Cooperation between UN and LAS/OIC – GA general debate – Verbatim record (excerpts)

Official Records

General Assembly

Fifty-seventh session 

56th plenary meeting

Wednesday, 21 November 2002, 3 p.m. 

New York

  In the absence of the President, Miss Clarke (Barbados), Vice-President, took the Chair.

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

Agenda item 22 (continued) 

Cooperation between the United Nations and regional and other organizations

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 (j)   Cooperation between the United Nations and the League of Arab States

    Report of the Secretary-General (A/57/386)

    Draft resolution (A/57/L.32)

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(o) Cooperation between the United Nations and the Organization of the Islamic Conference

Report of the Secretary-General (A/57/405)

Draft resolution (A/57/L.28)

 The President: In accordance with General Assembly resolution 477 (V) of 1 November 1950, I now call on the observer for the League of Arab States.

  Mr. Mahmassani (League of Arab States) (spoke in Arabic): The report of the Secretary-General before the Assembly summarizes the areas of cooperation between the United Nations system and the League of Arab States, including their respective specialized agencies and programmes, for the period from July 2001 to August 2002. Highlights for the period under review include the visit of the Secretary-General to the Summit Meeting of the League of Arab States held in Beirut in March 2002, as well as the convening of a sectoral meeting between the two organizations in Cairo in June 2002 on the topic of the use of information technology in development. The report emphasizes the gradual and steady development of cooperation between the two organizations.

  This fifty-seventh session of the General Assembly coincides with the thirtieth anniversary of the inclusion of the item entitled “Cooperation between the United Nations and the League of Arab States” on the agenda of the regular session of the General Assembly, and of the adoption of the first resolution on cooperation between both organizations. Two decades have passed since the Secretaries-General of the United Nations and of the League of Arab States, respectively, signed an agreement to enhance the cooperation between the two organizations in the area of peace and security in the Middle East, in conformity with the principles of the Charter. A review of some of what has been achieved in this context could lead to the further consolidation of its importance and usefulness, emphasizing not only the economic and political aspects but also the social, humanitarian and administrative benefits.

  Not very long ago, when there was talk about war against Iraq, cooperation between Amr Mussa, Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, and his colleague Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations, facilitated the first steps towards the de-escalation of the situation. They succeeded in their efforts to convince Iraq to accept the return of the inspectors without conditions, thus contributing to the unanimous adoption of Security Council resolution 1441 (2002). Iraq’s acceptance of that resolution has further advanced a principal objective of the League of Arab States: and to help prevent military action against Iraq and to preserve its unity and territorial integrity.

  The League of Arab States is committed to the principle of international legitimacy. It would like to emphasize paragraph 14 of Security Council resolution 687 (1991) relative to the establishment of a zone free from weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East. It would also like to stress that it is eager to deal comprehensively, not selectively, with the issue of weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons. The international community should seek to disarm Israel, whose weapons of mass destruction constitute a real threat to the entire Arab region.

  At previous sessions the Assembly recommended the convening of sectoral meetings on issues such as trade and development, youth and employment and the use of information technologies for development. We would like to take this opportunity to convey, through you, Mr. President, the gratitude of the League of Arab States to the Secretariat for its efforts to guarantee the success of both general and sectoral meetings. It is our hope that a joint meeting can take place at which a complete assessment can be made. Such meetings are an important means of ensuring cooperation, undertaking evaluations and reaching agreements on new mechanisms to strengthen cooperation in all fields, such as conflict prevention. This can be achieved only if both organizations are represented at such joint general or sectoral meetings at the highest level possible.

  The participation of the League of Arab States in joint meetings between the United Nations and regional organizations, which are held at United Nations Headquarters, has been positive and effective. It has expressed its views on ways to strengthen cooperation between the United Nations, the League of Arab States and regional organizations with a view to dealing with the multifaceted challenges involved in such international and regional efforts, especially the problem of selectivity and double standards, with a view to cooperating coming up with creative solutions to problems.

