Brunei to UN: No Peace Without Justice for Palestinians
Speaking before the 81st session of the UN General Assembly, Brunei's Foreign Minister Prince Abdul Mateen said Palestinians had endured generations of waiting for "justice, statehood and dignity."
"They cannot be asked to wait indefinitely for rights that are already theirs," he said.
Describing conditions on the ground as unbearable, Mateen said the devastation and human toll in Gaza had crossed a threshold. "In Gaza, the scale of human suffering and destruction is intolerable," he said, noting that civilians — among them "far too many children" — continued to pay the steepest price.
The minister also noted that medics, journalists, humanitarian workers and UN staff had been killed while performing their duties, underscoring the widening toll beyond combatants alone.
"This suffering cannot become normal," he warned.
Turning to the occupied West Bank, Mateen said Palestinians there remained trapped under occupation, facing the continued expansion of illegal settlements, settler violence, and forced displacement from their land and homes.
"Whether in Gaza or the West Bank, these are not merely numbers; they are human lives," he said, arguing that this suffering illustrates precisely why the UN Charter and international law must be enforced without exception.
"There cannot be one standard for some and another for others," he said.
According to Mateen, genuine and durable peace cannot be achieved simply by managing the fallout of the conflict — it requires confronting its underlying cause. He said that means delivering on the Palestinian people's "legitimate right to self-determination" and establishing an independent Palestinian state along the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem serving as its capital.
"Without justice for the Palestinian people, there can be no lasting peace," Mateen said. "This remains a defining test of the credibility of the United Nations and particularly the Security Council."
He further cautioned that the fallout from the conflict was no longer contained within Palestinian territory, pointing to Lebanon — where UN peacekeepers have also been killed — as evidence the crisis is spilling across the region.
Brunei, Mateen noted, had co-sponsored UN Security Council Resolution 2823, aimed at strengthening accountability for attacks on UN peacekeeping personnel.
"Those who serve under the United Nations flag must be protected," he said, stressing that accountability measures cannot be "episodic."
He closed with a direct appeal: "The protection of those who serve peace and the protection of innocent lives, especially children, must remain at the heart of this organization."
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