Israeli practices – Fourth Cttee debate – Summary record (excerpts)

SPECIAL POLITICAL AND

DECOLONIZATION COMMITTEE

(FOURTH COMMITTEE)

Summary record of the 15th meeting

held at Headquarters, New York, on Tuesday, 3 November 1998, at 3 p.m.

Contents

Agenda item 85: Comprehensive review of the whole question of peacekeeping operations in all their aspects (continued)

The meeting was called to order at 3.05 p.m.

Agenda item 85: Comprehensive review of the whole question of peacekeeping operations in all their aspects (continued) (A/53/127; A/C.4/53/L.8)

/…

18. Mr. Zohar (Israel) said that his country was currently participating, together with its neighbours, in an arduous and historic process that combined peacemaking and peace-building activities. That process, which was being pursued outside the orbit of the United Nations, had recently led to the signing of the Wye River Memorandum between Israel and its Palestinian neighbours, which had been made possible, in part, by the invaluable assistance of the United States of America and Jordan.

19. While Israel had full respect for United Nations peacekeeping operations, experience had shown that, sometimes, peacekeeping solutions had to be found outside the framework of the United Nations. An example of that had been the dispatch of multinational forces and observers to Sinai in 1982 as a result of the peace treaty concluded between Egypt and Israel. Since no agreement could be reached in the Security Council, Egypt and Israel, with the United States of America acting as witness, had opted for a multinational alternative.

20. Israel was following with great interest the debate on the future of United Nations peacekeeping operations and had noted the proposal by the former Secretary-General, Mr. Pérez de Cuéllar, for a wider use of civilians as the spectrum of peacekeeping missions broadened.

21. As his delegation had stated, Israel stood ready to participate in civilian and humanitarian aspects of United Nations peacekeeping operations, as it had always done. It wished to share, once again in 1998, the vast experience it had acquired in the field of liaison with peacekeeping forces, to which end it had organized a course on international liaison with the participation of members of the peacekeeping forces deployed in the Middle East. He reiterated the hope that, once its own regional peace process had sufficiently advanced, Israel could participate in peacekeeping activities in other parts of the world.

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The meeting rose at 5.55 p.m.