Mideast situation – GA general debate – Verbatim record (excerpts)

Official Records

The meeting was called to order at 10.05 a.m.

Agenda item 10

Report of the Secretary-General on the work of the Organization (A/56/1 and Corr.1 and Add.1)

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 Mr. Abulhasan (Kuwait) ( spoke in Arabic ): …

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  Despite the challenges before us, the United Nations remains the principal tool for realizing our hopes for global cooperation in all areas. My delegation has taken careful note of the content of the report of the Secretary-General on the work of the Organization, and I should like to focus on a few of the important issues that the Secretary-General has included in his report.

  First of all, the Millennium Summit and the Millennium Declaration set out a plan of action for the United Nations in the new century to confront the challenges we face. We encourage follow-up of what was agreed upon by our leaders, and urge that we all work throughout the session to launch a new rational, international debate on this issue focusing on the report of the Secretary-General entitled “Road map towards the implementation of the Millennium Declaration” (A/56/326). My delegation stresses the importance of avoiding a general discussion that would result in the establishment of committees and working groups; that would plunge us into a cycle of reports, proposals and recommendations, without bringing about the actual implementation of things on which we have already agreed.

  Second, the Secretary-General paints a tragic picture of the escalation of violence between the struggling Palestinian people and the Israeli occupation forces. But we want to emphasize that the escalation should be blamed on the irrational policies followed by the Israeli Government, which bears responsibility for the eruption of the situation there — especially following Ariel Sharon’s provocative visit to the holy mosque in Jerusalem.

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  The meeting rose at 1.10 p.m.