General Assembly Session 62 meeting 58

The President

On Monday, during our debate on revitalization at the 56th meeting, I stressed that it was first and foremost by squarely tackling the priority issues of the day that the General Assembly makes itself stronger, more effective and more relevant to the lives of the global public. We have the opportunity today to bolster the authority and international standing of the Assembly by addressing the question of Palestine in the light of recent developments.

Over the years, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has produced great losses and immense human suffering on both sides. It has had wider security implications for the region and peaceful relations between nations around the world. In his message on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, President Mahmoud Abbas made a solemn plea for the right of his people to enjoy the same sense of freedom and security that we all take for granted. He also reiterated that security and a just peace can only be achieved through mutual respect based and equality between both peoples. To achieve that goal, as noted by His Excellency Ambassador Natalegawa, President of the Security Council, the importance of restoring inter-Palestinian dialogue to rebuild national unity must be recognized.

I would like to praise Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President Mahmoud Abbas for their courage and willingness to engage in substantive results-orientated discussions at Annapolis, which have led to the Joint Understanding of the way forward. They both spoke in unison when they stated that the time has come for both peoples to put the past behind them. Both sides want peace and an end to terror.

I would like to commend President George Bush of the United States for bringing the parties together to launch a serious process of final status negotiations and for his personal commitment to support the conclusion of a peace treaty between Israel and Palestine before the end of 2008. The outcome of the Annapolis Conference offers a great opportunity for a permanent two-State solution. However, as the Secretary-General emphasized during his speech at Annapolis, the prerequisite for success requires a resolute commitment to boldly follow words with deeds.

The General Assembly has repeatedly reaffirmed its commitment to support a two-State solution -- Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in peace and security within recognized borders -- as the most viable solution. The most encouraging aspect of the Annapolis meeting is that both sides have agreed to this approach and expressed their determination to end violence and usher in a new era of peace based on freedom, security, justice, dignity and mutual respect, principles that are the core purpose of the United Nations.

I would like to call on all Member States to make every effort to support this process. We must seize every opportunity for progress to fulfil the decades-long aspiration of the Palestinian people to live in freedom with dignity and for the right of the Israeli people to live in peace and security with their neighbours. The only way to achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting peace is through continuous dialogue, compromise and the resolute commitment to achieve a permanent solution. Both Israelis and Palestinians are going to have to be honest with their own people about the price of peace. This will require difficult choices and sacrifice on both sides, as part of a shared vision for a better future.

The stakes are high, but the alternatives are worse. The General Assembly has repeatedly expressed its concern over the continued deterioration of humanitarian conditions in Gaza and the West Bank. Without immediate progress, the ongoing situation will exacerbate the humanitarian, economic and security situation of the Palestinian people. This worsening security and economic situation is increasing the suffering endured by women and is hampering the work of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.

The General Assembly is committed to ensuring that the peaceful resolution of the conflict continues to be at the forefront of the international community's agenda. The Quartet has welcomed the commitment to launch peace negotiations leading to the establishment of a Palestinian State. The Quartet's representative, Tony Blair, has proposed concrete measures to strengthen Palestinian institutions and rehabilitate the economy. The Paris conference in December offers an important opportunity to fund these proposals and lay the foundation for a viable Palestinian State.

I urge the international community, therefore, to offer its full financial, technical and political support to make these reforms a reality and to help alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people.

I also appeal to both Israeli and Palestinian officials to redouble their efforts to immediately implement their respective obligations under the Road Map and create the necessary conditions for long-term peace, based on mutual respect and recognition.

The General Assembly must continue to play a significant role in supporting this process. The Secretary-General has pledged the full support of the United Nations family for the renewed commitment to peace. If we really want to succeed -- to achieve lasting peace -- I encourage all parties to learn from the mistakes of the past and confront the causes of failure. True reconciliation requires not only an end to hostilities but also a change of attitude.

Some people believe that to make peace is to forget. As I mentioned this morning to the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, to reconcile is a fair compromise between remembering and forgetting.

The hard work must now begin in preparation for the next major meeting of the parties in Moscow on 12 December.

I now give the floor to His Excellency Mr. Paul Badji of Senegal, in his capacity as Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People.

Mr. Badji (Senegal)

Mr. President, permit me, at the outset, to express my sincere appreciation to all representatives of Member States, observers, representatives of intergovernmental organizations, United Nations organs, funds and programmes, and members of civil society, who participated this morning in the solemn meeting on the occasion of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. Their impressive presence at this ceremony is eloquent proof that the question of Palestine remains one of the major priorities of the United Nations and that the effective exercise by the Palestinian people of its inalienable rights continues to have particular importance.

