S/PV.2954 Security Council

Members will note that the Council Chamber has been equipped so that they can view a video presentation. I have been informed by the Observer of Palestine that it is his intention to show video material relating to the item under consideration. In keeping with past practice, and as agreed in the Council's prior consultations, I have requested the Secretariat to make the necessary technical arrangements. I understand that the Observer delegation of Palestine will be ready to show the video shortly, and I ask for the Council's patience while preparations are made. In accordance with the decisions taken at the previous meetings on this item, I invite the representatives of Algeria, Bangladesh, Egypt, India, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Mauritania, Morocco, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the Sudan, the Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Yugoslavia to take the places reserved for them at the side of the Council Chamber. I invite the Ohserver of Palestine to take a place at the Council table. At the invitation of the President, Mr. Bendjama (Algeria), Mr. Mohiuddin (Bangladesh), Mr. Moussa (Egypt), Mr. Menon (India), Mr. Kharrazi (Tslamic Republic of Iran), Mr. Al-Anbari (Iraq), Mr. Aridor (Israel), Mr. Salah (Jordan), Mr. Al Sabah (Kuwait), Mr. Makkawi (Lebanon), Mr. Treiki (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya), Mr. Ould Mohamed Mahmoud (Mauritania), Mr. Hasbi (Morocco), Mr. Umer (Pakistan), (Syrian Arab Republic), Mr. Ghezal (Tunisia), Mr. Aksin (Turkey), Mr. Al-Shaali (United Arab Emirates) and Mr. Silovic (Yugoslavia) took the places reserved for them at the side of the Council table? Mr. Al~Kidwa (Palestine) took a place at the Council table.

The Security Council will now resume its consideration of the item on its agenda. I call on the Observer of Palestine. Mr. MANSOUR (Palestine) (interpretation from Arabic): We had believed that the meeting was to begin at 11.30 a.m., and we find it surprising that it has begun 10 minutes before the scheduled time. Many delegations had expected the meeting to be held at 11.30 a.m., and meetings tend to begin some minutes after the scheduled time. We find this haste rather strange. At any rate, during the previous meeting we requested that a video film be shown of the massacre at Al-Haram Al-Shareef, and we request the President kindly to co-operate with the Secretariat so that it may be shown when everything is ready.

The Observer of Palestine is correct, If the Council agrees, we will wait until 11.30 a.m. for the showing of the video film. I apologize for the undue haste of the presidency, but I was under the impression that, contrary to the Journal, we were to start immediately after our informal meeting, which has just ended. I thank the Observer of Palestine and representatives for the patience, and assume that the Council is willing to wait a few more minutes until the Secretariat is ready to present the video. Mr. MANSOUR (Palestine): Thank you, Sir. kK

- At the request of the Observer of Palestine, the videotape will be shown later in the meeting, after we have heard a few speakers. The first speaker is the Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, Her Excellency Mrs. Absa Claude Diallo, to whom the Council extended an invitation under rule 39 of its provisional rules of procedure at the 2945th meeting. I invite her to take a place at the Council table and to make her statement. Mrs. DIALLO (Senegal), Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (interpretation from French): In congratulating you warmly on your assumption of the presidency of the Council, Sir, I wish to say that we are all convinced that your great experience and your diplomatic skill will help the Council to engage in successful deliberations. I wish also to take this opportunity to convey our warm congratulations to your predecessor, the Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom, Sir David Hannay, on the exemplary way in which he guided the Council's work during the month of October. Finally, I thank the members of the Council for having given me the opportunity as Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People to participate once again in the Council's important debate on the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories. The dispatch with which the Council was convened indicates that the ongoing deterioration of the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories is of major concern to the members of the Council and to the international community as a whole. The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People is therefore entitled to hope that this debate will culminate in a clear and firm demonstration of the Council's determination to find the ways and means to the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People) provide effective and efficacious protection for the Palestinian civilian population. I personally am especially convinced that a close examination of the objective and thorough report submitted by the Secretary-General has provided a better understanding of the imperative need to meet the challenge issued by Israel and to take all steps necessary to accelerate the process of reaching a peaceful settlement of the Middle East conflict and, thereby, the Palestine question. I wish therefore to pay a well-deserved tribute to the Secretary-General, His Excellency Mr. Javier Perez de Cuellar, for this very useful working tool he has provided and for his tireless and ceaseless efforts to help find a just and | peaceful solution to this problem. on the Exercise of the Tnalienable Rights of the Palestinian People) We are grateful to him for this valuable report, which was prepared under particularly arduous circumstances because of the refusal of the Israeli authorities to facilitate his task, contrary to the recommendations in resolutions 672 (1990) and 673 (1990). In his report, the Secretary-General emphasized the need to reach a political solution to this conflict. This is a recommendation which simply must be implemented, because the intifadah, which has been going on for about three years, has clearly shown us that the Palestinians are resolved to put an end to Israeli occupation and to exercise their legitimate political rights, particularly the right to self-determination and independence. In my various statements before the General Assembly and the Security Council as Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, I, too, have never failed to emphasize the urgent need to reach a negotiated, just and lasting settlement to the problem of the Middle East, in accordance with the fundamental principles of the Charter and the relevant United Nations resolutions. We agree with the Secretary-General that in the current circumstances it is essential to proceed immediately to set up a genuine negotiating process which is both effective and acceptable to all. All the members of the Council will, I think, agree with me that we no longer aave any right to procrastinate, because by adopting resolution 44/42 almost imanimously on 6 December 1989, the General Assembly reaffirmed the essential »xinciples which should lead to a just and lasting solution of the question of Palestine. This resolution, I need hardly recall, reiterates the call for the speedy convening of an international peace conference on the Middle East, under the (Mrs, Diallo, Chairman, Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People) auspices of the United Nations, with the participation of all parties to the conflict, including the Palestine Liberation Organization, on an equal footing, and the five permanent members of the Security Council based on resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973) and the legitimate national rights of the Palestinian people, primarily the right to self-determination., This resolution likewise recalled that the achievement of comprehensive peace must necessarily be based on: Israel's withdrawal from the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem, and. from the other occupied Arab territories; guaranteeing arrangements for security of all States in the region, including those named in General Assembly resolution 181 (II} of 29 November 1947, within secure and internationally recognized boundaries; resolving the problem of the Palestine refugees in conformity with General Assembly resolution 194 (III) of 11 December 1948: and subsequent relevant resolutions; dismantling the Israeli settlements in the territories occupied since 1967; and guaranteeing freedom of access to Holy Places, religious buildings and sites. in its report, which was recently adopted, and which will shortly be submitted to the General Assembly, the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People expresses full support for the efforts made by the permanent members of the Security Council to £ind some common ground between the parties to the conflict, to create a climate of trust among them and thus to facilitate the convening and successful culmination of an international peace conference. The Committee is sure that, with the same degree of political will which was recently demonstrated, the Security Council can reach a consensus on all the important issues of concern to the international community in the field of international peace and security. This is why I would like to urge the Council (Mrs. Diallo, Chairman, Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable ene Rights of the Palestinian People) to act with the same ardour and determination in order to find a just and lasting settlement to the Arab-Israeli conflict and its core element, the question of Palestine. To that end, the Security Council should spare no effort to put an end to the dangerous diplomatic deadlock which is paralysing the efforts currently being made to promote peace and security for the civilian population in the occupied Palestinian territory. In this connection, the Committee deplores Israel's continual resort to military force in its indiscriminate and unrelenting repression of the Palestinian uprising, as well as the attitude of defiance demonstrated by the Israeli authorities towards the international community. It is no longer necessary for me to repeat