Middle East situation/Palestine question – GA general debate – Verbatim record (excerpts)

Official Records

General Assembly
Sixty-fourth session

4th plenary meeting
Wednesday, 23 September 2009, 3 p.m. 
New York

  The meeting was called to order at 3.40 p.m.

  Address by Mrs. Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, President of the Argentine Republic

 The President : The Assembly will now hear an address by the President of the Argentine Republic.

    Mrs. Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, President of the Argentine Republic, was escorted into the General Assembly Hall.

  The President : On behalf of the General Assembly, I have the honour to welcome to the United Nations Her Excellency Mrs. Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, President of the Argentine Republic, and to invite her to address the Assembly.

  President Fernández de Kirchner (spoke in Spanish ): …

/…

  The second thing that I would like to share has to do with the fact that I listened today to the President of the United States speak about an issue that is crucial to world peace and security, as well as to the rights of the Palestinian people. It is also a key component of a strategy against international terrorism, which, as ever, we continue to condemn. It is genuinely satisfying, and a salve to the soul, to hear from the mouth of the President of the United States of America that there is a need for the Palestinian people to be able to live on their land free of settlements of any kind, as well as, clearly, a right for Israel’s citizens to live in peace within their borders. The words of the President and the timely message he delivered at Cairo University, which many here likely followed with interest, place us in a position that we have not occupied for many years, namely, the possibility of beginning negotiations — successful ones, I hope — between the Palestinian Authority and the Government of Israel to at last resolve a key issue for international peace and security, namely, the Palestinian question.

/…

 Address by Mr. Jacob Zuma, President of the Republic of South Africa

  The Acting President (spoke in French ): The Assembly will now hear an address by the President of the Republic of South Africa.

  Mr. Jacob Zuma, President of the Republic of South Africa, was escorted into the General Assembly Hall.

 The Acting President (spoke in French ): On behalf of the General Assembly, I have the honour to welcome to the United Nations His Excellency Mr. Jacob Zuma, President of the Republic of South Africa, and to invite him to address the Assembly.

  President Zuma : …

/…

  We must work with similar urgency towards the achievement, through negotiations, of peaceful coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians. This must be based on the creation of a viable Palestinian State, existing side by side with Israel, within the 1967 borders, which must be secure and internationally recognized.

/…

  Address by Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran

  The Acting President : The Assembly will now hear an address by the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

  Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, was escorted into the General Assembly Hall.

 The Acting President : On behalf of the General Assembly, I have the honour to welcome to the United Nations His Excellency Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and to invite him to address the Assembly.

  President Ahmadinejad ( spoke in Farsi; English text provided by the delegation ): …

/…

  How can it be possible that inhuman policies in Palestine have driven the entire population of the country from their homeland for over 60 years by means of force and coercion, attacking them with all types of weapons, including banned weapons, and denying them their legitimate right of self-defence, and, to the astonishment of the international community, calling the occupiers peacemakers and portraying the victims as terrorists?

  How can the crimes of the occupiers against defenceless women and children and the destruction of their homes, farms, hospitals and schools be supported unconditionally by certain Governments and, at the same time, oppressed men and women be subjected the harshest economic blockade, depriving them of resources to meet their basic needs, including food, water and medicine, and leading to genocide? They are not even allowed to rebuild their homes, destroyed during the 22-day barbaric attacks of the Zionist regime, with winter approaching, while the aggressors and their supporters deceitfully continue their rhetorical defence of human rights in order to put others under pressure.

  It is unacceptable for a small minority to dominate the politics, economy and culture of large parts of the world through complex systems, establishing a de facto new form of slavery, and harming the reputation of other nations, even European nations and the United States, to achieve its racist goals.

  It is unacceptable that nations several thousand miles from the Middle East send their troops to intervene militarily and to promote war, bloodshed, aggression, terror and fear in our region, the Middle East, while brushing aside the protests of nations in the region concerned about their future and their national security, thereby violating peace and interfering in the affairs of others.

/…

  First, the United Nations should be restructured in order to transform this world body into an efficient and fully democratic organization, capable of playing an impartial, equitable and effective role in the international relations. The structure of the Security Council should be reformed, especially by abolishing the discriminatory privilege of the veto right. The inalienable rights of the Palestinian people should be restored by holding a referendum and free elections in Palestine to prepare an environment in which all Palestinian populations, including Muslims, Christians and Jews, can live together in peace and harmony. All types of interference in the affairs of Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East, as well as all countries of Africa, Latin America, Asia and Europe, must be ended.

  As our great Prophet said, a Government may survive with blasphemy, but never with oppression. The Palestinians continue to suffer oppression and their rights continue to be violated. Yet another group of Palestinians who lived in al-Quds al-Sharif were forced out of their homes as the occupiers and usurpers continue to destroy their residential area. Bombings in Afghanistan and Pakistan have not yet stopped, the Guantanamo prison has not yet been shut down, and there are still secret prisons in Europe.

  The continuation of the present situation adds to hostilities and violence. Oppression and military aggression must be stopped. Regrettably, official reports concerning the brutalities of the Zionist regime in Gaza have not all been published. The Secretary-General and the United Nations have crucial responsibilities in this respect, and the international community is impatiently waiting for the aggressors and the murderers of the defenceless people of Gaza to be punished.

/…

The meeting rose at 9.15 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 U-506. Corrections will be issued after the end of the session in a consolidated corrigendum.