Today marks the sixtieth anniversary of the adoption of General Assembly resolution 181 (II). By this important resolution the United Nations decided on the partition of Palestine into two independent States, one Arab and one Jewish, with an international regime for the City of Jerusalem. With this historic decision, the United Nations also took upon itself the permanent responsibility for the question of Palestine until this question could be resolved in all its aspects, in accordance with strict respect for international legitimacy.

Since then, the involvement of various United Nations organs and entities has been growing, assuring the Palestinian people that it would not be abandoned by the international community until it could achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting solution to this issue.

Our Committee is at the centre of our universal Organization's efforts to achieve a peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine and is determined to pursue its important mission, entrusted to it by the General Assembly. The Committee's position is that the continuing illegal occupation of Palestinian territory remains the root cause of the conflict. It reaffirms the urgent need for a negotiated solution that will end the occupation, ensure the exercise by the Palestinian people of its inalienable rights and guarantee security for the State of Israel. This settlement must be based on international law, General Assembly resolution 194 (III), Security Council resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973), 1397 (2002) and 1515 (2003) and other relevant United Nations resolutions, and the principles outlined in the Road Map and the Arab Peace Initiative, which constitute the unanimously accepted terms of reference for the settlement of the question of Palestine.

Our Committee is encouraged by the latest diplomatic efforts aimed at revitalizing the peace process. In this connection, we are hopeful, judging by the results, that the Annapolis conference will open the avenue to serious and constructive permanent status negotiations, in particular the two-State solution, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in security and in peace. It is important that the members of the Quartet, their regional partners and the main actors on the question of Palestine and the situation in the Middle East participate fully in the initiative that has just been launched and help it to become a reality without delay.

The Committee is nevertheless very concerned about the unacceptably precarious situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem. The Palestinian people of the Gaza Strip have been the most affected, although all Palestinian people daily suffer hardship and humiliation as a direct consequence of the policies and practices of Israel, the occupying Power.

The construction of settlements in the occupied West Bank and the presence of over 400,000 Jewish settlers in the occupied Palestinian territories are violations of international law -- a fact that is often overlooked by major media organizations and is rarely noticed by the public. The advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice with regard to the construction of the separation wall in the occupied West Bank and around East Jerusalem has not been implemented in the three years since its issuance by the Court. Moreover, in the past 40 years, the occupying Power has never met its obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention. The fundamental rights of the civilian Palestinian population are routinely violated. Palestinian civilians are the main victims of Israeli military operations in their towns and villages.

The Committee resolutely condemns any activities indiscriminately targeting civilians, either by the Israeli army or by Palestinian militias firing mortars and rockets at Israeli cities. Such attacks by both sides must end immediately, and those responsible must be brought to justice.

In addition, the Committee is alarmed by Israel's declaration of the Gaza Strip as hostile territory and by the introduction of repressive new sanctions, including the decision to reduce the supply of fuel and electricity. Such measures, which amount to collective punishment against the population of the Gaza Strip, contravene international humanitarian law.

The sealing off of the Gaza Strip, the continuation of Israeli incursions into Palestinian population centres and the humiliating system of checkpoints throughout the West Bank have heightened the frustration of Palestinian society. The Committee calls upon the Palestinian leadership, the leaders of all factions and all Palestinians to unite in support of Mr. Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority, as well as to resolve their political differences by peaceful means.

The Committee also calls for a return to the situation in the Gaza Strip prior to the events of June 2007 and for the preservation of the territorial unity and integrity of the Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.

At this critical time, I call upon the Government of Israel to refrain from all actions that may destabilize the situation further, in particular the disproportionate use of military force and settlement activities, including the building of settlements on the pretext of so-called natural growth in existing settlements. Israel must also stop the illegal construction of the separation wall in the West Bank. As the occupying Power, Israel must work to significantly improve the humanitarian situation of Palestinians by lifting curfews, ease the restrictions imposed on the movement of persons and goods and resume paying the tax remittances to the Palestinian Authority that it has been withholding unjustifiably.