the details of the latest tragic events. The statements already made on this subject and the observations contained in the Secretary-General's report are eloquent proof of the seriousness of the situation. Nor do I need to emphasize that intensification of the intifadah is essentially due to the intransigence of the occupying Power, its acts of violence and persecution and the current diplomatic deadlock. Nevertheless, I cannot shirk my duty to condemn once again the armed attack by Israel in Al-Haram Al-Shareef, because this unfortunate event, which caused more than 20 deaths among the Palestinians, was followed by increased repression in the occupied territories, during which at least 10 other Palestinians were killed and many hundreds of innocent people were injured. Just one week ago, on 2 November, the populations in the Gaza Strip carried out demonstrations to protest against the death under dubious circumstances of a Palestinian in a cell in the central prison in that area. The very next day, the (Mrs. Diallo, Chairman, Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People) entire Gaza Strip was declared an armed military zone, and access to it was prohibited to journalists without special authorization. These arbitrary and provocative steps have prompted confrontations between the local populations and the Israeli forces, as a result of which at least 200 Palestinians have been injured. Since its establishment by the General Assembly 15 years ago, our Committee has constantly maintained that if no outcome could be found to the diplomatic and political deadlock, the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory would necessarily deteriorate and the violence would worsen, with unforeseeable consequences for peace and security in that area. Moreover, the Committee has always emphasized that the main obstacle to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East is essentially the stubbornness of Israel in its efforts to continue its occupation of Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem and the other Arab territories, as well as its obstinate denial to the Palestinians of any opportunity to exercise their inalienable national rights. (Mrs. Diallo, Chairman, Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People) Israel must nevertheless realize that the prolonged occupation, the repression of the Palestinian populations and the progressive annexation of their territories will never be able to guarantee the security of their State but, rather, will contribute to increasing the bitterness, the despair and the spirit of resistance of the Palestinian people. ~ Our Committee believes that it is absolutely essential to find a way to cut the vicious circle of violence and re-establish order, peace and security, which will be in the interests of both the Palestinian people in the occupied territories and the Israeli people. Nevertheless, it is clear that the acts of violence and brutality will not cease until reason and tolerance prevail over blind passion and the taste for vengeance ox domination. tt is high time, therefore, to take steps to create climate that favours negotiation - that indispensible stage in the efforts to bring about an overall political settlement of the Middle East crisis and the Palestinian problem. It is for all these reasons, and prompted by a strong desire to contribute to the promotion of a peace process, that the Committee once again urges the Security Council to set up as a matter of urgency a system that will ensure the effective protection of the Palestinian people in the territories occupied by Israel since 1967, including Jerusalem. As the Secretary-General emphasized in his report, and as was also stated in the report prepared by the Al-Haq organization, which has been distributed as an addendum to that document, the Palestinians’ distrust of the occupying authorities is now so deep that in their opinion only an impartial presence, properly mandated by the United Nations, would be able to provide them with a credible sense of protection. (Mrs. Diallo, Chairman, | Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights | oe of the Palestinian People) In the light of these comments, the Committee believes that it is the duty of the high contracting parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949, to find the necessary means of ensuring respect for that Convention by Israel, as the occupying Power. | - As for the Security Council, the Committee expects it to take appropriate, specific steps on the same lines, because Israel’ s outright rejection of Security Council resolutions 672 (1990) ‘and 673 (1990) undoubtedly constitutes a challenge that calls into question its credibility. _ The Committee is convinced that in the present context the Council has already given the world proof of its ability to fulfil its lofty mission te maintain international peace and security, and that it will not allow its authority to continue to be flouted, for there is, after all, the danger that world equilibrium may crumbie, with all the hopes aroused by the end of the cold war and the beginning of a new era of common understanding. The