The Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, Riad Mansur, emphasized the need for the international community to change its approach towards Israel in a manner similar to how it did with South Africa during apartheid. Mansur expressed his confidence that a potential victory of the Democratic presidential candidate in the United States, Kamala Harris, could contribute to such a change.
Mansur underlined that Harris might be more inclined to adopt a global perspective on the Israeli-Palestinian issue and play a more active role in the two-state solution. In contrast, the ambassador criticized the actions of the Donald Trump administration, which moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, which, in Mansur's words, amounted to recognizing Israel's annexation of the city.
The Palestinian diplomat also emphasized that Harris has a different approach than Joe Biden, who suspended U.S. aid to the UN Agency for Refugees and self-defines as a Zionist and close to Israel. In this regard, Mansur urged the United States and other countries to openly criticize Israeli actions that he considers shameful and hypocritical.
Mansur compared the necessary diplomatic change in the Middle East conflict to that which occurred during apartheid in South Africa, when several countries began to isolate the South African government and its system of racial exclusion collapsed. In this sense, he pointed out that some countries like Spain and Norway have already begun to recognize the State of Palestine, emphasizing the importance for other countries to follow this example.