The Committee firmly believes that the United Nations should continue to maintain its permanent responsibility towards the question of Palestine, until that question has been effectively resolved in all its aspects in strict accordance with international legitimacy. The Committee calls on the Security Council to act decisively to implement its own resolutions on the question of Palestine, in particular resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973). The Committee also expects that the Security Council, the Organization's principal organ responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security, will live up to its obligations under the Charter of the United Nations. For its part, the Committee will continue to fulfil its General Assembly mandate aimed at helping the Palestinian people to exercise their inalienable rights.

With regard to the four draft resolutions to be adopted under this agenda item, I would like to inform the Assembly that the sponsors have asked for enough time to be able to update the text of some of the draft resolutions so as to reflect political developments of recent days. I shall introduce the draft resolutions at a date to be announced later.

The President

I now give the floor to His Excellency Mr. Saviour Borg of Malta, in his capacity as the Rapporteur of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, to introduce the report contained in document A/62/35.

Mr. Borg (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 introduce to the General Assembly the annual report of the Committee, which is contained in document A/62/35.

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 introduce covers the developments relating to the question of Palestine, the peace process and the activities of the Committee since last year's report through 5 October of this year.

The report's introduction outlines the Committee's objectives and its general perspective on events that took place in the course of the year. Chapters II and III summarize the General Assembly mandates of the Committee, including those of 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 and the relevant political developments monitored by the Committee during the year. That includes Israeli military incursions into the Gaza Strip and military operations in the West Bank, which resulted in a large number of deaths and injuries among Palestinian civilians; the restrictions on movement imposed by Israel in the West Bank, which affect every aspect of Palestinian life; the continued construction of the wall in disregard of the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and illegal settlement activities; the internal situation in the Gaza Strip, which is having an adverse effect on the humanitarian situation and the provision of humanitarian aid; and the decision of the Israeli Security Cabinet in August to consider the Gaza Strip hostile territory and to apply additional sanctions to the territory.

The chapter also addresses other issues of concern, including the unacceptably high poverty rates among the Palestinian population, the numerous Palestinians remaining in Israeli jails, the decreasing water supply in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and the difficulties faced by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East in carrying out its mandate. In this chapter, the Committee denounces the excessive and indiscriminate use of force, extrajudicial killings, the destruction of Palestinian homes, civilian infrastructure and agricultural lands and the attendant devastating effects on the Palestinian civilian population. At the same time, it strongly condemns all attacks against Israeli civilians.

The political developments reviewed in this chapter include the adoption of the Riyadh Declaration, endorsing the Arab Peace Initiative, at a meeting of Arab Foreign Ministers; the appointment of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair as Quartet Special Representative; the reactivation of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee to oversee assistance management, financial support to the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian institutional reform; and international efforts, led by the President of the United States, to revitalize the political process.

Chapter V reviews the action taken by the Committee. It is divided into two main sections. Section A describes action in the General Assembly and the Security Council, as well as statements issued by the Bureau of the Committee. Section B contains a detailed account of the implementation of the work programmes of the Committee and the Division. It provides information regarding the continued dialogue and cooperation between the Committee and the European Union and its member States, as well as with other inter-governmental organizations. Sub-section 1 gives an account of the various international meetings and conferences organized over the course of the year. This section also deals with the Committee's cooperation with civil society, the research, monitoring and publications work of the Division, the United Nations Information System on the Question of Palestine (UNISPAL), the training programme for staff of the Palestinian Authority and the observance of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

Chapter VI provides an overview of the work done during the year by the Department of Public Information pursuant to General Assembly resolution 61/24 of 1 December 2006.

The last chapter of the report contains the conclusions and recommendations of the Committee. In this chapter, the Committee emphasizes that the occupation, now in its forty-first year, is the root cause of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and that the continued closures, the sealing off of the Gaza Strip, the Israeli incursions into Palestinian population centres and the humiliating system of checkpoints throughout the West Bank have had a most destructive effect on the lives of the Palestinian people and have rendered the Palestinian Authority nearly dysfunctional.

The Committee calls upon Israel to end its military operations in the occupied Palestinian territory and to put an end to any other measures that further undermine Palestinian institutions. It once again reminds Israel, the occupying Power, that it is bound by the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, which obliges the parties to protect civilians during hostilities.

The Committee also strongly condemns the killing of innocent civilians by either side. It denounces rocket attacks on Israel and calls for a cessation of such activities by Palestinian armed groups.

The Committee strongly opposes the expansion of settlements in the West Bank and efforts to complete the construction of the wall. It reiterates its position of principle that those activities are contrary to international humanitarian law and numerous resolutions of the Security Council and the General Assembly adopted since 1967, as well as the provisions of the Road Map.

