Mideast situation – GA general debate – Verbatim record (excerpts)

Official Records

General Assembly

Fifty-seventh session

24th plenary meeting

Monday, 7 October 2002, 10 a.m.

New York

In the absence of the President, Mr. Pfanzelter (Austria), Vice-President, took the Chair.

 The meeting was called to order at 10.15 a.m.

Agenda item 8 (continued)

Adoption of the agenda and organization of work: reports of the General Committee

Second report of the General Committee (A/57/250/Add.1)

  The Acting President : I should like to draw the attention of representatives to the second report of the General Committee (document A/57/250/Add.1), concerning a request by the delegation of Cambodia for the inclusion of an additional sub-item under agenda item 22, “Cooperation between the United Nations and regional and other organizations”.

  The General Committee decided to recommend to the General Assembly that an additional sub-item, entitled “Cooperation between the United Nations and the Association of South-East Asian Nations”, be included as a sub-item of agenda item 22, “Cooperation between the United Nations and regional and other organizations”.

  May I take it that the General Assembly decides to include this additional sub-item as a sub-item of agenda 22 in the agenda of the current session?

 It was so decided.

 The Acting President : The General Committee further decided to recommend to the General Assembly that the additional sub-item should be considered directly in plenary meeting.

  May I take it that the General Assembly decides to consider the additional sub-item directly in plenary meeting?

 It was so decided. 

  The Acting President : I should like to inform Members that the new sub-item becomes sub-item (s) of agenda item 22.

Agenda item 44 and agenda item 10 (continued)

Follow-up to the outcome of the Millennium Summit

Report of the Secretary-General (A/57/270 and A/57/270/Corr.1)

Report of the Secretary-General on the work of the Organization (A/57/1)

The Acting President: I now give the floor to the representative of Japan.

Mr. Haraguchi (Japan): …

/…

   I would also like to touch upon the situation in the Middle East. It is crucial that the vision of the peaceful coexistence of Israel and an independent Palestinian State be materialized as early as possible. However, the most urgent task is for both parties to rebuild mutual trust and put an end to the vicious circle of violence. Towards that end, Japan strongly urges Israel immediately to withdraw its troops to the line of September 2000, halt its military operations and lift closures in the autonomous areas; at the same time, Japan resolutely condemns terrorist acts by Palestinian extremists.

/…

Mr. Mejdoub (Tunisia) ( spoke in French ): …

/…

  On the Palestinian question, the Council, here again, must fully assume its role by enforcing its resolutions, to induce Israel ultimately to terminate its occupation of all the occupied territories and to return to the negotiating table. The Palestinians are committed to a political settlement that guarantees peace and co-existence between two States: Palestine and Israel.

/…

 Mr. Nambiar (India): …

/…

… In the Middle East the United Nations has given cautious support to the actions of the Quartet, of which it is a constituent. Implied in this approach is the recognition by the United Nations of the need for a sophisticated and differentiated approach to the many problems that beset the world today.

/…

Mr. Aboulhasan (Kuwait) ( spoke in Arabic ): …

/…

  How do we reconcile those principles with some of the thorny issues raised by the Secretary-General, for example those relating to the principle of humanitarian intervention and the role of the United Nations in this respect, as well as in guaranteeing respect for the sovereignty of all States. Despite having asked that rhetorical question, we would again like to say that we fully agree with the pessimistic views expressed by the Secretary-General in his report concerning the deterioration of certain conflict situations and other regrettable events that we have witnessed recently, in particular the terrorist attacks against the United States and the savagery perpetrated against the Palestinian people.

/…

  Mr. Al-Taieeb (Saudi Arabia) (spoke in Arabic ): …

/…

  The inhuman practices occurring in the occupied Palestinian territories, including killings, assassinations, demolitions of houses and repeated siege conditions imposed by the Israeli occupying forces against unarmed Palestinian people and their legitimate leadership, is an embodiment of the policy of injustice and State terrorism and an example of disrespect for the principles of the United Nations and international law.

  Israel has previously refused to implement all the resolutions of the United Nations that are relevant to its occupation of Palestine and other Arab territories, including resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973) and 194 (1948). It refused this year to receive the fact-finding mission constituted by the Secretary-General, at the behest of the Security Council, in its unanimously adopted resolution 1405 (2002), in order to investigate the horrors perpetrated by the Israeli occupying force in Jenin. This led the Secretary-General to dissolve the fact-finding team before it could visit the area.

  Israel again has rejected the implementation of Council resolution 1435 (2002), which calls for an immediate withdrawal of the Israeli occupying forces from the Palestinian towns to the areas where they were before September 2000. This Israeli position, which rejects the implementation of all international resolutions relevant to its occupation of Palestinian territories and other Arab territories, on the one hand, and the fact that the international community has not forced Israel to implement these resolutions, on the other, cause the Palestinian people, suffering from the horrors of Israeli occupation, to continue to feel insecure and to live in fear and horror.

/…

  My country participates also in the international and regional efforts to make the Middle East a zone free of weapons of mass destruction. In this respect, we should note that, despite the fact that the United Nations General Assembly issues annually, since 1974, a resolution calling for making the Middle East a zone free of weapons of mass destruction, this objective has not been achieved because of the rejection by one country in the region, Israel. It refuses to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and to submit its nuclear programmes to full scope safeguards under the International Atomic Energy Agency’s supervision. Therefore, my country calls upon the international community to take all necessary measures to ensure that the Middle East is free of all weapons of mass destruction, a matter which will contribute largely to bring about security and stability in the region and the world as a whole.

/…

The meeting rose at 1.05 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-154. Corrections will be issued after the end of the session in a consolidated corrigendum.