UN Security Council ‘paralyzed’ in face of Palestine crisis: Algerian president

By Hassan Djebril

ALGIERS, Algeria (AA) - The UN Security Council is suffering from “almost complete paralysis” over the siege of Palestine and Palestinians’ ongoing suffering at the hands of Israel, Algeria’s president said Friday.

“The Israeli settlement occupation is indifferent to the UN Security Council, does not pay any attention to what it says, does not take the slightest account of what it approves, and ignores all the duties, responsibilities, and commitments it imposes,” Abdelmadjid Tebboune said in a speech read out at an African Union Summit in Ciudad de la Paz, Equatorial Guinea.

“Today the international community is witnessing, without any purposeful action or serious political initiative, the succession of crises and conflicts in an accelerating manner,” Tebboune said in the speech, read out by Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf on his behalf.

According to Tebboune, the UN Security Council is “almost completely paralyzed in light of the severe crisis affecting the collective security system in the world.”

Tebboune said the Palestinians are "living a real tragedy that is getting worse by the day due to the inability of our comprehensive international system to deter the Israeli occupier from its crimes and put a stop to its violations against the rules of international law.”

Israel last month launched a massive military campaign against the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by Hamas.

Israel has since killed at least 14,854 Palestinians, including 6,150 children and over 4,000 women, according to health authorities in the enclave.

The official Israeli death toll stands at 1,200.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi