S/PV.5859
5859th meeting
Tuesday, 25 March 2008, 10 a.m.
New York
The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question
Mr. Ettalhi (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya) (spoke in Arabic): At the outset, I wish to thank you, Sir, for convening this meeting to discuss the situation in the Middle East. We also express our appreciation for the presence of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon among us this morning and thank Mr. Pascoe for his valuable briefing.
I wish to endorse the statement made by the Permanent Observer of Palestine and that to be made by the representative of the Sudan as the leader of the Group of Arab States this month.
There is no doubt that the situation in the Middle East in general and the Palestinian question in particular has represented and continues to represent one of the most serious threats to international peace and security, if not the most serious ever. That threat has been considered by the Security Council for more than six decades now and has led to numerous wars and continual aggressive assaults and attacks that have caused the great suffering of which we are all aware. The examples thereof cited by Mr. Pascoe this morning are but a few among many.
Developments have led to us to pause and consider how the threat has become increasingly serious and expansive with passing time. And yet, the Security Council, entrusted by the general membership of the United Nations under Article 24 of the Charter with the principal responsibility for maintaining international peace and security, has failed to assume the responsibility referred to in Article 1 of Chapter I of the Charter. We must ask why the Council is pussyfooting and unable to address the issue. All I can hope is that the victims and perpetrators of the aggression are being kept in mind throughout such vacillation.
Once again, if any situation calls for the Security Council’s attention, it is the question of Palestine. Whatever standards the Council applies in determining its priorities, that question should be foremost among them. If there is a threat to peace, the issue should be clear. Among issues with humanitarian and human rights dimensions, is there any suffering in the world worse than that of the Palestinians at the hands of the Israeli occupiers? The evidence lies in the six million refugees and displaced persons living on assistance in refugee camps; the 1.5 million under siege in the Gaza Strip with no way of earning a living, and we believe that the right to life is among the most sacred of human rights; and the more than 2 million people in the West Bank who are humiliated daily. Pregnant women die at Israeli checkpoints, of which there are more than 600; children are terrorized every day on their way to school; and workers are unable to get to their jobs. They are all exposed to death, detention and arrest at any time.
The Security Council surely knows that, even according to Israeli sources, 40 per cent of Palestinian young people in the occupied territories have been detained or arrested at least once. The Council surely knows that, since this issue was considered last month, the Israel Defense Forces has killed more than 150 Palestinians, among whom, as Mr. Pascoe noted this morning, were 36 children and a 60-year-old peasant who was driven to his farm by hunger. As all have heard, Israel has announced its resolve to launch a holocaust of the Palestinians, as noted by the Israeli Deputy Defence Minister, not to mention those who have been arrested and detained in Israel, about whose suffering we heard in this morning’s briefing. Does the Security Council not see that the war crimes of the occupying Power and its determination to annihilate the Palestinians collectively represent an attempt to ethnically cleanse the population by making life unbearable for them in the West Bank? I would remind members of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which I believe is very well known to them all.
Since the Council last met on this issue, the Israelis have continued to expand their settlements and their Prime Minister has emphasized the fact that they will continue to settle. When reminded of the commitments he undertook at the Annapolis conference and in the road map, he said that the settlement activity is taking place in land annexed by Israel to its own territory and that there was no further need to negotiate since there was nothing to negotiate about. Worse yet, in recent days, the competent judiciary body authorized the Israel Defense Forces to kill those who protest against the separation wall and determined that even a peaceful demonstration is an appropriate justification for murder. At the same time, the Israeli courts decided to prevent Palestinians from using public roads in the occupied territories. What kind of racist discrimination or injustice could be worse than that? Israel’s actions prove that it is not committed to peace and is striving to ensure the failure of the current peace process. Israel is an entity based on injustice, ethnic cleansing and massacre and cannot act against its own nature.
Those who insist on bringing the peace process to a successful conclusion have been the first to call on the Security Council to condemn the settlements and siege and on the Israelis at least to enunciate an intention to cease such activities, if only by pronouncement.
The situation in Lebanon is a source of concern to my country. The intervention of foreign Powers in that brotherly country has created a complex crisis in the political situation, whereby the Lebanese parties have been unable to elect a president of the Republic, leading to a political vacuum. My country supports the actions of the Arab League to help our Lebanese brothers to find a solution compatible with the Taif Agreement.
We are concerned about Israel’s ongoing daily violations against Lebanese air space, territorial waters and territory, which were referred to in the latest report of the Secretary-General; its continuing attacks and acts of aggression, including abduction and killings, against people in the border areas; as well as the ongoing occupation of the Shaba’a farms and other Lebanese territory. We are also concerned about the deliberate obstruction of efforts to demarcate the Blue and Green Lines, including Israel’s confronting the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon as it tries to demarcate those Lines.
That is further evidence of the fact that Israel disregards and flouts — and I have chosen the words very carefully — the resolutions of the Council, especially resolution 1701 (2006). I should once again like to draw the attention of the members of the Council to the document circulated by the Permanent Representative of Lebanon with regard to that matter. I believe that the Council’s ongoing disregard of Israeli practices has the effect of undermining its credibility. It also leads us to conclude that the Council has double standards.
Finally, I should like to remind the Council of resolution 497 (1981), adopted more than 25 years ago. In that resolution, the Council underscored the fact that Israel’s decision to annex the occupied Syrian Golan and impose its laws there was null and void and without international legal effect. Israel has refused to accept the resolution, has continued its policy of judaization, making life difficult for the Syrian population, and has attempted to attract immigrants from all over the world to populate the region. Syria has chosen a just peace as a strategic option in return for its territories occupied prior to 1967. But Israel has chosen to continue its occupation, to defy the resolutions of the Council and to violate the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War.
In conclusion, Libya is honoured to say that it will always stand on the side of justice and condemn injustice and immorality in international law.
