General Assembly Session 50 meeting 117

The President

Representatives will recall that the Assembly decided this morning to proceed immediately this afternoon to consideration of the draft resolution, as orally revised.

Mr. Elaraby (Egypt)

Allow me first of all to apologize to you, Mr. President, and through you to all the members of the General Assembly for delaying the proceedings to this afternoon. May I also pay tribute to you for your patience and your leadership, for which we are all grateful.

The co-sponsors of the draft resolution, on whose behalf I am speaking, have listened throughout the debate to all the views expressed. The co-sponsors presented a draft which they hope will be supported by the Assembly; it reflects the gravity of the situation. This morning we entered into long and arduous negotiations with the parties that wanted to participate, and, as a result I now have the pleasure to give details of further proposed oral revisions to draft resolution A/50/L.70.

First, we propose that in the third preambular paragraph "recalling" should be replaced by "reaffirming". The paragraph will now read

"Reaffirming the relevant Security Council resolutions on the situation in Lebanon, in particular resolution 425 (1978) of 19 March 1978".

It is then proposed to add a new preambular paragraph, which will be the fourth preambular paragraph, to read:

"Reaffirming also the United Nations Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973) and in particular the principles of withdrawal from the occupied Arab territories and the right of all States in the region"

I emphasize "the right of all States in the region"

"to live in peace and security within their internationally recognized boundaries".

The co-sponsors believe that the proposed new fourth preambular paragraph will make the draft resolution more acceptable to members of the General Assembly. On behalf of the co-sponsors, I extend our thanks for the debate and appeal to all Member States to consider the gravity of the situation in Lebanon and vote in favour of the draft resolution as orally revised.

The President

I understand that in the light of the statement made by the representative of Egypt, the Russian Federation does not insist that its oral amendment be acted upon.

We shall now proceed to consider draft resolution A/50/L.70, as orally revised. The debate is thus closed and no new substantive proposals or amendments will be entertained.

Before calling on the representative of the Russian Federation, who wishes to speak in explanation of vote before the vote, may I remind delegations that explanations of vote are limited to 10 minutes and should be made by delegations from their seats.

Mr. Lavrov (Russia)

During the discussions in the General Assembly, the Russian delegation had the opportunity to explain in detail its fundamental position with regard to the tragic events in Lebanon. We clearly stated that what is happening there is unacceptable, that Israel's actions undermine the unity of the Lebanese State, do damage to the civilian population and may have the most negative consequences for the Middle East peace process.

We consider the draft resolution presented by the Arab Group with all its emotion, to be geared, on the whole, to achieving an immediate end to hostilities.

Paragraph 1 of the draft resolution has an appeal clearly addressed to all parties, and it is important that, under paragraph 2, the diplomatic efforts to this end are to be supported. In this regard, the draft resolution expresses exactly what the Security Council adopted unanimously in its resolution 1052 (1996). Key elements in today's draft confirm the territorial integrity, sovereignty and political independence of Lebanon, as well as the right of all States in the region, including, of course, Israel, to live in peace and security within internationally recognized boundaries.

My delegation would certainly have preferred a more balanced draft fully reflecting all aspects of the complicated situation in Lebanon. A question also arises with regard to the sub-title of the draft resolution. We regret the haste with which the draft is being put to the vote, and think that the possibilities of gaining further support for the draft were not fully utilized.

None the less, the news from Lebanon, especially today, is that the hostilities there are not abating. Israel continues without justification to fire on the United Nations forces in Lebanon. The casualties among the civilian population are increasing. In this context, we feel that the political signal being sent by the draft resolution is particularly timely.

In the light of all these factors, the Russian delegation will vote for the draft resolution. Russia has consistently and firmly called upon all sides to show restraint. We are convinced that only through political means can the vicious circle of violence be broken.

As a co-sponsor of the peace process, Russia insists that Israel and Lebanon get down to reaching a peace settlement quickly on the basis of Security Council resolution 425 (1978), which calls for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon, and that the security of all countries in the region be guaranteed.

The President

We have heard the only speaker in explanation of vote before the vote.

The Assembly will now take a decision on draft resolution A/50/L.70, as orally revised.

In this connection, I should like to announce that the following countries are co-sponsors of the draft resolution, as orally revised: Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Cuba, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Djibouti, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

We shall now begin the voting process.

The President

Before calling on the first speaker in explanation of vote after the vote, may I remind delegations that explanations of vote are limited to 10 minutes and should be made by delegations from their seats.

Mr. Matri (Libya)

My delegation voted for draft resolution A/50/L.70, as orally revised. However, it should be understood that this vote does not mean that we recognize the Zionist entity.

The delegation of my country is fully convinced that a true, just, comprehensive and lasting peace can be established only with the creation of a democratic, non-racist State, similar to that created recently in South Africa and including Arabs and Jews, on all the land of Palestine.

Mr. Fulci (Italy)

I am speaking on behalf of the European Union. The following countries, which are associated with the European Union, join in this statement: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.

The European Union clearly expressed its position on the aggravation of the situation in the Middle East in the declaration on Lebanon adopted by its Foreign Ministers in Luxembourg on 22 April 1996. The declaration renewed the appeal for an immediate cease-fire, in this context supporting Security Council resolution 1052 (1996). The Foreign Ministers' declaration emphasized that only a political solution can bring an end to the current crisis and allow the peace process to resume its course.

Following the introduction of the draft resolution, which has just been adopted, the European Union contacted the co-sponsors of the draft resolution in an attempt to reach agreement on a text that could perhaps have obtained greater, if not general, support from the General Assembly. Despite the goodwill and efforts of all those involved in this negotiation, it proved impossible to reach agreement. For this reason, all 15 members of the European Union, and the associated countries which I have mentioned, decided to abstain.

This said, the European Union insists that all the parties, whether directly or indirectly involved in the current conflict, contribute to an immediate halt to hostilities and acts of violence, with the aim of allowing peace negotiations to resume.