General Assembly Session 56 meeting 69

The President

I first give the floor to Mr. Papa Louis Fall of Senegal in his capacity as Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, who will introduce draft resolutions A/56/L.19 to L.22 in the course of his statement.

Mr. Fall (Senegal)

At a time when all the continents together, in communion with the United Nations, are celebrating the Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, with dignity, fervour and deep reflection, I take stock, with seriousness and humility, of the honour that I have been given to speak on behalf of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. We would like to take this occasion to extend once again our warm compliments to you, Sir, and to say how glad we are to see you preside so capably over the General Assembly at its historic fifty-sixth session.

Before I offer myself up to the ritual of presenting the draft resolutions whose consideration is on the Assembly's agenda, I would like, without imposing too much on your patience, to refer to the most salient events and facts that have marked the recent history of Israeli-Palestinian relations and affected the peace process in the dramatic way that we have all experienced.

As the Assembly knows, since it was first established in 1975, the Committee over which I have the honour to preside has endorsed the sacred cause of the Palestinian people regarding the exercise of its inalienable rights concerning, inter alia, self-determination without foreign intervention, independence, national sovereignty, the right of return and the restitution of property.

The Assembly is no doubt well aware that our Committee's mandate is triply rooted: in the painful past of the Middle East, in the convulsions and uncertainty of the present, and in expectations and hope for a better future. Evolving along the jagged edge between cohabitation and "cohabitension," events have moved quickly from September 1993 -- when the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements was signed and there was mutual recognition between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization, followed by the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in Jericho and Gaza -- up to the present time, which was punctuated a few days ago by the important speech in Louisville by the United States Secretary of State, Colin Powell.

Members will recall that meanwhile the provocative visit of Mr. Sharon to Haram al-Sharif at the end of September 2000, the resulting Palestinian protests and the brutal Israeli crackdown that followed have exacerbated the resentment, brought about an explosion of rage and unleashed the start of a new Palestinian uprising: the intifada al-Aqsa.

The Assembly is aware of the tragedies that have stained the 14 months since the arrogant profanation of the esplanade of the mosques: protests filled with indignation and revolt in the occupied Palestinian territory; murderous incursions by Israeli forces in Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem; blind or targeted assassinations; mass destruction of property; the establishment of new settlements and the expansion of old ones; military occupation; closure of towns; the merciless blockade by the occupying power, et cetera.

These exactions and confrontations provoked by Israeli troops have caused a thousand deaths and just as many wounded -- for the most part Palestinians, including many children -- led to the expulsion from Israel of tens of thousands of Palestinian workers, paralyzed economic activity in Palestine, and exposed the population to distress and wandering, destroying at the same time whatever residual trust might have remained between the two parties.

Members will agree that faced with such risks of disastrous confrontation, with incalculable consequences in the region and the world, the international community has tried to control the situation through the establishment of a Fact-Finding Committee, created during the Sharm el-Sheikh Summit in October 2000 and chaired by former United States Senator Mr. George Mitchell. The Committee put forward relevant recommendations designed to relaunch the peace process -- recommendations to which Israel has tried to take a rather selective approach.

Members will no doubt share the conviction of our Committee that the above-mentioned events in many ways reflect policies of defiance and practices of fait accompli on the part of the occupying Power, its refusal to abide by the relevant resolutions of the United Nations, the flouting by Israel of its obligations under the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 1949. In this regard, one should take note of the important meeting to be held on 5 December of the Conference of High Contracting Parties to consider the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories.

On many occasions our Committee has expressed its serious concern over the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory that I have just described. More than once we have drawn the attention of the international community to the dangers that the conflict poses to the entire region. We have emphasized the urgent need for outside intervention or intercession, asked for international protection for innocent civilians and firmly demanded that international humanitarian law and the relevant resolutions of the General Assembly and Security Council be strictly respected.

Our Committee welcomes the constructive and leading role played by the Secretary-General and the Special Coordinator. We have encouraged them to persevere along this path, in cooperation with the co-sponsors of the peace process -- the United States, the European Union, the Russian Federation and the United Nations -- while urging the donor community to provide increased budgetary and humanitarian assistance to help the Palestinians to overcome the worst difficulties of the moment.

In accord with the General Assembly and the Security Council, our Committee remains convinced that the United Nations should continue to exercise its permanent responsibility for the question of Palestine until it is effectively settled, and in all its aspects. For their part, the members of the Committee are determined to pursue, in a constructive way, concrete action in implementation of their mandate, in accordance with the relevant United Nations resolutions and with the valuable help of all the interested and concerned parties. In doing so, our Committee is even prepared to extend its cooperation to all other States and entities that so wish in order to help bring about our common objective: a comprehensive, just and lasting settlement of the question of Palestine.

