Palestinian minister says excluding Israel from UN “shame” list encourages occupation

Ramallah (QNN) – Palestinian Minister of Social Development, Ahmad Majdalani, expressed on Sunday anger over excluding Israel from the UN Secretary General’s report on countries that violate children’s rights.

“UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres seems to have heard nothing of the violations committed by the Israeli occupation government against Palestinian children on a daily basis,” he said, wondering how Israel was excluded from the report at a time it was complicit in the murder and imprisonment of Palestinian children.

“The meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the issue of children in situations of armed conflict will remain a black spot in the history of the Council, which through such a resolution kills the dreams of the Palestinian children,” Majdalani was quoted by Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency.

“What is required to include Israel in the list of shame? Is it required to carry out more violations, killing and abuse of children in Palestine?” he wondered.

Majdalani called on the UN chief Guterres to “bear in mind that what is happening in Palestine is the result of the military occupation,” and that “Israeli practices, mainly the suffocating siege imposed on the Gaza Strip, amount to collective punishment.”