Right of the Palestinian people to self-determination – GA Third Cttee debate – Summary record (excerpts)

Third Committee 

Summary record of the 38th meeting 

Held at Headquarters, New York, on Monday, 2 November 2015, at 3 p.m. 

 Chair:  Mr. Mohammed (Vice-Chair)  …………………………………………………….. (Guyana) 

Contents 

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Agenda item 71: Right of peoples to self-determination (continued) 

In the absence of the Chair, Mr. Mohammed (Guyana), Vice-Chair, took the Chair.

The meeting was called to order at 3.05 p.m. 
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Agenda item 71: Right of peoples to self-determination (continued) (A/70/314 and A/70/330)

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40. Ms. Moreno Guerra (Cuba)…

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42. As long as foreign occupation and domination persisted, it made no sense to speak of respect for human rights. The right to free determination was a prerequisite for all other rights. A fair and lasting solution to the conflict in the Middle East required the effective realization of the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to build their own State. Some countries, however, contrary to international law took unilateral and illegal action against others. Cuba itself had endured over fifty years of grave violations of its right to self-determination. Cuba reaffirmed that right, as well as its independence and its sovereignty.

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44. Ms. Mansouri (Algeria)

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46. The right to self-determination was enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations and other instruments, and isolated attempts to narrow its interpretation would never justify the curtailment of that right for peoples under foreign occupation. The violation of the right to self-determination was a violation of all human rights and a form of discrimination. The international community should further the implementation of the Third International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism (2011-2020) to ensure the full realization of the right of all peoples under foreign occupation to self-determination. It was deeply regrettable that self-determination was still inaccessible to the people in the remaining non-self-governing territories, such as the Saharawi people and the Palestinian people, whose fate remained in the hands of the international community.

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49. Mr. Mousa (Egypt)

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50. The United Nations must take more seriously its responsibility to ensure that all peoples fully and unconditionally enjoyed their right to self-determination. In that regard, the Palestinian people had lived under foreign occupation for more than 65 years and the occupying Power continued to subject Palestinians to gross and systemic human rights violations. The plight of the Palestinian people was the inevitable consequence of the Israeli occupation of Palestine; only through the establishment of a viable, independent Palestinian State on the borders of 4 June 1967 and with East Jerusalem as its capital, and the conclusion of a peace accord on the basis of the two-State solution, could a just, durable and sustainable solution to the conflict be achieved.

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58. Mr. Jabbar (Iraq) underscored his country’s solidarity with the Palestinian people and other Arabs whose lands remained under Israeli occupation. Iraq condemned the ongoing efforts to deny Palestinians their rights. The Palestinian people must be allowed to exercise their right to self-determination and to establish an independent State with East Jerusalem as its capital. The Palestinian people must also be allowed to exercise full sovereignty over their natural resources. Israel, the occupying Power, must moreover, cease its campaign of violence against Palestinians and its ongoing settlement building programmes.

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64. Ms. Al-Temimi (Qatar)

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66. Her delegation affirmed the importance of the right of all peoples to self-determination, insofar as respect for that right was a fundamental condition for the protection and promotion of human rights, international peace and mutual understanding. In that regard, the Palestinian people must be allowed to exercise their right to self-determination and to sovereignty over their natural resources, while Israel, the occupying Power, must withdraw fully from the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.

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73. Mr. Hassani Nejad Pirkouhi (Iran) welcomed the relevant reports of the Secretary-General that reaffirmed the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, and the adoption of the General Assembly resolutions according non-Member observer State status to Palestine and authorizing the raising of flags at United Nations Headquarters of non-Member observer States, including Palestine. Despite those steps, the basic human rights of Palestinians in their homeland continued to be violated on a daily basis. In particular, the situation in Gaza, the world’s largest prison camp, was an affront to humanity, and yet the international community seemed unable to resolve that outrageous situation. Ensuring non-discriminatory access by Palestinians in the whole of Palestine to their land, natural resources and livelihoods, putting an end to land confiscations, settlement construction and expansion, withdrawing all illegal settlers from the territories they had occupied and providing effective remedies to Palestinians for the harm they had suffered were initial steps that must be taken as part of the international community’s reaffirmation of the Palestinian people’s universally recognized right to self-determination, its inalienable, permanent and unqualified right to an independent State of Palestine, the permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people over its natural resources, and its right to live in peace, freedom and dignity.

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