Statement by Dr. Nasser
Al-Kidwa, Ambassador, Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations,
before the United Nations Security Council, 15 September
2003:
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Mr.
President,
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Last
Thursday, the threats of
Israel, the
occupying Power, against the Palestinian people and the Palestinian leadership
reached a new level with the decision by the so-called Israeli security
cabinet to “remove Yasser Arafat” and to request the Israeli army to draw up a
plan for the expulsion of the elected President of the Palestinian Authority.
  At this critical juncture,
it must be firmly and unequivocally stated that the land of Palestine and its
people are not the property of the occupying Power and that carrying out such
an action or even the constant repetition of this threat would be considered
an assault on the Palestinian national dignity, it would mean the end of the
Palestinian Authority and would signal the demise of any peace process between
the two sides. In addition, it
should be recalled that international law, specifically the Fourth Geneva
Convention of 1949, is clear in its prohibition of such a war crime.Â
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We
believe that the international community must take decisive and swift action
in order to prevent the occupying Power from carrying out such an illegal and
insane act. For this reason, we
specifically called on the Security Council, as did the Arab Group through its
Chairman, the Permanent Representative of
Sudan, to take
the immediate necessary measures in this regard. We appreciate that members of the
Council engaged themselves with the matter last Friday and we urge you today
to take action on the draft resolution before you. The negative and hostile Israeli
reaction to the press statement read on your behalf by the President of the
Council, as well as to positions by the whole international community,
reaffirms the need for a stronger step to be taken by the Council in response
to this existing danger.Â
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Mr.
President,
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Mr. Sharon and his government indeed represent a threat to the
stability of the region. They reject real peace and insist on the use of force
and a military solution. Mr.
Sharon has publicly said, for those who want to hear, that he does not want a
lasting and permanent settlement and rather only seeks a long-term
transitional arrangement. The
vision of Mr. Sharon clearly is the imposition of a number of walled and
separate Bantustans, constricting the whole Palestinian
people on less that half of the West Bank and slightly
more than half of the Gaza Strip.Â
The Palestinians could find a way to connect these
Bantustans and call it a Palestinian state if they wish
while Israel
keeps the rest of the Palestinian land and continues its colonization and
gradual annexation. We can add to
all that the rejection of dividing
Jerusalem between the two sides
and the rejection of any rights of
Palestine refugees.Â
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This
is the fact, and everything Mr. Sharon has said or done has been in line with
such a vision and in its service.Â
That is why the expansionist wall is being built- to wall the
above-mentioned Bantustans and to terminate any
potential for a real settlement. That is also why settlement activities are
continuing, including the illegal transfer of Israeli settlers to our
land. And that is why
Israel
continues with its military escalation and destruction and why it has worked
so vigorously to reverse the situation to pre-Oslo conditions ten years after
its beginning.Â
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But
achieving such a racist and dreadful vision requires two main things. The first is breaking down the
Palestinian national movement and the destruction of its leadership, since it
would never accept such schemes.Â
That is why we see such a vicious campaign against Yasser Arafat, the
national leader of our people, and the attempts to get rid of him. That is also why
Israel did not
give anything to the former Prime Minister Mr. Mahmoud Abbas since it was
understood that he too would never accept the schemes of Mr. Sharon and his
government. And that is also why
a welcome was not extended to the Prime Minister designate, Mr. Ahmed Qurei,
all proving what
Israel truly
wants is the destruction of the national leadership.Â
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The
second thing is the undermining of international legitimacy and the
disappearance of relative United Nations resolutions and even the deletion of
the heritage of negotiations between the Israeli-Palestinian sides on a
reasonable settlement from the international conscious. All coupled with the intensive efforts
to destroy any real international initiatives to salvage the situation. That is why the Mitchell
recommendations were destroyed and buried and that is why the Road Map was
emptied of its contents on the way to burial.Â
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What
happened in reality to the Road Map? The Israeli government tried to stall its
presentation, in which it did succeed for a while. Then when the Road Map was presented
it was never accepted by the Israeli government. What occurred was that the Israeli
government accepted “the steps” in the Road Map and it attached fourteen
reservations or “concerns” to the Road Map, effectively undermining most of
it. In spite of that, the
United States of
America promised to take these “concerns”
into consideration during its implementation. On the other hand, the Palestinian
side accepted the Road Map without reservations. Â
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Then
the time came for both sides to take the first essential step set out in the
Road Map. For the Palestinian leadership to issue an unequivocal statement
“reiterating
Israel’s right
to exist in peace and security and calling for an immediate and unconditional
cease fire to end armed activity and all acts of violence against Israelis
anywhere.” And for the Israeli leadership to issue an unequivocal statement
“affirming its commitment to the two-state vision of an independent, viable,
sovereign Palestinian state living in peace and security alongside Israel, as
expressed by President Bush, and calling for an immediate end to violence
against Palestinians everywhere.”Â
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In
the summit at Aqaba the Palestinian leadership, represented by then Prime
Minister Abbas, did implement the first stated step. He even went a step further than the
text of the Road Map. The Israeli
leadership, however, represented by Mr. Sharon rejected taking the first
stated step. Mr. Sharon mumbled
something about a Palestinian state but he did not declare his commitment to a
Palestinian state which is independent, viable, and sovereign. This was perfectly in line with his
vision and not with the vision outlined in the Road Map. He further refused to
declare an immediate end to violence against Palestinians everywhere.Â
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What
is left then for the Palestinian side from the Road Map? Â A Palestinian state, as the one Mr.