Committee therefore hopes that this debate will lead to the adoption of a resolution that will guarantee the Palestinian populations effective protection and represent a decisive step on the way to a comprehensive solution of the crisis in the Middie East. In conclusion may I say, paraphrasing Elie Wiesel and Tahar Ben Jelloun, that it is high time to redress the injustice committed with regard to the Palestinian people, that people fated to be shattered. It is high time to move beyond the stage of hoping and save the common future of the people of this holy land, which will, I hope, as in the prophetic vision of (Mrs. Diallo, Chairman, Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People) Isaiah, become like an Eden whére “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." (fhe Holy Bible, Isaiah 13:9)

I thank the Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People for the kind words she addressed to me. The next speaker is the representative of Yugoslavia. I invite him to take a place at the Council table and to make his statement. Mr. SILOVIC (Yugoslavia): May I at the outset congratulate you, Sir, the representative of the United States of America, on your assumption of the presidency of the Security Council for November. Your vast experience, diplomatic skill and personal integrity convince us that the Council will be well guided in its important deliberations in the month ahead. My appreciation also goes to Sir David Hannay of the United Kingdom for the determined and constructive manner in which he conducted the proceedings of the Council during the very busy month of October. I should like to address the Council as the representative of my country as well as on behalf of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries. The inalienable rights of the Palestinian people have been a matter of profound concern to the United Nations, including the Security Council, for over 40 years. This meeting, however, is taking place in a very different international environment. Above all, it is being held at a time of rapid and sweeping changes in the world that have brought about the end of the cold war and East-West tonfrontation and ushered in a new era based on mutual East-West understanding and (Mr. Silovic, Yugoslavia) co-operation. This is particularly important for the subject of our deliberations, since the Palestinian problem has often been held hostage to super-Power rivalry and ideological confrontation, The new atmosphere and the spirit of co-operation have been reflected in the work of the Security Council as well, There has been a number of successful efforts to achieve consensus within the Council, and its permanent members in particular have been acting together in a constructive manner to resolve regional conflicts, The recent adoption of two resolutions related to the problem of Palestine are eloquent proof that the Security Council is capable of functioning effectively, and unanimously also, with respect to this long-lasting conflict. The endeavours have in great measure been facilitated by the increasing convergence of views and positions on an ever greater number of important international factors and the gradually emerging consensus on essential principles for a solution of the question of Palestine. In this context, there are ever more frequent calls for the convening of an international peace conference on the Middle East to consider in a comprehensive manner all aspects of the crisis. This all the more important since the peace initiative and the de facto recognition of the State of Israel by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) has been a bold step on the road to peace in this troubled region. The PLO has thereby reinforced its rightful claim to participate in any peace negotiations as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. (Mr. Silovic, Yugoslavia) Last but not least, we also have before us the excellent report of the Secretary~General, containing specific proposals for the protection of the Palestinian population in the occupied territories. In it, the Secretary~General emphasizes that it is essential that progress be made to ensure an effective negotiating process, acceptable to all, that can secure the interests of both Israelis and Palestinians and enable them to live in peace with each other. Bearing all the above in mind, Yugoslavia and other non-aligned countries maintain that now is the right time for the Security Council to begin, as a matter of urgency, preparing the convening of the International Peace Conference on the Middle East under the auspices of the United Nations and with the participation, on an equal footing, of all the parties directly concerned, including the PLO and the five permanent members of the Security Council. Recent experience in the work of the Security Council indicates that, given the necessary political will, the Council is capable of acting in unison. It should do so on this important matter as well. Hence Yugoslavia encourages and supports every effort by the Council's permanent and other members to exercise the authority of the Council and its collective