LOC21:58
18:58 GMT
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 19 (KUNA) -- The UN considers the Gaza Strip as an
Israeli occupied territory and will continue to do so until the General
Assembly or the Security Council decides otherwise in future resolutions, UN
spokesman Martin Nesirky told the daily press briefing in answer to a pressing
question these days on the status of the Strip.
"Under resolutions adopted by both the Security Council and the General
Assembly on the Middle East process, the Gaza Strip continues to be regarded
as part of the occupied Palestinian territory. The UN will accordingly
continue to refer to the Gaza Strip as part of the occupied Palestinian
territory until such time as either the General Assembly or the Security
Council take a different view," he said.
He gave two examples: the first is Security Council resolution 1860 of 2009
which stressed that the Strip constitutes an "integral part" of the territory
occupied in 1967, stressing that Council resolutions "do have force in
international law."
The second is a 2010 General Assembly resolution which, while it noted the
Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and part of the northern part of the
West Bank, it also stressed the "need for respect and preservation of the
territorial unity, contiguity and integrity of all of the occupied Palestinian
territory, including East Jerusalem."
Following her briefing to the Security Council yesterday on the impact of
the Israeli settlements activity on the humanitarian situation in the occupied
Palestinian territory, the UN Head of humanitarian affairs Valerie Amos
insinuated, in answer to a question, that Gaza is not an occupied territory.
Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour also told reporters yesterday in
answer to the same question that under international law, Gaza is occupied
because it does not control its sky, sea or crossings. (end)
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