First of
all, I would like very warmly to congratulate you, Sir,
on your election to preside over the General Assembly
at its sixty-fourth session. I am certain that, thanks to
your recognized experience and wisdom, you will be
able to enrich our discussions and provide an
appropriate framework for our deliberations. That will
ensure that, through our joint efforts, this session is a
productive and special one that strengthens the role and
improves the work of the Organization as the principal
international body for multilateral action and the
fulcrum of our joint efforts. I should also like to
commend your predecessor, Mr. Miguel d’Escoto
Brockmann, for his efforts during the previous session,
which we appreciate. I also thank and commend His
Excellency Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
We are pleased to see concrete trends towards
enhancing multilateralism in the United Nations. We
are convinced that such a course of action is the best
and most effective way to reach agreement and take up
the complex international challenges we face. These
challenges cannot be confronted by one country on its
own, because they are transnational and complex in
nature and require concerted international action under
the auspices of a single international organization in
which all participate. Although some have doubted the
effectiveness of the United Nations and its ability to
address the challenges and problems of the twenty-first
century, there is no doubt that, because of the
universality of its membership, it remains the ideal
forum to address the current challenges facing peoples
and Governments, of which we are all aware. As we
are all aware, the current tendency to marginalize
multilateral efforts — particularly those of the United
Nations — has negative effects that only make
problems more complex, instead of helping to
overcome or resolve them.
The United Nations and its subsidiary organs
require reform, including financial and administrative
reform, so that the Organization can be fully effective
in addressing present and future international
challenges. Such challenges have arisen as a result of
structural and systemic changes since the establishment
of the Organization, as well as technological
advancements, such as the information and
communications revolution, and the well-known
effects of globalization. All of this has made the world
a global village in which everybody feels the negative
effects of problems and challenges such as
desertification, climate change, terrorism, poverty,
pandemics and the proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction.
Among the major achievements of the United
Nations is its pioneering role in seeking to eliminate
colonization and occupation in order to ensure the right
of all peoples to self-determination. Although the
Organization has assumed ongoing responsibility for
the question of Palestine, Israel has, unfortunately,
been occupying Palestinian and Arab territories since
1967 to prevent the Palestinian people from exercising
their right to self-determination by creating an
independent State on their national soil in the West
Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital, on
the basis of the line of 4 June 1967. Israel continues
also to occupy the Syrian Golan and some Lebanese
territory. For their part, the Arabs adopted the Arab
Peace Initiative at the 2002 Beirut Summit and have
reaffirmed its principles at all subsequent Arab
summits, including that held in Doha last spring.
Discussions continue on the two-State solution
and on a comprehensive peace, which would permit the
establishment of an independent Palestinian State and
enable Syria and Lebanon to recover their occupied
territories. That would provide a just and agreed
solution to the question of Palestinian refugees in
accordance with the provisions of resolution 194 (III),
45 09-52586
which would ensure peace and security, with
recognition of Israel by all Arab States. Israel
continues to reject the Arab and international option of
a just and comprehensive peace and a two-State
solution under the international terms of reference and
the Arab Peace Initiative. Therefore, a good-faith
response reflecting genuine and positive political will
must be forthcoming.
There has been unprecedented support in the
international community — including in the Arab
world and among the Palestinians — for the
considerable and sincere efforts being made by United
States President Barack Obama and his Administration
with a view to the holding of serious negotiations
leading to the two-State solution and the establishment
of a comprehensive peace in the Middle East, which
would be in the interest of the United States, Palestine,
the Arabs, the Israelis and the entire world. We in
Jordan, under the auspices of His Majesty
King Abdullah Bin Al Hussein, son of His late Majesty
King Hussein, continue to strive tirelessly to attain that
noble objective, which our people deserve.
The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan fully supports
the statement made by United States President Barack
Obama on 23 September (see ). It provided a
clear vision of a definitive solution and of terms of
reference that would end the 1967 Israeli occupation in
order to permit the establishment of a viable,
independent Palestinian State with contiguous territory,
living side by side in peace and security with Israel,
and achieve peace among Syria, Lebanon and Israel.
With regard to the political terms of reference for
negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis,
President Obama stated that the final-status issues of
security for Israelis and Palestinians, borders, refugees
and Jerusalem were key to successful negotiations. We
appreciate the importance of his comments regarding
the illegality of the settlements.
Thus, President Obama has demonstrated his firm
commitment to a two-State solution and a
comprehensive peace in the Middle East. Since his first
day in office, he has continued to seek to create a
constructive atmosphere conducive to the swift
resumption of serious negotiations, on all issues and on
all tracks.
The international community as a whole must
also shoulder its responsibility to ensure the swift
resumption of negotiations and their success. In that
connection, I wish to express our appreciation and full
support to His Excellency President Mahmoud Abbas
for his commitment to peace based on genuine
partnership, fundamental Palestinian and Arab
principles and the international framework, as well as
his sincere engagement on behalf of the Palestinian
Authority in all efforts to achieve a two-State solution,
which was demonstrated once again at the tripartite
meeting organized by President Obama in New York at
the beginning of this week.