responsibility for peace by bringing the parties to the Arab-Israeli conflict to the negotiating table and thus initiating the peace process. Until such a political process brings tangible results, there is an urgent need to take specific action to ensure the safety and protection of Palestinian zivilians under Israeli occupation. Yugoslavia, along with other non-aligned sountries, rightly expects the Security Council to take resolute action in that regard. We trust that it will find an appropriate way to compel Israel to comply ‘ully with the Fourth Geneva Convention and to strengthen the role and the (Mr. Silovic, Yugoslavia) activities of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East and the International Committee of the Red Cross in the occupied territories. We also believe that a United Nations presence in the occupied territories would be the most effective way to provide immediate protection for Palestinian civilians, and that it would be conducive to a lasting solution in the longer run,

I thank the representative of Yugoslavia for his kind words addressed to me, I now cali upon the Observer of Palestine. Mr, AL-KIDWA (Palestine) (interpretation from Arabic): As all the members of this Council know, during last Tuesday's meeting of the Security Council we requested that a videotape be shown of the tragic events which took place in the Al-Haram Ali~Shareef on 8 October of this year. We should like to thank you for responding today te our request. This videotape was taken by a non-Palestinian, a neutral person, suffice it to say that the tape was taken by a Westerner who happened to be in Jerusalem during the events. The tape is approximately 28 minutes long; we have cut some of it and shall show you approximately 15 minutes: these are the technically better parts of the tape, in other words, the clearer parts. The person who took the tape is not a professional in the field, and filming conditions were very difficult. Naturally, however, we have provided the President of the Security Council with a complete, uncut copy of the tape, and I believe that a copy may be provided to every member of the Security Council who wishes to obtain one, We also know that more than one party had previously obtained copies of this tape. This tape shows, and categorically proves, three points. The first is that the abhorrent and horrific repression by the occupying forces of our Palestinian people in the Al-Haram Al-Shareef has no relation whatsoever to the Israelis' (Mr, Al-Kidwa, Palestine) claims that the lives of praying Jewish faithful had been threatened. What you will see today shows what actually took place on the eastern side of the Al-Haram Al-Shareef. The tape was shot from the Mount of Olives, more specifically, from the Continental Hotel. You should understand that the Wailing Wall is under the western side of the Al-Haram Al-Shareef, outside the walls of the Al~Haram. In other words, it is on the opposite side. What took place here on the eastern side could not have any bearing on any alleged danger to Jewish faithful praying on the western side. The second point is the degree of brutality of the forces of occupation, both police and army personnel, against our people. That brutality cannot be construed as mere self-defence, or indeed, even an attempt at controlling the situation. We shall hear the noise of firing by the occupying forces, which, at times, was in volleys, as if those forces were at war or in armed conflict with an enemy army. This shows the premeditated determination by the Israelis to cause the largest number of dead and wounded among Palestinian civilians. The third point relates to what the Israeli representative said, before the Security Council, in his statement of 7 November 1990 concerning the events in the Al-Haram Al-Shareef. I quote: (spoke in English) “The Muezzins, whose holy task is to call the faithful to prayer, inflamed the mob through loudspeakers to attack Jewish worshipers at the Western Wall. ‘The inciters called for "jihad" - holy war - and "Itbah El Yahood" -— slaughter the Jews. Ail this caused a terrible mélée that led, tragically, to deaths and injuries". (S/PV.2953, p. 53) (Mr. Al-Kidwa, Palestine) (continued in Arabic} Naturally, that is part of the official Israeli version, which includes the report of the so-called independent and neutral Israeli committee that investigated the events of 8 October. The videotape proves that what actually took piace and what the muezzins and clerics said through the loudspeakers were the exact opposite of what has been claimed. The Council shall hear that for itself. We officially accuse the Permanent Representative and delegation of Israel, as representatives of the Government of Israel, of having, in a premeditated manner and with prior knowledge, provided false information to the Security Council on the events in the Al-Haram Al-Shareef on 8 October 1990. That contravenes the obligations of membership in the international Organization and runs counter to the political norms and traditions of any self-respecting party, and is of course immoral. Those are the three points that the videotape proves, even