{"id":221514,"date":"2019-09-27T10:10:07","date_gmt":"2019-09-27T14:10:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?post_type=document&p=221514"},"modified":"2020-07-22T00:42:45","modified_gmt":"2020-07-22T04:42:45","slug":"general-assembly-general-debate-7th-and-8th-meetings-press-release-ga-12190-excerpts","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/general-assembly-general-debate-7th-and-8th-meetings-press-release-ga-12190-excerpts\/","title":{"rendered":"General Assembly General Debate (7th and 8th Meetings) \u2013 Press Release (GA\/12190) (Excerpts)"},"content":{"rendered":"

SEVENTY-FOURTH SESSION,<\/span>\u00a07TH & 8TH MEETINGS (AM & PM)
\nGA\/12190
\n26 SEPTEMBER 2019<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Fran\u00e7ais<\/a><\/p>\n

Terrorism, Climate Change, Situation in Middle East also Featured Prominently<\/strong><\/h5>\n

\/…<\/p>\n

Several Heads of State and Government as well as ministers drew attention to escalating tensions in the Strait of Hormuz and recent attacks against Saudi Arabia\u2019s oil facilities \u2014 pointing out that they risk deepening an already fraught situation across the Middle East \u2014 while also voicing grave concern that the entrenched conflict in the Occupied Palestinian Territory remains unresolved.<\/p>\n

\/…<\/p>\n

Mahmoud Abbas, President of the State of Palestine, outlined recent developments in a conflict that featured in many of today\u2019s 37 interventions.\u00a0 Recalling that Israel\u2019s Prime Minister recently announced his intention to annex parts of the Jordan Valley and northern Dead Sea, he said Palestine\u2019s response \u2014 should the annexation proceed \u2014 will be to terminate all signed agreements with the Government of the occupation.\u00a0 \u201cIt is time for the international community to uphold its responsibilities and bring an end to this Israeli aggression and arrogance,\u201d he stressed, telling the Assembly: \u00a0\u201cThe responsibility for defending and preserving international law and peace is incumbent upon you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Israel Katz, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Israel, called on the Palestinian Authority to \u201cstop encouraging and financing terrorism\u201d and return to direct negotiations without preconditions. \u00a0The terrorist organization Hamas is holding two Israeli citizens and the bodies of two of his country\u2019s soldiers, he said, calling on the United Nations to implement the decision to halt aid to Gaza until those matters are resolved.<\/p>\n

\/…<\/p>\n

RUMEN RADEV, President of\u00a0Bulgaria<\/u>…Voicing Bulgaria\u2019s support for all efforts to resume the Israeli\u2011Palestinian peace talks and for a two\u2011State solution as the only way to achieve peace, he said the conflict in Yemen also demonstrates that no comprehensive solution can be achieved by military means.<\/p>\n

\/…<\/p>\n

MAHMOUD ABBAS, President of the\u00a0State of Palestine<\/u>, recalled that Israel\u2019s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, recently announced his intention to annex and apply Israeli sovereignty to the Jordan Valley and northern Dead Sea should he prevail in elections.\u00a0 Rejecting that plan as illegal, he said Palestine\u2019s response \u2014 should the annexation proceed \u2014 will be to terminate all signed agreements with the Government of the occupation.\u00a0 \u201cIt is time for the international community to uphold its responsibilities and bring an end to this Israeli aggression and arrogance,\u201d he stressed, recalling that the Assembly granted observer status to the State of Palestine in\u00a02012.\u00a0 He expressed gratitude for that legal and moral stance, as well as to all those nations that provide support to the Palestinian people, including through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East\u00a0(UNRWA).<\/p>\n

In that vein, he recalled that despite the obstacles and policies imposed by Israel\u2019s occupation and those behind it, Palestine has become a full member and State party to more than 110\u00a0international instruments and organizations.\u00a0 It has received recognition from 140\u00a0States and currently chairs the \u201cGroup\u00a0of\u00a077\u201d developing countries and China at the United Nations.\u00a0 As such, it deserves to become a full member of the United Nations and all its bodies and agencies.\u00a0 While Palestine has long accepted the legitimacy of international law, those laws are now severely endangered as a result of Israel\u2019s policies and practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.\u00a0 \u201cThe responsibility for defending and preserving international law and peace is incumbent upon you,\u201d he told the Assembly.<\/p>\n

