- World body requested to talk over calls for de-escalation
The United Nations Security Council will meet on Monday to discuss the recent escalation of violence at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem, according to diplomats.
Sweden, Egypt and France requested the meeting to urgently discuss how calls for de-escalation in Jerusalem can be supported, Sweden’s Deputy UN Ambassador Carl Skau posted on Twitter. The request comes at the same time as news that a Palestinian man wounded in clashes with Israeli forces in the West Bank on Saturday has died of his injuries.
The recent incidents occurred after at least four Palestinian people lost their lives during clashes in the Palestinian lands on Friday. Tensions began to soar after the Israeli authorities imposed restrictive measures on the entry of worshipers into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem.
The new restrictive measures include installation of metal detectors at entry points to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ordered the suspension of all official contact with Israel until it removed the metal detectors.
The Israeli government has tried to change the demographic makeup of Jerusalem over the past decades by constructing settlements, destroying historical sites and expelling the local Palestinian population. The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound is a flashpoint Islamic site, which is also holy to Jews.
UNICEF’S WARNING: The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned that the lives and futures of some 27 million children caught up in violence in Iraq’s Mosul and other Middle East conflicts as well as parts of Africa are at risk, and called for their immediate care and protection.
“The worst of the violence in Mosul may be over but for too many children in Mosul and in the region, extreme suffering continues,” Geert Cappelaere, UNICEF regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, said in a statement. As for recently-liberated Mosul, he said that children in shock continue to be found, some reportedly among the debris or hidden in tunnels.
Some have lost their families while fleeing to safety. According to reports, families have been forced to abandon their children or give them away, they are now living in fear, alone. “Many children have been forced to fight and some to carry out acts of extreme violence,” he said, emphasising that these were horrific times for far too many children in Iraq and other conflict-affected countries in the region.
UNICEF says that violence and conflicts are putting the lives and futures of nearly 27 million children at risk, impacted by violence in Yemen, inside Syria and refugee hosting countries, the Palestinian Territory, Libya and Sudan, as well as Iraq. In the north-eastern city of Ar-Raqqa in Syria, violence has further intensified over the past weeks, with children repeatedly coming under attack.
Between 30,000 and 50,000 civilians continue to be trapped in the city as heavy violence continues around them,” Cappelaere said. Moreover, families have described horrific conditions and journeys fraught with danger, sniper fire, landmines and unexploded remnants of war, he added. Such horrors are not over even if children escape from immediate danger.
They are being detained, abused and stigmatized for perceived affiliations, while tensions are high between and within communities, Cappelaere said. “Those children who are alone need our support to help them find their families, be reunited and surrounded with care, protection and services, regardless of their family’s origin or affiliation,” he underscored.
“As with any other child in the world, they have the right to be safeguarded, including through legal documentation. Children are children!” The time to act is now, Cappelaere said, and asked: “How can we build a more stable and prosperous future for all while children are exposed to such horrors and treated this way?”
