Slovenia has expressed its support for the International Court of Justice (ICJ) rulings on Palestine and called for an arms embargo against Israel, the country’s deputy prime minister, Tanja Fajon, said on Monday.
In an exclusive interview with Al-Araby Al-Jadeed’s correspondent at the UN in New York, Fajon, who is also the foreign and European affairs minister for Slovenia which is currently chairing the UN Security Council for September, described Israel’s use of booby-trapped pagers in Lebanon as “insane”.
“This is what worries most because this is something that’s completely new, and it was sporadic, so we don’t know what to expect […] it has to stop immediately,” she said regarding the use of widely held communication devices as weapons.
She also highlighted the recent court decision by the ICJ which deemed Israel’s 57-year occupation of the West Bank and Gaza as illegal, saying: “Israel has to stop this illegal occupation and annexation, it is a court decision from the ICJ”.
Fajon described last Wednesday’s UN General Assembly vote to adopt a Palestinian-drafted resolution demanding Israel end “its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory” as “historic”.
The decision demanded Israel end its illegal occupation and withdraw within a year, as well as dismantling the settlements and halting financing of them in the meantime, in accordance with the ICJ advisory opinion.
However, the question now is “implementation”, she adds.
“The international pressure has to have a really united and strong voice if we want to prevail, [this is why] we have rules of international law, UN Charter and also the ICJ – nothing can be above the rule of law.”
Fajon said while she was not optimistic about UN member states reaching a “consensus” regarding sanctions against Israel, Slovenia had in the past called for strengthening sanctions on Israel, and she would be “very supportive” of an arms embargo against Israel.
Slovenia also recently extended recognition to the State of Palestine, alongside Spain, Ireland, and Norway.
On this step, Fajon said: “We were very determined that recognition of Palestine, on one hand, recognizes the right of Palestinian people to self-determination and also to sovereignty and integrity and also put the Palestinian nation on the equal footing, to further build on Palestinian Authority and be capable of negotiating for the future”.
She said that at the UNSC debate on Wednesday, the wars in Ukraine, Gaza and Sudan would be discussed.
Slovenia is taking on the role of President of the United Nations Security Council for the month of September, during which the country will be responsible for running the council agendas and presiding over meetings.
This article is an abridged version of an article which appeared in our Arabic edition on 24 September 2024. To read the original article click here.
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Publish date : 2024-09-25 05:50:00
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