Palestine question/Brussels Conference – GA President statement – Press release

ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT SAYS UNITED NATIONS SHOULD CONTINUE TO HAVE SPECIAL

RESPONSIBILITY ON QUESTION OF PALESTINE UNTIL IT IS RESOLVED

Addressing Brussels Conference on Rights of Palestinians,
Hennadiy Udovenko (Ukraine) Stresses 'Peace in Middle East Must Prevail'

Following is  the text of the statement by the President of the General Assembly, Hennadiy Udovenko (Ukraine), to the Conference in Support of the Inalienable Rights  of the Palestinian People, being held in Brussels, 24 to 25 February:

First of all, I would like to thank the organizers of this Conference for inviting me  to attend this important gathering.  I am honoured to participate in the Conference in my capacity as President of the fifty-second session of the United Nations General Assembly.

As you are well aware, the General Assembly has been concerned with efforts to find a  comprehensive, just and lasting solution to the question of Palestine for the past 50 years.  In fact, since its  very early days, the Organization has been trying to solve the problem through a variety of channels.  On 29 November 1947, the General Assembly adopted resolution 181 (II), partitioning  Palestine into two States, one Arab, the other Jewish, with an economic union  between them and a special international regime for the city of Jerusalem.  Today, five decades later, the question of Palestine is still awaiting a viable political resolution and remains on the agenda of the General Assembly.  The occupation of  the Palestinian territories has lasted for 30 years.

The first signs of hope for the Palestinian people were heralded by the Middle East  Peace Conference held at Madrid in 1991.  The international community was hopeful that  that landmark Conference could set in motion a qualitatively new stage in the search for peace in the region.  Indeed, piloted by the co-sponsors of the peace process, with a critical role played by the Government of Norway, Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization at long last came to face each other at the negotiating table.  We have all  observed and  welcomed the milestone bilateral agreements initialled by the two sides in the  past seven  years.  I should like  to stress here  how far-reaching  and dramatic  were some of those documents, most notably, the signing  of the Declaration of Principles in 1993 and the Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in 1995.

As we meet today, we have to note with a considerable measure of concern that, in the course of 1997, the Israeli-Palestinian track of negotiations has largely been stalemated.    The year started off with promising advances on the issue of Hebron, just to be followed by  very disappointing setbacks that lingered for some 10 months.   Recently, the negotiating process has restarted with a series of contacts in Washington, D.C.

Throughout last year, the international community has become increasingly alarmed at the continued deterioration of the situation on the ground, particularly on the question  of Israeli settlement activities, the prolonged closures with damaging economic effect and  the exacerbation of violence and tension.  It unanimously condemned the bombing attacks which resulted in the loss of many innocent lives, and called on the parties not to let  the peace process be derailed by the enemies of peace.  It also called on them to  implement fully the agreements already reached and to refrain from unilateral measures that jeopardize the peace process.

Both the General Assembly and the Security Council addressed the issue of Israeli settlements on a number of occasions.  The Security Council has twice been in session  on the establishment of a new Israeli settlement at Jabal Abu Ghneim, south of East Jerusalem.  It held extensive  discussions on the issue, but was unable to  take action on it due to the lack  of unanimity among its  permanent members.  The fifty-first session of the General Assembly was  once resumed on this question.  The tenth emergency special session of the General Assembly brought the issue of settlements and the rights of the Palestinian people into sharp focus again.  Its convening  became yet another demonstration of the level of concern at the present state of affairs in the occupied Palestinian territory in  general, and Jerusalem in particular, as a result of the Israeli Government's settlement policies.

The vast  majority of the international community, as represented in the United Nations General Assembly, repeatedly affirmed that the principles of international law, the United Nations Charter and relevant United Nations resolutions, in particular Security Council  resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973) and 425 (1978), should be respected.  These resolutions, so often referred to,  have underscored the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war and are at the basis of the agreements reached by the parties, which should be fully implemented.

Those principles were reaffirmed by the General Assembly during the discussion of the question of Palestine last December.  In resolution 52/52 of 9 December 1997, the General Assembly, while expressing its full support for the ongoing peace process and the  necessity for commitment to the aforementioned principles, called upon the concerned  parties, the co-sponsors and the entire international community to exert all the necessary efforts and initiatives to bring the peace process back on track.  The General Assembly  also stressed the need for the realization of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, primarily the right to self-determination, and the withdrawal of Israel from the  Palestinian territory occupied  since 1967.  It emphasized the importance for the United Nations to play a more active and expanded role in the current peace process and in the implementation of the Declaration  of Principles.  As you know, this resolution, adopted by  an overwhelming majority, received even greater support than in previous years.

In conclusion, I would also like to recall the Assembly's position that the United Nations should continue to have a special responsibility with respect to the question of  Palestine until the question is resolved in a satisfactory manner in accordance with international legitimacy.  Peace in the Middle East must prevail.  It will not be possible, however, unless the rights of the  Palestinian people are attained.  As the current peace process has recognized, those rights are key to any serious endeavours to achieve a sustainable solution of the question of Palestine and the Arab-Israeli conflict in general.  In this connection, I wish to commend the resolve of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People in its persistent efforts to achieve that goal through the implementation of the important mandate entrusted to it by the General Assembly.

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