though it is not technically perfect. I should like to reiterate, however, that the representative of Israel accused Palestinians of having used the term "Slaughter the Jews". This claim, in fact, plumbs unprecedented depths of moral and political depravity. It is a cheap attempt at inciting religious strife and hatred among the faithful of the three monotheistic religions. We reject it categorically. On behalf of the entire Palestinian people we here express our complete respect for the three monotheistic religions and their adherents. We hope that the Security Council's deliberations today on those painful events will lead to a further focusing of attention by the Council on the central issue now before it, namely, the means and measures of providing protection to the Palestinian people, as well as the report of the Secretary-General in document 8/21919. (Mr. Al-Kidwa, Palestine) Finally, we would like to thank the person who filmed the videotape that we are about to see. I shall read out from this microphone the calls of the muezzins and clerics as they are heard from the videotape so that the Secretariat's team may translate them directly into other languages. On this occasion, we wish to thank the technical team for preparing the necessary equipment. With your permission, Mr. President, we shall now view the videotape together. A video tape was displayed in the Council Chamber. The following is the interpretation from Arabic of segments of the audio portion of that tape. VOICE: _“We cali on all doctors, nurses and ambulances, to give immediate assistance. We cali on the Chief of Police to cease firing. Stop the bullets in the courtyard of the holy Al-Agsa Mosque. As occupying forces, they bear responsibility for the events in the courtyard of the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque. We have not attacked anyone. We have not provoked anyone. We have not struck anyone. You are the ones who started this. You are the ones who fired, who used gas and bullets against the worshippers in the courtyard of the Al-Agsa Mosque. Therefore, 1 call on you to stop firing. Stop the gas. Stop the bullets in the courtyard of the Mosque. I say to you that even if you butchered every last worshipper in the Mosque, the Muslims will not leave the Mosque. Rise above this. Rise up to your responsibilities - if you have any sense of responsibility. The Muslims will not leave the Mosque, even if they all die, You will enter only over our dead bodies. Therefore, we call on you to stop firing. Respect the sanctity of the Mosque. Leave the worshippers in the Mosque alone. You bear all the responsibility for what is happening." VOICE: "Forces of tyranny. Stop firing. Cease firing. Revert to your humanity. You bear the responsibility. God is great. God is great. Hands off our Mosque. It is a Mosque, forbidden by God to ail but Muslims." VOICE: “Officers of the occupation, the day of judgement will come. Stop what you are doing. People have fallen dead and wounded in the courtyard of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. What is it you are doing? Let the ambulances in. Open the gates to the doctors and the ambulances. — You unmerciful people.” VOICE: “Brothers (another person speaks now), Muslim young men. Preserve your lives. I call on you to go to the front of the holy Al-Aqsa (Voice) Mosque. Muslim girls, I call on you to go to the Rock of the Dome. Young men, move there, so that we may use this courtyard to take care of the wounded who have fallen." VOICE: "As for you, forces of treachery and occupation, stop firing, Stop using gas in the courtyard of the Mosque. Allow the ambulances in. Let the doctors reach the Mosque to attend to the wounded whom you have wounded with your bullets. Let the ambulances, the doctors and the nurses in. Let them in to attend to the wounded. I call on you yet again and again to stop firing in the courtyard of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Allow the ambulances, the doctors and the nurses in. Allow us to attend to the wounded." VOICE: "Brothers, beloved ones, sons, come to the gate of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and help to rescue the wounded." VOICE (of a third person): "Young men, sons, go into the Mosque." VOICE: “Young men, young girls, do not stand in front of the soldiers. Get away from the soldiers. The Al-Aqsa Mosque is calling to you. Is anyone there te answer? Take refuge inside the Mosque, to save your lives.” VOICE: “In the name of God the Merciful, the Compassionate, young men, all of you young men go inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Save yourselves from death. Do not expose yourselves to death. We want to save you from death and save the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque. Get away from the walls of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, away from the area of the courthouse and the Wailing Wall where the soldiers are. Come into the Mosque." Mr. AL-KIDWA (Palestine) (interpretation from Arabic}: We merely request that what has just been seen be made a part of the official records of the Security Council. We have no Eurther comments.