This constructive and appropriate atmosphere has
been marred by the actions of Israel, which refuses to
halt its settlement activities, including in occupied East
Jerusalem, where it continues to take unilateral action.
Its excavations continue under and around the Al-Aqsa
mosque and other areas that are part of the Islamic and
Christian cultural heritage. It continues to demolish the
homes of Arabs and to expel them. Israel is doing this
in order to alter the demographic character of East
Jerusalem, which has an Arab religious and historical
identity. It is at the heart of the occupied territories and
is inextricable from them. The Security Council and
the General Assembly have declared those Israeli
actions null and void.
From this rostrum today, we ask Israel to return
to the peace process that everyone supports and to put
an end to its illegal measures, including its settlement
activities, in order to create an atmosphere conducive
to the resumption of serious and productive peace
negotiations on all tracks, in particular on such issues
as monitoring mechanisms that include clear timetables
and benchmarks for assessing the status of mutual
implementation once negotiations have ended.
There can be no doubt that the United Nations
has a direct role and an obligation in this regard, given
its permanent responsibility for the question of
Palestine, alongside the role of the Quartet, which we
fully support. The Organization could also play a
bigger part in the negotiations and verification
mechanisms, as well as on other crucial issues.
We reaffirm the importance of the role of the
members of the Quartet — the European Union, the
Russian Federation, the United States and the United
Nations. The blockade on Gaza must be lifted. Every
day, our people there are suffering tragically, and they
lack basic commodities. It is unacceptable and
unreasonable that the siege should continue and the
09-52586 46
situation persist. The inhumane blockade must be
ended and Gaza must be rehabilitated.
We hope that Palestinian reconciliation efforts are
successful, and we fully support Egypt’s efforts in that
regard. We should pay particular attention to the report
of the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on the
Gaza Conflict (A/HRC/12/48), and we hope that it will
promote the necessary follow-up.
The United Nations has played a central role in
establishing an international human rights protection
system and international mechanisms for promoting
human rights and fundamental freedoms. The
Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is honoured to have
been a member of the Human Rights Council twice
since its establishment. We appreciate the international
recognition of our policies on the protection of human
rights and fundamental freedoms, adopted by my
country under King Abdullah II.
In addition, the United Nations provided the
impetus for international efforts to establish the
International Criminal Court as a permanent
international judicial body to try cases of war crimes,
crimes against humanity and flagrant violations of
human rights. Jordan actively participated in the Rome
Diplomatic Conference that brought about the adoption
of the Court’s Statute. We had the privilege of chairing
the first meeting of States members of the Court.
The United Nations has also played a significant
role in codifying international humanitarian law: its
Charter prohibits recourse to the use or the threat of
use of force in international relations. The
Organization subsequently supported the adoption of
the major international conventions on that issue, in
particular the four Geneva Conventions, of which we
are marking the sixtieth anniversary, as well as the
1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural
Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.
The United Nations has made great progress on
the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction,
in particular nuclear weapons, through the unlimited
extension in 1995 of the Treaty on the
Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). Here,
we call for compliance with the other decisions
accompanying the decision to extend the NPT from
1995 and for recognition of the Middle East region as a
zone free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of
mass destruction.
We affirm our country’s commitment to the
Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons,
while also reaffirming our legitimate right to the
peaceful use of nuclear energy and to strengthening
control mechanisms that would prevent peaceful
programmes from being used as a cover for military
ones. We are resolved to make peaceful use of nuclear
energy, and we have adopted all the agreements,
documents and verification mechanisms of the
International Atomic Energy Agency.
The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan supports all
international efforts to bring into force the
Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. We encourage
countries to adopt and ratify the Treaty so that it may
enter into force as soon as possible, which would be a
step forward towards nuclear disarmament. We call for
adherence to Security Council resolution 1887 (2009),
adopted on 24 September.
My country has always been and will remain at
the forefront in the fight against terrorism and
extremism and in working to bring religions and
civilizations closer together, as well as in transmitting
the true and admirable essence of Islam and its noble
human values. We have therefore adopted important
initiatives, including the Amman Message issued by
His Majesty the King, and its accompanying document,
the Good Word.
Jordan supports comprehensive national
reconciliation in Iraq among all segments of the
population, with no exception. It supports efforts to
consolidate peace and security in Iraq in all spheres so
as to ensure civil peace, territorial integrity, political
independence and sovereignty and to stop all external
interference in its internal affairs so that that brother
country can fully recover its place in the region and in
the world at large.
Finally, Jordan is committed to international
peace and security. We participate actively in
peacekeeping operations. The number of personnel that
we contribute to the various peacekeeping operations
in which we are taking part is growing and becoming
geographically broader. This demonstrates that we are
truly playing an active role in the United Nations,
because we are backing up our words with action. It
also shows our clear political resolve to contribute to
serious multilateral action within the United Nations
system.
47 09-52586
I would like to reiterate that we will do what is
necessary, and more, to strengthen multilateral
international action for efforts to implement a two-
State solution and to achieve comprehensive peace in
the Middle East, and for anything that contributes to
international cooperation and to bringing together
diverse civilizations, which would enrich the lives of
our societies in the world that we share.