Faisal Mahmud
27 September 2026•Update: 27 September 2026
Brunei said there could be no lasting peace without justice for Palestinians, warning that the conflict had become a defining test of the UN’s credibility and the equal application of international law.
Addressing the 81st UN General Assembly, Brunei’s Foreign Minister Prince Abdul Mateen said the Palestinian people had waited for generations for “justice, statehood and dignity.”
“They cannot be asked to wait indefinitely for rights that are already theirs,” he said.
“In Gaza, the scale of human suffering and destruction is intolerable,” Mateen said, adding that civilians, including “far too many children,” continued to bear the heaviest cost.
He said medics, journalists, humanitarian workers and UN personnel had also lost their lives while carrying out their duties.
“This suffering cannot become normal,” he said.
Mateen also drew attention to conditions in the occupied West Bank, saying Palestinians continued to endure occupation, expanding illegal settlements, settler violence and displacement from their homes and land.
“Whether in Gaza or the West Bank, these are not merely numbers; they are human lives,” he said.
Their suffering, he said, demonstrated why international law and the principles of the UN Charter must apply equally to everyone.
“There cannot be one standard for some and another for others,” Mateen said.
He said a just and lasting peace required more than managing the consequences of the conflict and must address its root cause.
That, he said, meant realizing the Palestinian people’s “legitimate right to self-determination” and establishing an independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem 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 warned that the conflict’s consequences were no longer confined to Palestine and were spreading across the region, pointing to Lebanon, where UN peacekeepers had also lost their lives.
Mateen said Brunei had co-sponsored UN Security Council Resolution 2823 to strengthen accountability for crimes against UN peacekeepers.
“Those who serve under the United Nations flag must be protected,” he said, adding that accountability could not be “episodic.”
“The protection of those who serve peace and the protection of innocent lives, especially children, must remain at the heart of this organization,” he added.
