General Assembly debate (16th, 17th & 18th meetings) – Press release (excerpts)

29 September 2015

GA/11694

United Nations Still Essential but Needs Reform to Be ‘Fit for Purpose’ in Coming Decades,
Speakers Say as General Assembly Debate Continues

Seventieth Session, 16th, 17th & 18th Meetings (AM, PM & Night)

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HAGE G. GEINGOB, President of Namibia, said …He reaffirmed support for the inalienable rights of the people of Palestine and Western Sahara to self-determination and national independence, and called on the Organization to implement all resolutions on Palestine without pre-conditions, as well as texts calling for a free and fair referendum in Western Sahara.

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SHINZO ABE, Prime Minister of Japan, … Japan valued health and education through a policy of human security, a point driven home by a photograph he had seen of a young woman who had fled a refugee camp near Damascus.  In her bag, she carried a maternal and child health handbook that Japan had distributed at camps in Syria, Palestine and Jordan in hopes that a mother’s love could transform the soil that sometimes created despair.

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MATTEO RENZI, Prime Minister of Italy, …Only through dialogue and negotiations could the delicate Israel-Palestine question be addressed.

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JAKAYA MRISHO KIKWETE, President of the United Republic of Tanzania, …On the issue of Israel and Palestine, he stressed the need to resume dialogue to resolve the long-standing conflict.  It was about time the pain and suffering of the Palestinians ended and the Israeli people lived peacefully and harmoniously with their neighbours.  

that the time had come to work towards equity, solidarity and just distribution of the shared resources the planet offered.

AJA ISATOU NJIE-SAIDY, Vice-President of Gambia, …The United Nations should redouble its efforts towards the creation of an independent and viable Palestinian State, as global peace depended on the international community’s efforts to end global injustice.  

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RALPH GONSALVES, Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, …He supported the Assembly’s decision to fly the Palestinian flag at the United Nations as “an unmistakable endorsement of a true two-State solution” to the Israel-Palestine conflict.  

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HABIB ESSID, Head of Government of Tunisia, …Tunisia supported the resumption of peace negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis within a specified time-table that would end the occupation and grant Palestinians their legitimate rights, he said.  Efforts to change the status quo and undermine the two-State solution were unacceptable

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HAMADI OULD MEIMOU, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Mauritania, …The Arab-Israeli conflict continued to be a threat to peace and security of a region that was vital to the world.  Despite successive United Nations resolutions, it was regrettable that the parties had failed to reach agreement on the creation of an independent Palestinian State./…

For information media. Not an official record.

http://www.un.org/press/en/2015/ga11694.doc.htm