General Assembly Session 63 meeting 59

The Acting President

I call first on the representative of Egypt to introduce draft resolutions A/63/L.36 and A/63/L.37.

Mr. Abdelaziz (Egypt)

Under this agenda item we address the ongoing conflict situation in the Middle East region resulting from Israel's continuing occupation of the Arab territories since 1967 and its non-compliance with relevant United Nations resolutions and relevant provisions of international law.

Israel continues to occupy Palestinian and Arab territories, despite all international and regional efforts to reach a just and lasting solution to the question of Palestine, the core of the Middle East conflict. As we near the end of 2008, the Annapolis Conference decisions remain unimplemented.

The situation in the Middle East necessitates intense action by the international community, as represented in the General Assembly, to advance the final status negotiations on the Palestinian track and to emphasize the irreversibility of the peace process. This is needed in order to reach a just, lasting and comprehensive settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict on all tracks, based on the principle of land for peace, the Arab Peace Initiative and all relevant United Nations resolutions.

In this regard, the General Assembly adopts at this time of year, under the agenda item "The situation in the Middle East", two very important draft resolutions to express the international community's rejection of Israel's continuing occupation and unlawful practices in the occupied Arab territories.

Draft resolution A/63/L.36 concerns the question of Jerusalem. All relevant General Assembly and Security Council resolutions have confirmed the necessity of maintaining the city's special status and the illegality of any measures by consecutive Israeli Governments to alter that status before concluding the final status negotiations.

Draft resolution A/63/L.37, dealing with the occupied Syrian Golan, confirms the will and determination of the international community to end Israel's illegal occupation of Syrian territory and achieve full Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights to the line of 4 June 1967.

Implementing the Annapolis understandings and achieving a peace agreement will undoubtedly lead to the establishment of an independent viable Palestinian State, with East Jerusalem as its capital, on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip territories, within a specific and agreed timeline. It will also provide the appropriate environment for a comprehensive settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict and an end to Israel's illegal occupation of all the Arab territories occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, the Syrian Golan and the Lebanese Shabaa Farms.

The achievement of peace on the Palestinian track and a comprehensive settlement will permit the establishment of peaceful, normal relations between the Arabs and Israel according to the letter and spirit of the Arab Peace Initiative, based on the idea of full withdrawal and settlement of the issue of refugees in return for full peace.

Achieving the goal of comprehensive peace depends on a sincere commitment by Israel to attain the desired peaceful settlement. Israel should cease its military escalation and its unlawful practices in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Syrian Golan, including all forms of collective punishment imposed on the civilian population, and express a real political will to settle the core issue of the final status on the Palestinian track. That includes finding a just, agreed solution of the refugee question on the basis of resolution 194 (III).

Similarly, we look forward to more progress on the Syrian-Israeli peace track, in order that direct peace talks between the two sides may resume and so that it will be possible to reach an agreement leading to Israel's full withdrawal from the occupied Syrian Golan to the line of 4 June 1967, on the basis of all related terms of reference and results reached during previous negotiating rounds.

We also look forward to the efforts by the new American Administration to advance the Middle East peace process and, together with the other members of the Quartet, to pursue the two-State solution. The Quartet bears the responsibility of following the implementation of the two-State solution, working to end Israel's occupation of the Arab territories occupied since 1967 and establishing an independent Palestinian State, living side by side with Israel in peace and security.

I have pleasure in introducing the two draft resolutions under agenda item 15: draft resolution A/63/L.36, concerning Jerusalem, and draft resolution A/36/L.37, entitled "The Syrian Golan".

By draft resolution A/63/L.36, the General Assembly would reaffirm that the relevant Assembly and Security Council resolutions remain the main terms of reference for the special status of occupied East Jerusalem, confirming the renunciation and repudiation of all legislative and administrative measures and actions taken by Israel, the occupying Power, to alter the legal status and character of Jerusalem. Moreover, it would confirm that any just and comprehensive solution of the question of this Holy City must take into consideration the legitimate concerns of both the Palestinian and Israeli sides, and must include provisions on international guarantees ensuring freedom of belief and religion to its inhabitants, with no illegal attempts by Israel to Judaize the city, in gross violation of its inhabitant's right to free worship.

By draft resolution A/63/L.37, on the occupied Syrian Golan, the Assembly would reaffirm Security Council resolution 497 (1981) and highlight concern over Israel's continued non-compliance. It would also confirm the applicability of the Hague Convention of 1907 and the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 to the Syrian territory occupied since 1967, as well as the illegitimacy of both the decision to apply Israeli laws on the territory and the settlement activities there. It would also renew calls upon Israel to withdraw from the Golan Heights to the line of 4 June 1967, resume direct peace negotiations on the Syrian track and respect commitments made previously.

The sponsors of the two draft resolutions believe that it is high time for the international community to deal with the complex situation in the Middle East in a comprehensive regional framework.

The peoples of the region have long suffered from the scourge of war and disasters caused by aggression. They aspire to achieve peace, stability and long-term development. That is not possible without international determination to provide the required political support to realize full Israeli withdrawal from all occupied Palestinian and Arab territories, on the basis of international law, the principle of land for peace, the Arab Peace Initiative, the Road Map, and all terms of reference set out in the Madrid principles and relevant Security Council and General Assembly resolutions.

For the reasons that I have set out, the sponsors look forward to all Member States voting in favour of the two draft resolutions, in order to express the international will that I have described and to promote the lofty purposes and principles of the Charter, endorsed through the years by the Member States.