  The General Assembly’s adoption of the draft resolution on cooperation between the United Nations and the League of Arab States (A/57/L.32) is part of the joint effort by both organizations to establish a just and lasting peace in the Middle East on the basis of the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter and resolutions of international legitimacy, in particular Security Council resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973) and 425 (1978), the principle of land for peace and the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, including the establishment of an independent State with Jerusalem as its capital. In this context, I should like to refer to Security Council 1397 (2002), which affirms the international legitimacy of the vision of the establishment of an independent Palestinian State.

  The League of Arab States has continued to present a series of initiatives at Arab summits emphasizing the Arab choice of peace as a strategic option. The initiative adopted at the Beirut Summit was the culmination of a sincere Arab effort to bring about just peace in the religion. However, the Government of Israel continues to refuse, and to reject peace, and is pursuing war and occupation as a strategic option, adopting murder, destruction and a scorched earth policy as a means to eradicate the Palestinian people, thus challenging Security Council resolutions and international legitimacy.

  In conclusion, we would like to say that the support of the League of Arab States for the United Nations proceeds from the conviction of its member States and from its full commitment to the noble principles, purposes and values of the United Nations Charter. As a regional organization, the League of Arab States is committed to strengthening its constructive and fruitful cooperation with the United Nations in all fields and in all the areas covered by the draft resolution, which emphasizes the positive and effective aspects of the cooperation between the two organizations.

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 The President : In accordance with General Assembly resolution 3369 (XXX), of 10 October 1975, I call on the Observer for the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

 Mr. Lamani (Organization of the Islamic Conference) (spoke in Arabic): I have the honour to address the General Assembly on the agenda item entitled “Cooperation between the United Nations and regional and other organizations”. I would also like to convey the greetings of the Secretary-General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference and to wish the Assembly every success in its work at the fifty-seventh session.

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  In paragraph 5 of his report, the Secretary-General refers to the participation of the United Nations in the tenth Extraordinary Session of the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers to discuss the grave situation in the occupied Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem, on 10 December 2001 in Doha, Qatar. Consultations between the United Nations and OIC have continued with a view to finding a just and lasting solution to the question of Palestine and the Arab-Israeli conflict. We express the hope that the United Nations will devote the same concern that it has devoted to the conflict in Afghanistan to the Middle East and to the construction of Palestinian national institutions, infrastructure and economic and social capacity in order to end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian and Arab territories and to enable the Palestinian people to exercise its right of self-determination and to establish its independent State, with Jerusalem as its capital. We are convinced that the United Nations has an important and mandatory role in implementing the general will of the international community, embodied specifically in many General Assembly and Security Council resolutions.

  I shall conclude my statement on the same note of hope and expectations as we did in past years for the future of cooperation between our two organizations in all fields, in the interests of our common member States. While history will judge the outcome of such cooperation, the demands of the global village that we look forward to creating on our common journey to achieve peace, progress and well-being will offer opportunities and challenges that must not be squandered. The rewards of such an endeavour would appear to be promising. Before the General Assembly, we pledge the full and continuous cooperation of OIC as it discharges its duties and undertakes its lofty and noble work.

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 The President : I call on the representative of Lebanon.

 Mr. Diab (Lebanon) ( spoke in Arabic ): As Lebanon is the Chairman of the Group of Arab States for this month, it is my honour to present the following oral revision to draft resolution A/57/L.32.

  In the last preambular paragraph, the word “joint” should be inserted following the words “for the realization of the”.

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  The President : I call now on those representatives who wish to speak in explanation of vote or position before action is taken on the draft resolutions before the Assembly.

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 Mr. Shacham (Israel): The delegation of Israel will join the consensus on a draft resolution regarding cooperation between the United Nations and the League of Arab States for the ninth consecutive year. In doing so we are guided by the desire to make peace with our neighbours, all of which are members of the League of Arab States. Israel supports cooperation between the United Nations and various regional organizations, including the League of Arab States. Indeed, such cooperation is based on the provisions of the United Nations Charter.

  Draft resolution A/57/L.32 is the first on an issue related to the Middle East that the General Assembly will take action at its fifty-seventh session. We are pleased that the draft resolution is to be adopted by consensus. In joining the consensus, we would like to demonstrate to all parties our willingness to forego unnecessary discord in international forums and to stress the need to exercise restraint, both in the language of draft resolutions to be submitted and in all related statements. We cannot restore confidence and trust in the Middle East by engaging in polemics in our debates in New York.

