Lebanon, 2003

This

great number of heads of State and Government have

assembled at the current session neither to perform

ceremonial rituals nor to conduct the periodic

consideration of agendas. Rather, it is the state of the

world today that necessitated this exceptional

gathering, because people everywhere sense a growing

struggle between fear and hope, security and

instability, force and weakness, surplus and need, and

freedom and oppression.

Returning to this Assembly is tantamount to

returning to our origins and sources, and to common

sense and principles, after nearly losing them. We

return to this mother Organization like children who

return home changed. Some are obedient and others are

rebellious; some are just and others are unjust.

However, we find the mother Organization as badly

hurt as some of its children.

What hurts the United Nations hurts us all. Its

fallen victims are indeed martyrs of humanity in its

entirety, like Count Folke Bernadotte, Dag

Hammarskjˆld, Sergio Vieira de Mello and others who

have made the ultimate sacrifice for this Organization.

The peoples of the world perceive the United

Nations as a haven for the rights of the weak and the

needy. It also exercises its authority to dissuade the

strong who act aggressively and forget their obligations

and commitments.

In our region and in our country, we have greatly

suffered from double standards and recourse to might

at the expense of right. Since the foundation of an

entity on the ruins of the people of Palestine, an entity

that recognizes neither its own borders nor those of

others, repeated injustices and wars have arisen as a

result of violations of the spirit and raison d''tre of this

international Organization.

Comprehensive and just approaches were adopted

at the international Conference in Madrid to find a

peaceful resolution to the Middle East conflict,

resulting in principles and accomplishments that cannot

be renounced or reversed. Incomplete approaches

emerged, but they failed to achieve peace, maintain

security and ensure stability. It has become clear to

everyone, except to those in Israel who are arrogant

and intransigent, that there can be no security without a

political solution, and no partial, peaceful, political

solution without the comprehensive peace that

embodies the spirit of justice of the Madrid Conference

and the integrated Arab peace initiative of the Arab

Summit in Beirut.

Such a solution is based on the relevant

international resolutions calling for the return to

Lebanon of the rest of the territory still under Israeli

occupation, including Shebaa farms; for the return to

Syria of its territory up to its 4 June 1967 borders; and

for enabling Palestinian refugees to exercise their legal,

humanitarian and moral right of return to their

homeland. Such a process should ensure the

establishment of a sovereign, independent, stable and

viable Palestinian State, with al-Quds al-Sharif as its

capital.

Developments on the ground, however, dash that

hope. The Government of Israel continues to build

settlements, impose extrajudicial sentences, kill men,

women and children, demolish houses and carry out

pre-emptive arrests and assassinations.

Similarly, Lebanon suffers from persistent and

extremely provocative and aggravated Israeli threats,

attacks and violations by sea, land and air, as described

by the Secretary-General and his Special

Representative in the region. The international

community should therefore pressure Israel to end

those excesses.

Lebanese detainees and prisoners are still

illegally held hostage, without due process, in Israel,

which still keeps the remaining maps of the landmines

that it planted during its occupation of southern

Lebanon. Furthermore, Israel continues its policy of

assassination and still covets Lebanon's waters and

natural resources.

I must say that the failure to guarantee the right

of Palestinian refugees to exercise their right of return

puts the entire Middle East in an explosive situation.

The Government and people of Lebanon are especially

committed to the implementation of this right, which

we consider to be legal, natural and moral. Therefore,

the so-called realistic solutions to this problem should

not even be raised, since they run counter to the

principles of international law and the spirit of justice.

Indeed, only a commitment to the right of return and

refusal to resettle the refugees in Lebanon are at the

core of Lebanon's reconciliation that ended the war in

Lebanon and that led to the Taif Agreement, which was

endorsed by the United Nations.

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In this context, I wish to stress that Lebanon's

policy choices and positions regarding the Middle East

conflict are constant and unaffected by the balance of

power. We believe that those choices are righteous,

moral and consistent with the requirements of a just

peace. Those choices alone are capable of bringing

about a possible and strong settlement to the Arab-

Israeli conflict.

Such an undertaking is compatible with the goals

of the United Nations, as it strives to strengthen its

role, with the support of the sponsors of the peace

process and the participation of the European Union.

It is in Israel's interest to revert to or to be

brought back to the language of reason and justice.

Since Israel's Governments have failed to do so,

responsibility for bringing Israel back to reason falls to

the international community.

For in Israel there is a Government that considers

only its rights and fails to take account of its

obligations. We believe that those who consider only

one side are the most dangerous kinds of people.

Under the pretext of security, the Government in

Israel is continuing to build a wall that separates Israel

from the people of Palestine and is attempting to build

a higher, larger and more menacing wall between the

greater nations of the West and the rest of the world,

especially the Arab and the Muslim world. Israel does

that in a bid to serve and support those who wish to

fuel conflict between East and West, between

Christianity and Islam and among religions, cultures

and civilizations, when, in the final analysis, there is

only one human civilization, which stems from

common spiritual values based on the belief in one

eternal God and his messengers.

