Middle East situation – GA general debate, statements – Verbatim record (excerpts)

Official Records

General Assembly
Sixty-second session

6th plenary meeting
Wednesday, 26 September 2007, 9 a.m. 
New York

The meeting was called to order at 9.20 a.m.

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The President (spoke in French): On behalf of the General Assembly, I have the honour to welcome to the United Nations Her Excellency Mrs. Micheline Calmy-Rey, President of the Swiss Confederation, and to invite her to address the Assembly.

President Calmy-Rey (spoke in French): …

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Recent developments in the occupied Palestinian territories have reminded us once again, with tragic intensity, of the need to respect those principles. In that regard as well, the involvement of all parties is necessary if there is to be a lasting solution.

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The President (spoke in French): On behalf of the General Assembly, I have the honour to welcome to the United Nations Mr. Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdellahi, President of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, and to invite him to address the Assembly.

President Ould Cheikh Abdellahi (spoke in Arabic): …

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Under the Charter of the United Nations we are committed to join efforts to maintain international peace and security. That commitment continues to be undermined by conflict situations, some of which have persisted since the founding of the Organization. The Arab-Israeli conflict is undeniably the one that generates the most antagonism and most threatens international peace and security. That conflict continues despite the fact that the framework setting out the general conditions for a just, comprehensive and lasting settlement of the conflict has been defined and reaffirmed over the years by the Security Council and the General Assembly. Those basic requirements constitute the very essence of the Arab Peace Initiative. That Initiative guarantees peace, security and the recognition of the State of Israel by Arab countries in exchange for an end to the occupation of Arab territories and an agreement to seek out mutually acceptable solutions for other outstanding issues. Israel must seize this historic opportunity and subsequently comply with international law so that the peoples of the region can at last live in peace — and in particular so that the Palestinian people can regain their usurped rights and be able to establish an independent State, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.

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The President: On behalf of the General Assembly, I have the honour to welcome to the United Nations Her Excellency Mrs. Tarja Halonen, President of the Republic of Finland, and to invite her to address the Assembly.

President Halonen: …

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Finland warmly welcomes the Panel’s recommendations concerning gender. We do need to take decisive measures to promote gender awareness across the entire United Nations system. We support the proposal to set up a new, consolidated gender agency with a new Under-Secretary-General position at its head.

In this context, I would like to stress the importance of engaging women in all phases of crisis management: conflict prevention, peacekeeping and peacebuilding, without forgetting peace talks. Let me give one example: the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) Middle East Initiative. I believe that the cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian women under this initiative can help to restart the peace negotiations. I also use this opportunity to state that Finland is preparing its national action plan to advance the implementation of Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) on women, peace and security.

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The Acting President (spoke in Russian): On behalf of the General Assembly, I have the honour to welcome to the United Nations His Excellency Mr. Elias Antonio Saca Gonzalez, President of the Republic of El Salvador, and invite him to address the Assembly.

President Saca Gonzalez (spoke in Spanish): …

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The Middle East is a region in which nations have developed different missions and supported initiatives for a just and lasting solution to the problem, while the United Nations itself has made undoubted efforts to that end, which, unfortunately, have not been successful.

We support any initiative or effort to redirect the peace process. In particular, we welcome the initiative to convene an international peace conference for the Middle East in November. That initiative is a source of renewed hope for achieving the long-awaited peace that will allow all peoples of the region to live free from fear, violence and destruction. It would also establish an environment conducive to political cooperation and to shared economic and social development. We recognize the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, as well as Israel’s right to live within secure and internationally recognized borders, so that both peoples can live in peace.

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Agenda item 8 (continued)

General debate

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The President: I have pleasure in welcoming His Excellency Mr. Nuri Kamel Al-Maliki, Prime Minister of the Republic of Iraq, and inviting him to address the General Assembly.

Mr. Al-Maliki (Iraq) (spoke in Arabic): …

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Many of the region’s problems and crises can be resolved through constructive and focused dialogue. In order to maintain peace and security, our region must abandon the path of war and adventure, which has led to increased harm and suffering for the people.

Within this framework, we call for recognition of the rights of the Palestinian people, for assistance to them in establishing an independent State, and for the return of occupied Arab lands in accordance with international resolutions. The elimination of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East will indeed guarantee a just and comprehensive peace.

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The meeting rose at 1.25 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.