  Peacemaking is by its very nature a bilateral endeavour between the parties, and controversial rhetoric offered in international forums is surely counterproductive. It is, therefore, unfortunate that the debate regarding cooperation between the United Nations and a regional organization was exploited by the observer of the League of Arab States to direct attacks against a Member State and to promote a partisan political perspective. 

  My delegation utterly rejects the inflammatory language used today by the Arab League observer, who has venomously slandered Israel, accusing my country of refusing peace and of pursuing a policy designed to murder, destroy and eradicate the Palestinian people — this on a day when an Arab suicide terrorist detonated a shrapnel-filled bomb aboard a Jerusalem city bus, indiscriminately murdering 11 Israeli civilians, many of them schoolchildren, while maiming dozens more. Placing responsibility for the recent events and for the damage to the peace process exclusively upon Israel is a grotesque distortion of the clear and present reality, and is in blatant disregard for Israel’s far-reaching readiness to move towards an agreement.

  At the Camp David peace summit of 2000, Israel made courageous and far-reaching proposals in order to achieve a peace agreement with the Palestinians and a historic reconciliation with the Arab world. Regrettably, Chairman Arafat and the Palestinians did not respond in any way to those proposals. Instead, they plunged the region into a whirlpool of violence and bloodshed.

  Israel stresses that, while defending the lives of its citizens, it continues to strive for peace and it will continue to act to foster reconciliation between itself and the Arab world. However, unfortunately, the League of Arab States has certain goals, objectives and policies that remain inimical to the purposes and principles of the United Nations and its Charter.

  The hostility continuously shown and articulated by the League of Arab States, including a history of support for economically and militarily coercive measures against a State Member of this Organization, is clearly inconsistent with international law and the principles for which the United Nations was founded. May I remind this Assembly that more than half of the members of the League of Arab States consider themselves at war with Israel and call for its destruction. While we respect the importance of cooperation in furthering the mutual and shared objectives of the United Nations and various regional organizations, we would expect the United Nations to oppose and object to the policies of the League of Arab States which fundamentally contradict the principles of the Charter which include, among other things, the duty to resolve all disputes by peaceful means.

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  The President: Draft resolution A/57/L.28 is entitled “Cooperation between the United Nations and the Organization of the Islamic Conference”. I should like to announce that, since the publication of the draft resolution, the following countries have become its co-sponsors: Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Gabon, Guinea, Iran, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Mauritania, Morocco, Qatar, Suriname, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

  May I take it that the Assembly decides to adopt draft resolution A/57/L.28?

Draft resolution A/57/L.28 was adopted (resolution 57/42).

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  The President: Draft resolution A/57/L.32 is entitled “Cooperation between the United Nations and the League of Arab States”.

  May I take it that the Assembly decides to adopt draft resolution A/57/L.32, as orally revised by the representative of Lebanon?

Draft resolution A/57/L.32, as orally revised, was adopted (resolution 57/46).

 The President: Draft resolution A/57/L.38 is entitled “Cooperation between the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union”.

  I call on the representative of the Secretariat.

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 The President : We have heard the last speaker in explanation of vote after the voting.

  I shall now call on those representatives who wish to speak in exercise of the right of reply.

  In accordance with General Assembly resolution 477 (V), of 1 November 1950, I now call on the Observer for the League of Arab States.

  Mr. Mahmassani (League of Arab States): I think the representative of Israel has fooled no one today. The killing of Palestinians goes on unabated on a daily basis, and we all watch it on television screens. Israel has been pursuing a scorched-earth policy to annihilate the Palestinian people. In fact, a report recently published by Amnesty International says that “Israeli defence forces committed violations of international law during the course of military operations in Jenin and Nablus, including war crimes, for which they must be held accountable”. The report goes on to say that “Soldiers used people as human shields, forcing them to walk in front of soldiers and to enter homes and rooms suspected of being booby-trapped or sheltering gunmen”.

 In fact, since Jenin, the killing has gone on unabated. In addition to Israel’s pursuit of a policy to strangle and starve the Palestinian people, house demolitions, collective punishment, the killing of women and young children also continue. Everyone is watching this on television, just like a movie. This has all gone on unabated.

