Threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts – SecCo meeting – Verbatim record (excerpts)

 Provisional

Security Council
Sixty-first year
 5446th meeting
Tuesday, 30 May 2006, 10 a.m.
New York

Agenda

Threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts

    The meeting was called to order at 10.10 a.m.

Adoption of the agenda 

  The agenda was adopted.

Threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts 

…

 The President (spoke in French ): The next speaker is the representative of Israel, to whom I give the floor.

 Mr. Gillerman (Israel): …

…

  A dark cloud is looming over the Middle East and, indeed, the world. Iran, Syria and the terror organizations they finance, harbour, nurture and support, do not discriminate between their victims, targeting innocents wherever they are, and in their trail of terror kill Jews, Christians, Muslims and Druze, Americans and Frenchmen and whoever happens to be unlucky enough to be in their path. As the Foreign Minister of the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Zahar, recently stated, suicide terrorism represents the realization of the ultimate dream of the Palestinians. It is, indeed, a sad reality that the Palestinians who went to the polls seeking a better life and an end to corruption, find themselves in the grip of a terrorist organization that is turning their dreams into nightmares.

…

 The President (spoke in French ): I now give the floor to the representative of the Syrian Arab Republic.

 Mr. Alhariri (Syrian Arab Republic) (spoke in Arabic ): …

…

  The Arab region is suffering from terrorism in general, and from State terrorism in particular, as represented by the terrorism of Israel, which continues to occupy Arab lands, to kill Palestinian citizens and to destroy their property and to build a wall of separation of Palestinian land. While noting the role of the Security Council in international efforts to combat global terrorism, we call on the States members of the Security Council to avoid double standards in fighting terrorism. Combating terrorism must be based on strict legal criteria, and not on flimsy political considerations.

  In that regard, I must stress that Israel is duty-bound to cease its cheap blackmail against the United Nations. Israel is well aware that the international community knows about the terrorist acts it has perpetrated since coming to the region. Its gangs have assassinated many international personalities, including those sent by the United Nations to investigate the situation in the region. Everyone is aware of the fact that the source of terrorism in the region is Israel’s continuing occupation of Arab lands, the ejection of Palestinians from their land, the confiscation of that land and Israel’s ongoing aggression against Arabs and its denial of their basic rights.

  The important point is that, in his statement, the representative of Israel referred to and insisted on the need to implement resolutions 1680 (2006) and 1559 (2004) . I should like the statement we made to the sponsors of those resolutions when they were introduced to be clearly reflected in the records of the Security Council. We said that the objective of the resolutions was to serve the regional interests and agenda of Israel and its supporters and not the cause of peace and security in the Middle East .

  The representative of Israel did not mention Israel’s huge nuclear arsenal. He seeks to confuse the legitimate rights of those living under occupation and whose lands have been usurped with the rights of those who perpetrate terrorism . Perhaps he should read the United Nations Charter , which was drafted to save generations from the scourge of war and from foreign occupation. Those who are ignorant of these facts may be illiterate, and if they are illiterate they ought not to be here at the United Nations.

 I will be brief. Israel’s terrorism is known to all. Most regrettably, Israel can fool some people some of the time; however, it cannot fool everyone all of the time. Occupation is rejected. Right is might, and it is the legitimate right of all people to combat occupation. Neither Israel nor anyone else can prevent peoples under occupation from resisting it.

…

  The President (spoke in French ): I call on the representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

 Mr. Sadeghi (Islamic Republic of Iran): …

…

  It is not my intention to take the time of the Council to respond to some of the baseless and unworthy allegations raised here against my country by the representative of the disgraced Israeli regime. However, I wish to mention the following points. Ever since its inception, the Israeli regime has been deeply suffering from a lack of legitimacy. So it is not surprising that the representative of such a regime, ruled constantly by those who are culprits of various crimes against humanity and war crimes, would make such baseless and fabricated propaganda as a remedy for the regime’s illegitimacy.

  Moreover, it is an open secret that the Israeli regime has continuously and purposely violated many international laws and norms, not to mention dozens of United Nations resolutions, including Security Council resolutions. The response of that irresponsible regime has been nothing but complete defiance. In that context, particular reference can be made to the mischievous policy of the Israeli regime on the nuclear issue, which is a showcase for its concealment and its unabated pursuit of a nuclear arsenal in recent decades. It is indisputable that this ill-intentioned policy has been threatening peace and security in the volatile region of the Middle East and beyond for years. In fact, the Israeli nuclear danger and missile capability, coupled with its wicked behaviour, present a real threat not only to regional peace and security but also to the whole world. Therefore, this threat needs to be urgently and decisively addressed by the international community. Indeed, that regime should face a united front and must be kept under continuous pressure to relinquish its terrorist acts and its nuclear programme, and to place all of its nuclear facilities under international monitoring.

  It is worth mentioning that the only existing obstacle to the establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East is the Israeli regime’s non-adherence to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and its continued clandestine operation of unsafeguarded nuclear facilities, with the help and technological assistance of a certain State. The regime has paid no attention to the constant international call in many forums, and particularly at the 2000 Review Conference of the Parties to the NPT, which called upon that regime by name to accede to the Treaty immediately and without any conditions. Moreover, the regime has never been a party to the international instruments on weapons of mass destruction, namely the Chemical Weapons Convention, the Biological Weapons Convention and the NPT.

  The President (spoke in French ): The representative of Israel wishes to make a further statement, and I invite him to take a seat at the Council table and to make his statement.

  Mr. Gillerman (Israel): I believe that, before I made my statement, the representatives of neither Iran nor Syria were supposed to speak. I would just like very, very briefly to express my appreciation — which I hope is shared by members of the Security Council — for the opportunity afforded to all of us to hear lectures about terrorism by two of the world’s greatest experts on that subject.

  The President (spoke in French ): The representative of the Syrian Arab Republic wishes to make a further statement, and I invite him to take a seat at the Council table and to make his statement.

  Mr. Alhariri (Syrian Arab Republic) (spoke in Arabic ): I wish to make one brief comment on the representative of Israel’s statement that we were not “supposed” to speak. We made our statement under rule 37 of the Council’s provisional rules of procedure, which is perfectly clear, and with the approval of the Council. I think addressing the Council in the way he did is evidence of absolute arrogance. If there are experts on international terrorism, everybody knows that Israel is “the” expert on international terrorism. It established a State on the basis of international terrorism. If there is suffering in the world, it is because of Israel.

  In his statement, the representative of Israel spoke three times of a third world war. The Constitution of UNESCO tells us that “wars begin in the minds of men”, and it appears that this is what is in the mind of Israel. If we think about this, we will find the reasons for both the First and the Second World Wars.

  The President (spoke in French ): The representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran wishes to make a further statement, and I invite him to take a seat at the Council table and to make his statement.

  Mr. Sadeghi (Islamic Republic of Iran): My first statement was not, in fact, a response to the first statement of the representative of Israel, as that representative said, but this one is indeed a response to what the representative of Israel just said.

  I shall be very brief and will limit my response to one sentence. What the representative of Israel just said was a big lie, and it shows that all the other things they say are the same, the proof being that the secretariat of the Security Council received our letter, requesting that our delegation be included in the list of speakers, on Friday.

 The President (spoke in French ): There are no further speakers on my list. The Security Council has thus concluded the present stage of its consideration of the item on its agenda.

  The meeting rose at 2.10 p.m.

This record contains the text of speeches delivered in English and of the interpretation of speeches delivered in the other languages. The final text will be printed in the Official Records of the Security Council . 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.