55/254 GA
Protection of religious sites
55
Session
| Draft symbol | A/55/L.81 |
|---|---|
| Adopted symbol | 55/254 |
| Sponsors (1) | |
| UN Document | 55/254 ↗ |
Thailand
Vote Consensus — A/55/PV.101
Speeches following this vote (14)
Mr. Al-Kidwa
As Chairman of the Arab Group for this month, I am speaking on behalf of the members of that Group. Let me begin by saying how pleased I am that the General Assembly is considering the extremely important question of the protection of religious sites. In that connection, we thank the delegations of Austria and of Hungary for having taken the initiative to present draft resolution A/55/L.81, which…
The President
I shall now call on those representatives who wish to speak in exercise of the right of reply.
Mr. Jacob
Israel is proud to be a cosponsor of the draft resolution that was adopted today by the General Assembly, and we completely support the aims expressed therein. Religious and other holy sites embody the common cultural heritage of humankind and the entire international community. All of us — not only the relevant religious or ethnic groups — must work to ensure their protection.
The Jewish people…
Mr. Al-Kidwa
I am taking the floor in exercise of the right of reply, and I do so as a Palestinian national.
The Arab Group has for some time now attempted to express its just and equitable viewpoint in a concise fashion without clashing with the other side. We have done so because of our sense of responsibility and in response to the appeals of many sponsors and people who supported the initiative.
It is r…
The President
May I remind delegations that statements in exercise of the right of reply are limited to five minutes for the second intervention.
Mr. Jacob
My delegation deeply regrets the statement of the Palestinian observer and his fabricated claims about Israeli actions. I would leave it to the General Assembly to decide who instigated this polemic debate here. My delegation came to this debate in good faith and with wholehearted support for the draft resolution adopted today.
The Palestinian observer’s attack on Israel raises the question of t…
Mr. Cengizer
I am afraid that this intervention cannot really be classified as a statement in exercise of the right of reply in the classic employment of the term, but I just wish to state that I understand that the representative of Israel, when talking about empires, was indeed referring to the Roman empire and not to the Ottoman, which is well known for its historic relationship with the Jewish people, inc…
Mr. Al-Kidwa
The representative of Israel has spoken of the Palestinian position as being hostile to Jewish religious sites. This only goes to show the low level to which his statement descended, because we are proud to say that our history was characterized by tolerance of and coexistence in the holy places even before Israel existed.
As for the incident at Joseph’s Tomb, we have repeatedly stated that it w…
Mr. Jacob
Since I have already made my statements in exercise of the right of reply, this is a point of order in response to the statement made earlier by the Ambassador of Turkey.
I agree with everything he said. We, the Jewish people, are deeply grateful for the role played by the Ottoman empire in helping the Jews who were expelled from other parts of Europe, in accommodating those Jews within the limi…
Mr. Al-Kidwa
For the record, the statement just made by the representative of Israel was, in our opinion, not a point of order. It was thus a violation of the rules of procedure.
The President
The Assembly has thus concluded this stage of its consideration of agenda item 32.
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