Rawan Sulaiman arrives as UN special rapporteur is also due in Lisbon
The new Palestinian ambassador to Lisbon, Rawan Tarek Sulaiman, said today in brief statements to Lusa that she intends to strengthen relations with Portugal “in all areas”, based on respect for international law.
Rawan Sulaiman, who handed over her credentials (signed by leader of the Palestinian Authority Mahmud Abbas) on September 23 to Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, had been posted in the Netherlands since 2017 and replaces Nabil Abouznaid, who had also been in Portugal since 2017.
Refusing for the time being to grant interviews on the Palestinian situation in particular and the Middle East in general – arguing that it was ‘still early days’ – the new Palestinian diplomat comes from working in The Hague as permanent representative to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA).
Rawan Sulaiman began her diplomatic career in 1996 in the Civil Society and Non-Governmental Organisations Division of the Palestinian Ministry of International Cooperation, and, before her stint in the Hague, was Assistant Minister for Multilateral Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates. It was in this role that she led negotiations for the comprehensive agreement, which she considers ‘historic’, with the Holy See, signed in June 2015.
Born in Jerusalem on 31 August 1970 (making her 54 years old), Sulaiman is a graduate in English Language and Literature.
UN rapporteur for Palestine on way to Lisbon, deplores Israeli ‘impunity’
United Nations special rapporteur for Palestine, Francesca Albanese, has in an interview with Lusa deplored what she called the “impunity” of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in the conflicts in the Middle East, arguing that he “must be stopped” despite backing from the US and Europe’s “crossed arms” in the face of the situation.
In a telephone interview from Tunis, Albanese emphasised before setting off for Portugal that the situation in the Middle East, especially in Palestine and now Lebanon, is “tragic” – lamenting the financial and military support for Israel from the US and the “total absence” of a Europe “that is standing by with its arms crossed.
“If this way of conducting war – of absurdly using heavy bombing and disproportionate military attacks that target one militant and kill hundreds of civilians – is accepted, this will be the new way of conducting wars,” she said. “Now, in Lebanon, Israel is applying the same manual, saying that all the Lebanese who have died are human shields or collateral damage.
“It’s much worse than I expected,” she said of the situation. “Six months ago, I said this to the members of the (UN) Human Rights Council; I warned them of the risk. What’s more, almost twelve months ago, on 14 October [2023], I said that this war in Gaza would run the risk of turning into the biggest mass ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, because, under the fog of war, Israel is taking the opportunity to forcibly displace Palestinians.”
According to Albanese, “the results are there to see” and “the stars seem to be aligned for this to happen.”
After more than 11 months of conflict, she noted, 90% of the population of the Gaza Strip has been forcibly displaced, amid calls for the Israelis to conquer, reoccupy and colonise the area and resettle there.
“And the outlook is worse than I could have thought, than all of us could have thought, if Israel is not stopped,” emphasised the UN official. “Israel must be stopped… Hostilities must stop and a ceasefire must be imposed, as well as an arms embargo.“
As for the role of the United States and Europe in this escalating conflict, she said: “The United States is behind and accompanying Israel – it’s almost impossible to distinguish one from the other, apart from the fact that it is Israel that has the boots on the ground,” she said. “But the United States is totally involved in what Israel is doing. They have given political, military and financial support, and this is where I really don’t understand what Europe is doing.
“Europe is absent and, at best, is sitting on its hands,” she went on. “I’m sorry to see that. The Middle East is very close to us [as Europeans]. Let’s separate the issue of human rights from humanity.”
Source: LUSA