Furthermore, the Government of Israel resorts

daily to the stick as a means of subjugation. It ignores,

or pretends to ignore, that the use of the stick incites

disobedience; that, with time, the oppressors and the

oppressed often exchange roles and positions; and that

many who were once at the helm at various stages of

their lives have faded from historical memory, having

forgotten that only God is everlasting, as are the

universal principles of equality, fairness and justice.

There are those in the Israeli Government who

were brought to power by the very extremism that

caused the ouster of their predecessors or even led to

their assassination, and who nevertheless do not

hesitate to label Arabs and Muslims as the extremists

or accuse them of being the sole source of extremism.

In Israel, there are those who insist on making

Israel a fortress towering over the region, rather than a

State within it. There are those who make life for the

Palestinians worse than death, and who are determined

to force fellow Israelis to die with the Arabs in war,

rather than live with them in peace.

There are those in the Government of Israel who

try to deny that Lebanon, Syria and the Palestinian's

right of return are a mandatory path for any political

settlement and a just, lasting and comprehensive peace

is to be achieved. On the contrary, they desperately use

the feeble-minded to fan the flames of conflict among

the Palestinians themselves, among the Lebanese,

between the Lebanese and the Syrians, and among the

Arabs, instead of extinguishing the flames of conflict

between the Arabs and Israelis in a decent, just and

comprehensive manner.

The Government of Israel believes that it is more

important to gain time than to gain peace, that it is

better to manipulate the various tracks and problems

than to seek to resolve the conflict in all its dimensions

and problems and that intimidation can transform

injustice into right, right into injustice and occupation

into independence.

In Israel, the Government clings to its slogan of

absolute sovereignty, and to the sovereignty it violates

or violates with others, limiting the role of its most

important ally to providing money and weapons,

denying it even the right to advise. If the world's only

super-Power utters a word of advice about the

construction of the wall of separation and

discrimination, it is ignored and construction of the

wall continues.

Offence is often the result of excessive tolerance

of fault, and excessive chaos in standards and

yardsticks is caused by the discriminatory use of

standards regarding justice and international

resolutions. It is not just, wise, safe or peaceful for

powerful States to continue to tolerate double and

multiple standards when dealing with Israel, while

applying firm standards and measures when dealing

with the weak and the oppressed and other nations of

the world.

This clearly leads us to call for the reform of the

United Nations, as well as for strengthening its role, by

37

reviewing the working methods of the Security

Council, expanding its membership, giving it more

weight in decision-making and respecting the

democratic consultative nature that must be the basis of

our international Organization. That reform should

fairly and effectively address new challenges of world

security and safety. It should also provide balance and

stability in international relations, particularly if that is

accompanied by modernizing the work of the United

Nations organs and rationalization to avoid use of the

right of veto in a way that contravenes law and justice

in the world.

In Iraq, there is also a growing call for the United

Nations to play a pivotal role in assisting the people of

Iraq to maintain their unity, control their own destiny,

end the occupation of their territories, establish the

means to administer their wealth, choose the provisions

of their constitution and freely elect their

representatives.

War can be waged from the air by one side only.

However, peace on the ground must be made with

others inside and outside of Iraq and with the United

Nations. Peace in Iraq and Iraq's destiny require that

the Iraqis be freed of occupation as soon as possible

and that they work, under the auspices of the United

Nations, in an expanded, pivotal and political role that

is not restricted to social matters alone.

That is the fundamental appeal of the events and

tragedies and of the people of Iraq. Only the ignorant

or those pretending ignorance refuse to listen and to

draw lessons and conclusions before it is too late.

The beginning of this century has been marked by

violence and terrorism, whose worst manifestation has

been the tragedies and crimes of 11 September and the

subsequent calls for extremism and clash of

civilizations, which prompt us to refuse to yield to the

worst evils that threaten the peace and unity of our

planet.

Lebanon was among the first countries to be

targeted by terrorism, which was carried out by

fundamentalist groups. It fought it with courage and

resolve. At the same time, Lebanon still faces State

terrorism practiced by Israel, which has caused the

death, injury and displacement of thousands of

Lebanese and the destruction of essential facilities and

infrastructure. While we differentiate between

terrorism and the right of peoples whose territories are

occupied to resist and to liberate that land, within the

context of international resolutions and the Charter, our

country explicitly and strongly condemns all forms of

terrorism, as it constitutes a threat to mankind as a

whole, regardless of race, colour or religion. Lebanon

reaffirms its commitment to continue to cooperate with

the international community to fight this extremely

harmful and damaging scourge.

In conclusion, I would be remiss if I did not

congratulate Mr. Hunte on his election as President of

the General Assembly and wish him success in his

stewardship. I also would like to commend the tireless

efforts of the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, to

promote all opportunities for peace, stability and

development in the world. Furthermore, I would like to

pay a tribute to the United Nations Interim Force in

Lebanon (UNIFIL) for its role in southern Lebanon.

Now that Lebanon has been able to liberate most of its

territory, it is my hope that UNIFIL will fulfil the

remainder of the mandate entrusted to it, as defined in

Security Council resolution 425 (1978).

Lebanon has and always will be a country that

rejects isolation and rigidity and that will remain open

to dialogue and creative, rich, civilized human

interaction. Our country will always remain true to its

message. Despite the challenges, we remain eager to

effectively promote justice and the rule of law and

uphold the values of freedom and democracy.