General Assembly
Sixty-seventh session
61st plenary meeting
Friday, 21 December 2012, 10 a.m.
New York
|
President: |
Mr. Jeremić ……………………………………………………. |
(Serbia) |
In the absence of the President, Mr. Salam (Lebanon), Vice-President, took the Chair.
Reports of the Second Committee
The Acting President: The General Assembly will consider the reports of the Second Committee on agenda items 17 to 26, 61, 116 and 131.
I request the Rapporteur of the Second Committee, Ms. Aida Hodžić of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to introduce the reports of the Second Committee in one intervention.
Ms. Hodžić (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Rapporteur of the Second Committee (spoke in French):
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During this main part of the sixty-seventh session of the General Assembly, the Second Committee held 38 formal meetings and five special events. In addition, the Committee held one joint formal meeting with the Economic and Social Council and one joint informal meeting with the Third Committee. The Second Committee adopted a total of 36 draft resolutions, five of which were adopted by vote, and three draft decisions.
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Under agenda item 61, entitled “Permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and of the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan over their natural resources”, the Committee recommends, in paragraph 12 of document A/67/444, the adoption of one draft resolution.
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The Acting President: I shall now call on those representatives who wish to speak in exercise of the right of reply.
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Mr. Jawhara (Syrian Arab Republic) (spoke in Arabic): My delegation would like to respond to the naive fabrications promoted by the representative of the Israeli occupying Power. It is truly strange that such statements should be made at a time when we are adopting resolutions condemning Israel and calling upon it to respect human rights in areas under its occupation by ending its occupation and by granting the people under occupation the right to development on an equal footing with other peoples of the world.
Those who have read United Nations statements, reports and resolutions over the years are well aware that such resolutions and reports expose Israel’s systematic policies of occupation of the Arab population in the occupied territories. I would cite, among others, the acts of aggression, displacements, killings, settler colonialism, forceful usurpation of the territory of others, plundering of resources, cutting down of trees, destruction of infrastructure, damage to the natural environment and refusal to allow the population under occupation to enjoy their sacred right to development.
Indeed, we have just adopted resolution 67/201, condemning Israeli acts of aggression. We will also be adopting another draft resolution calling upon Israel to put an end to its plundering of the natural resources of the Arab territories under its occupation (A/67/444, paragraph 12). That resolution and draft resolution call upon Israel to respect resolutions of international legitimacy, to cease forthwith its continued, decades-long violations and to put an end to its confiscation of agricultural land and plundering of natural and energy resources. Those violations have brought the process of development in the occupied Arab territories, whether in the Arab State of Palestine or in the occupied Syrian Arab Golan, to a complete halt.
Despite repeated international calls, the Israeli occupying authorities have yet to heed these appeals. Israel is a State that was built on violating international law and on non-respect for the principles of human rights.
The representative of the occupying Power said that Israel was changed from a barren desert into a paradise thanks to Israeli brainpower. It was not because of Israeli brainpower, but because of Israel’s violations and its exploitation of the occupied Arab lands and because it continues to receive unlimited support for its crimes from its allies. Therefore, what is really called for is an end to the usurpation of the rights of others and an end to the destruction and abuse of natural resources in the occupied Arab territories.
Human rights are indivisible. Those who respect the right to development should submit draft resolutions in the context of sustainable development, which is of extreme importance to all countries of the world. We believe that it behoves the sponsors of such draft resolutions to grant people under occupation their rights to development and to enjoy its benefits on a par with other countries of the world.
Israel must end the long occupation and its systematic violations, which have been documented by our Organization. Then and only then, when the occupation ends, can we talk about entrepreneurship and draft resolutions on other such issues. Therefore, the priority must be for Israel to put an end to its policy of double standards and respect the resolutions we are adopting today. Israel and its supporters must examine these resolutions and the report of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA).
I call on all countries, particularly those that support Israel, to read the ESCWA report, which clearly affirms that occupation is the sole obstacle preventing the people under occupation from achieving development. The Israeli occupation is the sole and last impediment to the development of the people of the area. The recent report of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development on assistance to the Palestinian people (TD/B/59/2) makes it very clear to all those concerned that Israel thinks only of its own interests and of ways to exploit the Palestinian people and the people of the Golan and to end any hope of achieving development.
Mr. Al Otaibi (Saudi Arabia) (spoke in Arabic): I have asked to make a statement in exercise of the right of reply in order to condemn Israel’s hypocritical claims and lies of being sincerely engaged in offering its resources for the benefit and development of the world. Israel is lying, and its representatives know very well that they are lying.
The adoption of resolution 67/202 is not a high point on the record of the Second Committee. All the Arab countries, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, voted against it. The resolution does not deserve the respect of the international community, but certain parties are compromised and certain parties do not truly appreciate either honesty or the successful undertakings, be they in the diplomatic field or in contributing to the resolution of many world issues, of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at the international level.
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Agenda item 61
Permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and of the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan over their natural resources Report of the Second Committee (A/67/444)
The Acting President: The Assembly has before it a draft resolution recommended by the Second Committee in paragraph 12 of its report. We will now take a decision on the draft resolution. A recorded vote has been requested.
A recorded vote was taken.
In favour:
Against:
Abstaining:
The draft resolution was adopted by 170 to 7, with 9 abstentions (resolution 67/229).
The Acting President: May I take it that it is the wish of the General Assembly to conclude its consideration of agenda item 61?
It was so decided.
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The meeting rose 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. 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 U-506. Corrections will be issued after the end of the session in a consolidated corrigendum.
Document Type: Meeting record, Statement, Verbatim Record, Voting record
Document Sources: General Assembly, General Assembly Second Committee (Economic and Financial)
Subject: Economic issues, Golan Heights, Land, Natural resources, Occupation, Statehood-related, Water
Publication Date: 21/12/2012