Allow me to congratulate the President on his assumption of
the presidency of this session of the General Assembly
and wish him every success in leading its deliberations.
I should also like to extend my thanks to his
predecessor Sheikha Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa for her
good management of the deliberations of the previous
session. I would also like to express my sincere thanks
to the Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, for his
unrelenting efforts since he assumed his office to
advance the work of the Organization and activate its
role in the service of international peace and security.
The President returned to the Chair.
The Middle East region, of which Jordan is an
integral part, continues to face formidable challenges
stemming from the failure to make any progress
towards solving its main regional issues. Jordan,
however, has realized that these challenges should not
become a justification for abandoning its national
priorities regarding political and economic reform and
for achieving the highest degree of openness and
participation. Therefore, Jordan has adopted a national
strategy that strikes a balance between continuing to
effect reform and protecting its national security.
Jordan has also continued to deal with regional
issues on the basis of its belief that it is necessary to
reach just solutions by peaceful means and in a way
that protects the rights of all concerned and that
achieves regional stability. Jordan is firmly convinced
that the use of military force and the imposition of
unilateral solutions lead only to the aggravation of
problems, increase the suffering of the people and
threaten regional and international stability.
The Palestinian question, which is at the core of
the Middle East conflict, is now at a decisive
crossroads: either the regional parties and the
international community succeed in making real and
tangible progress and reach a just and lasting solution
within a reasonable and agreed-upon time frame, or the
entire region will be swept into extremism and anarchy,
which will be a grave threat to world peace and
security. Therefore, the international meeting
scheduled to be held before the end of this year may be
the last chance to make that progress. This makes it
imperative for the United States, which called for that
conference, the members of the International Quartet
and the regional parties to prepare for it well, ensuring
that final status issues between Palestine and Israel are
seriously discussed and in a way that will allow real
progress to be made on those issues and a lasting
agreement to be reached and implemented quickly
within a time frame agreed upon by the two parties.
The situation in the region cannot withstand the
continuation of developments that do not allow for real
progress. The holding of international and regional
meetings and negotiations should not be an end in itself
but rather a means to an end, namely reaching a real
peace, accepted and preserved by the peoples of the
region. Palestinian-Israeli negotiations have been going
on for a long time. The whole world knows that records
of those negotiations contain alternatives that provide
solutions for final status issues. What is needed now is
the political will to reach an agreement instead of
looking for pretexts and prolonging the negotiations.
Israel will never enjoy the security it seeks and
the Middle East region will not enjoy stability unless
the Palestinian people recover their national rights
through the establishment of an independent,
contiguous and viable Palestinian state in the
Palestinian territories occupied in 1967, including East
Jerusalem, and unless other Arab occupied territories
are returned. The current situation in the Palestinian
territories is not at all in harmony with the wish to
achieve peace. In order to give the impression of
honest movement towards peace, settlement activities
must stop immediately, as must tampering with the
status of East Jerusalem, including stopping all
excavations in the Jerusalem holy sanctuary at Haram
al-Sharif and putting an end to all practices that violate
international law, in particular the Fourth Geneva
Convention.
Achievement of the desired progress requires a
vast change to the tragic situation experienced by the
Palestinians living in the occupied territories. There is
an immediate need to revive the Palestinian economy
in a manner that would lead to launching investment,
creating vital projects and providing work
opportunities. That revival will not materialize unless
the Palestinians enjoy freedom of movement, which
requires ending the closures, removing security
roadblocks and stopping military operations. It is also
imperative to enable the Palestinian National Authority,
led by President Mahmoud Abbas and his legitimate
Government, to rebuild its institutions so as to succeed
in executing its national programmes, which deserve
financial support from the international community.
A united and stable Iraq constitutes an essential
component of balance and stability in the region. While
Jordan welcomes the adoption of Security Council
resolution 1770 (2007), it supports the United Nations
playing a central role in ensuring reconciliation and
stability in that country. The preservation of any
achievements on the security front will be
accomplished only within an appropriate political
environment, and this will necessitate real national
reconciliation that will guarantee the participation of
all segments of the Iraqi people in a political process
based on reviving Iraqi nationalism rather than
sectarianism and ethnicity. It must be founded on the
basis of the unity of the State and the sole right of the
State to maintain security and ban militias from
encroaching on that exclusive right. Moreover, we
must prevent any interference in Iraq’s internal affairs,
whilst implementing what has been agreed upon,
including a review of the Constitution and other laws
and the building of national security and government
institutions.
The fact that huge numbers of Iraqis have been
forced to leave their country puts a tremendous burden
on neighbouring countries, including Jordan. Jordan
continues to host hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, with
all the pressures that this imposes on Jordan’s
economy, resources and infrastructure, with little help
from the international community. While we call on the
international community to stand by us in dealing with
this huge burden, we believe that a lasting solution to
this problem lies in restoring stability to Iraq, so that
its citizens can return to their country and contribute to
its reconstruction.
Jordan and the Arab Group condemn the
assassinations that have taken place in Lebanon, the
latest of which being the assassination of member of
Parliament Antoine Ghanem, a few days ago. These
assassinations reflect the dangerous situation in that
country and highlight the need for the international
community to take a firm stand in putting an end to
these grave violations of Lebanese sovereignty and to
take all measures to stop any foreign interference in its
internal affairs. This will ensure that the Lebanese
people will find appropriate solutions through their
constitutional institutions so as to ensure internal
legitimacy, including the holding of presidential
elections in accordance with the Constitution and
within the time frame provided therein.
Jordan is working today within the Group of
Eleven, which was launched at the initiative of His
Majesty King Abdullah II to establish economic
cooperation and support the development process of
lower-middle income countries. We look forward to
working with other States and groups of States,
including, in particular, the Group of Eight (G-8), in
order to establish cooperation that will enable the
Group of Eleven members to preserve their economic
accomplishments and achieve a breakthrough that will
lead to success in attaining sustainable development.
Confronting extremism and terrorism requires
more effective international cooperation as well as
activating channels of cultural and religious dialogue,
especially within the United Nations system. At the
same time, there is an urgent need to refrain from
Islamophobia and from inciting animosity against this
tolerant divine religion. Today’s world requires a more
effective United Nations role in addressing
international challenges, such as human rights,
armaments, climate change, terrorism, international
crime, poverty, hunger, infectious diseases, and
increasing factional, sectarian and ethnic conflicts. In
this context, we emphasize the importance of building
upon what has been achieved, and we call for
advancing the process of reform of the United Nations
and its agencies in order to enable them to enhance
their performance. We view the reform process as vital
and of the highest priority. Jordan will continue to play
a constructive role in this area and will continue to
offer reasonable and applicable visions, especially
within the context of reforming the work mechanisms
of the Security Council.
Finally, I assure the Assembly that Jordan will
keep its commitments to the achievement of
international peace and security. The size of the
Jordanian forces participating in peacekeeping
operations and their geographically wide deployment
reflect the actual role of Jordan in the United Nations
system and reflect also its political will to help
accomplish the mission of the Organization. We take
this commitment very seriously and place the
resources, professionalism and discipline of our armed
forces at the service of international peace and security.