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

Official Records

General Assembly
Sixty-second session

9th plenary meeting
Thursday, 27 September 2007, 3 p.m. 
New York

    In the absence of the President, Mr. Merafhe (Botswana), Vice-President, took the Chair.

   The meeting was called to order at 3.10 p.m.

/…

 The Acting President: On behalf of the General Assembly, I have the honour to welcome to the United Nations His Excellency Mr. Ahmed Abdallah Sambi, President of the Union of the Comoros, and to invite him to address the Assembly.

 President Sambi (spoke in French ): …

/…

 ( spoke in Arabic)

  The Israeli-Arab conflict is the source of tensions in the Middle East, and the Palestinians in the occupied Arab territories live in inhuman and tragic economic conditions because of Israeli practices. The international community must deal decisively with this situation by requiring the Israeli authorities to implement relevant Security Council and General Assembly resolutions and decisions. Additionally, the provisions of international law, international humanitarian law and human rights must be observed. As we all know, there can be no peace in the Middle East without a just and lasting solution to the Palestinian question effected by the withdrawal of Israel from the Arab territories that it occupied in 1967.

  Without the establishment of a viable Palestinian State, with East Jerusalem with its capital, and the settlement of the question of refugees on the basis of the General Assembly resolution of 1949, the conflict will not be settled. Construction of settlements must be stopped, the separation wall must be demolished and Palestinians must be compensated for damage caused by its construction. I also invite our Palestinian brothers to renounce division and disintegration and to engage in dialogue. The international community and the United Nations must provide swift humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, open the crossings and dismantle anything that hampers movement.

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Agenda item 8 (continued)

General debate 

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 The President : I have great pleasure in welcoming His Excellency Nguyen Tan Dung, Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, and inviting him to address the General Assembly.

 Mr. Dung ( spoke in Vietnamese; English text provided by the delegation): …

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  We hope that the United Nations will, together with Member States, intensify efforts to establish long-lasting peace in the Middle East — including efforts aimed at an appropriate solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict — put an end to conflicts and violence in a number of African countries, restore stability in Iraq and Afghanistan and control and prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons. …

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 The Acting President : I have great pleasure welcoming Her Excellency Mrs. Isatou Njie-Saidy, Vice-President of the Republic of the Gambia, and inviting her to address the General Assembly.

  Mrs. Njie-Saidy (Gambia): …

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  The unresolved question of the self-determination of the Palestinian people remains the most important political and moral question of our time. A few years ago, we all placed our faith in the so-called Road Map for peace and hoped that the Quartet would bring about the eagerly awaited two-state solution.

  My delegation now very much welcomes the new initiative being led by the United States of America and very much looks forward to the convening of a conference that would once and for all settle this festering imbroglio. We urge all concerned to come to the table in good faith and with a strong will to make a positive contribution to the search for a lasting solution to the problems of peace and security in the Middle East and, indeed, in the peace process throughout the world.

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 The Acting President: I now call on His Excellency Mr. Zarifou Ayeva, Minister for Foreign Affairs and African Integration of Togo.

 Mr. Ayeva (Togo) (spoke in French ): …

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  Beyond Africa, our eyes turn constantly to Iraq and the Middle East, still in the grips of violence. As regards the Middle East, Togo supports the idea of organizing an international conference under the aegis of the Quartet in order to restart the process of direct and constructive negotiations. From this viewpoint, Israelis and Palestinians should be encouraged to persevere with dialogue in order to achieve a comprehensive and lasting settlement, in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the United Nations.

  However, the prerequisite for any negotiation between the two parties lies in the need to see all of the Palestinian elements overcome their internal differences.

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 The Acting President : I now call on His Excellency Mr. David Miliband, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

 Mr. Miliband (United Kingdom): …

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  The focus at this session has been on immediate and pressing issues. In the Middle East, we need urgent action towards a two-State solution that addresses the security of Israelis and the rights of Palestinians at the same time.

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   The meeting rose at 8.05 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 C-154A. Corrections will be issued after the end of the session in a consolidated corrigendum.