State of Palestine, 2009

I

congratulate you, Sir, on your election to the

presidency of the General Assembly. I wish you every

success in your noble mission and recognize your long

experience in international political affairs. I also

extend our greetings and thanks to former President,

His Excellency Father Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann,

whose positions and active efforts reflected the spirit

and principles of this international organization, which

is headed by His Excellency Secretary-General Ban

Ki-moon, whom I also salute. I express our

appreciation for everything he has done personally and

through the organs and agencies of the United Nations,

notably the United Nations Relief and Works Agency

for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), to

assist the Palestinian people and defend their rights.

During this session we have a full agenda before

us. The peoples of the whole world are looking to this

body to determine what can be done to save our planet

from the effects of climate change and global warming

and to address the world financial crisis. Many

countries, including small and developing countries,

see the need to reform the United Nations, including

the Security Council, so as to reflect the reality of the

current international situation and to ensure more

comprehensive representation of the international

community.

These common concerns must not overshadow

the fact that serious problems face the Middle East

region in particular, first and foremost the lack of

commitment to the Charter of the United Nations and

the extent to which the resolutions of the General

Assembly and the Security Council are actually being

implemented without the application of double

standards. Everyone agrees on the need to achieve

peace in the Middle East, to counter extremism and

violence, and to establish the region as a zone free of

nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass

destruction. Yet the larger wound and deeper tragedy

remains the suffering of our Palestinian people since

the Nakba — the catastrophe — more than 60 years

ago, to which the United Nations is a living witness. Its

archives contain not dozens but hundreds of resolutions

that have not been implemented.

The suffering of the Palestinian people as a result

of Israel’s settler occupation is crystal clear to the

world. Since the occupation of the West Bank and the

Gaza Strip, including East Jerusalem, in 1967, Israel

has continued with its settlement policy on all

Palestinian land, especially in holy Jerusalem, where

that policy is being accelerated and escalated by many

means, including the seizure of the homes of

Palestinians in the city, the imposition of restrictions,

even preventing Palestinians from building and

sometimes from repairing their homes while new

settlement neighbourhoods are established. Jerusalem

is becoming completely isolated from its surroundings

because of the illegal settlements and the apartheid

wall.

We now face a unique situation. If international

law stipulates the inadmissibility of the acquisition of

the territory of others by force, how can we then deal

with the current situation where Israeli settlement

policies are undermining the goal of establishing a

geographically contiguous Palestinian State in

implementation of the will of the international

consensus? That consensus is reflected in the many

resolutions and principles, including the Road Map,

which we all agreed upon and which is based on the

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principle of land for peace and on an end to the

occupation that began in 1967.

Immense efforts have been exerted and many

conferences have been held over the years, particularly

since the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993. Yet all

of this has not led to an end to the conflict. President

Barack Obama gave much hope to our people and the

peoples of the region when he announced his vision for

a peace agreement on the basis of a two-State solution

and the cessation of all settlement activities. We

welcomed the active American diplomacy to revive the

peace process and all efforts of the international

Quartet and its members: the United Nations, the

European Union, the Russian Federation and the

United States.

All these active efforts and initiatives, which

have been welcomed and supported by us and by the

Arab States, are however confronted by the

intransigence of Israel, which refuses to adhere to the

requirements for relaunching the peace process. How is

it conceivable that negotiations can be held on the

borders and on Jerusalem while Israeli bulldozers are

working to change the reality on the ground with the

aim of creating a new reality and imposing the borders

that Israel desires? How can one conceive of holding

negotiations without agreement on the terms of

reference and the objective of those negotiations,

which the whole world has unanimously agreed upon,

namely ending the Israeli occupation of the territories

occupied in 1967, establishing the State of Palestine,

with Jerusalem as its capital, reaching a just and agreed

upon solution to the question of Palestinian refugees on

the basis of resolution 194 (III) of 1948, and achieving

peace on all the Palestinian, Syrian and Lebanese

tracks, as affirmed in the Arab Peace Initiative, which

provides a precious opportunity that must be seized to

achieve peace?

In this regard, I should like to express our deep

appreciation of the important speech delivered to the

Assembly by President Obama two days ago (see

), in which he affirmed the necessity of

ending the occupation that began in 1967 and the

illegitimacy of the settlements. He also stressed the

need to establish an independent, sovereign and viable

Palestinian State and to address all the final-status

issues in the negotiations, foremost among these

Jerusalem, refugees, borders, water and settlements,

along with others. We reiterate that adherence to these

principles, in addition to a complete freeze on all

settlement activities, can salvage the peace process and

open horizons for its success.

I reaffirm the eagerness of the Palestine

Liberation Organization to achieve a just, lasting and

comprehensive peace in accordance with the

resolutions of international legitimacy. At the same

time, I caution that the settlement policy and the

building of the separation wall, which continue to be

pursued by the Israeli occupation, will abort

opportunities to relaunch the peace process. Time is

running out and the risks are becoming greater as a

result of the continued suffering of the Palestinian

people under the last remaining occupation in the

world.

We call upon the international community to

uphold international law and international legitimacy

and to exert pressure on Israel to cease its settlement

activities, to comply with the agreements it has signed,

to cease its policies of occupation and colonial

settlement, to release the approximately 11,000

prisoners and detainees and to lift the unjust siege

imposed on the Gaza Strip, which was subjected

months ago to devastating aggression claiming

thousands of civilian casualties among and causing

unprecedented destruction of infrastructure and public

facilities, including hospitals, mosques, schools and

even United Nations facilities.

Our people, which continues to demand its rights

and to be determined to remain in its homeland despite

all of the suffering caused by the detentions, the

blockade and the killings, is also keen to end internal

division and to restore national unity. Our sister, Egypt,

is making commendable efforts to achieve that goal.

In spite of all our suffering from the occupation

and its practices, we continue to work to build and

develop our national institutions. We have made

significant progress in this regard both in upholding the

rule of law and public order and in promoting

economic and social development, despite the harsh

conditions of the occupation and the blockade. We

continue to make every possible effort for the success

of the efforts of our brothers in Egypt to end the

ongoing coup in the Gaza Strip and to restore our

national unity by resorting to the ballot box and

holding presidential and legislative elections on their

constitutional date under the supervision and control of

Arab and Islamic countries, the United Nations and the

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international community. In that way, democracy will

be firmly institutionalized in our political life.

Hope will remain alive in our souls and we will

not despair of regaining our rights on the basis of

relevant resolutions of the United Nations, the historic

role of which we reaffirm for attaining peace and

upholding the principle of “might for right” and not

“right for might”.

From this rostrum, I conclude by reaffirming our

commitment to the Road Map, the Arab Peace

Initiative and to all terms of reference of the political

process. We call upon all parties to respect and abide

by them to provide the opportunity to launch a

successful and effective peace process. We are

confident that all our brothers in sisterly Arab countries

will adhere to the Arab Peace Initiative as a basis for

safeguarding our rights and opening the way towards

genuine peaceful relations with Israel once the

occupation is ended and the independent State of

Palestine is established.