Assistance to Pal. people – GA general debate – Verbatim record (excerpts)

Official Records

General Assembly

Fifty-seventh session

75th plenary meeting

Monday, 16 December 2002, 10 a.m.

New York

   The meeting was called to order at 10.15 a.m.

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Agenda item 21 (continued)

Strengthening of the coordination of humanitarian and disaster relief assistance of the United Nations, including special economic assistance 

    Draft resolution (A/57/L.66)

 (a)   Strengthening of the coordination of emergency humanitarian assistance of the United Nations

   Draft resolutions A/57/L.60, A/57/L.63, A/57/L.64

 (b)   Special economic assistance to individual countries or regions

    Draft resolutions A/57/L.43/Rev.1, A/57/L.54, A/57/L.57, A/57/L.62, A/57/L.65

 (c)   Assistance to the Palestinian people

    Draft resolution A/57/L.51

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 The Acting President : I give the floor to the representative of Denmark to introduce, on behalf of the European Union, draft resolutions A/57/L.51 and A/57/L.66 in one intervention.

 Ms. Løj (Denmark): On behalf of the European Union and the co-sponsors, I have the honour of introducing the draft resolution entitled “Safety and security of humanitarian personnel and protection of United Nations personnel”, contained in document A/57/L.66, and the draft resolution entitled “ Assistance to the Palestinian people” contained in document A/57/L.51.

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  The draft resolution on assistance to the Palestinian people, contained in document A/57/L.51, reflects the outcome of constructive consultations with interested delegations. In the preambular paragraphs, it, inter alia, expresses great concern at the deterioration of the living conditions of the Palestinian people throughout the occupied territories, which constitutes a mounting humanitarian crisis. It notes the great economic and social challenges facing the Palestinian people and is conscious of the urgent need for international assistance in this regard. Furthermore, it stresses the need for the full engagement of the United Nations in the process of building Palestinian institutions and providing broad assistance to the Palestinian people.

  In the operative paragraphs, the draft resolution takes note of the report of the Secretary-General and the report of the Secretary-General’s Personal Humanitarian Envoy on the humanitarian conditions and needs of the Palestinian people. Moreover, it urges member States, international financial institutions of the United Nations system, inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations to extend, as rapidly and generously as possible, economic and social assistance to the Palestinian people, including emergency assistance to counter the impact of the current crisis. In this regard, the draft resolution calls upon the international donor community to expedite the delivery of pledged assistance and stresses the importance of ensuring free passage of aid and free movement of persons and goods.

  Finally, the draft resolution requests the Secretary-General to submit a report to the General Assembly at its fifty-eighth session containing an assessment of the assistance received and the needs that are yet to be met. It is the hope of the co-sponsors that the draft resolution will find broad support, and that it will be adopted without a vote, as it has been in previous years.

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  The Acting President (spoke in Spanish): I now call on the representative of Israel for an explanation of vote before the vote.

 Mr. Govrin (Israel): My explanation of vote refers to the draft resolution on assistance to the Palestinian people.

  Israel shares the concern of the international community over the deterioration in the humanitarian situation in the region. Violence and terrorism, by their very nature, entail hardship for the civilian population. Israeli and Palestinian civilians have both endured tremendous pain and suffering as a consequence of the upsurge in terrorism that began in September 2000. Bringing this suffering to an end and providing for the security and prosperity of all the peoples in the region are critical components of any successful peace initiative and is therefore a prime objective of Israeli policy.

  In this respect, Israel welcomes the efforts of Member States and of international agencies to relieve the suffering of innocent civilians. Israel has done its utmost to cooperate with international actors in an effort to facilitate their humanitarian work aimed at improving the living conditions of Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Despite the unrelenting threat of terrorism that Israel confronts on a daily basis, we have consistently tried to permit the flow of food, medicine, humanitarian assistance and other necessities to the greatest extent possible.