In East Jerusalem, he said the occupying Power is waging a reckless, racist war \u201cagainst everything that is Palestinian\u201d:\u00a0 confiscating homes, carrying out assaults on the clergy, enacting racist laws and denying worshipers access to holy places.\u00a0 Warning that such actions will lead to dangerous consequences with unfathomable implications, he urged the international community to reject Israel\u2019s arbitrary decisions, especially the withholding and confiscation of Palestinian tax revenue.\u00a0 Emphasizing that the Palestinian people will not surrender to Israel\u2019s occupation \u201cno matter the pain\u201d imposed against them, he described recent moves by the United States as both unfortunate and shocking.\u00a0 Among those, it declared Jerusalem the capital of Israel and moved its Embassy there \u2014 a blatant provocation to the sensitivities of hundreds of millions of Muslims and Christians \u2014 and immorally and inhumanely terminated all its contributions to UNRWA.<\/p>\n

Warning that such policies have emboldened Israel to renege on all signed agreements, depriving the peace process of any credibility, he said Palestine has never missed an opportunity to hold serious negotiations with the Israeli side.\u00a0 However, it has regrettably not found an Israeli partner for those efforts.\u00a0 Calling for the holding of an international peace conference, in line with the initiative presented to the Security Council in\u00a02018, he stressed that Palestine\u2019s democratic process was paralyzed by a 2007\u00a0coup by Hamas, leading to an unbearable situation.\u00a0 He declared his intention to announce a date for the holding of general elections in Palestine \u2014 including the West Bank and Gaza \u2014 upon his return from New York and urged the United Nations to monitor them.\u00a0 He further renounced all acts of terrorism, especially those committed recently against Saudi Arabia and other Arab States.<\/p>\n

\/…<\/p>\n

CHARLES MICHEL, Prime Minister of\u00a0Belgium<\/u>, said…On the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the ground situation is \u201ccrumbling\u201d amid persistent violence, mistrust and settlement activity.<\/p>\n

\/…<\/p>\n

XAVIER BETTEL, Prime Minister of\u00a0Luxembourg<\/u>…Drawing attention to new political tensions between Israel and Palestine, and ongoing conflicts in Yemen and Syria, he said Iran must fully respect the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which Luxembourg \u2014 and the majority of the international community \u2014 continues to support.<\/p>\n

\/…<\/p>\n

EVARISTO DO ESP\u00cdRITO SANTO CARVALHO, President of\u00a0S<\/u>\u00e3<\/u>o Tom<\/u>\u00e9<\/u>\u00a0and Principe<\/u>, said…In that regard, he urged the United Nations to create more binding mechanisms to ensure solidarity with the victims of war and terrorism and to create lasting solutions to both old and new conflicts \u2014 notably the Israeli-Palestinian, Syrian and Libyan conflicts \u2014 as well as the deployment of terrorist groups in the Sahel, East, Central and West Africa.<\/p>\n

\/…<\/p>\n

AZALI ASSOUMANI, President of\u00a0Comoros<\/u>, said…Turning to the Middle East, he cited crises in Syria and Yemen and the issue of \u201cour brotherly people in Palestine\u201d, who are still deprived of their basic rights.\u00a0 The illegal occupation and brutal repression visited upon them feeds into extremism of every kind.\u00a0 It is therefore time for the United Nations, just as it worked for the existence of Israel, to create a Palestinian State which will live in peace with Israel, with East Jerusalem as its capital.<\/p>\n

\/…<\/p>\n

ISMA\u00cbL OMAR GUELLEH, President of\u00a0Djibouti<\/u>, said…Noting the resurgence of violence in the occupied Palestinian territories, he condemned plans by Israel to annex land in the Jordan Valley and north of the Dead Sea.<\/p>\n

