Mideast situation/Palestine question – SecCo meeting – Verbatim record

Provisional

Security Council

Fifty-seventh year 

4625th meeting

Wednesday, 16 October 2002, 10 a.m.

New York

Agenda

The situation between Iraq and Kuwait

Letter dated 10 October 2002 from the Permanent Representative of South Africa to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council (S/2002/1132).

   The meeting was called to order at 10.10 a.m.

Adoption of the agenda

  The agenda was adopted.

  The situation between Iraq and Kuwait

/…

  The next speaker on my list is the representative of Iraq, to whom I give the floor.

 Mr. Aldouri (Iraq) ( spoke in Arabic ): …

/…

The war hysteria that seems to have hit the current American Government is fed by hatred and by a desire to settle old accounts and impose its hegemony on the world politically, militarily, and economically. The United States is not interested in the implementation of the Security Council resolutions, for the United States of America is the main ally of Israel, which has refused to implement more than twenty-eight Security Council resolutions and scores of General Assembly resolutions that have called on Israel to withdraw from occupied Arab territories and to allow Palestinian refugees to return to their homes. The United States of America has been providing Israel with state-of-the-art weapons to kill the heroic Palestinian people and destroy their property.

/…

There is therefore absolutely no need for the adoption a new Security Council resolution. The attempts being made by the United States of America to hamper and delay the return of the inspectors and to make the Security Council adopt a new resolution laying down conditions that are impossible to respect are but a pretext for aggression against Iraq. The goal of that aggression is the colonization of our country and the imposition of American domination over our oil, as a first step towards the imposition of American colonialism in the region as a whole and the control of its oil and towards allowing Israel to continue its genocidal war against the Palestinian people and its aggression against the Arab countries.

/…

The President ( spoke in French ): I thank the representative of Kuwait for his kind words addressed to me. The next speaker inscribed on my list is the representative of Yemen. I invite him to take a seat at the Council table and to make his statement.

Mr. Alsaidi (Yemen) (spoke in Arabic ): At the outset, we would like to thank the delegation of South Africa for requesting an open meeting of the Council on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement. It is not without significance that this meeting is convened following a request from the current chair of the Non-Aligned Movement, which encompasses the majority of the world’s nations in an association whose only purpose is its declared aspiration to achieve security and well-being for all peoples of the world.

It is not an overstatement to say that peoples’ eyes are fixed on this Chamber in the hope that signals of peace will be heard rather than omens of war and destruction. Above all, it is the Arab peoples who continue to yearn for an end to external interventions that persist in the shadow of the long tragedy of the Palestinian people. It seems that this issue has not merited the attention of the members of this Council, despite the scenes of Israeli terrorism and the trail of destruction and killing left in its wake, as projected by the mass media before the eyes of the international community and people all over the world.

/…

An Arab proverb says: the people of Mecca know their ravines better than anybody else. We would say that the States of the region, which are threatened by the expansionist ambitions of Israel, share the view that the Israeli arsenal of weapons of mass destruction represents the real and direct threat to Arab security, especially under the constant threats made by successive Israeli Governments.

/…

 The President ( spoke in French ): The next speaker inscribed on my list is the representative of Algeria. I invite him to take a seat at the Council table and to make his statement.

 Mr. Baali (Algeria) (spoke in French ): …

/…

Despite those positive developments, the threat of armed conflict nevertheless continues to weigh on the region. That threat is also causing major fears about the very grave consequences that such a conflict would have in Iraq itself, as well as in other countries of the region. Those fears are especially legitimate and justified given the fact that, in that same part of the world, Israel, intoxicated with its military might and, unfortunately, guaranteed impunity, is launching an all-out war against the Palestinian civilian population and on the infrastructure and symbols of the Palestinian Authority. Israel is continuing to occupy and colonize Palestinian and Arab territories, to threaten to bring down its wrath upon neighbouring countries and to violate the most basic rules of international humanitarian law.

In addition to its catastrophic impact on the people of Iraq — who for over 10 years have been subjected to largely inhumane sanctions — and the impact it would have on the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country, a military operation against Iraq — let there be no doubt — would also have very grave consequences on the peace process in the Middle East, which is already moribund, as well as on the Israeli-Arab conflict itself. This already battered region of the world could well experience paroxysms of unpredictable gravity and magnitude.

In this connection, the international community expects that the Council, if it wishes to maintain its authority and credibility — which have been severely tested by repeated Israeli intransigence — will first assume all of its responsibilities vis-à-vis the Palestinian people and demonstrate its determination and firmness with regard to all those who reject and show contempt for its resolutions. Contempt is unfortunately exactly what Israel had shown when the Council adopted resolution 1435 (2002), regarding the situation in the occupied territories. The Security Council must, in short, be consistent and fair. It should meticulously ensure compliance with its resolutions in every instance.

