On November 15, 2022, ECFA held a virtual meeting with Ambassador Maged Abdel Fattah Abdel Aziz, Permanent Representative of the League of Arab States to the United Nations in New York, and member of ECFA, in which he spoke about two main issues: the United Nations’ handling of the Ukraine war file, and the Palestinian movement to get full membership of the United Nations. Regarding the issue of the war in Ukraine, Ambassador Abdel-Fattah explained that the collective international security system within the framework of the United Nations has failed miserably in connection with the war, pointing to the following: the paralysis of the Security Council due to the use of the veto power; The United Nations Secretary-General has failed to play any role in the field of preventive diplomacy to prevent war, since the signing of the Minsk Agreements in 2014; Consequently, the burden fell on the United Nations General Assembly, which adopted five resolutions on the war, the latest of which was on November 14, regarding the establishment of a committee to assess the damages that Ukraine has endured as a result of the Russian aggression, which was passed by 94 votes in favor and 75 abstentions because it opens the way for compensation issues, and was issued as part of the West’s attempts to seize Russian assets and property abroad.

Ambassador Abdel-Fattah added that there have been many transgressions by the United Nations agencies against Russia, for example, a UN Security Council resolution was passed on February 27, 2022 calling the General Assembly to convene a special session, despite Russia’s objection, being a procedural matter. A resolution was also adopted to suspend Russia from the United Nations Human Rights Council, and all Russian nominations to international organizations were aborted. The Ambassador explained that Russia’s defense of its position focused mainly on the U.S. policy in the Middle East, the war in Afghanistan and Iraq, Israeli practices in the occupied Palestinian territories, and NATO’s military operation in Libya, in which the concept of double standards arises.

In connection with the Palestinian file, Ambassador Abdel-Fattah stated that the statement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas before the last annual session of the General Assembly was frustrating, and that the work of the international Quartet, whether at the level of senior officials or at the ministerial level, is frozen, due to pressures from the United States. It is likely that the United Nations General Assembly will adopt a resolution referring the legal issue of “the legal effects arising from the continuing violations of the Israeli occupation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.” And while 138 countries recognize Palestine as an independent and sovereign state, it is expected that the United States – and perhaps the United Kingdom – will object to Palestine’s admission as a full member of the United Nations. Thus, the alternative is to resort to the General Assembly to pass a resolution by a large majority that could constitute a moral burden on the international community. Ambassador Abdel-Fattah concluded by stressing that the Palestinian people and the Arab countries are moving forward in sparing no effort to bring the matter to the International Court of Justice.