Permanent sovereignty over natural resources in the OPT – Second Cttee debate, vote – Summary record (excerpts)

Second Committee

Summary record of the 36th meeting

Held at Headquarters, New York, on Tuesday, 9 December 2003 at 3 p.m. 

Chairman:   Ms. Cronenberg-Mossberg (Vice-Chairman)  ………………….. (Sweden)

 later:   Mr. Raubenheimer (Vice-Chairman)  ………………………… (South Africa)

Contents

…

Agenda item 103: Permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and of the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan over their natural resources ( continued)

The meeting was called to order at 3.30 p.m.

…

  Agenda item 103: Permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and of the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan over their natural resources (continued) (A/C.2/58/L.36/Rev.1)

  Draft resolution on permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and of the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan over their natural resources (A/C.2/58/L.36/Rev.1)

26.   Ms. Cronenberg-Mossberg (Sweden) (Vice-Chairman) said that during informal consultations on the draft resolution it had become clear that no consensus would be possible and that the text would have to be put to a vote.

27.  The Chairman said that the representative of the United States of America had requested a recorded vote.

28.  A recorded vote was taken.

In favour:

  Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Canada, Cape Verde, Chile, China, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Denmark, Djibouti, Ecuador, Egypt, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Monaco, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Niger, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian Federation, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia and Montenegro, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, S weden, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Thailand, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Timor-Leste, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United Republic of Tanzania, Uruguay, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Against:

  Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia (Federated States of), United States of America.

Abstaining:

  Australia, Cameroon, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Nauru, Nicaragua, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Tuvalu.

29.   Draft resolution A/C.2/58/L.36/Rev.1 was adopted by 142 to 4, with 9 abstentions.

30.  Mr. Mizukami (Japan), speaking in explanation of vote, said that Japan had voted in favour of the draft resolution because it believed that the natural resources of any territory seized by force should not be used inappropriately or illegally by the occupying Power. The cycle of violence between Israelis and Palestinians which had begun more than two years ago was continuing. The situation in the Middle East had worsened. The Government of Japan once again expressed its deep concern regarding the construction of the separation wall and its negative repercussions on the daily lives of the Palestinians and prejudgement of the final status of negotiations, as the wall was to be extended inside the Green Line. The Government of Japan firmly expected Israel to exercise the maximum self-restraint to calm the situation, and at the same time hoped that the Palestinian Authority would immediately crack down on the extremists. The Japanese delegation did not believe that the Committee was a suitable forum in which to handle such a draft resolution, which was of a fundamentally political nature.

31.  Mr. Bernardini (Italy), speaking in explanation of vote on behalf of the European Union, the acceding countries, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia, the associated countries Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey, and, in addition, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, said that the European Union countries had voted in favour of the draft resolution because they believed that the natural resources of any territory seized by force of arms should not be used inappropriately or illegally by the occupying Power. The European Union reaffirmed the applicability of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 to the occupied territories and also reaffirmed that any infringement of the rights of the Palestinian people with regard to that Convention was illegal. However, the issues referred to in the resolution were matters which were to be dealt with in the framework of the permanent status negotiations of the Middle East peace process. The European Union remained committed, in close cooperation with its partners in the Quartet and in the Arab world, to assisting the parties in their efforts to find a final settlement to the Middle East conflict. The resolution just adopted must therefore not be considered as prejudicial to or pre-emptive of the outcome of those nego tiations. Any actions or statement which might be seen as being so had to be avoided.

The meeting rose at 4.10 p.m.

This record is subject to correction. Corrections should be sent under the signature of a member of the delegation concerned within one week of the date of publication to the Chief of the Official Records Editing Section, room DC2-750, 2 United Nations Plaza, and incorporated in a copy of the record.  Corrections will be issued after the end of the session, in a separate corrigendum for each Committee.