Jordan, 2007

Allow me to congratulate the President on his assumption of

the presidency of this session of the General Assembly

and wish him every success in leading its deliberations.

I should also like to extend my thanks to his

predecessor Sheikha Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa for her

good management of the deliberations of the previous

session. I would also like to express my sincere thanks

to the Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, for his

unrelenting efforts since he assumed his office to

advance the work of the Organization and activate its

role in the service of international peace and security.

The President returned to the Chair.

The Middle East region, of which Jordan is an

integral part, continues to face formidable challenges

stemming from the failure to make any progress

towards solving its main regional issues. Jordan,

however, has realized that these challenges should not

become a justification for abandoning its national

priorities regarding political and economic reform and

for achieving the highest degree of openness and

participation. Therefore, Jordan has adopted a national

strategy that strikes a balance between continuing to

effect reform and protecting its national security.

Jordan has also continued to deal with regional

issues on the basis of its belief that it is necessary to

reach just solutions by peaceful means and in a way

that protects the rights of all concerned and that

achieves regional stability. Jordan is firmly convinced

that the use of military force and the imposition of

unilateral solutions lead only to the aggravation of

problems, increase the suffering of the people and

threaten regional and international stability.

The Palestinian question, which is at the core of

the Middle East conflict, is now at a decisive

crossroads: either the regional parties and the

international community succeed in making real and

tangible progress and reach a just and lasting solution

within a reasonable and agreed-upon time frame, or the

entire region will be swept into extremism and anarchy,

which will be a grave threat to world peace and

security. Therefore, the international meeting

scheduled to be held before the end of this year may be

the last chance to make that progress. This makes it

imperative for the United States, which called for that

conference, the members of the International Quartet

and the regional parties to prepare for it well, ensuring

that final status issues between Palestine and Israel are

seriously discussed and in a way that will allow real

progress to be made on those issues and a lasting

agreement to be reached and implemented quickly

within a time frame agreed upon by the two parties.

The situation in the region cannot withstand the

continuation of developments that do not allow for real

progress. The holding of international and regional

meetings and negotiations should not be an end in itself

but rather a means to an end, namely reaching a real

peace, accepted and preserved by the peoples of the

region. Palestinian-Israeli negotiations have been going

on for a long time. The whole world knows that records

of those negotiations contain alternatives that provide

solutions for final status issues. What is needed now is

the political will to reach an agreement instead of

looking for pretexts and prolonging the negotiations.

Israel will never enjoy the security it seeks and

the Middle East region will not enjoy stability unless

the Palestinian people recover their national rights

through the establishment of an independent,

contiguous and viable Palestinian state in the

Palestinian territories occupied in 1967, including East

Jerusalem, and unless other Arab occupied territories

are returned. The current situation in the Palestinian

territories is not at all in harmony with the wish to

achieve peace. In order to give the impression of

honest movement towards peace, settlement activities

must stop immediately, as must tampering with the

status of East Jerusalem, including stopping all

excavations in the Jerusalem holy sanctuary at Haram

al-Sharif and putting an end to all practices that violate

international law, in particular the Fourth Geneva

Convention.

Achievement of the desired progress requires a

vast change to the tragic situation experienced by the

Palestinians living in the occupied territories. There is

an immediate need to revive the Palestinian economy

in a manner that would lead to launching investment,

creating vital projects and providing work

opportunities. That revival will not materialize unless

the Palestinians enjoy freedom of movement, which

requires ending the closures, removing security

roadblocks and stopping military operations. It is also

imperative to enable the Palestinian National Authority,

led by President Mahmoud Abbas and his legitimate

Government, to rebuild its institutions so as to succeed

in executing its national programmes, which deserve

financial support from the international community.

A united and stable Iraq constitutes an essential

component of balance and stability in the region. While

Jordan welcomes the adoption of Security Council

resolution 1770 (2007), it supports the United Nations

playing a central role in ensuring reconciliation and

stability in that country. The preservation of any

achievements on the security front will be

accomplished only within an appropriate political

environment, and this will necessitate real national

reconciliation that will guarantee the participation of

all segments of the Iraqi people in a political process

based on reviving Iraqi nationalism rather than

sectarianism and ethnicity. It must be founded on the

basis of the unity of the State and the sole right of the

State to maintain security and ban militias from

encroaching on that exclusive right. Moreover, we

must prevent any interference in Iraq’s internal affairs,

whilst implementing what has been agreed upon,

including a review of the Constitution and other laws

and the building of national security and government

institutions.

The fact that huge numbers of Iraqis have been

forced to leave their country puts a tremendous burden

on neighbouring countries, including Jordan. Jordan

continues to host hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, with

all the pressures that this imposes on Jordan’s

economy, resources and infrastructure, with little help

from the international community. While we call on the

international community to stand by us in dealing with

this huge burden, we believe that a lasting solution to

this problem lies in restoring stability to Iraq, so that

its citizens can return to their country and contribute to

its reconstruction.

Jordan and the Arab Group condemn the

assassinations that have taken place in Lebanon, the

latest of which being the assassination of member of

Parliament Antoine Ghanem, a few days ago. These

assassinations reflect the dangerous situation in that

country and highlight the need for the international

community to take a firm stand in putting an end to

these grave violations of Lebanese sovereignty and to

take all measures to stop any foreign interference in its

internal affairs. This will ensure that the Lebanese

people will find appropriate solutions through their

constitutional institutions so as to ensure internal

legitimacy, including the holding of presidential

elections in accordance with the Constitution and

within the time frame provided therein.

Jordan is working today within the Group of

Eleven, which was launched at the initiative of His

Majesty King Abdullah II to establish economic

cooperation and support the development process of

lower-middle income countries. We look forward to

working with other States and groups of States,

including, in particular, the Group of Eight (G-8), in

order to establish cooperation that will enable the

Group of Eleven members to preserve their economic

accomplishments and achieve a breakthrough that will

lead to success in attaining sustainable development.

Confronting extremism and terrorism requires

more effective international cooperation as well as

activating channels of cultural and religious dialogue,

especially within the United Nations system. At the

same time, there is an urgent need to refrain from

Islamophobia and from inciting animosity against this

tolerant divine religion. Today’s world requires a more

effective United Nations role in addressing

international challenges, such as human rights,

armaments, climate change, terrorism, international

crime, poverty, hunger, infectious diseases, and

increasing factional, sectarian and ethnic conflicts. In

this context, we emphasize the importance of building

upon what has been achieved, and we call for

advancing the process of reform of the United Nations

and its agencies in order to enable them to enhance

their performance. We view the reform process as vital

and of the highest priority. Jordan will continue to play

a constructive role in this area and will continue to

offer reasonable and applicable visions, especially

within the context of reforming the work mechanisms

of the Security Council.

Finally, I assure the Assembly that Jordan will

keep its commitments to the achievement of

international peace and security. The size of the

Jordanian forces participating in peacekeeping

operations and their geographically wide deployment

reflect the actual role of Jordan in the United Nations

system and reflect also its political will to help

accomplish the mission of the Organization. We take

this commitment very seriously and place the

resources, professionalism and discipline of our armed

forces at the service of international peace and security.