Right of peoples to self-determination – Third Cttee debate – Press release (excerpts)

Fifty-seventh General Assembly

Third Committee

26^th Meeting (AM)

PERSISTENT INEQUITIES, NEW FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION FEATURE, AS THIRD COMMITTEE

CONTINUES DEBATE ON RACISM AND SELF-DETERMINATION

Five Texts on Advancement of Women Approved without Vote

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Background

The Third Committee (Social, Cultural and Humanitarian) met this morning to continue its joint consideration of matters related to the elimination of racial discrimination and the right of peoples to self-determination.

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Statements

SAID SHIHAB AHMAD (Iraq) …

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… He also stressed that the discrimination against the Palestinian people by the Zionist entity flagrantly violated their most basic human rights.  Equality could not prevail without the fight against racism and to protect people who still suffered from racism and discrimination, he said, calling on the international community, through the United Nations, to assume its responsibility in that battle.

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XIE BOHUA (China) reiterated that the key to a lasting peace in the Middle East was the restoration of the Palestinian people's rights, including their right to national self-determination, so that the question of Palestine could be solved expeditiously in a fair and reasonable manner. 

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MAI TAHA MOHAMED KHALIL (Egypt) …

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The common denominator that could not be ignored was the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, she said.  Egypt could not disregard the most merciless type of racism perpetrated against the Palestinian people, who were being discriminated against on their own lands.  Noting that the Durban Declaration called on the international community to condemn and move to eradicate all forms of racism wherever it occurred, she called on Israel to withdraw from all Palestinian territories and to return to negotiations on the basis of land for peace and of the relevant United Nations resolutions.

HAZEM MOHAMED KERKATLY (Saudi Arabia) noted that, for more than half a century, the Palestinian people had suffered from repression and Israeli occupation, which violated all basic human rights.  Israel showed no regard for the value of Arab lives, having killed and hunted Arabs since the inception of the State of Israel.  Israel had committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in several instances during its occupation, he added.

The Palestinian people had the right to self-determination, independence in a sovereign State, freedom and dignity, he said.  Their resistance struggle was legal and legitimate, since all relevant international instruments had condemned the occupation.  Israel, however, seemed to attach little importance to United Nations resolutions and the opinion of the international community.

The continuation of the chain of violence and counter-violence was a direct result of the expansion of Jewish settlements and the confiscation of Palestinian lands, he said.  Palestinians were deprived of food, work and the freedom of movement, he stressed, urging the international community to support the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination.

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MAHFOUDH OULD DEDDACH (Mauritania) described slavery and colonialism as the roots of racial hatred and stressed that the international community should work to restore the rights of Syrian and Lebanese people living in occupied lands.  Mauritania’s Constitution enshrined equality in its first article, and punished racial or ethnic propaganda.  It also offered the possibility of invoking international instruments in domestic legal forums.

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SAMI ZEIDAN (Lebanon) noted that racism and self-determination were interconnected, saying that self-determination referred to a number of distinct human rights, including the right to freedom from persecution due to race.  Throughout history, those rights had been violated in a number of ways, and in many places, were still denied to various people.  He stressed that the main problem with Zionism in the Middle East was the occupation, not the racism.  The racism, aggression, militarism and expansionism were only the outward manifestations of the occupation.  Noting that racism bred hostility, and hostility bred threat, he said that one of the things that kept governments from misbehaving was the fear of punishment, something to which one country in the Middle East was unfortunately immune.

Threat had become the name of the game, he said, describing it as a cunning game of reversal.  Threat was thus attributed to hostility and hostility reverted back to racism.  Concerning anti-Semitism, he said that Arabs — a Semitic people — had also suffered from alternative forms of anti-Semitism manifesting itself as anti-Arab discrimination.  One example was the tragic events of 11 September and the resulting stigmatization of Muslims and Arabs, who were supposed to be "hand-in-glove with the terrorists".  No people were better than other people — only more heavily armed, he concluded.

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Right of Reply

The representative of Israel, speaking in exercise of the right of reply, said that some colleagues had taken the opportunity of today’s discussion to support the cause of defamation, violence and suicide bombing.  No other people but those of Israel had ever been subjected to such hatred, and no other country had been so vilified, he said.  Still, after all the harsh words had been spoken, peace would come only after acts of terror had ceased.

He said that the sole damage caused by accusation and recrimination, violence and terror was that done to the cause of human rights.  Cheapening language, portraying the victims of terrorist attacks as aggressors, and accusing the very people who had been victims of Nazi aggression of engaging in acts similar to those perpetrated by that regime, did not help efforts to work towards peace.  The only damage was to human rights, he reiterated.

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