructing justice.
He reiterated the Islamic Republic’s assertion that “the only sustainable” way out of this crisis is holding of a referendum among all of Palestine’s residents and those who have been displaced from the land as a result of Israel’s occupation and aggression. Such vote would enable Palestinians to exercise “their right to self-determination,” he concluded.
The session came after weeks of Israeli crackdown against Palestinian worshippers and protesters across the occupied West Bank, including the holy city Beit-ul-Moqaddas, which killed scores of Palestinians.
The regime then ramped up its attacks against the blockaded Gaza Strip that had risen up in protest against the escalation, killing more than 250 others there too.