Middle East situation/Palestine question – GA general debate – Verbatim record (excerpts)

Official Records

General Assembly
Sixty-third session

8th plenary meeting
Wednesday, 24 September 2008, 3 p.m. 
New York

President: Mr. Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann …………………………………… (Nicaragua)

The meeting was called to order at 3.15 p.m.

/…

  The Acting President (spoke in Spanish ): On behalf of the General Assembly, I have the honour to welcome to the United Nations His Excellency Mr. Valdis Zatlers, President of the Republic of Latvia, and to invite him to address the Assembly.

 President Zatlers : …

/…

  The prospects for peace and stability in the Middle East affect the whole world. Latvia hopes that the peace negotiations between the Government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority will produce results. We hope that the parties will use the window of opportunity to conclude a peace agreement by the end of 2008. The indirect talks that have resumed between Israel and Syria are another positive signal.

/…

 The President (spoke in Spanish ): On behalf of the General Assembly, I have the honour to welcome to the United Nations His Excellency Mr. Antonio Saca González, President of the Republic of El Salvador, and to invite him to address the Assembly.

 President Saca González (spoke in Spanish ): …

/…

  I also wish to refer to the case of Palestine. Palestine should have its own State, as does Israel, with secure borders. I think that the United Nations should play a greater and more active role in ensuring that the Palestinian people have their own territory and that the territory of Israel is also respected through secure borders.

/…

  The President (spoke in Spanish ): On behalf of the General Assembly, I have the honour to welcome to the United Nations His Excellency Mr. Lech Kaczyński, President of the Republic of Poland, and to invite him to address the Assembly.

   President Kaczyński ( spoke in Polish; English text provided by the delegation ): …

/…

  The continuing lack of stability in the Middle East is a source of concern for almost — the “almost” is regrettable — every country in the world, including Poland. The lengthy process of building an independent Palestinian State should be completed as soon as possible, for the sake of Palestinians and Israelis alike, both nations being Poland’s friends. We wish the Palestinian people every success in their struggle for an independent State. To Israel, with which we have important historic ties, because many of its citizens come from Poland, we wish successes and peace, a peace much needed by Israel.

/…

The meeting rose at 8.40 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 C-154A. Corrections will be issued after the end of the session in a consolidated corrigendum.