State of Palestine, 1999

Mr.

President, it gives me great pleasure to see you presiding

over this new session of the General Assembly after your

long struggle to gain freedom, along with Sam Nujoma,

Nelson Mandela and others who fought to bring an end to

the era of colonialism, apartheid and foreign occupation.

Your presence here today leading this session of the

General Assembly attests to the victory achieved by the

people of Namibia in the battle for freedom and

independence. It strengthens the hope of the Palestinian

people that the dawn of their freedom and the independence

of their homeland, Palestine, is near. Furthermore, the

victory of your friendly country, Namibia, affirms the

constructive role played by the United Nations in the

eradication of the colonialism that has burdened oppressed

peoples and in enabling them to gain their national

independence. I call upon the United Nations to continue to

undertake this historic role to eliminate all forms of

occupation and colonialism and to strengthen the

foundations of peace throughout the world.

As I congratulate and welcome you, Sir, I would be

remiss if I did not extend our gratitude to your predecessor,

Mr. Didier Opertti. It also gives me great pleasure to

express our deep appreciation to Mr. Kofi Annan, the

Secretary-General, for his distinguished role in leading this

international Organization and promoting for world peace.

I also want to congratulate the three new members of

the United Nations: the Republic of Kiribati, the Republic

of Nauru and the Kingdom of Tonga. Their membership is

an important step towards the realization of the universality

of the Organization.

I address the Assembly today — the representatives of

the international community — for the second consecutive

year, seeking the continuation of support for the realization

of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people,

particularly at this crucial and sensitive stage that lies

between us and the declaration of our independent

Palestinian State and sovereignty over our liberated land.

This requires the strengthening of international efforts in

order to really achieve a just solution to the question of

Palestine, the crux of the Middle East conflict. The

coming millennium summit, with all the renewed hope

and promising beginning it represents for all people, must

be a decisive deadline for the achievement of peace in the

Middle East. We should work collectively and vigorously

to achieve this. I look forward to the participation of

Palestine, as a Member State of the United Nations, in the

deliberations of the coming millennium summit, and I

hope for and trust in the Assembly's support for this

Palestinian determination to achieve independence so that

Palestine can assume the position it deserves within the

family of nations.

As the Assembly is aware, we concluded the Sharm

el-Sheikh Memorandum with Mr. Barak, the new Prime

Minister of Israel, on 4 September, under the auspices of

President Hosni Mubarak, and in the presence of King

Abdullah II, Secretary of State Albright, Mr. Moratinos,

representing the European Union, and Mr. Larsen,

representing Mr. Kofi Annan.

The Memorandum is aimed at the implementation of

all the obligations of the interim period under the Oslo

agreement, the Wye River Memorandum and the Hebron

Protocol, and at the resumption of the final status

negotiations. This was done with the hope of bringing to

an end the policy of protraction and freezing that was

pursued by the former Israeli Government, which

completely paralysed the peace process and almost dashed

the ambitious hopes created by this process for all the

countries and peoples of the Middle East.

The Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum serves as a

source of new hope for putting the peace process back on

the right track, as it reaffirms the implementation of

existing agreements and of all the obligations within a

specific time-frame. In this connection, I extend my

gratitude and thanks to all those who contributed to the

conclusion of the Memorandum, particularly our host in

Sharm el-Sheikh, President Hosni Mubarak, as well as

King Abdullah II and Secretary of State Albright, who

undertook tangible and concrete efforts as a representative

of President Clinton, and the European leaders, their

representatives and their envoys to the peace process. The

continuous involvement of these friends in this process

was essential and necessary for pushing the process

forward. International sponsorship of the Middle East

peace process is the guarantee for its definitive and final

success.

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The absence of such an international role would send

the fragile situation in the region back to square one. I

therefore call upon the international community to

accelerate and strengthen its efforts and participation to

push the peace process forward and revitalize it on all

tracks. A just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East

can last only if it is protected by international legitimacy

and if efforts are undertaken to implement all of the

resolutions pertaining to the Middle East conflict on the

Palestinian, Syrian and Lebanese tracks.

We should work hard so that the signing of this

Memorandum will succeed in ending the stagnation of the

peace process and in opening the door that the former

Israeli Government closed in the face of all serious efforts

aimed at achieving real peace.

As we reaffirm once more our commitment to the

peace process and the implementation of the signed

agreements, we hope that this time the Israeli side will

implement these agreements scrupulously and honestly,

including the phases of redeployment agreed upon in the

Wye River and Oslo agreements, the release of prisoners

and the other obligations of the transitional period, such as

safe passage between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip

and the construction of the Gaza seaport.

