GA Third Committee Delegates: State of Palestine must exercise right to sovereignty – Press release (excerpts)

Sixty-ninth General Assembly

Third Committee

39^th Meetings (AM)

State of Palestine Must Exercise Right to Sovereignty, Delegates Urge
 as Third Committee Concludes Thematic Debate

Global Human Rights Covenants Centred on Self-Determination, Speakers Stress

All peoples had a fundamental entitlement to sovereignty and the State of Palestine must be able to exercise that right, several delegates told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today as it concluded its general discussion on self-determination and the elimination of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.

During the debate, a number of speakers called self-determination the core principle of all international instruments for the protection of human rights.  Spotlighting the Palestinian people’s struggle for statehood, some delegates expressed grave concerns over Israel’s human rights violations.  Iran’s representative was particularly concerned about illegal settlements on occupied territory.

“It was no coincidence that those who were denied political status tended to be the poorest and most repressed in the countries where they lived,” said a representative of Maldives, calling for a two-State solution for the multi-decade conflict.  Where occupied people called for help, the international community had a duty to act, he said.

A representative of the Permanent Observer Mission of the State of Palestine voiced a call on the international community to take the necessary steps to bring an end to all Israeli violations.  For nearly five decades, they had been subjected to a myriad of violations, including institutionalized racism and discrimination in its most barbaric forms.  While the Palestinian citizens of Israel constituted one-fifth of the Israeli population, they continued to be targeted by a barrage of racist laws making them second- and third-class citizens in their own land.

Further, Palestinian people had been deprived of their rights to self-determination and sovereignty over their land, she said.  She highlighted that the right of self-determination of peoples underpinned all other human rights, as recognized in Article 1 of both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Responding, in exercise of the right of reply, Israel’s representative said that if Palestine wanted self-determination it must disengage from Hamas.  It must also return to negotiations with his country.

Only direct negotiations would help to resolve the situation, he said.  Neither speeches at the United Nations nor “the war initiated by Hamas in the summer” would help in that regard.

/..

Statements

  /…

JEFFREY SALIM WAHEED (Maldives) said that…

/…

The Palestinian people had made that call again and again but self-determination continued to elude them.  The Maldives was deeply concerned about the worsening human rights situation abuses in Palestine and stressed that a two-State solution was the only viable solution for that multi-decade-long conflict.

FORDUZANDEH VADIATI (Iran) addressed the report of the Secretary-General on the realization of the right to self-determination, sharing the concern of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.  Thorough prolonged occupation, with practices and policies that appeared to constitute apartheid and segregation, ongoing settlement expansion and continual construction of the separation wall made evident the denial of the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people, she added.  The only solution to the Palestinian issue, she said, would be the restoration of their sovereign right to self-determination, as well as putting an immediate end to the occupation of their land.

NADYA RIFAAT RASHEED, Permanent Observer Mission of the State of Palestine, said the right of self-determination of peoples underpinned all other human rights, as it was recognized by the Article 1 in both international covenants on human rights and customary international law.  For nearly five decades, she continued, not only had the Palestinian people been deprived of their rights to self-determination and sovereignty over their land but they had also repeatedly been subjected to a myriad of violations of their fundamental human rights and freedoms.  In complete disregard of international law and repeated calls by the international community, Israel had continued with its illegal settlement campaign and de facto annexation of Palestinian land.  In addition to the illegality of Israeli settlements and the human rights violations that stemmed from them, the human rights of the Palestinian people continued to be violated by the more than 520,000 illegal settlers, many armed and fanatical, who had been illegally transferred to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.  Further, she drew attention to the report of Special Rapporteur Richard Falk, who had asked why Israel supported the expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank, thus moving an increasing number of Israeli citizens in the area.

/…

Ms. RASHEED, Permanent Observer Mission of the State of Palestine, said as the Committee discussed the important issue of the elimination of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, the Palestinian people living in the Occupied Palestinian Territory continued to suffer from an increased level of all forms of such practices.  Since 1967, she underlined, the occupying Power had institutionalized racism and discrimination in its most barbaric forms, which was a prolonged foreign military occupation with elements of colonialism and apartheid.  The rise in anti-Arab racism in Israel was fuelled by the direct incitement and declarations by Israeli Government officials against the Palestinian people.

While the Palestinian citizens of Israel constituted one-fifth of the Israeli population, they continued to be targeted by a barrage of racist laws making them second- and third-class citizens in their own land.  Concluding, she said the State of Palestine truly hoped that the epidemic violence among the settler population and among some in Israeli society would be brought to an end, and called upon the international community to take the necessary steps to bring an end to all Israeli violations.

/…

Right of Reply

Also speaking in exercise of the right of reply, a representative of Israel said that if the Palestinian side wanted self-determination, they must disengage from Hamas and return to negotiations with Israel.  Only direct negotiations would help to resolve the situation.  Speeches here or “the war initiated by Hamas in the summer” would not help.

/…

Exercising the right of reply, a representative of Permanent Observer Mission of the State of Palestine said that the comments made by Israel’s delegate were predictable and false.  Many of Israel’s violations amounted to war crimes.  She said that her statement delivered earlier this morning had conveyed the stark reality of life under occupation.  Could the delegate of Israel actually deny the human rights violations that had been carried out by Israel in the State of Palestine?, she said, asking, “can you say with a clear conscience that Israel did not carry out unlawful policies against the Palestinian people?”Regarding the peace process, she added that the entire world had borne witness to a peace process that had gone on for 20 years and had only resulted in the entrenchment of the occupation and countless wars and destruction.  Israel must stop using the peace process as a cover for continuing its oppressive policies, she said

./…

* *** *

For information media • not an official record