We meet today, in this General Assembly, as the alarm bells ring all around us. Numerous crises batter our world, crises that are increasingly interlocked — regional conflicts with an international impact, devastating climate change, pandemic disruptions, extremist violence, spiralling inflation, looming recession and, for all too many around the world, the growing reality of hunger. Developing countries have been the hardest hit. Is this the future that we will leave to the generations yet to come?
We must deliver a different world, one of expanded horizons, a more equitable world, sustainable economic growth, exciting new opportunities, more and better jobs and the inclusive peace for prosperity, in which all people can thrive.
To reach those goals, our countries must unite behind effective collaborative action. The question now is whether we will have the vision and determination to get the job done.
Let us consider the climate crisis. No country can heal our injured Earth alone. We need global partnerships that can create real change. Jordan is part of those efforts. We have been building strong partnerships to manage and sustain vital water resources, and we see more opportunities to work with partners to preserve precious world heritage sites and natural wonders — the unique Dead Sea, the sacred Jordan River and the resilient coral reefs of the Gulf of Aqaba, all of which are threatened by climate change.
Food security is another global priority. Hundreds of millions of people go to bed hungry, and the numbers are rising. How can parents raise healthy children? How can students learn? How can workers do their best when they are hungry and without hope?
Since the beginning of the pandemic, and now with the crisis in Ukraine, global supply chains have been disrupted. Many well-off countries experienced empty food shelves for the first time in living memory. They are discovering a truth that people in developing countries have known for a long time — for countries to thrive, affordable food must reach every family’s table.
At the global level, that demands collective measures to ensure fair access to affordable food and expedite the movement of staples to countries in need. Sustainable, inclusive economic growth has too often been a victim of global crises, but it can also be a defence that strengthens us to endure the storms. In my region, we expect to build integrated partnerships that tap the capabilities and resources of each of our countries for the benefit of all. We see regional resilience packs coming together to stimulate fresh opportunities and growth. Jordan has established multilateral partnerships with
Egypt, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and other countries in the region to capitalize on those opportunities. Our country is a bridge for regional partnerships and cooperation, international crisis response and humanitarian action.
Jordan has always been a source of regional stability, as well as a refuge for those in need. In that context, let me say a word about refugees and the communities that host them. In 2012, I stood before the General Assembly at its sixty-seventh session and spoke for the first time about the Syrian refugee flow and its pressure on Jordan’s scarce resources (see A/61/ PV.7). At that point, 200,000 Syrians had sought refuge in our small country. Today, 10 years later, we host more than 1.3 million. Meeting the needs of those and other refugees is an international responsibility, and host countries look to the international community to honour its commitments.
For decades, the Middle East has been synonymous with conflict and crisis. But we are hopeful that a new-found spirit of collaboration can make our region an exemplar of resilience and integration. While politics may sometimes fail our world, one absolute remains — always put people first. To keep hope alive for all peoples means rising above politics to ensure every individual’s prosperity. Such efforts will be fruitless if they are exclusionary. Inclusion of the Palestinian people in regional economic projects should be an integral part of our efforts.
In the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, peace continues to be elusive. Neither war nor diplomacy has held the answer to that historic tragedy. It is the people themselves, not politics and politicians, who will have to come together and push their leaders to resolve it. What would our world look like now if the conflict had been settled long ago, if walls had never gone up and if people had been allowed to build bridges of cooperation instead? What if extremists had never been able to exploit the injustices of occupation? How many generations of young people could have grown up in the optimism of peace and progress?
As we continue our efforts to achieve peace, we must not abandon refugees. This year, the General Assembly will vote on renewing the mandate of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. The international community should send a strong message of support for the rights of Palestinian refugees, ensuring that Palestinian refugee
children have schools to go to and access to appropriate medical care.
A founding principle of the United Nations is the right to self-determination for all peoples. The Palestinian people, with their resilient national identity, cannot be denied that right. The road forward is the two-State solution, in accordance with United Nations resolutions — a sovereign, viable and independent Palestinian State based on the 4 June 1967 lines, with East Jerusalem as its capital, living side by side with Israel in peace, security and prosperity.
Today the future of Jerusalem is an urgent concern. The city is holy to billions of Muslims, Christians and Jews around the world. Undermining Jerusalem’s legal and historical status quo triggers global tensions and deepens religious divides. The holy city must not be a place for hatred and division.
As custodians of Jerusalem’s Muslim and Christian holy sites, we are committed to protecting their historical and legal status quo and to their safety and future. As a Muslim leader, let me clearly say that we are committed to defending the rights, the precious heritage and the historic identity of the Christian people of our region. Nowhere is that more important than in Jerusalem.
Today Christianity in the holy city is under fire. The rights of churches in Jerusalem are threatened. That cannot continue. Christianity is vital to the past and present of our region and the holy land. It must remain an integral part of our future.
We can weather the most serious crises if we join together. Let us here in this General Assembly honour our shared interest in a brighter future, a future of dignity and hope, that brings new opportunities for all our peoples. But let us not ignore the alarm bells ringing around us. We must act.