The Israeli Government is called upon to immediately

and decisively cease all measures that violate international

resolutions, laws and covenants and thus destroy the

chances of peace. At the forefront of these are the

settlement activities and the confiscation of land, especially

in AI-Quds Al-Sharif, and its vicinity, and the siege of the

city of Bethlehem and the rest of the Palestinian territories.

The continuation of these settlement policies and practices

will quash the hopes and expectations generated by the

signing of the Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum and destroy

prospects for the final settlement negotiations, which began

on 13 September. The cessation of all such measures is

needed in order that we can, together with my new partner,

Mr. Barak, continue the march of the peace of the brave

that we began with two other partners — the late Yitzhak

Rabin, who gave his life for this peace, and Shimon

Peres — for a new Middle East.

Hence, we look forward to seeing new, real and

tangible changes in the positions and actions of the Israeli

side that will open the door, in word and in deed, for the

achievement of a just and comprehensive peace — a peace

of the brave that will lead to the realization of the right of

the Palestinian people to self-determination and to the

establishment of their independent State, with Al-Quds Al-

Sharif (Jerusalem) as its capital, and the realization of the

right of the Palestine refugees to return to their homeland

in accordance with resolution 194 (III) which affirms the

right of the refugees to return to their homes and the right

to compensation for those who do not wish to return.

The realization of the right of the Palestinian people

to establish their independent State with Al-Quds Al-

Sharif as its capital will provide the definitive guarantee

for the establishment of a permanent peace in the Middle

East. It will also be a validation of the Charter of the

United Nations and its numerous resolutions over 50

years, beginning with resolution 181 (II) which called for

the establishment of two States in Palestine, one Jewish,

which is Israel, and one Arab, which is Palestine. The

rights of peoples do not diminish because of a statute of

limitations or under oppression, and our people have

proved through the years that they deserve life, freedom

and their own independent State. The time has come for

the international community, represented by the General

Assembly, to reaffirm this right and to work for its

realization.

The goal of the current peace process is the

implementation of Security Council resolutions 242

(1967), 338 (1973) and 425 (1978) and the application of

the principle of land for peace. The latter means total

Israeli withdrawal from all Palestinian and other Arab

territories occupied since 1967, including Al-Quds Al-

Sharif — the Holy City of Jerusalem, which is the first of

the two Qiblahs and the third Holy Sanctuary of Islam,

the place from which the Prophet Muhammad ascended

to heaven, and the cradle of the birth of Jesus Christ.

The catastrophe that befell our people 51 years ago,

uprooting them from their homeland and dispersing them

into exile — thereby stripping them of their dreams and

rights as human beings in an attempt to negate their

existence — is one of the greatest human tragedies

witnessed by the twentieth century. The question of the

refugees of Palestine is the oldest and greatest refugee

question in our contemporary world. We must recognize

the legitimate right of those refugees to return to their

homeland, in accordance with United Nations resolutions.

Four million Palestinians live in exile and in refugee

camps awaiting the time of their return to their homeland,

from which they were forcibly expelled. There is no way

to achieve peace, stability and security in the Middle East

without a solution to the question of the refugees of

Palestine and the implementation of resolution 194 (III),

which declares their right to return to their homeland.

25

Two essential things must occur for peace to be

complete. First, it is necessary to reach a final settlement on

all tracks — the Palestinian, Syrian and Lebanese — on the

basis of the complete and precise implementation of

international legitimacy, especially Security Council

resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973), and 425 (1978). The

second is the provision of economic support and assistance

by the international community sufficient for the

achievement of a better economic situation and for

achieving prosperity in the region. What is required

foremost in this regard is raising the Palestinian economy

up from the miserable situation in which it finds itself as a

result of the long years of occupation, so that building

cooperative economic relations in the region will become

possible.

Here I wish to thank the donor countries that have

provided and continue to provide important assistance to the

Palestinian people and to the Palestinian Authority. This

assistance is necessary to enable us to overcome the

immense difficulties that we have been confronting since

the establishment of the Palestinian Authority, as a result of

the closures and sieges imposed by the previous Israeli

Government on the Palestinian territory for long periods,

which worsened further the total destruction of the

Palestinian economy. The shadows of poverty and

unemployment still threaten our economic abilities and

plans to reconstruct, build and develop.

