Mideast situation/Steps taken by Governments – SecGen report under A/RES/43/54 – Addendum

THE SITUATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Report of the Secretary-General

Addendum

CONTENTS

REPLIES RECEIVED FROM MEMBER STATES

UKRAINIAN SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLIC

[Original: Russian]

[20 October 1989]

1. The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic supported General Assembly resolutions 43/54 A to C, and fully shares the serious concern of the international community at Israel's continuation of its policy of escalating the conflict in the Middle East, which is in breach of the principles of international law and threatens international peace and security.

2. The continuing illegal actions of the occupying Power in the Palestinian territories to put down the intifadah of the Palestinian people cause the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic particular alarm.  These actions are at odds with the Charter of the United Nations and numerous decisions of the Security Council and General Assembly, and are a direct breach of the fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 and other fundamental international legal documents.

3. Given the exceptional seriousness of recent incidents in the occupied Palestinian territories and the growing number of deaths, the Security Council should take immediate steps to provide international protection for Palestinian civilians, as called for in General Assembly resolution 44/2 of 6 October 1989.

4. Quite evidently, the continuation of the intifadah reveals the need to get the peace process in the Middle East under way as soon as possible.

5. The task of mobilizing all collective political efforts, notably the Security Council machinery and the good offices of the Secretary-General, to overcome existing political obstacles to the defusing of the Middle Eastern conflict, is becoming an acute necessity.  The encouraging international developments of recent years have created circumstances favourable to this.  There is already a clearly expressed willingness among the overwhelming majority of United Nations Member States to bring a basic change in the Middle East at last, by convening an international peace conference on the Middle East for that purpose.  The most recent evident of this was the adoption at the forty-third session of the General Assembly of resolution 43/176 of 15 December 1988, containing a call for the Conference to be convened under United Nations auspices, with the participation of all parties to the conflict, including the Palestine Liberation Organization and the five permanent members of the Security Council, based on Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973) and the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, primarily the right to self-determination.

6. On a practical level, paragraphs 5 and 6 of General Assembly resolution 43/176 are especially important, as they contain requests both to the Security Council to consider measures needed to convene the Conference and begin preparing for it, and to the Secretary-General to continue his efforts with the parties concerned in preparation for such a gathering.

7. The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic considers that the members of the Security Council, in keeping with the functions conferred upon them by the Charter, must without delay embark on practical action in any form acceptable to all members of the Council, while preserving the balance among the interests of all parties, to bring about the early convening of the International Peace Conference on the Middle East on the basis of resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973).  The time has come to give peace a chance in the Middle East, and to make it a reality of our time.

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