Work of the Organization – SecGen report (excerpts)

Report of the

 Secretary-General on the work

 of the Organization

General Assembly

Official Records · Forty-fifth Session

Supplement No.1 (A/45/1)

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It is clear that progress cannot be made on the overall situation in the region, including the Arab-Israeli conflict, until the present crisis is set on the way to solution in accordance with the position taken by the Security Council.  It is disappointing to note that an impasse has been reached in the effort to promote a dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians.  The intifadah will soon enter its fourth year and, regrettably, the situation in the occupied territories remains bleak, with little hope of early progress.  I continue to believe that, in addition to the efforts to promote a dialogue, the Security Council could make an important contribution to the process by renewing its commitment to resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973) which, in my view, together with the legitimate political rights of the Palestinian people, including self-determination, can constitute the basis of a just and lasting peace in the area.

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The Middle East as a whole continues to be the most explosive region of the world today.  Long-standing grievances, which have festered for years, have been aggravated by an escalating arms race throughout the area, which has spawned a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction.  In the long run, lasting peace will come to the Middle East only when the principle of international law govern the relations between States, when disputes are resolved through peaceful means, when the aspirations of those deprived of their rights have been fulfilled, and regional security and economic arrangement – which take into account the concerns of all the parties in the area – have been established.

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Forty years ago, the hope was entertained that the refugee problem would be temporary and easily manageable.  The fact that the United Nations, through the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, has to cope with refugee situations in undiminished numbers testifies to the frequency, persistence and severity of conflicts in the world today.

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