The next speaker is the representative of Algeria. I invite him to take a place at the Council table and to make his statement. Mr, BENDJAMA (Algeria) (interpretation from French): First I should like to say how pleased my delegation is to see you, Sir, guiding the work of the Security Council for the month of November. That you, Ambassador Pickering, should be presiding over the Security Council as it is considering a question which is particularly close to our heart, namely, the protection of Palestinian civilians, is a source of comfort to us, since in the course of your outstanding diplomatic career you have already had occasion to assess the terrible suffering of the Palestinians in the occupied territories. I wish to renew to your predecessor, Ambassador David Hannay, my congratulations on the manner in which he guided the work of the Council last month. (Mr. Bendjama, Algeria) The Security Council is today resuming its consideration of the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories on the basis of the report that the Secretary-General has submitted to it in response to the request made in resolution 672 (1990). This is an excellent opportunity for us to pay a heartfelt tribute to Mr. Perez de Cuellar and to express our great appreciation of his keen sense of duty and responsibility in submitting a very relevant report, which confirms and supplements the report which he submitted to the Council in January 1988. The very publication of the report is significant, in view of the difficulties and constraints that the Secretary-General faced and the insolent refusal of the occupation authorities to accept the mission of inquiry unanimously decided upon by the Security Council. The publication of the report and its observations is timely confirmation for the Council and the international community of the immensity of the tragedy of the Palestinian people. First, each paragraph of the Secretary-General's report, which is completely impartial, echoes the stubborn rejection by the occupation authorities of the Fourth Geneva Convention, Security Council decisions and the principles enunciated in the United Nations Charter. In their reply to the Secretary-General on 14 October the Israeli authorities stated that they found "totally unacceptable" resolution 672 (1990) and the statement of the President of the Security Council. To be precise, that which is regarded as "unacceptable" relates directly to the Council's reaffirmation of the applicability of the Fourth Geneva Convention and of Council decisions declaring illegal and null and void the so-called laws annexing the Holy City of Al-Quds. We must therefore note that Israel has once again explicitly rejected resolutions of the Council, but that scarcely surprises us; it is yet further proof of the lack of respect of the occupying authorities for your Council, Sir, Secondly, the Secretary-General's report shows that what happened on the morning of 8 October on the esplanade in front of the Holy Mosque of Al-Aqsa ~ with 19 Palestinians killed and hundreds of others injured by gunfire - however criminal and horrible, was but one more event to add to an already long list of crimes committed by the occupation forces and the settlers. Those crimes will continue, spilling blood on the land of Palestine and casting a tragic shadow over its people, until a real start has been made on settling the conflict in the Middle East - and who better than the Council, with its new-found unanimity, to do it? To sum up, this new report by the Secretary-General once again reminds the Council that at the heart of the conflict there is still, as there always has been, the question of Palestine, and that there is in Palestine an occupation sustained by force, that there is savage repression of a people that must be protected and that the Council has a responsibility to promote conditions conducive to a just and lasting settlement. The Security Council has been convened and has unanimously adopted two resolutions within a very short time, and is today examining a report by the Secretary-General, because the urgent need to guarantee physical protection of the Palestinians under occupation has become a common concern of the whole international community. The toll of horror reported daily by humanitarian organizations and the media is truly appalling. It accurately reflects the reality of the situation, in which the disproportionate means available to a powerful war machine are used to repress (Mr. Bendjama, Algeria) resistance and the determination of a people to throw off the yoke of occupation. The permission given to the Israeli army and the settlers to use their weapons at will is nothing less than carte blanche to escalate the horror in order to make the occupation of Arab lands irreversible, something which many Israeli leaders are no longer hiding. We are witnessing bloody, savage and criminal horror, to which anything representing the attachment of Palestinians to their land is relentlessly subjected. Houses of Palestinians are blown up, while thousands of Jewish settlers flood into the occupied territories, in flagrant violation of article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and of resolution 465 (1980), which the Council adopted unanimously. Harassment, expulsions, banishment - nothing is excluded, not even the uprooting of trees, a symbolic act, as if fierce harassment of the human being should be completed by the destruction of everything that represents his roots in his homeland. The same is true of the killings on 8 October. To judge from the report of the Israeli Commission of Investigation, which was sent to the Secretary-General, the Palestinian victims were to blame for having been killed. The Commission barely stopped short of pleading for sympathy for the soldiers who suffered psychological torment