Threats to int’l peace and security – Verbatim records (excerpts)

Provisional

Security Council

Fifty-seventh year

4453rd meeting

Friday, 18 January 2002, 10 a.m.

New York

Agenda

Threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts. 

    The meeting was called to order at 10.05 a.m.

/…

Adoption of the agenda

  The agenda was adopted.

Threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts 

/…

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

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  Nowadays, there are some who, unfortunately, choose to criticize and cast doubt on United Nations achievements in the elimination and ending of colonialism. But it goes further than that: there are those who deliberately disregard the Charter and the resolutions of the United Nations. We reaffirm here that foreign occupation is the most brutal form of terrorism; therefore, resistance to foreign occupation — especially Israeli occupation of Arab territories in Palestine, the Syrian Golan and southern Lebanon — constitutes legitimate struggle. Here, Arab Ministers for Foreign Affairs, at their special meeting held at Cairo on 20 December 2001, stated that

  “Israel’s attempt to link its assassinations and oppression aimed against the Palestinian people to the events of 11 September is a flagrant attempt to hoodwink international public opinion, to cloak Israeli acts of terrorism, to promote and deepen the hatred between Arabs and the United States, and to undermine the peace process.”

  The crimes committed daily by Israel against the Palestinian people are war crimes; their perpetrators must be brought to justice. Here, we must recall the sight of dozens of Palestinian houses demolished by Israeli tanks a few days ago in the Rafah camp. That is not very different from the scene at the World Trade Center, which was destroyed by the terrorists whom we have all agreed here to fight and eliminate.

  If those Israeli crimes are not terrorism, what else can they be? The greatest danger we face in our fight against terrorism is the Israeli interpretation of combating terrorism and of resolutions of international legitimacy, which is based on a pretext of self-defence. What kind of self-defence is this which permits occupation, settlements, killing and destruction? It is regrettable that the Security Council, which has a Charter responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security and which today is deliberating the fight against international terrorism, has not yet denounced Israeli State terrorism or repeated Israeli violations of international humanitarian law and of the United Nations Charter. We all know the reason for that silence.

  Seeing with one eye means seeing only half of the truth. Terrorism, wherever it may be, must be dealt with in a unified way. The reason for everything taking place in the Middle East is the continued Israeli occupation of Arab territories and Israel’s denial of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people. A just and comprehensive peace in the region must be based on the implementation of Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973) and on the principle of land for peace. These must be the first steps towards bringing peace and security to all in the region. Threats of force against any Arab or Islamic country are unacceptable; we reject them; they do not serve the goal of combating terrorism. They make the situation in the area more complicated and more volatile and have a negative impact on economic and social development in that very important region, a region that needs genuine support from the international community.

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  Mr. Bennouna (Morocco) (spoke in Arabic ): …

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  In keeping with these rules and standards, the international legal system grants the Palestinian people, whose most basic human rights are being flouted, the right to self-defence in the current difficult and sensitive conditions in the Middle East — conditions and circumstances that have led to tragic events on a daily basis with respect to the suffering of the Palestinian people. We cannot but condemn the grave violations of international humanitarian law being endured by the Palestinian people, in particular, attempts to kill people, starve them, displace them, deprive them of their freedoms, block and lay siege to their cities and restrict their freedom of movement. Such practices, among others, strike international public opinion and awaken its conscience, leading to the demand for action to put an end to these practices.

  What is even more serious is some people’s attempt to take advantage of the events of 11 September to achieve advances at the expense of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people. Such attempts would have a disastrous effect on the peace process and undeniably negative consequences for the credibility of any efforts by the international community in combating terrorism. 

  Despite all these challenges, the Arab Group hopes that dialogue and negotiation will prevail over violence so that the Middle East may break the cycle of threats, accusation and violence.

  The international legal system, as enshrined in United Nations resolutions since 1947, stipulates that two States should exist, recognize each other and co-exist in peace and security. The time has come for the Palestinians to obtain a State, with Jerusalem as its capital. It is also time for Israel to be convinced that its best guarantee of security comes through this basic demand of the Palestinian people and through Israeli withdrawal from occupied Syrian and Lebanese land, in accordance with the relevant United Nations resolutions.

/…

  The meeting was suspended at 1.35 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-178.