Allow me first of all to congratulate you, Mr. President, on presiding over the Council this month and to express to you our gratitude for understanding the very difficult time the Palestinian people are experiencing. I should also like to take this opportunity to particularly thank the President of…
The Palestinian town of Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus Christ, is still being subjected to attacks by the Israeli occupation army. Its residents and those of other Palestinian towns and villages are still being subjected to a new bloody campaign of suppression, a crazy campaign that has so far c…
At the outset, I extend my congratulations to you, Sir, on your assumption of the presidency of the Security Council for the month of October. We also express our appreciation to your predecessor, the Permanent Representative of Mali. In addition, we would like to express our appreciation to you, Mr…
At the outset allow me to convey to Mr. Holkeri our congratulations on his election as President of this session of the General Assembly, expressing our full confidence in him and wishing him every possible success. This session has special importance for Palestine and we hope that during its procee…
I wish to convey our sincere thanks to all the Member States that supported the resolutions just adopted under the agenda items “Question of Palestine” and “The situation in the Middle East”. In particular, I wish to express our thanks to the Chairman and members of the Committee on the Exercise of …
There is agreement in the international community that the question of Palestine, with its strong and direct repercussions, is the core of the Arab-Israeli conflict in the Middle East as a whole. However, the situation in the Middle East has other important aspects that are also the subject of much …
Our request might seem unusual in the context of the normal procedure in the Assembly, by which a certain delegation may not make a complete political statement in explanation of vote. However, I want to say briefly how delighted we are that the draft resolution has been adopted by consensus. I just…
The Palestinian city of Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus Christ, peace be upon him, is on the threshold of its millennium commemoration, Bethlehem 2000. The forthcoming worldwide celebration of this epic turning point in time is an occasion imbued with profound historical, religious, spiritual and…
Suffice it for me to refer here to the fact that the representative of Israel was just now unable to use the proper designation for my position, which is the Permanent Observer of Palestine, not the Palestinian Observer. The representative of Israel cannot even use the correct United Nations termino…
Yesterday, under this item, “Question of Palestine”, we heard a statement that was not appropriate for the United Nations and the General Assembly. That statement tried to falsify history. It included many contradictions and torpedoed the basis for mutual recognition between the Palestinian and the …
The situation in the Middle East continues to pose a threat to international peace and security. The Arab-Israeli conflict, of which the question of Palestine is the core, remains without a final solution, although some aspects of the conflict have been resolved. Here we emphasize that the failure t…
Item 59 of the agenda, “Question of equitable representation on and increase in the membership of the Security Council and related matters”, is an important item that is relevant to the purposes and principles of the United Nations. The reform and expansion of the Security Council should indeed be a…
There is no need for me to point out that the statement we have just heard runs counter to the general trend that prevailed here today. We remain convinced, however, that the best option is not to spoil the general and valuable consensus that prevailed at this meeting and that led to the adoption by…
On behalf of my delegation, I am taking the floor to address a new and important item on the agenda of the fifty-third session of the Assembly, namely item 157, entitled “Bethlehem 2000”.
Bethlehem is one of the most historic and religiously significant sites on earth. In the year 2000, the past an…
I only wish to make the following observation outside the framework of the procedures of the General Assembly on the report of the Credentials Committee.
It is well known to all members that the Twelfth Ministerial Conference of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries recognized that the participatio…
We listened this morning to the statement of the Israeli Prime Minister, and we shall present to you the Palestinian position in the statement of our President next Monday; however, we cannot but reply to what we have heard today with the following brief remarks.
The Prime Minister began his statem…
I thank you, Sir, for presiding over today’s meeting and for giving us the floor in order to speak for the last time from this seat.
(spoke in English)
Today is an important day for Palestine and the United Nations, which has dealt with the question of Palestine since its inception. Today, the Gen…
Today is the last day of your presidency this month, Sir, and we consider it fortunate that this important meeting is being held under your presidency, in view of your personal qualities and of the positions of the friendly country of Portugal. Allow me also to extend my thanks to your predecessor, …
Allow me to take this opportunity to express our deep appreciation to all the Member States that supported resolution 52/54, on Jerusalem, which has just been adopted. This crucial issue is extremely important to us as
At the same time, I would also like to express our thanks to all the States that…
Today we had the pleasure of listening to the representative of Israel make a statement that contained so many hallucinations that we felt that he was talking about a completely different reality from the one we know, or is living in a different world: a world that has different definitions of right…