Having put forward these considerations, I would now like very briefly to introduce the four draft resolutions in documents A/56/L.19 to L.22, realizing that my colleague from Malta will later discuss them in detail.

The first three draft resolutions concern respectively the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, the Division for Palestinian Rights of the Secretariat and the special information programme on the question of Palestine. The fourth deals with the peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine.

By the terms of draft resolution L.19, the General Assembly would authorize the Committee to pursue its activities, to make all appropriate arrangements for its programme of work and mobilize the necessary aid and support to help the Palestinian people, while continuing to offer its cooperation and support to the Palestinian non-governmental organizations and other civic organizations.

In the second text, the Secretary-General would be requested to continue to provide all adequate means and resources to the Division for Palestinian Rights, including in the framework of the annual training programme for staff of the Palestine Authority.

In the third draft resolution, on the special information programme on the question of Palestine, the Department of Public Information would be called upon, among other things, to continue the programme until the end of the biennium 2002-2003, to disseminate information about all United Nations activities connected with the question of Palestine and to preserve the appropriate audio-visual documents.

In the fourth draft resolution, "Peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine", the General Assembly would express its deep concern over the tragic events that have taken place since 28 September 2000 in the occupied Palestinian territory. It would fully support the peace process on the basis of the principle of land for peace and Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973), while, in accordance with the recommendations of the Mitchell Committee, calling for measures taken on the ground by the occupying Power to be immediately reversed. It would call on the parties concerned and the international community to take the necessary initiatives for the realization of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, the withdrawal of Israel from the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, a settlement of the problem of Palestinian refugees and the intensification of economic and technical assistance to the Palestinian people.

I would like to inform the Assembly, following last-minute consultations, of the following revision made to the sixteenth preambular paragraph of this draft resolution so as to make it consistent -- and I would even say, in perfect harmony -- with the corresponding paragraph of the corresponding resolution adopted last year. That relevant paragraph would read as follows:

"Expressing its deep concern over the tragic events in Occupied East Jerusalem and the Occupied Palestinian Territory since 28 September 2000, which have resulted in a high number of deaths and injuries, mostly among Palestinian civilians, and concerned also about the clashes between the Israeli armed forces and the Palestinian police and the casualties on both sides".

I think that in this form, the text will be much more balanced for some people.

Such are the content and the spirit of the four draft resolutions that have just been presented to the Assembly. They articulate positions that have been decided, state the mandates agreed upon and describe the programmes that have been approved, which are all of particular importance, especially in the present delicate situation affecting developments on the ground and diplomatic developments regarding the Palestinian question.

The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, through me, is thus handing in its work, aware in advance that it can rely on the usual solidarity, massive support and almost unanimous voting of the General Assembly.

The President

I now give the floor to Mr. Walter Balzan of Malta, Rapporteur of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, to introduce the Committee's report.

Mr. Balzan (Malta)

It is an honour for me, in my capacity as Rapporteur of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, to present to the General Assembly the annual report of the Committee, contained in document A/56/35.

In the course of the past year, the Committee continued to carry out the mandate given to it by the General Assembly. The report I am about to present covers developments relating to the question of Palestine, the peace process and the activities of the Committee from the time of last year's report through 10 October of this year.

Chapter I, the Introduction, outlines the Committee's objectives and its general perspective on the events that have taken place in the course of the year.

Chapters II and III summarize the General Assembly mandates of the Committee, the Division for Palestinian Rights and the Department of Public Information, and contain information on the organization of the Committee's work during the year.

Chapter IV reviews the situation relating to the question of Palestine, as monitored by the Committee during the year, with special emphasis on the various aspects of the situation on the ground. Also in this chapter, the Committee reviews Israeli actions and policies, and its military response to the intifada; its settlement activity; the situation with respect to Palestinian prisoners; the state of the Palestinian economy; the situation with respect to water resources available to the Palestinians; action by the United Nations system; and the activities and continuing operational difficulties faced by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

Chapter V reviews the action taken by the Committee. It is divided into two main sections. Section A describes action aimed at promoting Palestinian rights in the United Nations, including the General Assembly and the Security Council. This section summarizes the communications addressed by the Chairman of the Committee to the Secretary-General and the Presidents of the General Assembly and Security Council. It also includes information on the participation of the Committee Chairman at various international forums.