  While Israel has tried, and will continue to try, to facilitate humanitarian assistance to the greatest extent possible, Palestinian terrorists have consistently exploited any Israeli attempt to ease the conditions of the Palestinian people. Terrorists have viewed measures intended to increase freedom of movement as opportunities to infiltrate Israeli cities. They have used the immunity granted to medical and humanitarian vehicles to smuggle weapons and explosives. It is clear from these examples that terrorists pose a threat not only to those they target, but also to those they hide behind.

  It is therefore entirely disingenuous to suggest, as certain speakers have, that Israeli policies are the source of the hardships facing the Palestinian people.

  As is obvious to anyone willing to make an honest assessment of Palestinian economic and social development over the past decade, in periods in which the Palestinian leadership was actively confronting terrorist organizations and engaging in serious negotiations with Israel, the living conditions of the Palestinian people steadily improved. It was only with the breakdown of the peace process and the Palestinian resort to a deliberate campaign of terrorism aimed at the citizens of Israel that conditions began to decline.

  While it is politically useful for the Palestinians to place the blame for their current predicament solely on Israel’s shoulders, such allegations will do little to offer any relief to Palestinian civilians that do not participate in acts of terror. If the international community is serious about alleviating the humanitarian plight of the Palestinian people, the single most important thing it can do is to insist that the Palestinian leadership end its campaign of violence, terror and incitement, as called for in Security Council resolutions.

  I wish to emphasize once again that while Israel is joining the consensus on this draft resolution out of our concern for the Palestinian people, Israel’s participation should not be construed as implying any position regarding the present status of the territories referred to as “the occupied territory”. This term is not used in the agreements between the parties, nor does it reflect, in Israel’s view, the legal status of the disputed territory in the West Bank and Gaza which, pursuant to signed agreements, are a matter to be directly negotiated between the two sides.

  We remain hopeful that despite the tension that persists in the region, we will soon be able to return to a process of negotiations aimed at achieving a lasting political settlement for the benefit of all the peoples of the region.

 The Acting President (spoke in Spanish): The Assembly will now take a decision on draft resolutions A/57/L.43/Rev.1, as orally revised, A/57/L.51, A/57/L.54, A/57/L.57, A/57/L.60, A/57/L.62, A/57/L.63, A/57/L.64, A/57/L.65 and A/57/L.66.

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 The Acting President (spoke in Spanish ): Draft resolution A/57/L.51 is entitled “Assistance to the Palestinian people”. The following countries have joined the list of sponsors of the draft resolution: Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Gambia, Mali, Mozambique and Niger.

  May I take it that the Assembly decides to adopt draft resolution A/57/L.51?

Draft resolution A/57/L.51 was adopted (resolution 57/147).

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 Ms. Abdelhady-Nasser (Palestine): To begin, I wish to convey my delegation’s appreciation with regard to the adoption by consensus of the resolution on assistance to the Palestinian people. Emergency economic and humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people is indeed a matter of urgency for addressing the dire humanitarian crisis that has taken root in the occupied Palestinian territory.

  The root cause of this humanitarian crisis is the Israeli policies and practices being imposed on the Palestinian people under occupation. The severe decline in the socio-economic conditions of the Palestinian people is fundamentally a result of an oppressive occupation now in its thirty-fifth year. For more than 35 years, the occupying Power has prevented the socio-economic development and progress of the population under its occupation. Since September, with the escalation of the Israeli military attacks against Palestinian cities, towns and villages and refugee camps, development has not only been halted, it has been destroyed.

  Israeli policies and practices of collective punishment against the Palestinian people, including the imposition of the severest restrictions on the freedom of movement of persons and goods — including humanitarian and medical help, which the Israeli Government purports to cooperate with and facilitate — have severely and detrimentally impacted all facets of Palestinian life — economic, social, political, health, educational and cultural.

  It is thus Israel’s policies and practices in imposing its occupation that are the root source of the humanitarian suffering in the occupied Palestinian territory. While we are always grateful for the assistance of the international community in addressing the humanitarian needs of our people, we do at the same time reaffirm the need to address the root source of this humanitarian crisis in all its aspects.

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   The meeting rose at 1.20 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.