The Committee calls upon the Palestinian leadership, the leaders of all factions and all Palestinians to unite in support of President Abbas and the institutions of the Palestinian Authority and to resolve their political differences by peaceful means. The Committee calls for the restoration of the situation in the Gaza Strip to that which existed prior to the June events and for measures to be taken to preserve the territorial unity and integrity of the Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.

The Committee reiterates that only a negotiated solution can achieve the goal of a comprehensive, just and lasting settlement of the question of Palestine through the establishment of two States, Israel and Palestine, based on the 1967 borders. It also reiterates that a settlement should be based on Security Council resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973), 1397 (2002) and 1515 (2003) in particular and on other relevant resolutions. The Committee emphasizes that it is incumbent on the Security Council to ensure the speedy and full implementation of its own resolutions. It calls on the Council to decide on effective steps to protect the civilian population, to end hostilities and to guide the parties, with the active involvement of the Quartet and regional actors, to a negotiated settlement.

The Committee notes the steps taken by the Board appointed by the Secretary-General and by its secretariat to commence the mandated work on the United Nations Register of Damage Caused by the Construction of the Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and requests all involved to expedite their efforts to render the Register operational. The Committee also encourages States members of the European Union to continue to take a more proactive role in international efforts aimed at resolving the conflict.

The Committee emphasizes the essential contribution of the Division for Palestinian Rights in support of its mandate aimed at enabling the Palestinian people to exercise their inalienable rights.

The Committee stresses that its programme of international meetings and conferences contributes to focusing the attention of Governments, intergovernmental, non-governmental and civil society organizations and the general public on current issues and the need to promote a peaceful settlement of the conflict.

The Committee commends civil society organizations for their efforts to uphold international legitimacy with regard to the question of Palestine through advocacy and the mobilization of public opinion, and for their initiatives aimed at alleviating the plight of the Palestinian people.

The Committee also expresses its intention to continue to involve parliamentarians in its programme of international meetings and conferences. The Committee requests the Division to continue its substantive and secretariat support; its programme of research, monitoring and publications and other informational activities, such as the further expansion and development of UNISPAL, including the graphic enhancement of the "Question of Palestine" website; the annual training programme for staff of the Palestinian Authority; and the annual observance of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

The Committee requests that the special information programme on the question of Palestine of the Department of Public Information be continued, with the necessary flexibility, as warranted by developments relevant to the question of Palestine.

Finally, the Committee reiterates its goal to make a contribution to the achievement of a comprehensive, just and lasting settlement of the question of Palestine. The Committee also calls upon all States to join it in this endeavour and invites the General Assembly again to recognize the importance of its role, to reconfirm its mandate and to extend its cooperation and support to the Committee.

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

The President

I now give the floor to His Excellency Mr. Yasir Abdrabou, Secretary-General of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Mr. Abdrabou (Palestine)

Allow me, at the outset, to express our deep gratitude for your wise leadership and excellent stewardship as President of the General Assembly at its sixty-second session. I also wish to express our thanks and appreciation to Her Excellency Sheikha Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa, who conducted the work of the sixty-first session in an excellent manner.

At the same time, it is my pleasure to express my gratitude and appreciation to the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, to its Chairman, His Excellency Ambassador Paul Badji, and to all the other officers and members of the Committee. I also wish to thank the Division for Palestinian Rights and the Department of Public Information for their tireless efforts and serious work to promote the Palestinian people's attainment of their inalienable rights and to mobilize international support for their cause.

I would like also to convey our gratitude to the Secretary-General, His Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon, for his support for our cause and his efforts to serve the cause of peace.

Sixty years have passed since the 1947 adoption of General Assembly resolution 181 (II), which partitioned historic Palestine into two States. One of those two States, Israel, came into being, while the other, Palestine, has yet to see the light of day. Sixty long years have passed, and the question of Palestine remains unresolved and the Palestine remain stateless, deprived of their legitimate inalienable rights, such as the right to self-determination, independence and sovereignty and the right of more than 4 million Palestine refugees to return to their homes and properties.

For the past 40 years, the Palestinian people have continued to suffer under the aggressive and oppressive Israeli military occupation of their land; this is the longest occupation in modern history. They still endure the extensive and flagrant violation of all of their human rights and the confiscation of their lands, as well as humiliation and constant attacks on their dignity as a people.

