UNITED
NATIONS
GENERAL
ASSEMBLY
News and Highlights from the President
President
presided over the plenary meeting today
20 December 2001
Dr. Han presided over the plenary meeting this morning. The General Assembly met to take up two items on Afghanistan, namely “ Emergency international assistance for peace, normalcy and reconstruction of war-stricken Afghanistan” and “The situation in Afghanistan and its implications for international peace and security. Action on the draft resolution was postponed pending a review of the programme budget implications.
At three o’clock, there was a resumption of the tenth emergency special session on the issue: “Illegal Israeli actions in Occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territory”. The resumption was requested by Egypt as Chairman of the Arab Group and on behalf of the League of Arab States and by South Africa as Chair of the Non-Aligned Movement. A bit of background to the session: The Tenth Emergency session dates back to 1997 when Israel began construction of a new settlement south of East Jerusalem. The Security Council met twice on this issue but failed to adopt two resolutions. Using the “Uniting for Peace” formula, a special emergency session of the General Assembly was convened in April and again in July and November of 1997. It also resumed in 1998, 1999 and 2000.
The Assembly voted
on two draft resolutions, both of which were adopted with sizable majorities.