I
congratulate you, Sir, on your election to the
presidency of the General Assembly. I wish you every
success in your noble mission and recognize your long
experience in international political affairs. I also
extend our greetings and thanks to former President,
His Excellency Father Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann,
whose positions and active efforts reflected the spirit
and principles of this international organization, which
is headed by His Excellency Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon, whom I also salute. I express our
appreciation for everything he has done personally and
through the organs and agencies of the United Nations,
notably the United Nations Relief and Works Agency
for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), to
assist the Palestinian people and defend their rights.
During this session we have a full agenda before
us. The peoples of the whole world are looking to this
body to determine what can be done to save our planet
from the effects of climate change and global warming
and to address the world financial crisis. Many
countries, including small and developing countries,
see the need to reform the United Nations, including
the Security Council, so as to reflect the reality of the
current international situation and to ensure more
comprehensive representation of the international
community.
These common concerns must not overshadow
the fact that serious problems face the Middle East
region in particular, first and foremost the lack of
commitment to the Charter of the United Nations and
the extent to which the resolutions of the General
Assembly and the Security Council are actually being
implemented without the application of double
standards. Everyone agrees on the need to achieve
peace in the Middle East, to counter extremism and
violence, and to establish the region as a zone free of
nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass
destruction. Yet the larger wound and deeper tragedy
remains the suffering of our Palestinian people since
the Nakba — the catastrophe — more than 60 years
ago, to which the United Nations is a living witness. Its
archives contain not dozens but hundreds of resolutions
that have not been implemented.
The suffering of the Palestinian people as a result
of Israel’s settler occupation is crystal clear to the
world. Since the occupation of the West Bank and the
Gaza Strip, including East Jerusalem, in 1967, Israel
has continued with its settlement policy on all
Palestinian land, especially in holy Jerusalem, where
that policy is being accelerated and escalated by many
means, including the seizure of the homes of
Palestinians in the city, the imposition of restrictions,
even preventing Palestinians from building and
sometimes from repairing their homes while new
settlement neighbourhoods are established. Jerusalem
is becoming completely isolated from its surroundings
because of the illegal settlements and the apartheid
wall.
We now face a unique situation. If international
law stipulates the inadmissibility of the acquisition of
the territory of others by force, how can we then deal
with the current situation where Israeli settlement
policies are undermining the goal of establishing a
geographically contiguous Palestinian State in
implementation of the will of the international
consensus? That consensus is reflected in the many
resolutions and principles, including the Road Map,
which we all agreed upon and which is based on the
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principle of land for peace and on an end to the
occupation that began in 1967.
Immense efforts have been exerted and many
conferences have been held over the years, particularly
since the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993. Yet all
of this has not led to an end to the conflict. President
Barack Obama gave much hope to our people and the
peoples of the region when he announced his vision for
a peace agreement on the basis of a two-State solution
and the cessation of all settlement activities. We
welcomed the active American diplomacy to revive the
peace process and all efforts of the international
Quartet and its members: the United Nations, the
European Union, the Russian Federation and the
United States.
All these active efforts and initiatives, which
have been welcomed and supported by us and by the
Arab States, are however confronted by the
intransigence of Israel, which refuses to adhere to the
requirements for relaunching the peace process. How is
it conceivable that negotiations can be held on the
borders and on Jerusalem while Israeli bulldozers are
working to change the reality on the ground with the
aim of creating a new reality and imposing the borders
that Israel desires? How can one conceive of holding
negotiations without agreement on the terms of
reference and the objective of those negotiations,
which the whole world has unanimously agreed upon,
namely ending the Israeli occupation of the territories
occupied in 1967, establishing the State of Palestine,
with Jerusalem as its capital, reaching a just and agreed
upon solution to the question of Palestinian refugees on
the basis of resolution 194 (III) of 1948, and achieving
peace on all the Palestinian, Syrian and Lebanese
tracks, as affirmed in the Arab Peace Initiative, which
provides a precious opportunity that must be seized to
achieve peace?
In this regard, I should like to express our deep
appreciation of the important speech delivered to the
Assembly by President Obama two days ago (see
), in which he affirmed the necessity of
ending the occupation that began in 1967 and the
illegitimacy of the settlements. He also stressed the
need to establish an independent, sovereign and viable
Palestinian State and to address all the final-status
issues in the negotiations, foremost among these
Jerusalem, refugees, borders, water and settlements,
along with others. We reiterate that adherence to these
principles, in addition to a complete freeze on all
settlement activities, can salvage the peace process and
open horizons for its success.
I reaffirm the eagerness of the Palestine
Liberation Organization to achieve a just, lasting and
comprehensive peace in accordance with the
resolutions of international legitimacy. At the same
time, I caution that the settlement policy and the
building of the separation wall, which continue to be
pursued by the Israeli occupation, will abort
opportunities to relaunch the peace process. Time is
running out and the risks are becoming greater as a
result of the continued suffering of the Palestinian
people under the last remaining occupation in the
world.
We call upon the international community to
uphold international law and international legitimacy
and to exert pressure on Israel to cease its settlement
activities, to comply with the agreements it has signed,
to cease its policies of occupation and colonial
settlement, to release the approximately 11,000
prisoners and detainees and to lift the unjust siege
imposed on the Gaza Strip, which was subjected
months ago to devastating aggression claiming
thousands of civilian casualties among and causing
unprecedented destruction of infrastructure and public
facilities, including hospitals, mosques, schools and
even United Nations facilities.
Our people, which continues to demand its rights
and to be determined to remain in its homeland despite
all of the suffering caused by the detentions, the
blockade and the killings, is also keen to end internal
division and to restore national unity. Our sister, Egypt,
is making commendable efforts to achieve that goal.
In spite of all our suffering from the occupation
and its practices, we continue to work to build and
develop our national institutions. We have made
significant progress in this regard both in upholding the
rule of law and public order and in promoting
economic and social development, despite the harsh
conditions of the occupation and the blockade. We
continue to make every possible effort for the success
of the efforts of our brothers in Egypt to end the
ongoing coup in the Gaza Strip and to restore our
national unity by resorting to the ballot box and
holding presidential and legislative elections on their
constitutional date under the supervision and control of
Arab and Islamic countries, the United Nations and the
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international community. In that way, democracy will
be firmly institutionalized in our political life.
Hope will remain alive in our souls and we will
not despair of regaining our rights on the basis of
relevant resolutions of the United Nations, the historic
role of which we reaffirm for attaining peace and
upholding the principle of “might for right” and not
“right for might”.
From this rostrum, I conclude by reaffirming our
commitment to the Road Map, the Arab Peace
Initiative and to all terms of reference of the political
process. We call upon all parties to respect and abide
by them to provide the opportunity to launch a
successful and effective peace process. We are
confident that all our brothers in sisterly Arab countries
will adhere to the Arab Peace Initiative as a basis for
safeguarding our rights and opening the way towards
genuine peaceful relations with Israel once the
occupation is ended and the independent State of
Palestine is established.