New York (dpa-Afx)-The President of the UN General Assembly, Annalena Baerbock, reminded of the basic principles of the United Nations Charter shortly before the speech by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “Annexion is prohibited, just as in humanitarian international law it is forbidden to use humanitarian aid as a war weapon,” said the former German Foreign Minister of the German Press Agency in New York. In the Gaza War, a ceasefire is urgently needed “so that the hostages are released so that humanitarian aid comes to Gaza”.
The formulations in the UN Charter and the majority position of the Member States are very clear, said Baerbock: “Every country in this world has a right to self-determination.” Already in one of the first UN resolutions of the 20th century it was about “that Palestinians can live peacefully next to the state of Israel in their own state, which of course also has to live in safety”. That is “a basic premise of the United Nations. And every head of state and government has to stick to that because the United Nations Charter applies to every country.”
Baerbock expects “very intensive speech” Netanyahus
When asked whether you expect the Israeli head of government – as feared by many – to annex a complete annexation of the West Bank, Baerbock replied: “I can’t say anything about that. I cannot predict that.” Last year, Netanyahu gave a speech to the United Nations, after which further attacks on Lebanon followed.
In view of the recognition of a Palestinian state sharply criticized by Netanyahu by more and more countries, “a very intensive speech” awaits them, said Baerbock about the appearance of the Israeli Prime Minister, which is scheduled in the afternoon of German times. In the past few days, people have experienced “that heads of state and government make it very clear what their opinion is,” she said, without calling US President Donald Trump. But it was also seen that New York was obviously the place “where you want to be these days”.
Ex-Foreign Minister welcomes Trump’s peace proposal for the Middle East
Baerbock also welcomed the new Trump proposal for peace in Middle East. Creating a peace plan is currently one of the most important projects in which the United Nations would have to continue working. “And every suggestion for this is of course essential,” she added to Trump./BK/DP/ZB