Human Rights of the Palestinian People in the Occupied Territory, Including East Jerusalem

Arab Republic of Egypt

General Assembly Fourth Committee

Topic A: Human Rights of the Palestinian People in the Occupied Territory, including East Jerusalem

With President al-Sisi, Egypt’s policy toward the Israel- Hamas fighting derives from the wider context of its struggles against radical Islam. Egypt like many other nations recognizes Palestine as a state. Soon after the fighting erupted in the occupied Palestinian territory, Egypt announced a two-stage plan for ending hostilities. First, there would be a ceasefire, and only after it took hold would negotiations on the parties’ demands begin. Egypt has had a historical partake in the disputed territory, but now has peace treaties with both Israel and Palestine and are advocates to surrounding Arab countries to help bring peace to not only the disputed territory and its humanitarian conflicts but the region as a whole. Egypt specifically could open the Rafah border crossing point on a regular basis and send in massive aid to help alleviate the looming humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, such as the restriction of economic rights and the refugee and settlement conflicts.

In order to improve the human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, the OHCHR should not only continue in the work that they are currently doing but should also aim to get more departments, agencies, and organizations collaborating and bringing together resources to support those that have had their human rights taken from them. Some UN bodies and agencies that could be strengthened in order to promote human rights in the oPt are the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Department of Peacekeeping Operations, Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organizations, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East, and International Labor Organization. Some actions that member states can take to improve the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territory are to aid and contribute to finding a real solution to a two-state territory, to establish the Palestinian state on the boarders of 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital. Some precedents that could be set by international action would be to volunteer non-biased peacekeeping troops to replace the Israeli military currently in the occupied Palestinian territory.

Topic B: Strengthening Field Support for the United Nations Peacekeeping Operations and United Nations Police

Egypt is a founding member of the United Nations and is a committed and established contributor to the Peacekeeping Operations. Egypt has played a significant role in maintain international peace and security. Their first contribution was in 1960 in the Congo. As of May 2017, Egypt has almost 3,000 police, UN Military Experts on Mission, Staff Officers and Troops to the UN Peacekeeping Operations currently active. Egypt is one of the top twelve contributors of Peacekeeping personnel. Egypt has contributed to 37 UN missions with over 30,000 peacekeepers, deployed in 24 countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe. Egypt has also lost 28 peacekeepers while serving the cause of peace. Egypt has and continues to be committed to strengthening international action through the United Nations and African action through the African Union to achieve collective security and uphold the goals enshrined in