State of Palestine, 2003

It

is my pleasure to congratulate you, Sir, on your

election as President of the General Assembly at its

fifty-eighth session. We trust that you will guide the

deliberations of this session with great efficiency, skill

and wisdom. I also pay tribute to your predecessor,

Mr. Jan Kavan, President of the General Assembly at

its fifty-seventh session, for having successfully led the

deliberations of that session.

In addition, we should like to express our

appreciation for the tireless efforts of the Secretary-

General, Mr. Kofi Annan, and for his commitment to

the Charter of the United Nations with a view to

enhancing international peace and security.

After the 1980s, Israel began unilaterally to

delineate borders through the Seven Star Settlement

Plan, initiated by Mr. Sharon when he was Housing

Minister. The plan involves building Israeli settlements

along the Green Line the line of the old armistice

in order to obliterate the Line, which separates the

territories occupied in 1967. Israel has used agreements

as an opportunity to build more settlements, which now

total 187 in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The holy city, Jerusalem, has been subjected to an

extensive Judaization campaign with a view to

implementing the Greater Jerusalem plan to increase

the number of settlers within Palestinian areas. Under

that plan, land has been confiscated and a wall isolating

Jerusalem from neighbouring areas is being built.

Israeli settlers have occupied Palestinian homes in

many Palestinian neighbourhoods. In Jerusalem, Israel

has confiscated 70 kilometres of land in order to build

bypass roads in the West Bank under the pretext of

redeployment. Therefore, Israel has taken the first steps

in implementing a plan aimed at establishing cantons,

which, Mr. Sharon had planned long ago to isolate

Palestinian cities and villages by building settlements

and bypass roads to prevent any geographic contiguity

among population centres in Palestinian areas.

The building of the wall is part of the Israeli

policy of imposing a fait accompli, of exploiting

security conditions to attain certain objectives by

creating bantustans and enclaves and by isolating

Palestinian villages from their surroundings, including

separating such villages from Jerusalem. Thus the

separation wall has isolated the cities of Eizariya and

Abu Dis on all sides. All entry and exit into and out of

these two cities is through Israeli military checkpoints.

We condemn you, Israel, for such actions.

An article in the 10 August 2003 edition of

Haaretz reads:

The Palestinian children who will be the

next generation are being raised under extremely

difficult circumstances in comparison with those

who preceded them. They see only the ugly face

of Israel; therefore, they will be consumed by

blind hatred and a desperate desire for revenge.'

Another article in the same newspaper this month

notes:

Israel lays the blame on Arafat, after it

forced him to win the chairmanship of the

Palestinian Authority by democratic means in

accordance with the Oslo Agreement, ignoring

the fact that it must, first and foremost, do its part

to alleviate the tension by giving up the occupied

territories.'

The article continues:

Can Israel ignore the regrettable fact that

the European Union was among the majority that

supported the General Assembly resolution?

Israel's diplomatic defeat at the United Nations is

the inordinate price that Israel paid as a result of a

stupid decision by its Government a decision

that was no more than a declaration of its

intentions. Its hope to eliminate Mr. Arafat is a

stark embodiment of Israel's inclination to shirk

responsibility and then to blame fictitious

developments on the Palestinian side for the

problem. Instead of taking the necessary action to

calm the situation, Israel uses the working plans

of its adversary as a pretext and then, should it

fall short of meeting its goals, complains that

there is no party to negotiate with on the other

side.'

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First of all, Israel must contribute its share to

settling the dispute that is, it should make every

possible effort to defuse the tension. According to

Haaretz, there is a Palestinian ceasefire proposal, but

the Israeli Government has refused thus far to respond

positively to the offer. It continues to repeat its

hackneyed position that an agreement is not possible

while Arafat is in power and as long as the Authority

fails to dismantle the terrorist organizations. Israel

imposes those conditions without making any change

in the general conditions surrounding the conflict.

Haaretz continues to say that the world has despaired

and wrung its hands in frustration. The Israelis do not

express condolences when our sons are killed; they do

not denounce such killings, nor do they even establish

any contacts.

Before the road map was announced, the

Palestinian Authority had been called upon to

undertake certain reforms, such as drafting a

constitution, creating the post of premier and

transferring certain powers from the President of the

Palestinian State and the Chairman of the Palestinian

Authority to the Prime Minister. Chairman Arafat made

many concessions to assist the Palestinian Government

in carrying out its duties. The Government of Israel

made several attempts, under various pretexts, to delay

the declaration of the road map: first, it was holding the

Israeli elections at the beginning of the year; then it

was establishing the Cabinet; then it was waiting for

the Iraq war. Finally, when Israel hesitantly accepted

the road map, it rejected 14 of its provisions.

At the Sharm al-Shaikh Summit and at the Aqaba

Summit of 6 June, the representative of the Palestinian

Authority who at that time was Prime Minister

Mahmoud Abbas committed himself to

implementing the road map, pledging to meet its

requirements before President Bush of the United

States, King Abdullah of Jordan, the King of Bahrain,

and President Mubarak of Egypt. He announced the

Palestinian Authority's commitment to a ceasefire and

its readiness to recognize Israel within secure borders.

