Palestine refugees’ properties and their revenues
Report of the Secretary-General*
2. On 20 July 2001, the Secretary-General drew the attention of the Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations to resolutions 55/123 to 55/129 of 8 December 2000, with the request that the Permanent Representative inform him, by 7 September 2001, of any steps his Government had taken or envisaged taking in implementation of the relevant provisions of the resolutions.
3. On 27 July 2001, the Secretary-General sent a note verbale to all other Member States drawing their attention to the relevant provisions of resolutions 55/123 to 55/129, in particular to paragraph 5 of resolution 55/128, and requesting information, by 7 September 2001, concerning any action taken or envisaged in relation to their implementation.
4. A reply dated 17 September 2001 was received from Israel, covering various aspects of resolutions 55/123 to 55/129. The text reads as follows:
“Israel’s position on these resolutions has been set forth in successive annual replies submitted to the Secretary-General in recent years, the latest of which being Israel’s note verbale of 6 September 2000. Israel regrets the fact that the resolutions regarding the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) remain rife with political issues irrelevant to the work for which UNRWA is responsible and thus remain detached from the reality in the area. Accordingly, Israel abstained on resolution 55/126 and voted against resolutions 55/123, 55/125, 55/127, 55/128 and 55/129.
“The resolutions concerning UNRWA should respect the terms of reference of the peace process, which call for the resolution of all outstanding issues through bilateral negotiations. In light of the present difficulties in the region and the continued acts of violence and terrorism, it is especially important now that the agreed terms of the peace process receive encouragement and support from concerned parties in the region and the international community, including through the resolutions regarding the functioning of UNRWA.
“Israel believes that UNRWA can play an important role in promoting the social and economic advancement foreseen in the agreements between Israel and the Palestinians, within the limits of its humanitarian mandate, and accordingly looks forward to continuing the cooperation and good working relationship with UNRWA.
“In light of the above, Israel considers it essential that the General Assembly consolidate the resolutions regarding UNRWA into one resolution directly related to the Agency’s humanitarian tasks and refrain from including elements that threaten to prejudge issues that are subject to negotiations between the parties. This would also be compatible with the necessity to rationalize the work of the General Assembly.”
5. No replies have been received from other Member States with regard to paragraph 5 of resolution 55/128.
* The footnote requested by General Assembly resolution 54/248 was not included in the submission.
