First, I
would like to congratulate Mr. Joseph Deiss on his
election to preside over the General Assembly at its
sixty-fifth session and to thank his predecessor for his
able management of the Assembly’s work at its
previous session. I also wish to express my
appreciation to His Excellency Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon for his valuable report on the various
aspects of the work of our international Organization
(A/65/1).
This is the first time I have addressed this
Assembly since Lebanon was elected a non-permanent
member of the Security Council for the 2010-2011
term. That status confers on us responsibilities that
Lebanon is proud to assume in service of its causes and
the just causes of the Arab world, and in the service of
justice and peace around the world. In that context, I
would like to commend the efforts and commitments
undertaken as a result of the high-level meeting of the
Security Council (6389th meeting) aimed at increasing
the effectiveness of its role and enabling it to
implement its resolutions without resorting to double
standards.
Moreover, we welcome the statement issued after
the Assembly’s High-level Plenary Meeting on
implementation of the Millennium Development Goals,
which contribute to alleviating poverty, promoting
education and improving health services. We also
commend the progress achieved by the United Nations
in strengthening the role of women, an issue to which
Lebanon attaches special importance, in line with its
enlightened role in that regard. Indeed, Lebanon was
among the first countries in our region to grant women
the right to vote in legislative elections, in 1953.
Despite the growing and important role the
United Nations plays in the field of socio-economic
development, our Organization remains, in essence, a
political organization, one that was created primarily to
maintain international peace and security and to protect
humanity from the scourge of the wars and conflicts
that had befallen it and that had blocked progress and
development over successive periods of history.
In that context, since the outbreak of the Arab-
Israeli conflict the United Nations has not hesitated to
address that issue and has adopted a series of
resolutions aimed at reinstating peoples’ rights and
consolidating the pillars of peace and development.
However, those efforts abated and faded in the face of
Israel’s intransigence and its obvious inclination to
expand and to implement a settlement policy. Indeed,
to this day Israel refuses to join the Treaty on the Non-
Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and to place all of its
nuclear facilities under the comprehensive safeguards
regime of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
We welcome the current growing international
awareness of the urgent need to find a settlement,
within set time frames, to the Middle East problem,
with the Palestinian issue at its heart, and to revive
efforts to reach such a settlement. However, decades of
experience show that a genuine, permanent solution for
the Middle East problem is impossible unless it is a
just and comprehensive solution, one that addresses all
aspects of the conflict on all tracks.
Also, such a solution is impossible unless the
international community musters the necessary
determination to move from making declarations on
guiding principles towards working to ensure the
appropriate means for implementation, while
promoting the elements that would lead to a solution
based on internationally legitimate resolutions, the
Madrid terms of reference and all the provisions of the
Arab Peace Initiative. We highlight in particular those
provisions that ensure a rejection of any settlement by
Palestinian refugees in Arab host countries, since the
circumstances of those countries do not allow for such
settlement.
In fact, Lebanon has frequently declared that it
will not accept any form of settlement of Palestinian
refugees on its territories. That is due to the reasons
11 10-54959
and considerations I emphasized in the Security
Council yesterday (see S/PV.6389), and is especially
true because such settlement would entail dangerous
repercussions and would threaten security and the
pillars of stability. It is important to note that the issue
of Palestinian refugees cannot be solved through
isolated Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in a way that
disregards Lebanon and other concerned host
countries.
At this point, we must reiterate that the primary
responsibility for guaranteeing decent living conditions
for and the well-being of the Palestinian refugees falls
on the shoulders of the international community. We
also reiterate that increasing the contributions to the
budget of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency
for Palestine Refugees in the Near East — which was
created specifically for that purpose in 1949 — would
guarantee a life of dignity for Palestinian refugees,
under the sovereignty of the host countries and with
their assistance, without extremism or violence.
On the other hand, Lebanon once again condemns
international terrorism, from which it has suffered in
different ways. Lebanon cooperates with the
international community in combating terrorism and
supports the calls to explore measures to clearly define
terrorism and address its root causes in order to clearly
distinguish it from legitimate resistance to foreign
occupation, which is recognized by the United Nations
Charter and relevant resolutions.
While Lebanon is committed to Security Council
resolution 1701 (2006) and seeks to compel Israel to
implement all its provisions, Israel continues its daily
violations of Lebanese airspace, territory and waters,
violations that the Secretary-General has described as
provocative in many of his reports. Moreover, the
Israeli spy networks and recruitment of agents aimed at
sowing strife and destabilizing our country have
reached a point where the international community
must take a firm position and thwart those acts of
Israeli aggression and persistent threats against
Lebanon, its people and its infrastructure.
The international community must also compel
Israel to withdraw from the Lebanese territories that it
still occupies in the Sheba’a farms area, the hills of
Kfar Shuba, and the northern part of Al-Ghajar village,
without delay or preconditions. In that regard, it is
important to note that we retain our right to retrieve or
liberate our remaining occupied territories by all
legitimate and available means.
Furthermore, Lebanon looks forward to receiving
more financial and technical support to pursue the
removal of mines and cluster bombs that were
randomly planted by Israel in residential areas during
the aggression of July 2006 and the periods of its
occupation of Lebanese territories. Within the
appropriate framework, Lebanon will spare no efforts
to seek to compel Israel to compensate for all the
losses and damage it caused Lebanon throughout its
successive aggressions.
In the face of Israel’s designs and in keeping with
international law, Lebanon also wishes to assert its
right to use its waters, oil and natural gas wealth,
especially as it plans to exploit those resources within
the limits of its exclusive economic zone. Parts of the
southern border of that zone were delineated as shown
on the map that the Lebanese Government submitted to
the Secretariat on 9 July 2010.
While we commend the efforts and sacrifices
made by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon,
which operates in south Lebanon, and while we are
keen to continue that arrangement, we re-emphasize
the importance of continued coordination and
cooperation between the Lebanese army and the
international forces, in accordance with the agreed
rules of engagement, in order to ensure the proper
implementation of the mission entrusted to those
forces. That cooperation is matched only by arrogant
and provocative Israeli positions that are the root
causes of the incidents that occur every once in a while
along the Blue Line and that, with some work, could be
prevented.
During the past few years, Lebanon has strived to
maintain its internal stability through dialogue, by
completing its implementation of the Taif Accords, by
resorting to legal institutions to resolve any disputes,
and through its commitment to the resolutions of the
Security Council and other internationally legitimate
resolutions. Lebanon was keen to meet all
constitutional deadlines without any delays, whether
for municipal or parliamentary elections. Those
elections took place in a free, transparent and calm
atmosphere, in accordance with the requirements of
democracy and the principle of the peaceful devolution
of power.
10-54959 12
In addition, Lebanon undertook efforts to prevent
any external aggression by seeking to compel Israel to
implement Security Council resolution 1701 (2006)
and by mobilizing all its national deterrence
capabilities within the framework of its national
defence strategy.
As we vow to persevere with that solid approach,
no matter the dangers, with the support of the free and
conscious will of the Lebanese people and the support
of friendly and sisterly States, we are confident that
Lebanon will always be open to dialogue and to
civilized, rich and innovative interaction. We remain
loyal to our mission and committed to strengthening
the state of justice and law, despite all challenges, and
to upholding the values of freedom, democracy and
concord — values our country has based itself on since
its inception.