BRICS alliance reaffirms support for Palestine’s full UN membership
The BRICS alliance, currently holding its annual summit in the Russian city of Kazan, has reaffirmed its “support for the State of Palestine’s full membership in the United Nations”.
The alliance – initially comprised of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, but expanded in 2023 to include Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates – also reiterated its “unwavering commitment” to a two-state solution “in line with internationally recognised borders of June 1967”.
The Kazan Declaration also expressed “grave concern” at the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the occupied Palestinian territory. It calls for “an immediate, comprehensive and permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip”, the release of all captives and detainees on both sides, and for Israel to allow “unhindered” humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Hamas seeks Moscow’s help to push Palestinian unity government for post-war Gaza: Report
Hamas wants Russia to push Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to begin negotiations on a national unity government for post-war Gaza, a senior Hamas official has told the RIA state news agency after talks in Moscow.
Mousa Abu Marzouk, a Hamas politburo member, met Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov in Moscow, the Reuters news agency reports.
“We discussed issues related to Palestinian national unity and the creation of a government that should govern the Gaza Strip after the war,” Marzouk was quoted as saying by RIA.
Marzouk said Hamas had asked Russia to encourage Abbas, who is attending the BRICS summit in Kazan, to start negotiations on a unity government, RIA reported.
Iran says UN ‘turned into a frustratingly dysfunctional platform’
Iran’s foreign ministry has criticised the UN on the anniversary of its founding in 1945, saying that it has failed to live up to its mandate.
The UN “has turned into a frustratingly dysfunctional platform unable to take any effective collective measures to stop Israel’s maniacal genocide in Gaza and its aggressive war on Lebanon and beyond”, spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei wrote in a post on X.
“The UN is sadly defeating its purpose as US’s unconditional support for occupying regime has so emboldened the regime as to expand its aggressions and atrocities across the region,” he said of Israel.
Baghaei added that the UN must be “revitalised by its responsible membership to reign in the rogue entity’s warmongering”.
Iranian president criticises UN Security Council’s inefficiency
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has slammed the UN Security Council for failing to tackle the Middle East conflict.
“The fire of war is still raging in the Palestinian Gaza Strip and Lebanese cities, and international institutions and assemblies, and at the top of it the United Nations Security Council, as drivers of international peace and security, lack the necessary efficiency to extinguish the fire of this crisis,” Pezeshkian told leaders from emerging economies at the BRICS gathering in Russia.
China’s Xi calls for ‘no more destruction in Palestine, Lebanon’
Chinese President Xi Jinping, speaking at the BRICS summit, says it is important to continue pushing for “a ceasefire in Gaza, relaunch the two-state solution and stop the spread of war in Lebanon”.
“There should be no more suffering and destruction in Palestine and Lebanon,” Xi stressed.
“We should come forward together to form a stabilising force for peace and explore solutions to address both symptoms and roots of hotspot issues,” Xi said in the southwestern Russian city of Kazan.
UN chief calls for peace ‘across the board’
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has told BRICS leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, that the world needs peace in Gaza, Lebanon, Ukraine and Sudan.
“Across the board, we need peace,” Guterres said at the BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan. “We need peace in Ukraine, a just peace in line with the UN Charter, international law and UN General Assembly resolutions.”