In grave violation of international law, Israel, the occupying Power, continues its military aggression against the Palestinian people, including incursions and raids into Palestinian cities, towns, villages and camps as well as excessive use of force and extrajudicial killings, which, over the years, have caused thousands of deaths and tens of thousands of injuries, including among children and women. Israel continues to destroy Palestinian homes, property, infrastructure and agricultural lands. According to the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, at least 18,000 Palestinian homes have been destroyed by Israel since 1967, leaving thousands of Palestinian families homeless and displaced.

Israel also continues to entrench its occupation of the Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, through the construction and expansion of illegal colonial settlements. Currently, more than 450,000 Israeli settlers live in the more than 150 settlements constructed on Palestinian lands confiscated by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory. Early last month, Israel ordered the confiscation of at least 110 hectares of Palestinian land adjacent to four Palestinian villages in an area outside occupied East Jerusalem. The confiscation of this large tract of Palestinian land will facilitate the creation of a contiguous settlement bloc in that area, while simultaneously preventing Palestinian territorial contiguity between the area of occupied East Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley and between the north and south of the West Bank.

Israel continues to construct the enormous apartheid annexation wall in the West Bank, including, in particular, in and around East Jerusalem. This has walled in Palestinian cities, towns and villages and transformed them into massive prisons and ghettos. On its official website, the Israeli Government has posted a new map of the apartheid wall that shows its vast length and the actual annexation of huge areas of Palestinian land.

The new route of the wall confirms previous reports that Prime Minister Olmert had ordered changes to the route of the wall in order to encompass more illegal Israeli settlements and more Palestinian land in the northern, central and southern West Bank. This constitutes a flagrant and deliberate violation of international law and the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice and is in continuation of the unilateral de facto policy pursued by successive Israeli Governments. The new route of the wall will actually increase the area of land that Israel is attempting to annex from 9 per cent to 12 per cent, half of which is in and around occupied East Jerusalem.

The illegal Israeli settlement campaign and the construction of the wall in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, not only constitutes an obstacle to the achievement of a just and lasting peace between the two peoples, but also constitutes a hard blow to all true prospects for the establishment of a contiguous and viable Palestinian State.

As a result of all these measures and practices, the city of Jerusalem is suffering under the imposition of a suffocating siege and the attempts to surround it with the wall. That structure is isolating the city from the surrounding localities, including Bethlehem, restricting the access of both Muslim and Christian civilians to the city and preventing them from exercising their right to visit and worship at their holy places. Furthermore, the occupying Power continues to carry out many measures intended to Judaize the Holy City and to change its legal status, its historical and cultural character and its demographic composition.

Israel also continues to unlawfully detain and imprison approximately 11,000 Palestinians, including children, women and a number of officials and parliamentarians. Most of these prisoners and detainees are being held in inhumane conditions and being subjected to harsh physical and mental treatment, including acts of torture.

Moreover, Israel continues to impose all manner of collective punishment on the Palestinian people, including severe restrictions on the movement of persons and goods within the occupied Palestinian territory and between it and the outside world, through prolonged closures and the establishment of more than 550 checkpoints and roadblocks. These measures fragment the contiguity and unity of the occupied Palestinian territory, transforming it into scattered and isolated Bantustans. At the same time, since it declared the Gaza Strip a "hostile entity" in September, Israel has continued to close all border crossings into and out of the Gaza Strip and to tighten its siege of that part of the occupied Palestinian territory. These illegal measures of collective punishment have caused the tragic humanitarian situation of Palestinian civilians to deteriorate even further.

In addition to constituting serious violations and grave breaches of international law, including humanitarian and human rights law, these Israeli measures and practices are contradictory to the types of confidence-building measures that must be taken in order to continue and support the peace process and move it forward. When we speak of these illegal Israeli policies and practices, we are speaking of actual realities on the ground. As depressing, negative and frustrating as these facts may be -- and as repetitive as it may sound to describe the pain that they have caused -- they are the tragic realities being experienced by the Palestinian people under Israeli occupation. We must constantly draw the international community's attention to this situation until all such Israeli violations cease and until Israel complies with its legal obligations under international law and United Nations resolutions.

In recent years, the peace process has remained stagnant because of Israel's decision to prevent any progress from being made in the peace process and to undermine all efforts to resume dialogue and negotiations between the two sides on a final, just and comprehensive settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian and Israeli-Arab conflict on the basis of international law, United Nations resolutions and the two-State solution.

