Lebanon, 2010

First, I

would like to congratulate Mr. Joseph Deiss on his

election to preside over the General Assembly at its

sixty-fifth session and to thank his predecessor for his

able management of the Assembly’s work at its

previous session. I also wish to express my

appreciation to His Excellency Secretary-General

Ban Ki-moon for his valuable report on the various

aspects of the work of our international Organization

(A/65/1).

This is the first time I have addressed this

Assembly since Lebanon was elected a non-permanent

member of the Security Council for the 2010-2011

term. That status confers on us responsibilities that

Lebanon is proud to assume in service of its causes and

the just causes of the Arab world, and in the service of

justice and peace around the world. In that context, I

would like to commend the efforts and commitments

undertaken as a result of the high-level meeting of the

Security Council (6389th meeting) aimed at increasing

the effectiveness of its role and enabling it to

implement its resolutions without resorting to double

standards.

Moreover, we welcome the statement issued after

the Assembly’s High-level Plenary Meeting on

implementation of the Millennium Development Goals,

which contribute to alleviating poverty, promoting

education and improving health services. We also

commend the progress achieved by the United Nations

in strengthening the role of women, an issue to which

Lebanon attaches special importance, in line with its

enlightened role in that regard. Indeed, Lebanon was

among the first countries in our region to grant women

the right to vote in legislative elections, in 1953.

Despite the growing and important role the

United Nations plays in the field of socio-economic

development, our Organization remains, in essence, a

political organization, one that was created primarily to

maintain international peace and security and to protect

humanity from the scourge of the wars and conflicts

that had befallen it and that had blocked progress and

development over successive periods of history.

In that context, since the outbreak of the Arab-

Israeli conflict the United Nations has not hesitated to

address that issue and has adopted a series of

resolutions aimed at reinstating peoples’ rights and

consolidating the pillars of peace and development.

However, those efforts abated and faded in the face of

Israel’s intransigence and its obvious inclination to

expand and to implement a settlement policy. Indeed,

to this day Israel refuses to join the Treaty on the Non-

Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and to place all of its

nuclear facilities under the comprehensive safeguards

regime of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

We welcome the current growing international

awareness of the urgent need to find a settlement,

within set time frames, to the Middle East problem,

with the Palestinian issue at its heart, and to revive

efforts to reach such a settlement. However, decades of

experience show that a genuine, permanent solution for

the Middle East problem is impossible unless it is a

just and comprehensive solution, one that addresses all

aspects of the conflict on all tracks.

Also, such a solution is impossible unless the

international community musters the necessary

determination to move from making declarations on

guiding principles towards working to ensure the

appropriate means for implementation, while

promoting the elements that would lead to a solution

based on internationally legitimate resolutions, the

Madrid terms of reference and all the provisions of the

Arab Peace Initiative. We highlight in particular those

provisions that ensure a rejection of any settlement by

Palestinian refugees in Arab host countries, since the

circumstances of those countries do not allow for such

settlement.

In fact, Lebanon has frequently declared that it

will not accept any form of settlement of Palestinian

refugees on its territories. That is due to the reasons

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and considerations I emphasized in the Security

Council yesterday (see S/PV.6389), and is especially

true because such settlement would entail dangerous

repercussions and would threaten security and the

pillars of stability. It is important to note that the issue

of Palestinian refugees cannot be solved through

isolated Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in a way that

disregards Lebanon and other concerned host

countries.

At this point, we must reiterate that the primary

responsibility for guaranteeing decent living conditions

for and the well-being of the Palestinian refugees falls

on the shoulders of the international community. We

also reiterate that increasing the contributions to the

budget of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency

for Palestine Refugees in the Near East — which was

created specifically for that purpose in 1949 — would

guarantee a life of dignity for Palestinian refugees,

under the sovereignty of the host countries and with

their assistance, without extremism or violence.

On the other hand, Lebanon once again condemns

international terrorism, from which it has suffered in

different ways. Lebanon cooperates with the

international community in combating terrorism and

supports the calls to explore measures to clearly define

terrorism and address its root causes in order to clearly

distinguish it from legitimate resistance to foreign

occupation, which is recognized by the United Nations

Charter and relevant resolutions.

While Lebanon is committed to Security Council

resolution 1701 (2006) and seeks to compel Israel to

implement all its provisions, Israel continues its daily

violations of Lebanese airspace, territory and waters,

violations that the Secretary-General has described as

provocative in many of his reports. Moreover, the

Israeli spy networks and recruitment of agents aimed at

sowing strife and destabilizing our country have

reached a point where the international community

must take a firm position and thwart those acts of

Israeli aggression and persistent threats against

Lebanon, its people and its infrastructure.

The international community must also compel

Israel to withdraw from the Lebanese territories that it

still occupies in the Sheba’a farms area, the hills of

Kfar Shuba, and the northern part of Al-Ghajar village,

without delay or preconditions. In that regard, it is

important to note that we retain our right to retrieve or

liberate our remaining occupied territories by all

legitimate and available means.

Furthermore, Lebanon looks forward to receiving

more financial and technical support to pursue the

removal of mines and cluster bombs that were

randomly planted by Israel in residential areas during

the aggression of July 2006 and the periods of its

occupation of Lebanese territories. Within the

appropriate framework, Lebanon will spare no efforts

to seek to compel Israel to compensate for all the

losses and damage it caused Lebanon throughout its

successive aggressions.

In the face of Israel’s designs and in keeping with

international law, Lebanon also wishes to assert its

right to use its waters, oil and natural gas wealth,

especially as it plans to exploit those resources within

the limits of its exclusive economic zone. Parts of the

southern border of that zone were delineated as shown

on the map that the Lebanese Government submitted to

the Secretariat on 9 July 2010.

While we commend the efforts and sacrifices

made by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon,

which operates in south Lebanon, and while we are

keen to continue that arrangement, we re-emphasize

the importance of continued coordination and

cooperation between the Lebanese army and the

international forces, in accordance with the agreed

rules of engagement, in order to ensure the proper

implementation of the mission entrusted to those

forces. That cooperation is matched only by arrogant

and provocative Israeli positions that are the root

causes of the incidents that occur every once in a while

along the Blue Line and that, with some work, could be

prevented.

During the past few years, Lebanon has strived to

maintain its internal stability through dialogue, by

completing its implementation of the Taif Accords, by

resorting to legal institutions to resolve any disputes,

and through its commitment to the resolutions of the

Security Council and other internationally legitimate

resolutions. Lebanon was keen to meet all

constitutional deadlines without any delays, whether

for municipal or parliamentary elections. Those

elections took place in a free, transparent and calm

atmosphere, in accordance with the requirements of

democracy and the principle of the peaceful devolution

of power.

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In addition, Lebanon undertook efforts to prevent

any external aggression by seeking to compel Israel to

implement Security Council resolution 1701 (2006)

and by mobilizing all its national deterrence

capabilities within the framework of its national

defence strategy.

As we vow to persevere with that solid approach,

no matter the dangers, with the support of the free and

conscious will of the Lebanese people and the support

of friendly and sisterly States, we are confident that

Lebanon will always be open to dialogue and to

civilized, rich and innovative interaction. We remain

loyal to our mission and committed to strengthening

the state of justice and law, despite all challenges, and

to upholding the values of freedom, democracy and

concord — values our country has based itself on since

its inception.