/…

The President (spoke in French ): I thank the representative of Algeria for his kind words.

The next speaker on my list is the representative of Egypt. I invite him to take a seat at the Council table and to make his statement.

Mr. Aboul Gheit (Egypt) (spoke in Arabic ): …

/…

In this context, the Security Council must remain fully aware that the efforts to destroy this proscribed Iraqi potential, if it exists, are a step towards a broader objective, namely the establishment in the Middle East of a zone free of weapons of mass destruction, as outlined in paragraph 14 of resolution 687 (1991) and reaffirmed in resolution 1284 (1999). These efforts need to be undertaken within the framework of a comprehensive approach to the question of Iraq by the Security Council as provided for in resolution 1284 (1999) and the terms of reference in that resolution. The aim would be to achieve progress towards lifting the sanctions imposed on Iraq while ensuring full respect for its sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence.

/…

The President ( spoke in French ): The next speaker inscribed on my list is the representative of Pakistan. I invite him to take a seat at the Council table and to make his statement.

 Mr. Akram (Pakistan): …

/…

We are concerned that those States which are occupying of foreign territories and suppressing the right of peoples to self-determination not be further encouraged in their aggressive policies, such as in the case of Israeli occupation of Palestinian and Arab territories, and India’s occupation of Jammu and Kashmir.

/…

The President ( spoke in French ): The next speaker on my list is the representative of the United Arab Emirates. I invite him to take a seat at the Council table and make his statement.

Mr. Al-Shamsi (United Arab Emirates) (spoke in Arabic): …

/…

Fifthly, we must ensure that paragraph 14 of Security Council resolution 687 (1991) apply to all countries of the region and not to be limited only to Iraq. This requires that the international community call on the Government of Israel, just as it is calling on Iraq to destroy its arsenal of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction and to subject all its nuclear facilities to the safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as a first step towards establishing a zone free of all types of nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East.

/…

The President (spoke in French ): The next speaker is the representative of Jordan. I invite him to take a seat at the Council table and to make his statement.

Mr. Al-Hussein (Jordan) (spoke in Arabic ): …

/…

At the end of World War II, our Organization was established in an endeavour to save future generations from the scourge of war through the maintenance of justice, respect for international law and the promotion of basic human rights. The United Nations took it upon itself to maintain international peace and security by resorting to collective measures to prevent and remove threats to peace and to bring about, by peaceful means when possible and in accordance with the principles of justice and international law, the peaceful settlement of international disputes.

  Those purposes and guidelines are relevant to the current situation, which threatens the exhaustion of peaceful means in dealing with the Iraqi issue. As such, the Jordanian Government is of the opinion that all Member States of the United Nations should work towards achieving a solution through peaceful means and should avoid acts that would breach that peace and make the situation in the Middle East even more critical. This alone compels the Security Council to assume its responsibilities as provided for in the United Nations Charter, including paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 24. It is, therefore, the responsibility of the Security Council to use all available and reasonable means to resolve the Iraqi issue and settle it through continuous dialogue and negotiations.

In this connection, the Jordanian Government would like to reiterate its position that the implementation of Security Council resolutions is an obligation on all States, without exception, including the Security Council’s resolutions on the Middle East, whether they were adopted with regard to Iraq or to the occupied Palestinian territories.

/…

The President ( spoke in French ): I thank the representative of Japan for the kind words he addressed to me.

The next speaker on my list is the representative of Tunisia. I invite him to take a seat at the Council table and to make his statement.

Mr. Mejdoub (Tunisia) (spoke in French ): …

/…

Indeed, the world is heading towards a serious crisis, and, if we are not careful, we shall be entering a period of terrible turmoil. Terrorism struck on 11 September 2001, and its evil deeds are spreading, as the recent carnage in Bali attests. The tragedy continues in Palestine, fighting goes on in Afghanistan, the world economy is in a dire state, and now there is talk of a new front — a fresh war in Iraq.

/…

 The President (spoke in French ): I thank the representative of Tunisia for his kind words addressed to me.

  It is now 1.05 p.m. As I announced at the beginning of the meeting, I shall suspend the meeting now. The Council will resume its consideration of the item on its agenda at 3 p.m.

   The meeting was suspended at 1.05 p.m.

This record contains the text of speeches delivered in English and of the interpretation of speeches delivered in the other languages. The final text will be printed in the Official Records of the Security Council . Corrections should be submitted to the original languages only. They should be incorporated in a copy of the record and sent under the signature of a member of the delegation concerned to the Chief of the Verbatim Reporting Service, room C-178.