The achievement of all of this necessitates the

continuation of the constructive efforts of the United

Nations, which has permanent responsibility towards the

question of Palestine until that issue is resolved in all its

aspects. We will also remain in need of our Arab brothers,

the Islamic countries and our friends in the Non-Aligned

Movement. We will remain in need of the two co-sponsors

of the peace process, the United States and the Russian

Federation, and also of the European Union, China, Japan,

Norway and our other friends around the world.

We must heighten all our efforts until the arrival of

the new millennium in many areas and spheres, and not

only in the Middle East. In this respect, we have observed

some positive developments which are quite reassuring.

There is tangible improvement in the area of conflict

resolution on the African continent and on the path towards

achieving better economic and social development in that

great continent. There is the international attention given to

Kosovo, as well as other measures carried out in the

Balkans. There is also the adoption of the Statute of the

International Criminal Court, as well as the additional

consideration being given to the four Geneva Conventions

on the occasion of their fiftieth anniversary. We refer

here, with appreciation, to the convening of the

Conference of the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth

Geneva Convention last July regarding the Israeli

occupation of our land. There are also the follow-ups and

reviews of a series of international conferences five years

after their convening, in addition to the preparations being

made with regard to such important issues as the culture

of peace and the dialogue among civilizations.

All of these things are important developments, but

perhaps not enough for us to be able to begin the new

millennium under new circumstances. This is particularly

so if we look at some of the events and worrisome

developments in different areas. There is the continuation

of the state of siege in Iraq and the profound suffering of

its brotherly people. There is also the continuation of

internal conflicts in many countries, such as Afghanistan

and others. Recently there have also been worrisome

developments in East Timor. But I would like, in

particular, to refer to the rise of extreme poverty and to

the widening gap between the haves and the have-nots on

the individual, national and regional levels.

Perhaps it is we, the poor people of the South, who

are most concerned about how to bridge the gap between

us and the North, particularly in this era of globalization

of the world economy, whose challenges and

consequences we must all face. Here we must exert

serious efforts and seek creative means beyond hasty and

temporary measures. While it is time for the South to be

more prepared to realize such an achievement, the North

should also be more prepared for partnership and more

realistic, effective and just sharing.

In addition to economic matters, we must also strive

to achieve some needed improvements at the political

level, particularly with regard to international political

relations. It is imperative in this connection that we all

give greater significance to the United Nations. This must

be done in order for this body to truly and urgently

become the effective centre of international and political

relations and the source of international legitimacy. It is

also necessary to be wholly committed to upholding the

principles and provisions of the Charter of the United

Nations and of international and humanitarian laws, as

well as ensuring that they apply to all. We should apply

to others the same moral values as we accept for

ourselves. There should be one set of criteria and one

standard for all cases and in all places. All of this will

lead to a more credible system of international relations,

in which the incentive to commit wrongs will be lessened

26

and the collective capability to confront and prevent those

wrongs will, in turn, be enhanced.

It is with great pride that I would now like to speak of

the Bethlehem 2000 celebrations. The Palestinian city of

Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus Christ, is the place

where we are making preparations to celebrate the end of

the second millennium and the beginning of the third. It is

also there, in Palestine, that the past, the present and the

future will meet in a global vision of hope for all peoples.

It is a religious and spiritual occasion of high importance,

not only for our people and the other peoples of the region,

but also for all the faithful around the world and for the

entire international community. I appreciate the unanimous

adoption last year of the resolution concerning this great

and important matter, and invite the Assembly to continue

to grant it its attention and consideration this year.

Here, I wish to extend once again the Palestinian

people’s invitation to the Assembly and to all the leaders

of the world to visit us during this important spiritual and

religious occasion in Bethlehem, Jerusalem and the other

religious and spiritual places, so that we can proudly live

together in peace at this special, historic time.

I should like to extend my gratitude to the

Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of

the Palestinian People, to the Committee’s Chairman,

Ambassador Ibra Ka of Senegal, to the Special

Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the

Human Rights of the Palestinian People and other Arabs

of the Occupied Terrotiries and to all the staff members

of this international Organization working in programmes

relating to the question of Palestine. They have all

provided immeasurable support to the just cause of the

Palestinian people and have most certainly contributed to

advancing the peace process towards the achievement of

a just, permanent and comprehensive peace — a peace of

the brave that will secure justice and freedom for the

Palestinian people and their sovereignty over their land,

along with security, stability and peace for all countries

and peoples of this region.

Once again I express my congratulations to you, Mr.

President, and my gratitude to all the members of the

international community, reiterating to you the appeal of

Palestine — an appeal of right, justice and peace.