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

Official Records

General Assembly

Fifty-eighth session

24th plenary meeting

Monday, 6 October 2003, 3 p.m.

New York

    The meeting was called to order at 3 p.m.

Agenda items 60 and 10 (continued )

Follow-up to the outcome of the Millennium Summit

    Report of the Secretary-General (A/58/323)

Report of the Secretary-General on the work of the Organization (A/58/1) 

/…

 Mr. Hakeem (Saudi Arabia) (spoke in Arabic ): …

/…

  The report reviews the tragic situation in the occupied Palestinian territories and the persistent efforts made by the Secretary-General and the Quartet to resume the peace process. Unfortunately, despite all those intense efforts and good offices, Israel still flouts the decisions of international legitimacy. Israel has always taken such a stance in its international relations regarding its occupation of Palestinian and other Arab territories.

  This stems first of all from the reluctance of the international community to compel Israel to implement United Nations resolutions. That has subjected the Palestinian people to increasing daily suffering and has encouraged Israel to persist in its efforts more tenaciously, as witnessed by its military aggression yesterday on the sisterly Syrian Arab Republic.

/…

  Despite the fact that 25 years have elapsed since the holding of the first special session of the General Assembly devoted to disarmament, it is regrettable that the international commitment to acceding to international treaties is still weak. My country, Saudi Arabia, is making every effort to make the Middle East region free from all weapons of mass destruction. Despite the adoption since 1974 of yearly resolutions aimed at making the Middle East a zone free from weapons of mass destruction, that objective still eludes us, because of Israel’s refusal to accede to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and submit its nuclear facilities to the international safeguards regime. My country therefore appeals to the international community to take the measures necessary to transform the Middle East region into a zone free from all weapons of mass destruction. That would greatly contribute to the establishment of peace and stability in the region and throughout the world.

/…

 Mr. Rastam (Malaysia): …

/…

  The situation in the Middle East remains an important issue of international peace and security for the United Nations. We appreciate the efforts of the Secretary-General, the Quartet and other peace brokers in the region to revive the peace process through the implementation of the road map. We encourage the Secretary-General to continue with his efforts. Israel must be made to demonstrate firm commitment to the road map and to announce its acceptance of the two- State solution, end its occupation of Palestinian and other Arab territories, cease military operations and human rights violations against the Palestinians and against its neighbours, such as the air strike against Syria yesterday, and terminate its settler colonialism activities and the construction of the expansionist wall.

  The Quartet, particularly those members with the necessary influence, should intensify their efforts towards ensuring the revival of the peace process and the achievement of the objectives set out in the road map. The United Nations should continue to work towards that end while at the same time providing the necessary humanitarian and other forms of assistance to the Palestinian people.

/…

 Mr. Amer (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya) (spoke in Arabic): …

/…

Terrorism is one of the principal challenges facing the international community. However, we should not prioritize that scourge at the expense of other problems addressed by the Secretary-General in his reports on the work of the Organization and on the implementation of the Millennium Declaration. My delegation shares the Secretary-General’s concern at the lack of progress in disarmament, especially in the field of weapons of mass destruction. We again stress the need for all countries to destroy such weapons and to develop a time frame for such eradication, without which no one can feel safe or secure. This is especially necessary in the Middle East, where the process of weapons of mass destruction disarmament must include Israel, which has not joined the relevant international conventions.

/…

  The President: I now give the floor to the representative of Serbia and Montenegro. 

  Mr. Šahovic (Serbia and Montenegro): …

/…

  As indicated in the Secretary-General’s report, the situation in Iraq and the Middle East peace process have preoccupied the agenda of the Organization, as well as the attention of the world public in the past year. My Government fully supports efforts to establish an optimal time frame for the restoration of sovereignty to the Iraqi people. An active and clear role of the United Nations in facilitating and supporting this process offers the best chance for success. We also consider it vital to put implementation of the Middle East road map back on track.

/…

 Mr. Al-Otaibi (Kuwait) (spoke in Arabic): …

/…

… Political events and past wars have taken place that cannot be ignored that represented a flagrant challenge to our Organization — starting with the Israeli occupation of Arab territories, the occupation of Kuwait by Iraq, the flouting by Saddam Hussain of United Nations resolutions over a period of 12 years, and the divided views of the international community on how to address those violations.

/…

 The meeting rose at 6 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.