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1 DECEMBER 1999

After hearing 11 speakers this morning on the situation in the Middle East, the General Assembly voted on two draft resolutions on the subject. At the time of the briefing, the Assembly had begun taking action on four drafts on the question of Palestine.

The two draft resolutions on the situation in the Middle East relate to Jerusalem (A/54/L.40) and to the Syrian Golan (A/54/L.41). By adopting the text on Jerusalem, by a recorded vote of 139 in favour to 1 against (Israel), with 3 abstentions (Swaziland, United States, Uzbekistan), the Assembly determined that Israel’s decision to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration on the Holy City of Jerusalem is illegal and therefore null and void; it deplored the transfer by some States of their diplomatic missions to Jerusalem in violation of Security Council resolution 478 (1980), and it again called upon them to abide by the relevant resolutions in conformity with the United Nations Charter.

By adopting the text on the Syrian Golan, by a recorded vote of 92 in favour to 2 against (Israel, United States), with 53 abstentions, the Assembly called on Israel to resume the talks on the Syrian and Lebanese tracks and to respect the commitments and undertakings reached during the previous talks; called upon all the parties concerned, the co-sponsors and the entire international community to exert all the necessary efforts to ensure the resumption of the peace process and its success; and demanded once more that Israel withdraw from all the occupied Syrian Golan to the line of 4 June 1967 in implementation of the relevant Security Council resolutions. Lebanon and Israel spoke in exercise of the right of reply.

The four texts on the question of Palestine deal with the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (A/54/L.42), the Division for Palestinian Rights (A/54/L.43), the Department of Public Information’s special information programme on the question of Palestine (A/54/L.44), and the peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine (A/54/L.45). In an explanation of vote before the vote, the United States said it opposed all four drafts.

By adopting the draft on the Palestinian Rights Committee, the Assembly would authorize the Committee to continue to exert all efforts to promote the exercise of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, and to give special emphasis to the need to mobilize support and assistance for the Palestinian people. By adopting the text on the Division for Palestinian Rights, the Assembly would request the Secretary-General to continue to provide the Division with the necessary resources and to ensure that it continued to carry out its programme of work as detailed in the relevant earlier resolutions.

By adopting the draft on DPI’s special information programme on the question of Palestine, the Assembly would request DPI to continue that programme for the biennium 2000-2001, and to promote the Bethlehem 2000 Project, within existing resources. And by adopting the text on peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine, the Assembly would express its full support for the ongoing peace process; note with satisfaction the commencement of the negotiations on the final settlement, and call upon the parties, the co-sponsors and others to exert all the necessary efforts and initiatives to ensure the continuity and success of the peace process, and its conclusion by the agreed time.

This afternoon, the Assembly will take action on 48 draft resolutions and four draft decisions contained in 22 reports of the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security (A/54/551-572). One report, A/54/563, on general and complete disarmament, alone contains 22 draft resolutions. Recorded votes are expected on 22 of the 52 texts.

Yesterday afternoon, the Assembly’s programme for Monday, 6 December, was announced. As the first item in the morning, the Assembly will take up the third report of the General Committee (A/54/250/Add.2), concerning an additional item entitled "International recognition of the Day of Vesak". The Assembly will also consider two notes from the Secretary-General (A/54/236 and A/54/624), dealing, respectively, with an additional item entitled "Financing of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor" and with the need to reopen agenda item 15 (c), on the election of members of the International Court of Justice, in light of the vacancy that will occur in the Court as of 29 February 2000 with the resignation of Judge Stephen Schwebel, its President. As the last item for that morning, the Assembly will take up item 167, "Cooperation between the United Nations and the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization. In that connection, the Assembly will have before it draft resolution A/54/L.48, which will replace draft resolution A/54/L.5 and the amendment contained in A/54/L.10 which were withdrawn.

The Second Committee (Economic and Financial), at two meetings today, is taking action on a number of draft texts dealing with specific actions related to the particular needs and problems of landlocked developing countries; science and technology for development; women in development; developing human resources for development; international migration and development; conservation and sustainable development of Central African forest ecosystems; implementation of and follow-up to the outcome of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development and the nineteenth special session of the General Assembly; the Convention on Biological Diversity; protection of global climate for present and future generations of mankind; implementation of the outcome of the Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States; cooperation between the United Nations and the Southern African Development Community; and linkages and synergies among environmental and environment-related conventions.

Addressing this morning’s observance of World AIDS Day, Assembly President Theo-Ben Gurirab said that for the first time in history, millions of children are being orphaned because of AIDS. Had they lived in wealthy parts of North America or Europe, their fate would already have been declared a human tragedy. Instead, most of the victims live in Africa, a continent scarred by oppression, poverty, disease and shattered by back-breaking debt burden, fratricidal wars and recurrent hunger. As the disease wipes out Africa’s advances, the continent is rushing headlong into an almost indescribable development catastrophe. Africa has very little margin for manoeuvre in the face of a new crisis – that of AIDS orphans, he said, adding that Africa cannot begin to face this crisis alone. Copies of his statement are available in room 378.

The President met this morning with the Permanent Representative of Belgium, Ambassador Andre Adam, to discuss Security Council reform. He will attend the luncheon in observance of World AIDS Day, as well as this evening’s activities at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel.