DPI Special Programme on Palestine – GA Fourth Cttee debate – Summary record (excerpts)

Special Political and Decolonization Committee 

(Fourth Committee) 

Summary record of the 12th meeting 

Held at Headquarters, New York, on Thursday, 20 October 2011, at 3 p.m. 

 Chair:  Ms. Miculescu  ……………………………………………………….. (Romania) 

Contents 

Agenda item 55: Questions relating to information (continued) (A/66/21 and A/66/261)

1.  Mr. Iqbal (Pakistan) …

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4.  Welcoming the exhibition marking solidarity with the Palestinian people, he urged the Department to include Urdu at the forthcoming formal launch, on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. 

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25.  Mr. Chabi (Morocco) …

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27.  He welcomed the continuation of the Special Information Programme on the Question of Palestine, which was an important means of raising awareness about the situation in the Middle East. The training component for Palestinian journalists was also valuable. 

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43.  Mr. Kanaan (Observer for Palestine) stressed the importance of the Special Information Programme on the Question of Palestine, which was instrumental in raising the international community’s awareness of the rights of the Palestinian people, including their inalienable right to self-determination, and the regional and international efforts to achieve a just, lasting and comprehensive peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine and the Arab-Israeli conflict. His delegation commended the Department of Public Information, and in particular its Palestine section, for organizing activities and events related to the Programme, including the annual international media seminars on peace in the Middle East. It also commended the Department for launching the new permanent exhibition on the question of Palestine at Headquarters and for developing the archives of films and videotape documentaries. His delegation reaffirmed the importance of the annual training programme for Palestinian broadcasters and journalists from the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The Department should undertake the other activities requested in by the General Assembly in relevant resolutions, including the organization of fact-finding missions for journalists to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and to Israel, and the expansion of the Department’s collection of audiovisual materials on the question of Palestine. He hoped that the Palestine Section of the Department would receive sufficient funding and staff to enable it to fully implement its mandate. He reiterated the call to the Department to reinstate the link on the Question of Palestine on the United Nations website. 

44.  The Israeli occupying forces continued to target journalists who reported on Israel’s illegal, aggressive and destructive policies and practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem. In addition to a campaign of arrests and detention, the occupying forces had used rubber bullets, tear gas and even metal grenades against Palestinian and foreign journalists and photographers covering peaceful demonstrations against the confiscation of Palestinian land for the construction of the illegal annexation wall and settlements. Illegal Israeli settlers also continued their acts of violence and terror against Palestinian and foreign journalists. The Committee, and international organizations, should step up their efforts to protect Palestinian and foreign journalists and ensure that they could work without the limitations of Israeli censorship and the threat of military force against them.

45.  The Palestinian Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology attached great importance to the development of information technology. However, Israeli control of communications in Palestine deprived the Palestinian people of direct access to communication services and information technology. As part of its institution-building efforts, the Palestinian leadership was striving to create ICT networks to reach all Palestinians and help them overcome the impediments to normal life and development imposed upon them; it was also endeavouring to protect journalists so that they could work freely and safely. New television and radio legislation was being drafted with the participation of media professionals and freedom of speech activists, and the staff of government agencies were being trained in media law and the rights and obligations of journalists. Several Palestinian non-governmental organizations were making efforts in that regard. The Palestinian Centre for Development and Media Freedoms had issued a legal guide for journalists in May 2011; the Arabic Media Internet Network was also active in the development of the independent media sector in Palestine. 

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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.