Lebanon: Address by High representative/Vice-President Josep Borrell at the emergency meeting of the UN Security Council

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Cher Président,

Nous parlons d'une région au monde où les pires sont généralement certains.

Where the worst is generally 'vrai'.

So, I would, first and foremost, [like] to express my sympathy for the Lebanese people who have clearly, for a long time, been hostage of a conflict that they do not deserve, and which is far beyond them.

We all know the tragic situation in recent months. You have been explaining it and I will not repeat it. 60,000 Lebanese inhabitants forced to leave their homes since October. Now 200,000 Lebanese on the roads forced to flee the fighting while their houses have been systematically destroyed. They will not have anywhere to come back.

I am not going to play the game of blaming one more than the other. But what I know is three things.

First, escalation will not solve anything because war does not solve anything.

Second, what is happening in southern Lebanon cannot be separated from what is happening in Gaza. One thing influences the other. But at the same time, we have to do everything to avoid that southern Lebanon becomes a new Gaza. And it is becoming a new Gaza.

As [the] Secretary-General [of the United Nations, António Guterres] said at United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), and as many of you have said, when the communication devices were exploding - targeted in its purpose, but indiscriminate in their consequences - they have put the Lebanese people in the night under terror.

The third is that there is a legal basis for settling the Israeli-Lebanese conflict. And this basis, you know, is this famous Resolution 1701. The little problem is that it has been approved more than 20 years ago. 20 years ago - without being implemented.

So, what can we do in the face of [this] escalation, in the face of this procession of death, while the cannons' sound is behind us? I heard le canon, when I was visiting the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) headquarters some days ago. And I am asking this question to the Security Council.

And allow me, and excuse me, but sometimes I wonder if it is not better for the [Security] Council to talk about Insecurity - who registers crimes, recriminations, and grievances, without solving them. And when they agree on something, not being able to implement it. What a tragedy.

So now, it is up to all of us to do something for a ceasefire along the Blue Line, so that the instinct for life can take precedence over the instinct for death. So that the terrible fatalism that is ours today, in the face of so much horror, can be overcome.

Before coming here, I had the opportunity to speak with the families of Israeli hostages held by Hamas. Still [held], for almost one year.
So, I know how this tragic situation is affecting everyone, Palestinians, Israelis, and now Lebanese.

And I saw some days ago at the Rafah border - by the way, closed - once again, listening the cannon, how the tragic situation in Gaza calls to our conscience.

So please, let's try to call unanimously for the suspension of hostilities along the Blue Line and implementation of this famous Resolution 1701.

What else can we do? At least let's agree on that and try to make it implemented.

Let's call for restraint to avoid the trap of fatality, the one that would have us believe that there is nothing to be done. Yes, something has to be done.

That is the only thing I can do. But naming things is essential. You have to put a name to the things, because refusing to name things only adds to the worst tragedy.

Thank you.

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