General Assembly general debate – Saudi Arabia/Yemen statements – Press release (excerpts)

SPEAKERS ADDRESS QUESTION OF SANCTIONS IN ASSEMBLY'S GENERAL DEBATE

ABDULKADER BAJAMMAL, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Yemen, … said that a comprehensive, just and lasting Middle East peace must be based on the restoration to the Palestinian people of all their legitimate rights, primarily their right to establish an independent state on their national territory with Jerusalem/Al Quds as its capital. The Israeli-occupied territories of the Syrian and Lebanese peoples must also be restored. At a time when the Middle East peace process was viewed with renewed optimism, Israel must realize that a just, comprehensive and lasting peace was a genuine goal of the region's peoples as well as an international and humanitarian goal.

NIZAR OBAID MADANI, Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia, … said that the Treaty of Sharm El-Sheikh could be a good step if followed by similar steps to move the process towards the implementation of principles established at the Madrid Conference, principally the land for peace formula. On the Palestinian track, withdrawal from the Occupied Territories and the restoration of all legitimate national rights of the Palestinians were required, including the right to establish an independent State with

Al-Quds as its capital. Israel should refrain from undertaking any unilateral measures to prejudice the status of that sacred city. It was imperative to address the issue of the return of Palestenian refugees and release of prisoners, as well as the issues of settlements and water resources.

Regarding Syria, negotiations should resume from the point at which they had been frozen by the decision of the previous Israeli Government, he continued. The Lebanese track was subject to Security Council resolution 425 (1978), which called for the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Israeli forces from Western Bekaa and southern Lebanon.

/…

* *** *