S/PV.6045
6045th meeting
Tuesday, 16 December 2008, 11 a.m.
New York
Middle East situation, including the Palestinian question
Mr. Ettalhi (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya) (spoke in Arabic): I would like to extend my thanks to the President of the Security Council for his initiative to convene this meeting, and I welcome his presence. We would also like to recognize the presence of the ministers and the Secretary-General at this important meeting.
This meeting is being held to consider a draft resolution on the question of Palestine, and we hope that it will represent a reversal of the behaviour of the Council over the past few years. Libya believes that the Security Council should consider and, according to the letter of the Charter, decide this question, which has represented a continuous threat to peace and security for more than six decades.
This problem has been accompanied by tremendous suffering of the Palestinian people and all other peoples of the region. Violations of human rights, unprecedented breaches of international law, remarkable for both their breadth and duration, continue. It was the cause of many wars and has led to a continuous cycle of violence.
Despite all of this, the Council has for years refrained from taking explicit and decisive action on this question. Even in cases in which the Security Council has taken decisions and adopted resolutions, these resolutions have never been implemented due to the lack of genuine political will by some for a just solution that respects international law, rejects aggression and occupation and condemns the oppression of people.
Libya welcomes, on principle, the attempt to adopt a Security Council resolution on the question of Palestine. At the same time, it believes that generalization of the question, deliberate ambiguity and disregard for confronting breaches of international law do not serve peace as much as they hinder it.
The aggressor and occupier could interpret the text as a form of acceptance of its behaviour and policy, which, in turn, reinforces such behaviour. The victims could see this as proof that the international community is not serious, is biased and has double standards, which pushes them to further frustration and despair, with all of the repercussions.
This year, the situation in the region has plumbed unprecedented depths of deterioration on the ground. Since 27 November 2007, the date of the launch of the Annapolis conference, the practices of the Israeli occupiers have continued to escalate. The killing and the detentions have continued, settlement construction has intensified, the siege of the Gaza Strip has worsened and the number of checkpoints and barriers in the West Bank, which make daily life unbearable and normal human activity very difficult, has increased.
Furthermore, the demolition of houses has continued as has the building of the separation wall, most of it on Palestinian territory. In fact, the whole world has witnessed aggression by terrorist and extremist settlers against the Palestinians. This violence has even extended to Arabs within the Green Line.
We have recently heard some statements by Israeli officials that provide us with further proof that behind the settlers’ violence, lies, in fact, an official acceptance and encouragement both inside or outside the Green Line. All of these acts constitute explicit breaches and violations of international law, the Road Map requirements and the Annapolis joint understandings.
Does not the statement by the Human Rights Council’s rapporteur to the Security Council state that we should move quickly to apply specific criteria protecting the Palestinians who are facing collective punishment by policies that are basically crimes against humanity? Is it not logical and clear that the minimum for reaching a just solution would be to condemn these practices as well as to put an end to them?
Libya is very eager to bring about peace and has worked, and continues to work, for peace and believes that these Israeli practices cannot represent a way to reach peace. We also believe that ignoring and disregarding such practices is an unintended invitation to continue such behaviour.
