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A. Maintenance of international peace and security

Question of Palestine

This item, which had been on the agenda of the second and third sessions of the General Assembly, was included in the agenda of the twenty-ninth session, in 1974, at the request of 55 Member States (A/9742 and Corr.1 and Add.1, 2, 3 and 4). At that session, the Assembly invited the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the representative of the Palestinian people, to participate in its deliberations on the question of Palestine in plenary meetings (resolution 3210 (XXIX)). At the same session, the Assembly reaffirmed the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people in Palestine, emphasizing that their realization was indispensable for the solution of the question of Palestine (resolution 3236 (XXIX)). The Assembly also invited the PLO to participate, in the capacity of observer, in its sessions and its work and in all international conferences convened under its auspices; and considered that the PLO was similarly entitled with regard to all international conferences convened by other organs of the United Nations (resolution 3237 (XXIX)).

At its thirtieth session, the General Assembly called for the invitation of the PLO to participate on an equal footing with other parties in all efforts, deliberations and conferences on the Middle East that were held under the auspices of the United Nations and to take part in the Geneva Peace Conference on the Middle East as well as in all other efforts for peace (resolution 3375 (XXX)). At the same session, the Assembly established the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People; requested the Committee to consider and recommend to the Assembly a programme of implementation, designed to enable the Palestinian people to exercise the rights previously recognized; and requested the Security Council to consider the question of the exercise by the Palestinian people of their inalienable rights (resolution 3376 (XXX)).

The General Assembly considered the item on the question of Palestine at its thirty-first to sixty-first sessions(resolutions 31/20, 32/40 A and B, 33/28 A to C, 34/65 A to D, 35/169 A to E, 36/120 A to F, 37/86 A to E, 38/58 A to E, 39/49 A to D, 40/96 A to D, 41/43 A to D, 42/66 A to D, 43/175 A to C, 43/176, 43/177, 44/2, 44/41 A to C, 44/42, 45/67 A to C, 45/68, 45/69, 46/74 A to C, 46/75, 46/76, 47/64 A to E, 48/158 A to D, 49/62 A to D, 50/84 A to D, 51/23, 51/24, 51/25, 51/26, 52/49, 52/50, 52/51, 52/52, 53/39, 53/40, 53/41, 53/42, 54/39, 54/40, 54/41, 54/42, 55/52, 55/53, 55/54, 55/55, 56/33, 56/34, 56/35, 56/36, 57/107, 57/108, 57/109, 57/110, 58/18, 58/19, 58/20, 58/21, 59/28, 59/29, 59/30, 59/31, 60/36, 60/37, 60/38 and 60/39 and 61/22 to 61/25).

At its thirty-first session, the General Assembly endorsed the recommendations of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (resolution 31/20). At its subsequent sessions, the Assembly considered the item on the question of Palestine, reaffirmed the Committee’s mandate and requested the Committee to continue its work.

At its thirty-second session, the General Assembly requested the Secretary-General to establish within the Secretariat a Special Unit on Palestinian Rights, which would prepare, under the Committee’s guidance, studies and publications relating to the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and would organize, in consultation with the Committee, commencing in 1978, the annual observance of 29 November as the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People (resolution 32/40 B). The Assembly, at its thirty-fourth session, requested the Secretary-General to redesignate the Special Unit as the Division for Palestinian Rights, with an expanded mandate of work (resolution 34/65 D).

At its forty-third session, the General Assembly acknowledged the proclamation of the State of Palestine by the Palestine National Council on 15 November 1988; and decided that, effective as at 15 December 1988, the designation “Palestine” should be used in place of the designation “Palestine Liberation Organization” in the United Nations system, without prejudice to the observer status and functions of the PLO within the United Nations system, in conformity with relevant United Nations resolutions and practice (resolution 43/177).

At its sixty-second session, the General Assembly requested the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People to continue to exert all efforts to promote the realization of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, to support the Middle East peace process and to mobilize international support for and assistance to the Palestinian people, and authorized the Committee to make such adjustments in its approved programme of work as it might consider appropriate and necessary in the light of developments and to report thereon to the Assembly at its sixty-third session and thereafter (resolution 62/80).

At the same session, the General Assembly requested the Division for Palestinian Rights of the Secretariat, as part of the observance of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People on 29 November, to continue to organize, under the guidance of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, an annual exhibit on Palestinian rights or a cultural event in cooperation with the Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine to the United Nations (resolution 62/81).

The General Assembly also requested, at its sixty-second session, the Department of Public Information of the Secretariat, in full cooperation and coordination with the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, to continue its special information programme for the biennium 2008-2009, in particular, inter alia, to strengthen the annual training programme for Palestinian broadcasters and journalists (resolution 62/82).

Also at its sixty-second session, the General Assembly called upon the parties to the conflict to sustain and accelerate direct peace negotiations towards the conclusion of a final peaceful settlement on the basis of relevant United Nations resolutions, especially at the Security Council, the terms of reference of the Madrid Conference, the road map (S/2003/529, annex) and the Arab Peace Initiative; called upon both parties to fulfil their obligations in respect of the implementation of the road map by taking parallel and reciprocal steps in that regard; stressed the need for a speedy end to the reoccupation of Palestinian population centres, inter alia, by easing movement and access, including by the removal of checkpoints within the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and the need for respect and preservation of the territorial unity, contiguity and integrity of all of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem; also stressed the need for an immediate and complete cessation of all acts of violence, including military attacks, destruction and acts of terror; further stressed the need for the full implementation by both parties of the Agreement on Movement and Access and the Agreed Principles for the Rafah Crossing, of 15 November 2005, and the need, in specific, to allow for the opening of all crossings into and out of the Gaza Strip for humanitarian supplies, movement and access as well as for commercial flows; called upon Israel, the occupying Power, to cease all of its measures that were contrary to international law and unilateral actions in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, that were aimed at altering the character and status of the Territory, including via the de facto annexation of land, and thus at prejudging the final outcome of peace negotiations; demanded that Israel, the occupying Power, comply with its legal obligations under international law, as mentioned in the advisory opinion and as demanded in resolution ES-10/13 and ES-10/15 and, inter alia, that it immediately cease its construction of the wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and called upon all States Members of the United Nations to comply with their legal obligations, as mentioned in the advisory opinion; reiterated its demand for the complete cessation of all Israeli settlement activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan, and called for the full implementation of the relevant Security Council resolutions; reaffirmed its commitment in accordance with international law, to the two-State solution of Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security within recognized borders, based on the pre-1967 borders; stressed the need for the withdrawal of Israel from the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, and for the realization of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, primarily the right to self-determination and the right to their independent State; also stressed the need for justly resolving the problem of Palestine refugees in conformity with its resolution 194 (III); urged Member States to expedite the provision of economic, humanitarian and technical assistance to the Palestinian people and the Palestinian Authority; and requested the Secretary-General to continue his efforts with the parties concerned, and in consultation with the Security Council, towards the attainment of a peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine and the promotion of peace in the region and to submit to the Assembly at its sixty-third session a report on those efforts and on developments on the matter (resolution 62/83).

Documents:

References for the sixty-first session (agenda item 18)

Related links :

Source: A/63/100