Right of the Palestinian people to self-determination – GA Third Cttee debate, vote – Summary record (excerpts)

Third Committee 

Summary record of the 40th meeting 

Held at Headquarters, New York, on Wednesday, 3 November 2010, at 10 a.m. 

Chair:    Ms. Ploder (Vice-Chair) …………………………………………………………  (Austria) 

Contents 

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Agenda item 67: Right of peoples to self-determination (continued) (A/65/286 and 325) 

1.  Mr. Al-Maawda (Qatar) …

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3.  The inhabitants of the occupied Arab territories continued to suffer under Israeli occupation. Israel was razing inhabitants’ homes, building settlements and was attempting to Judaize Jerusalem. It was also building a racist wall that had a devastating economic and social impact on the Palestinian people. In its efforts to combat racial discrimination, the international community must strive to end Palestinians’ suffering and must uphold their legitimate rights, including the right to self-determination and the right to establish an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital. 

4.  Mr. Berti (Cuba) …

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7.  The exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination was a prerequisite for the enjoyment of all human rights. Accordingly, Cuba supported the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to establish its own independent and sovereign State and to freely determine its own political and economic system. In spite of the principles laid down in the International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Charter of the United Nations and other instruments of international law, some States were applying unilateral and illegal measures against other countries.

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10.  Mr. Al-Majed (Kuwait), …

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11.  Arab citizens of the occupied Palestinian territory and the occupied Syrian Golan continued to suffer discrimination and racism. The United Nations must bring their suffering to an end and the international community must act to safeguard religious sites in the occupied Arab territories, whose Islamic identity Israel was seeking to efface. Kuwait was also deeply concerned by violence by neo-Nazi and extremist groups against specific racial and religious minorities and urged the international community to coordinate its efforts to combat that phenomenon. 

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16.  Mr. Ali (Sudan) …

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18.  The recommendations contained in the Report of the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict needed to be implemented and the Palestinian people must be allowed to exercise their right to self-determination. In that regard, it was of grave concern that the suffering of the inhabitants of the occupied Arab territories, including women, children and the elderly continued to be met with the indifference and silence of the world community. 

19.  Mr. Mamdoohei (Islamic Republic of Iran), said that depriving the Palestinian people of their inalienable right to self-determination had, inter alia, caused regional instability. The Zionist regime continued to perpetrate gross human rights abuses against Palestinians including the killing of innocent civilians, arbitrary detentions and collective punishments. Moreover, the report of the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict had concluded that war crimes and crimes against humanity had been committed by that regime. Israeli military forces had also carried out a premeditated terrorist attack against civilians in international waters while they were en route to Gaza with humanitarian aid. Iran reiterated its condemnation of that attack and supported the call by the Secretary-General for an investigation into that incident. 

20.  The latest report by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967 had highlighted acts of systematic ethnic cleansing and apartheid. Iran believed that fact-finding missions should identify those individuals in senior positions in the Israeli regime who had perpetrated human rights violations. Those individuals must then be brought to justice. Israel must not be allowed to use those missions to delay justice and divert attention from its crimes. If the United Nations and those States that claimed to advocate human rights had taken swift action in response to crimes perpetrated by the Israeli regime in the past, that regime might have been dissuaded from carrying out its recent attack on foreign nationals. 

21.  Mr. Ghanei (Islamic Republic of Iran) …

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23.  It was deplorable that gross and systematic violations of human rights continued to occur in the occupied Palestinian territory as a result of the Zionist regime’s racist actions. War crimes and genocide had occurred in Gaza. The international community must fulfil its responsibilities to end the suffering of the Palestinian people and must condemn acts of violence against Palestinians, violations of their human rights and attacks against Muslim symbols and holy sites. 

31.  Ms. Ghosh Dastidar (India) …

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33.  India’s ongoing efforts to secure the right of peoples to self-determination were momentous, and it had played a vital role in the struggle for decolonization. Its support for Palestine had been unwavering. It considered that the solution to the issue of Palestine should be based on the relevant United Nations resolutions, the Arab Peace Initiative and the Quartet Roadmap. 

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43.  Mr. Ndimeni (South Africa) …

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46.  South Africa had a strong position on the self-determination of the Palestinian people and would continue to support all international efforts to help the people of Palestine and Israel find a lasting peace, leading to the establishment of a viable Palestinian State on the basis of the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, in peace and security with Israel.

47.  Ms. Solórzano-Arrigada (Nicaragua) …

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49.  Self-determination was the inalienable right of all peoples living under foreign occupation. Accordingly, Nicaragua supported the Palestinian people in their tireless struggle for self-determination and urged the international community to redouble its efforts to find a just and comprehensive solution to the question of Palestine and achieve lasting peace in the Middle East. 

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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.