Special Political and Decolonization Committee
(Fourth Committee)
Summary record of the 12th meeting
Held at Headquarters, New York, on Wednesday, 20 October 2010, at 3 p.m.
Chairperson: Ms. Zamora (Vice-Chairperson) …………………………………………………… (Costa Rica)
Contents
The meeting was called to order at 3.10 p.m.
Agenda item 54: Questions relating to information (continued) (A/65/21 and A/65/277)
/…
7. Mr. Hamed (Syrian Arab Republic) …
/…
9. His delegation urged the Department to make greater efforts in monitoring the issue of Palestine, in view of the decades-long suffering of the Palestinian people under Israeli occupation and the systematic violation by Israel of human rights, international humanitarian law and relevant United Nations resolutions. The Department should continue to implement its special information programme on the question of Palestine.
/…
21. Mr. Selim (Egypt) …
/…
25. His delegation encouraged the Department to continue with its programmes on economic and social development, particularly in Africa, and its special information programme on the question of Palestine. It reaffirmed the role of the Department in promoting international efforts to achieve a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East by providing a comprehensive and objective media service, faithfully reporting developments on the ground and supporting efforts to end the Israeli occupation and achieve the legitimate demands of the Palestinian people for an independent State with East Jerusalem as its capital and Israeli withdrawal from all occupied Syrian and Lebanese territories.
/…
32. Mr. Cohen (Israel) …
/…
34. The limited resources of the United Nations, including those of the Department, must be used as efficiently as possible. Israel was disappointed in the special information programme on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which continued to present a one-sided and distorted picture of the facts on the ground in the Middle East. While not opposing, in principle, an information programme on the issue, Israel would continue to refuse to cooperate with the programme as long as its mandate remained one-sided and biased against Israel.
35. Mr. Belkheir (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya) …
/…
37. The United Nations discourse must be in harmony with the global objectives which the Organization was striving to achieve, including environmental protection, climate change and United Nations reform. The Department must publicize the international and regional impact of the issue of the Palestinian people, who had been living under the yoke of occupation for more than 60 years. It should reflect the terrible images of the tragedy which the Palestinians experienced on a daily basis. His delegation asked why the Department had ignored the impact of the Palestinian issue on issues of international peace and security and why it presented the Palestinian issue as one of conflict between two parties, ignoring the reality that the basis of the dispute was the occupation of Palestinian Arab land by people who had come from around the world.
/…
55. Mr. Tharoor (India), …
/…
61. … His delegation commended the Department’s role in maintaining awareness of the long-pending question of Palestine; India attached great importance to the fulfilment of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.
/…
63. Mr. Ulibarri (Costa Rica) …
/…
64. … The Department of Public Information had done excellent work with regard to the Millennium Development Goals and peacekeeping and through its media seminars and training programmes for Palestinian journalists. …
/…
75. Mr. Al-Shamisi (United Arab Emirates) …
/…
78. His delegation called on the Department to strengthen reporting on developments in the Palestinian issue, the situation in the Middle East, and the suffering of the Palestinian people as a result of Israeli policies which led to the absorption of more Arab land and resources on a daily basis, the killing and wounding of dozens of innocent people, the destruction of property and starvation of the people, in the most shocking violation of the principles of human rights and relevant resolutions and of international law.
79. Mr. Kanaan (Observer for Palestine) stressed the importance of the special information programme on the question of Palestine, which played a key role in raising the awareness of the international community about the Palestinian issue and the Middle East situation, which were issues of high priority on the United Nations agenda. The programme also helped build support for the rights of the Palestinian people and their efforts to achieve a just, peaceful, lasting and comprehensive settlement on the basis of the relevant resolutions of the United Nations, the terms of reference of the peace process and the Arab Peace Initiative. His delegation commended the Department for organizing international media seminars, the most recent of which had been held in Lisbon in July 2010 on the role of the media, as well as the role of women, in advancing the Middle East peace process. It hoped that the Department would consider holding these seminars biannually.
80. In its address to the 32nd session of the Committee on Information, his delegation had stressed that the wide spectrum of issues relating to human rights for which the Palestine, Decolonization and Human Rights Section was responsible must not adversely affect the special information programme on the question of Palestine. It had noted that the General Assembly’s request to the Department to organize fact-finding missions for journalists to the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, and to Israel, and to expand the collection of audio-visual materials on Palestine, had not been implemented. It hoped that the Department would receive sufficient funding and staff to enable it to carry out its tasks.
81. It is delegation was concerned about the link on the United Nations website to the question of Palestine, which used to appear clearly on the home page but had been removed and replaced by a link to the “situation in the Middle East”. It hoped that the Department would restore the original link on the United Nations home page. His delegation stressed the importance of the Department’s annual programmes for Palestinian broadcasters and journalists from the occupied Palestinian territories.
82. The Israeli occupation forces continue to target, in a systematic and planned manner, journalists who reported on the bitter daily reality and the truth of Israel’s illegal, aggressive and destructive policies and practices in the occupied Palestinian territories. Those practices included the use of rubber bullets and tear gas against Palestinian and foreign journalists and photographers covering peaceful demonstrations and protests in Palestinian towns and villages against Israel’s construction of the racist annexation wall and illegal settlements. His delegation called upon the Committee and concerned international organizations to protect Palestinian and foreign journalists and ensure that they were able to carry out their work without the restriction of Israeli censorship and the threat of the use of military force against them. It affirmed the need to hold Israel accountable for all the war crimes committed against the Palestinian people, including against journalists and broadcasters.
83. The Palestinian Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology devoted considerable attention to the development of the information technology sector. His delegation called upon the international community to support the Palestinian demand for the right of direct access to information and communications services and for Israel to stop immediately its unlawful interference with the Palestinian frequency spectrum, so that Palestinian networks can be established within the framework of State institution-building.
84. The special information programme on the question of Palestine had an effective role to play in helping to create a favourable environment for ending Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land and enabling the Palestinian people to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination and establish a Palestinian State, with East Jerusalem as its capital. It is only in that way that a just, lasting and comprehensive peace could be achieved and, with it, security, stability and opportunities for development and prosperity for all the peoples of the region.
The meeting rose at 5.50 p.m.
This record is subject to correction. Corrections should be sent under the signature of a member of the delegation concerned within one week of the date of publication to the Chief of the Official Records Editing Section, room DC2-750, 2 United Nations Plaza, and incorporated in a copy of the record.
Corrections will be issued after the end of the session, in a separate corrigendum for each Committee.
Document Type: Summary record
Document Sources: General Assembly Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization)
Subject: Agenda Item, Palestine question, Public information
Publication Date: 20/10/2010