Middle East situation – GA debate – Press release (excerpts)

THREATS TO STABILITY IN MIDDLE EAST, GREAT LAKES REGION OF AFRICA

HIGHLIGHTED IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY DEBATE

Speakers Also Address Consequences of Economic Globalization

The current threats to peace and stability in the regions of the Middle East and in the Great Lakes Region of Africa were highlighted by the Foreign Ministers of Lebanon and Burundi this morning, as the General Assembly continued its general debate.

On the situation in the Middle East, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Lebanon, Fares Bouez, said that the new Israeli Government had forsaken the peace process and adopted a manifesto with four negatives — no to the withdrawal from the occupied Syrian Golan, no to withdrawal from the occupied West Bank, no to the settlement of the question of Jerusalem and no to the realization of the Palestinian people's inalienable right to establish their State. The violence prevailing in Palestine and in southern Lebanon was a direct result of flawed Israeli formulas. Israel did not have a policy for peace.

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Assembly Work Programme

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MENDSAIKHANY ENKHSAIKHAN, Prime Minister and Minister for External Relations of Mongolia, …

…On the Middle East, he advised parties involved to exercise restraint and resolve, so that recent events did not affect the peace process.

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FARES BOUEZ, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Lebanon, …

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Turning to the situation in the Middle East, the Minister said that the new Israeli Government had adopted a manifesto with four negatives — no to the withdrawal from the occupied Syrian Golan, no to withdrawal from the occupied West Bank, no to the settlement of the question of Jerusalem and no to the realization of the Palestinian people's inalienable right to establish their State. The principle of land for peace had been replaced, by the principle of peace for security. "We, the aggressed, were asked to give security guarantees to the aggressor," he said. Those who did not possess weapons were asked to give assurances to the State with one of the largest nuclear arsenals in the world. Since the new Israeli government came to power, the peace process had been forsaken. Israel did not have a policy for peace.

Today, the violence prevailing in Palestine and in southern Lebanon was a direct result of flawed Israeli formulas, he said. It was necessary to return to the basics of peace as agreed five years ago at the Madrid Peace Conference and resume the negotiations from where they were halted. Lebanon had suffered the repercussions of the Middle East crisis and had paid a heavy toll. Lebanon's national unity and full sovereignty over all its national soil were not negotiable. When Lebanon restored its sovereignty over all its territories by recovering major parts of its land occupied by Israel, when the United Nations implemented its resolution 425 (1978), and when Lebanese citizens were released from Israeli detention camps, "then and then only the wounds will heal and the bleeding will stop", he said.

YOUSEF BIN ALAWI BIN ABDULLAH, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Oman, said the 1991 Madrid Conference had been an important breakthrough in the Middle East peace process, and concerted efforts had since been made by the concerned parties. However, due to the "procrastination and hesitation" of the newly-elected Israeli government to fully implement previous agreements, the peace process in the region needed immediate international care and assistance.

He said Oman did not see any justification in Israel's continuation to isolate Palestinian territories. Oman called upon Israel to assume its primary responsibility of revitalizing the peace process through resumption of peace negotiations, and by taking credible steps towards the tangible and practical implementation of all agreements reached in that regard.

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