because they had been forced to fire on Palestinians who were so indecent as to die just to provoke condemnation of Israel by the Security Council. Let there be no mistake about it: the grim attempts to repress the Palestinian people and put down their fight for freedom will give them new strength and resources for their struggle. Adversity, even that caused by indifference, has not lessened, nor will it ever lessen, the irrepressible determination of the Palestinian people to regain their national rights and create their own State on their own territory. (Mr. Bendjama, Algeria) In paragraph 25 of his report, the Secretary-General says in that regard that he would be failing in his duty if he did not underline the existence of a political conflict and the fact that the determination of the Palestinians to persevere with the intifidah clearly shows their rejection of the occupation and their resolve to exercise their legitimate political rights, particularly their right to self—-determination, Palestine, once a land of harmony, and the melting pot of the three revealed religions, is today suffering from the madness, the crimes, the injustice and the terror of the Zionist occupation. It is encouraging that the wise, impartial voice of the Secretary-General tells us where right is to be found and again calls for its full observance. (Mr. Bendjama, Algeria) In resolution 673 (1990) the Council, inter alia, affirmed “its determination to give full and expeditious consideration to the report" (resolution 673 (1990), para. 4) that is now before it. This is the first time the Council was so clear in stating in advance its intention to consider the observations and suggestions of a report with a view to truly protecting Palestinian civilians in conformity with international humanitarian law and the Charter of the United Nations and to making Israel accept the de jure applicability of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Algeria endorses the proposal to send a United Nations observer force to the occupied territories. That is the only concrete measure - I repeat: the only concrete measure — that can not only provide the international community with a true picture of the situation in the Palestinian territories, but also, and above all, effectively aeter, by the mere presence of the force, the escalation of crimes against Palestinian civilians. What other measure can we conceive Gf when we know that the remarkable efforts made for years by many humanitarian organizations and United Nations agencies have been to no avail owing to indecent obstruction by the Israeli occupation forces? What alternative does the Security Council have when the Secretary-General observes in his report that the many appeals of the Council, the Secretary-General, States and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) that Israel should respect the Fourth Geneva Convention have remained -. and I emphasize what the Secretary-General has said - a dead letter. It has been unanimously acknowledged that the lack of a settlement of the question of Palestine poses a threat to international peace and security, for whose maintenance the Council is responsible on behalf of all Member States. Those are obvious facts which have been forcefully reaffirmed for decades in the debates of the Security Council and.the General Assembly - unfortunately with (Mr. Bendjama, Algeria) no effect. But I shall not repeat the reasons for this situation, for everyone here knows them. But today a new factor gives rise to hope: the renewed unanimity in the Security Council, particularly among its permanent members. This new cohesiveness within the Council on questions of international peace and security, and in particular the Council's determination to ensure respect for the cardinal principle of the non-acquisition of territory by force, must be manifested everywhere and in all circumstances. Specifically, it must be manifested in the Middle East, where Israel's withdrawal from all the occupied Arab territories must be brought about, even through resort to Chapter VII of the Charter. Action taken by the Council from now on can and must be in the context of the process of searching for just and lasting peace in the region within the only framework recognized by the General Assembly: the International Peace Conference with the participation of all parties concerned, including the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO}, om an equal footing. The work of the Conference would be based on Israeli withdrawal from all the occupied Arab territories, including Al-Quds, and on the Palestinian people's right to self~determination. It is those legitimate expectations that the Security Council must meet. In that connection, the Council must, following this debate, take urgent, concrete measures to protect Palestinian civilians in the territories, in the light of the report of the Secretary-General. For Algeria, the Palestinian cause has been and remains sacred. The suffering of the Palestinian people is our suffering. Its fight for liberation is our fight. We share its distress as it awaits decisive action by the Council. Let there be no doubt: at stake is the credibility recently regained by the Council because of its determination to enforce international law. It is now up to the Council to show once and for all that it does not discriminate in its approach (Mr. Bendjama, Aigeria) and that it will work with the same determination to put an end te the terrible tragedy of the Palestinian people. rhe PRESIDENT: I thank the representative of Algeria for the kind words he addressed to me. There are no further speakers for this meeting. The next meeting of the Security Council to continue consideration of the item on the agenda will be fixed in consultation with members of the Council. The meeting rose at 12.55 p.m.