However, in his statement Mr. Sharon refused to

mention Israel's commitment under the road map to the

vision of two States the establishment of an

independent Palestinian State that is viable and

sovereign, living side by side with Israel in peace and

security, as expressed by President Bush. Mr. Sharon

did not accept the immediate cessation of all acts of

violence against the Palestinians. All that Mr. Sharon

said were a few words regarding a Palestinian State

without any mention of an independent, viable and

sovereign State of Palestine. Nor did he declare an

immediate cessation of Israel's acts of violence.

Despite that, the Palestinian Authority, together

with all other resistance factions, declared a ceasefire

on 26 June. That ceasefire was to remain in place for

three months. Regrettably, Israel continued its terrorist

practices, and the Israeli army of occupation

assassinated 86 Palestinians. To sabotage the declared

ceasefire, Israel assassinated the political leaders of the

resistance factions. The situation then slipped into

tension and confrontation, one month after the

ceasefire had been announced.

International reports state that the majority of

Palestinians in the occupied territories now depend to

some extent on food rations. In May of this year, the

World Bank reported that the volume of international

contributions to the Palestinian territories had grown:

since the beginning of the Palestinian intifada, external

contributions accounted for more than $1 billion of the

budget of the Palestinian Authority. They have

therefore provided sustenance to more than half a

million people the families of the employees of the

Palestinian Authority. Those contributions staved off

an enormous, acute humanitarian crisis. Donors who

hoped for reconciliation had no choice but to make

contributions because the Palestinian Authority's

network of services collapsed and the living conditions

of Palestinian citizens deteriorated. It is not strange,

then, that the Palestinians persevere through

international assistance.

However, this generosity on the part of the

international community ultimately profited the Israeli

enemy. International support provided a protective

network through which Israel was able to afford an

expensive occupation of the West Bank. Israel controls

the areas militarily for free, without assuming any

responsibility for the lives of the citizens there.

Fighting terrorism is an arduous task. However,

we do not see anyone keenly seeking the root causes of

or motivations for terrorism, nor even concerned about

the international isolation that Israel is suffering

because of its practice of State terrorism. It is as if the

stifling Israeli economic crisis were a predestined,

divinely ordained phenomenon. In the search for the

culprits, Arabs and the resistance are held to be the

cause of the crisis.

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There was a real chance for the United States to

embrace all the peoples of the world, not only through

the compassion of those peoples for the people of the

United States but also through the unified effort to

fight terrorism. The United Nations should have seized

that opportunity through a programme objectively and

reasonably implemented, not by using cannons or

fighter jets or by mobilizing huge forces to destroy a

hated regime. The real reason for that was well known

political and economic ambitions. The world was

outraged at the military action, but it stood idly by,

observing the consequences of the misuse of force.

The United States Administration expressed its

keen interest in implementing the road map and

establishing an independent Palestinian State.

Regrettably, it did not, as a sponsor of peace, address

the crisis with the required effort and effectiveness. It

is not enough to stress the vision of President Bush or

the commitment of his Administration to such a vision,

while continuing to employ a policy of double

standards. That Administration continues to blame and

warn the Palestinian Authority. It continues to urge the

Authority to combat the resistance, which they can see

only as terrorism against the Israeli occupation, despite

the fact that all international norms stress the right of

occupied and colonized people to self-determination by

whatever means. The United States Administration

overlooks the Israeli leader's terroristic practices and

Israel's failure to implement its commitments in

accordance with the road map.

The shortcomings of the United States role reflect

negatively on the peace process. They obstruct the

process and make success very difficult, such as by

refusing to deal with President Arafat, the legitimate,

elected President of the Palestinians. Mr. Arafat is the

only leader who has shown conviction and flexibility

with respect to the peace process. As a result of that,

Mr. Arafat shared the Nobel Peace Prize with

Mr. Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated by dirty

hands in Israel in order to prevent the continuation of

the peace process, spreading anxiety and doubts among

Palestinian and Israeli citizens alike.

The Arab side accepted the initiative of His

Highness Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul-Aziz for

the establishment of comprehensive peace with Israel

after its total withdrawal from all the occupied Arab

territories. The Crown Prince carried that initiative to

Washington, D.C., in his historic meeting with

President Bush in April 2002. The initiative was based

on the agreed terms of reference for the road map,

along with the resolutions of international legitimacy,

the Madrid terms of reference and the principle of land

for peace.

In conclusion, peace in itself is not an objective

for Israel. That will be true as long as Israel continues

to receive all forms of assistance from major Powers

trying to maintain their strategic interests in the Middle

East region, and opts to settle issues militarily, outside

the framework of the United Nations and the

resolutions of the Security Council.

Israel has laid siege to the Palestinian people. It

has paralysed the apparatus of the Palestinian

Authority, preventing it from operating. The Israeli

army assumed responsibility for security. But how did

it do that? By killing, assassination and destruction.

What is required first is the withdrawal of the Israeli

forces from the occupied territories to the borders of 28

September 2002.

The Security Council should adopt the road map

and work to implement it through the Quartet. The

siege against the Palestinian people and their elected

President Yasser Arafat must be lifted. The United

States must cooperate positively and effectively to

facilitate the task of the Quartet and to warn Israel of

the consequences of obstructing its tasks. Deploying

international forces into a buffer zone created between

the two sides will facilitate implementation of the road

map and the Palestinian Authority's task of maintaining

security in the area from which the Israeli forces will

withdraw. Those forces will receive complete

cooperation from the citizens of Palestine.