    We want to ask the question: What is Israel doing on Arab territory? The entire question is one of occupation. Israel is the only country that entered the twenty-first century as a remnant of the twentieth century, an occupier and aggressor. Israel talks peace but acts war. That is what is happening. The Arab peace initiative that was adopted at the Arab summit in Beirut in March offered Israel an opportunity for peace. The Arab peace initiative was welcomed by the Security Council, the General Assembly, the European Union and the whole world, including the United States. Yet Israel rejected it. Israel refused it.

  Israel does not want peace with the Arabs; it simply wants the peace of the morgue with the Palestinians. In fact, if Israel really means to have peace, let it get out of Arab territory; let it come to the negotiating table; let it talk to the Palestinians tomorrow if it really wants peace. Let it declare that it is willing to withdraw from the Arab territories to the line of 4 June 1967. That will show if Israel really intends to make peace or to continue its war.

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 Mr. Shacham (Israel): I would like to reply to the statement just made in exercise of the right of reply by the observer of the League of Arab States.

  I will spare the Assembly a rebuttal and a refutation point-by-point of the issues raised by the observer because we will all be missing our Thanksgiving weekend discussing this issue at its proper time on 29 November, not, as we are doing now, during the discussion of a draft resolution regarding cooperation with a regional organization.

  I will, however, ask: Why did the observer of the League of Arab States not take this opportunity to condemn today’s terrorist attack carried out by an Arab terrorist? Why did he not take this opportunity to denounce suicide terrorism, which has become the scourge of modern civilization? This blind and blatant imbalance is more than indicative of the policies of the League of Arab States in anything having to do with the Arab-Israeli conflict.

  I now challenge the observer of the League of Arab States to condemn clearly the heinous terrorist attack which occurred today, scattering school lunches, backpacks and the body parts of lifeless children and other civilians killed in this attack. We all saw the pictures on television this morning of the destroyed Jerusalem city bus. I call upon him and challenge him to condemn this attack without giving any justification or mitigation or displaying empathy for the bomber, his actions and his motivations; without explaining that it is politically inexpedient for the Arab cause. I challenge him to condemn it only because it is wrong, period.

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 The President: I call on the observer of the League of Arab States to make a statement in reply.

 Mr. Mahmassani (League of Arab States): I shall be brief. Of course, the representative of Israel wants to spare us a prolonging of this discussion, simply because he has no argument. So now he reverts to another subject. All right, I shall accept the challenge.

  The Arab League has always rejected and never condoned the killing of civilians, no matter who they are — Palestinians or Israelis. But I want now to challenge and ask the representative of Israel: Will he condemn and reject the killing of Palestinian children on a daily basis by Israeli forces, not by some individuals? Will he now condemn the killing of women and children by Israeli forces every day?

  I will tell him one thing more. The Israeli forces represent a Government and this is systematic killing. This is a procedure. This is something that goes on every day, while whoever does the blowing up in Israel are individuals and do not represent a Government. Yet, we do not condone it or accept it; we reject it. But let the representative of Israel say here and now that he condemns the killing of innocent civilians, children and women by Israeli forces on a daily basis in the occupied territories.

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  Mr. Shacham (Israel): I should like to remind the observer for the League of Arab States and Assembly Members that there is absolutely no moral equivalence between a terrorist who, in a premeditated fashion, straps a bomb onto his body, boards a bus, chooses to position himself among civilian children, women and commuters and detonates his bomb, filled with pieces of shrapnel, in order to cause as much civilian death, carnage and destruction as possible, on the one hand, and legitimate actions taken by a State in order to defend its citizens from a clear and present danger of terrorism, on the other. It is extremely unfortunate and extremely sad that Palestinian civilians are sometimes hurt in such actions, and we greatly regret that. However, I should like to remind the observer for the League of Arab States and all present that those are not the targets of Israel’s counter-terrorist actions, that we do as much as possible in order to prevent collateral injury of the civilian population. There have been many cases in which Israel forces have called off anti-terrorist operations because it became clear that civilians were in the area. Occasionally, mistakes have been made, but those mistakes have been sincerely and comprehensively investigated and tactics have been changed in order to prevent them in the future. We protect civilians; Arab terrorists kill civilians. That is the difference.

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    The meeting rose at 6.40 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.