The international Conference just held at Annapolis was successful because of the great efforts of the international community. That success was reflected in the large number of countries participating in the Conference and the exceptional efforts of the host country, the United States of America, the Quartet and Arab nations. Sixteen Arab States were in attendance, together with a number of other Islamic countries, members of the European Union, Japan and other Asian countries, African countries and a number of countries representing the Non-Aligned Movement. We hope that the Annapolis Conference will serve as an important basis for the donor conference to be held next month in Paris, as well as the political and economic activities that could result from it.

Yesterday, following the Annapolis Conference, negotiations between the two sides officially began on all final-status issues in order to find a just solution that will ensure respect for the rights of our people under occupation, who aspire to freedom and independence, and for those of our refugees, who seek to return to their homes and property. We reiterate once again that Israel must comply with all its obligations and requirements. All illegal Israeli settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, must come to an immediate end. The dismantlement and removal of settlement outposts must begin immediately, and the construction of the apartheid annexation wall must immediately cease and the parts already built must be dismantled, as called for in the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice. Checkpoints and roadblocks must be removed, and crossings must be opened. Palestinian institutions in East Jerusalem that have been shut down must be allowed to reopen. Prisoners and detainees must be allowed to return to their homes and families.

There must be full respect for the Annapolis Joint Statement if a peace agreement is to be reached by the end of 2008 on the basis of the well-known terms of reference, including Security Council resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973), 1397 (2002) and 1515 (2003), the Arab Peace Initiative, the Road Map and the principle of land for peace. Moreover, when we emphasize the need to resolve the Palestine question in all its aspects, we are affirming that any efforts to achieve a comprehensive peace in the region must also address the question of the occupied Syrian Golan and the occupied Lebanese territories.

At this critical stage, we must confront any attempts to undermine the exceptional opportunity that lies before us or to obstruct it by adopting narrow positions and agendas in order to maintain the status quo, which would have a deeply negative, detrimental and long-term impact on the situation throughout the region. Too much time has already passed. We must move beyond mere statements; more than good intentions is needed to achieve peace. The international community must take strong, principled and effective positions and decisive measures, redoubling its efforts to put an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian and Arab territories, including East Jerusalem, and to Israel's repeated and flagrant violations. The Palestinian people must enjoy freedom and exercise their inalienable right to self-determination in an independent State of their own with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital, on the basis of the pre-1967 borders and full realization of the Palestinian people's inalienable rights, including the right of Palestinian refugees to return, in accordance with General Assembly resolution 194 (III) of 1948. International law and justice must be upheld so that peace can truly prevail.

An historic opportunity lies before us, and all those who want peace must seize this opportunity. There must be respect for international law. Political will and determination must push this process forward to overcome all of the obstacles and impediments that we currently face. Peace should be pursued through long-awaited and serious negotiations between the two sides on final status issues, including borders, Jerusalem, refugees, settlements, water and security. These are the core issues to which solutions must be found so as to enable the establishment of a Palestinian State and achievement of the peace that we are all striving for in the Middle East.

It is with bitterness and sadness that we must refer to the regrettable events that occurred in the Gaza Strip this past June. In that regard, we affirm the necessity of restoring the situation in the Gaza Strip to the status quo that existed prior to the events of June 2007 and of restoring the legitimacy of the Palestinian National Authority institutions under the leadership of President Mahmoud Abbas and of allowing for a dialogue between all Palestinian factions to restore our national unity and to preserve the unity, contiguity and integrity of the Palestinian Territory, a situation to which all of the Palestinian people aspire. The Palestinian land is one land and the Palestinian people are one people and will never be divided.

In conclusion, I wish to reiterate the immense gratitude and appreciation of the Palestinian people for all of the support and solidarity extended to them over the years by the international community, including by the United Nations. The Palestinian people continue to hope for the continued support and assistance of the international community, which they need more than ever at this time. In that connection, we express our hope that all countries will vote in favour of all of the draft resolutions submitted under the agenda items on the question of Palestine and the situation in the Middle East and all other draft resolutions relevant to Palestine that will come before the Assembly.

We are firmly convinced that all free and peace-loving nations of the world stand for justice and fairness and support the question of Palestine because it is a just and noble cause and because these nations too wish to see an end the suffering and pain of our people through realization of their rights, freedom and an independent State of Palestine, and to see an end to decades of occupation, conflict and cycles of violence in the Middle East region. The Palestinian people, wish to witness and celebrate the flourishing of peace, security, stability, justice and prosperity for all the peoples of the region. Let us work together without delay to make the vision and goal of peace and justice a reality and a fact of life.