Section B provides a detailed account of the implementation of the programme of work of the Committee and the Division for Palestinian Rights. It contains information on the dialogue between the Committee and members of the European Union. It also gives an account of the various international meetings organized in the course of the year.

Also summarized in this section are the Committee's cooperation with civil society; the research, monitoring and publications work of the Division for Palestinian Rights; the United Nations Information System on the Question of Palestine; the training programme for staff of the Palestinian Authority; and the observance of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

Chapter VI reviews the action taken by the Department of Public Information in pursuance of General Assembly resolution 55/54 of 1 December 2000.

The last chapter of the report contains the conclusions and recommendations of the Committee. In this chapter the Committee emphasizes that, more than five decades after the adoption by the General Assembly of resolution 181 (II), the Palestinian people is yet to see the promise of its own State fulfilled. The Committee expresses its readiness to persist in efforts to contribute through its varied programme of activities to international endeavours aimed at stopping the violence and putting the parties back on the peace track. The Committee also reiterates that its overriding and fundamental objective and mandate -- the exercise by the Palestinian people of its inalienable rights -- will remain key to all its activities.

The Committee joins the international community in expressing grave concern over the policies and actions of Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem. The Committee reiterates its position of principle that the problem should be resolved based on Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973) and other relevant United Nations resolutions and on the exercise by the Palestinian people of their inalienable rights, including their right to self-determination and to their own independent State.

The Committee calls for the immediate and comprehensive implementation of the Mitchell Committee recommendations, as offering the most practicable route back to the peace process. The Committee calls on the co-sponsors of the peace process and on all others concerned to continue to pursue their efforts, looking for innovative approaches that would allow the parties to implement the Mitchell Committee recommendations and to resume their negotiations. The Committee also expresses its belief that stepped up and concrete engagement on the part of key international parties, both regional and extra-regional, is needed more than ever.

The Committee supports the ongoing effort to reconvene the Conference of the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War in order to ensure respect for the Convention and to provide the necessary protection to the Palestinian people.

The Committee stresses that the United Nations should continue to maintain its permanent responsibility with respect to all aspects of the question of Palestine. It expresses strong belief that both the General Assembly and the Security Council should to do everything in their power to help resolve this five-decade-old conflict. The Committee welcomes and strongly supports the increasingly important and highly instrumental role in the overall peacemaking efforts played in the course of the year by the Secretary-General. The Committee also expresses appreciation to the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process for his persistent efforts aimed at bringing the parties together and for the important work carried out by his Office of coordinating international assistance to the Palestinian people. The Committee also strongly urges the international donor community to assist the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East and to contribute generously to its budget in order to enable the Agency to continue to deliver its vital humanitarian services to the some 3.8 million Palestine refugees registered with it.

The Committee expresses appreciation for the contribution made by non-governmental organizations working untiringly to mobilize solidarity with the Palestinian people, to provide emergency relief under difficult circumstances to the population in the occupied Palestinian territory and to raise international awareness of that people's inalienable rights, in particular the right of return. The Committee emphasizes that its cooperation with the wide network of non-governmental organizations on the question of Palestine will be intensified and focused on issues of common concern. The Committee pledges to continue to review and assess its programme with a view to making it more responsive to developments on the ground and in the peace process. It intends to focus its work in the next year on the question of the exercise by the Palestinian people of its inalienable rights, on efforts to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations and the role of the United Nations therein, and on international assistance to the Palestinian people.

The Committee stresses the essential contribution of the Division for Palestinian Rights of the Secretariat in support of the Committee's objectives, and requests it to continue its programme of publications and other informational activities, in particular the further development of the document collection of the United Nations Information System on the Question of Palestine. The Committee also notes the usefulness of the annual training programme for staff of the Palestinian Authority and requests the Division to continue it.

The Committee expresses the view that the special information programme on the question of Palestine of the Department of Public Information has made an important contribution to informing the media and public opinion on the relevant issues. The Committee also requests the programme's continuation, with the necessary flexibility, as warranted by developments relevant to the question of Palestine.

Finally, wishing to make its contribution to the achievement of a comprehensive, just and lasting settlement of the question of Palestine, the Committee calls on all States to join in that endeavour and invites the General Assembly again to recognize the importance of its role and to reconfirm its mandate with overwhelming support.

I trust that the report I have just introduced will be of assistance to the General Assembly in facilitating its deliberations on this important issue.

Mr. Kaddoumi (Palestine)

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