Middle East situation – GA general debate – Verbatim record (excerpts)

Official Records

General Assembly
Sixty-second session

5th plenary meeting
Tuesday, 25 September 2007, 3 p.m. 
New York

    The meeting was called to order at 3.15 p.m.

  The President : On behalf of the General Assembly, I have the honour to welcome to the United Nations His Excellency Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa, President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, and to invite him to address the Assembly.

  President Rajapaksa ( spoke in Sinhala; English text provided by the delegation ) …

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  In whatever continent there are conflicts, those will affect the world economy. Peace in the Middle East would have a great impact on our economy. Solutions sought for conflicts in various countries must be indigenous. Otherwise, even if the international community is appeased, people in the countries saddled with conflicts will not be satisfied. That would be a blow to democracy. At this point, we must focus our attention on the Palestinians who are striving for an independent State. The world community must help them to manage their country without any undue influence.

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  The Acting President (spoke in French ): On behalf of the General Assembly, I have the honour to welcome to the United Nations His Excellency, Mr. Abdoulaye Wade, President of the Republic of Senegal, and to invite him to address the Assembly.

    President Wade (spoke in French ): …

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  The Middle East situation still gives serious concern and I wish to reconfirm Senegal’s unwavering support for the just cause of the Palestinian people in their legitimate quest for a viable State. We support all efforts to that end.

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  Remembering the last two wars, we must really try to achieve peace. Peace is not just the absence of war as somebody said this morning. We must combat war in the minds of men, particularly young people.

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  The Acting President (spoke in French ): On behalf of the General Assembly, I have the honour to welcome to the United Nations His Excellency Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and to invite him to address the Assembly.

  President Ahmadinejad (spoke in Farsi; English text provided by the delegation ): …

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   I now turn to the issues of widespread violations of human rights, terrorism and occupation. Unfortunately, human rights are being extensively violated by certain Powers — especially those who pretend to be their exclusive advocates. Setting up secret prisons, abducting persons, carrying out trials and secret punishments without any regard for due process, conducting extensive tapping of telephone conversations, intercepting private mail and issuing frequent summonses to appear at police and security centres have become commonplace and prevalent. These Powers prosecute scientists and historians for stating their opinions on important global issues.

  They use various pretexts to occupy sovereign States and cause insecurity and division, and then use the prevailing situation as an excuse to continue their occupation. For more than 60 years, Palestine, as compensation for the loss that it incurred during the war in Europe, has been under the occupation of the illegal Zionist regime. The Palestinian people have been displaced, are under heavy military pressure or economic siege or are incarcerated under abhorrent conditions. The occupiers are protected and praised, while the innocent Palestinians are subjected to political, military and propaganda onslaughts. The people of Palestine are deprived of water, electricity and medicine for the sin of asking for freedom, and the Government that was freely elected by the people is targeted. Terrorists are being organized to attack the lives and property of people with the blessings of the politicians and military officials of the great Powers.

  The brutal Zionists carry out targeted assassinations of Palestinians in their homes and cities, and terrorists are decorated with medals of peace and receive support from the great Powers. On the other hand, they attract a number of Jews from various parts of the world by using false propaganda and by promising to provide them with welfare, jobs and food, and then settle them in the occupied territories, exposing them to the harshest restrictions, psychological pressures and constant threats. They prevent these people from returning to their homelands and, by coercion and propaganda, incite them to malevolence towards the indigenous Palestinian people.

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  The Acting President ( spoke in French): On behalf of the General Assembly, I have the honour to welcome to the United Nations His Excellency Mr. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, President of the Republic of Indonesia, and to invite him to address the Assembly.

  President Yudhoyono : …

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  Peace in the Middle East is crucial to long-term global stability. But there can be no peace in the Middle East unless there is justice, especially justice for the Palestinian people. A divided Palestinian nation cannot secure justice. Hamas and Fatah must therefore engage in dialogue and reconcile their agendas. The Arab initiative must catalyse political change in the region.

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  The Acting President (spoke in French ): On behalf of the General Assembly, I have the honour to welcome to the United Nations His Excellency Mr. Martín Torrijos, President of the Republic of Panama, and to invite him to address the Assembly.

  President Torrijos (spoke in Spanish ): …

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  No conflict in the world has been given greater attention by the international community than that in the Middle East region. Although agreements have been arrived at that have eased tensions, the path towards peace has always been elusive, and new obstacles arise all the time. The conflict between Israel and Palestine is at the very core of the problems in the region. Panama therefore encourages and promotes negotiations between the parties, geared towards creating a Palestinian State that can live in peace with the State of Israel, with secure borders for both. This will require a cessation of attacks on Israel from Gaza, withdrawal from all the occupied territories in the West Bank and the achievement of an agreement about the status of Jerusalem that would satisfy the parties directly involved and the entire international community.

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  The President : On behalf of the General Assembly, I have the honour to welcome to the United Nations His Excellency Mr. Hâmid Karzai, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, and to invite him to address the General Assembly.

  President Karzai : …

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  We are also watching the situation in the Middle East with deep concern. In particular, we remain concerned about the situation in Palestine and call for the full realization of the rights of our Palestinian brothers and sisters, including their right to an independent State, living side by side with its neighbours in peace and coexistence.

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  The President : On behalf of the General Assembly, I have the honour to welcome to the United Nations His Excellency Mr. Ivan Gašparovič, President of the Slovak Republic, and to invite him to address the Assembly.

  President Gašparovič ( spoke in Slovakian; English text provided by the delegation ): …

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  With regard to the Middle East issue, Slovakia endorses a peaceful, fair and permanent solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The talks should result in the establishment of a viable Palestinian State that will coexist with Israel in an atmosphere of perpetual peace and security. In this context, we appreciate the resumption of dialogue between Israel and Palestine and the measures taken in this respect by the Quartet.

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 The President: I have great pleasure in welcoming His Excellency Mr. Romano Prodi, Prime Minister of the Republic of Italy, and inviting him to address the General Assembly.

  Mr. Prodi (Italy) ( spoke in Italian; English text provided by the delegation ): …

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  We must continue to support the Lebanese reconciliation process and help the country to regain its unity through the election of a new President. We must do this without ignoring the root causes of the conflicts afflicting the Middle East, first and foremost the Palestinian question. In short, we must continue to mobilize support for reconciliation among peoples and within a single people.

  Restoring peace to the Middle East is the top priority of the international community, because if one day this region should find greater peace, freedom and prosperity, we shall all live in greater peace, freedom and prosperity. I am therefore delighted that the United States has promoted a new international meeting. We are ready to provide our input and we are already preparing it, knowing that the more countries in the region that are behind this meeting, the greater the possibility of success.

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 The President: I have great pleasure in welcoming Her Excellency Mrs. Angela Merkel, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, and inviting her to address the General Assembly.

  Mrs. Merkel (Germany) ( spoke in German; English text provided by the delegation ): …

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  We also strongly support the efforts of the Middle East Quartet for peace in that region. Germany is a staunch advocate of the vision of two States, within secure borders and in peace, for the Jewish people in Israel and for the Palestinians in Palestine. We welcome the fact that both parties are continuing their talks with great vigour, above all with a view to the Middle East conference scheduled for November.

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 The meeting rose at 8.55 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.