\/…<\/p>\n

ISATOU TOURAY, Vice-President of the\u00a0Gambia<\/u>…reiterated her country\u2019s commitment to a two-State solution for the conflict between Israel and Palestine.<\/p>\n

\/…<\/p>\n

ISRAEL KATZ, Minister for Foreign Affairs of\u00a0Israel<\/u>, noting he is the son of Holocaust survivors, stated his country is a real democracy for all its citizens, Jewish and non-Jewish alike.\u00a0 He added \u201cbut, first of all, Israel is the \u2018nation-State\u2019 of the Jewish people based on thousands of years of Jewish history and the right of the Jewish people to its own homeland\u201d.\u00a0 He called on all countries to follow the United States in recognizing Jerusalem as Israel\u2019s capital.\u00a0 Stating Israel has signed peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan and is working to advance relations with other regional Arab States, he called on the Palestinian Authority to \u201cstop encouraging and financing terrorism\u201d, recognize the right of the Jewish people to its own State and return to direct negotiations without preconditions.\u00a0 Noting that \u201cterrorist organization Hamas\u201d is holding two Israeli citizens and the bodies of two of his country\u2019s soldiers in Gaza, he said the United Nations must implement decisions made on the issue and not allow any State to provide aid to Gaza until they are returned to their families.<\/p>\n

Stating that Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan had attacked Israel, he accused him of brutally oppressing the Turkish people, slaughtering the Kurdish minority and supporting Hamas, saying \u201cYou are the last one that can lecture Israel\u201d.\u00a0 He said the main problem threatening stability and security in the Middle East is Iran, which threatens to destroy Israel, and uses \u201cproxy terror organizations\u201d Hizbullah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Houthis and Shiite militias against his country.\u00a0 He stated the country had launched missiles at Saudi oil facilities to destabilize world oil supplies, a \u201cserious escalation\u201d done on the direct orders of Iranian leader Ali Khamenei.\u00a0 \u201cIran is the biggest terror State and the biggest sponsor of terror in the world,\u201d he said, calling on the international community to unite to stop it and prevent it from developing nuclear or ballistic weapons.\u00a0 The United Nations must declare Hizbullah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to be terror organizations.<\/p>\n

However, he noted the Middle East also presents opportunities for cooperation and advancing the economies of all countries.\u00a0 He and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have developed the \u201cTracks for Regional Peace\u201d initiative, connecting Arab Gulf States by rail through Jordan to ports in Haifa, and intend to connect the Palestinian Authority to the project to boost its economy.\u00a0 \u201cWe have no conflict with the Gulf States and have common interests in the field of security against the Iranian threat,\u201d he added, turning to the potential benefits of Israeli high-tech, innovation, agriculture and water technology.\u00a0 The Gulf States also have capabilities that can help Israel.<\/p>\n

\/…<\/p>\n

For information media. Not an official record.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SEVENTY-FOURTH SESSION,\u00a07TH & 8TH MEETINGS (AM & PM) GA\/12190 26 SEPTEMBER 2019 Fran\u00e7ais Terrorism, Climate Change, Situation in Middle East also Featured Prominently \/… Several Heads of State and Government as well as ministers drew attention to escalating tensions in the Strait of Hormuz and recent attacks against Saudi Arabia\u2019s oil facilities \u2014 pointing out […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"template-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[702,729,5272,5290,5242,897,948,1593,6183],"document-category":[2433,1329],"document-source":[1365,6169],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[1749],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[6542,6541],"class_list":["post-221514","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","country-belgium","country-bulgaria","country-comoros","country-djibouti","country-gambia","country-israel","country-luxembourg","country-palestine-state-of","country-sao-tome-and-principe","document-category-french-text","document-category-press-release","document-source-general-assembly","document-source-united-nations-department-of-global-communications","document-subject-palestine-question","entity-united-nations-system","document-language-english","document-language-french"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/221514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/221514\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=221514"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=221514"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=221514"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=221514"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=221514"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=221514"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=221514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}