Sharon desires, and an Israeli rejection of the cease fire and a return to the
Israeli logic that it is the Palestinian side that only has to take the
necessary steps. We found
ourselves in a situation that has nothing do with the Road Map, especially in
light of the attempts to sidetrack the role of the Quartet and to reduce the
monitoring mechanism agreed upon in the Road Map to something that has nothing
to do with neither the monitoring nor the mechanism.Â
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In spite of that, and with a lot of effort, the Palestinian government
and the Palestinian leadership with the assistance from the Arab Republic of
Egypt and other countries were able to obtain a unilateral declaration by all
Palestinian groups to cease all acts of violence. And indeed, there was a very high
degree of compliance with such a declaration or “hudna”. Â What did the Israeli government
do? It continued with its
confiscation of land and settlement activities and continued with the
construction of the expansionist wall and it did not even exert a serious
effort to remove the so-called “unauthorized outposts”. Â Moreover,
Israel also
maintained checkpoints, siege and all policies and measures destroying the
socio-economic conditions of the Palestinian people.  It continued with the killing of
Palestinians, including extra-judicial executions, and it continued its
attacks, destruction and arrests. It continued with all of this despite the
repeated warnings by many parties until all of this led to the suicide bombing
in West Jerusalem on August 19th. That was followed by the extrajudicial
execution by Israel of Mr. Ismail Abu Shanab and the demise of the hudna.Â
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Since
then the insane escalation continued and the occupying forces committed at
least eight extrajudicial executions, which undoubtedly constitute war crimes
that should be condemned and stopped.Â
On the other hand, Hamas carried out two suicide bombings in
West Jerusalem and Tel Aviv that constitute terrorist
attacks that should also be condemned and stopped.Â
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What
is shocking about all of these events is that some, in spite of their detailed
knowledge of these events and in spite of their presumed role as mediator,
have accepted the logic and positions of Mr. Sharon and his government almost
entirely and have been repeating the Israeli arguments and lies. This is not only painful but it is
highly irresponsible and if continued will lead to horrendous consequences.
Â
All
of this must stop before it is too late. There must be a complete departure
from violence and the logic of military solution. We must return to the
negotiating table and the Road Map must be revived and implemented in a real
and honest way. But, for this to happen, we cannot continue the old way. It is high time to admit that the
essential problem is the position of
Israel,
insisting on colonization and rejecting putting an end to the occupation of
the Palestinian land and failing to accept an independent sovereign State of
Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital. Without changing that, there is no
peace process and there could be no implementation of the Road Map or any
other initiative. Â Such change in
turn, when it takes place, will open the road to the implementation by the
Palestinian side of its obligations, including the cessation of all violence
and the provision of real security.Â
It is high time to face reality and to stop covering the Israeli
positions or running away from confronting those positions while hoping that
the process will remain alive, even if in appearance only. It is high time to stop inventing
other reasons for the current crisis, such as the internal Palestinian
situation or other issues despite their importance.Â
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The
revival of the Road Map requires new and serious implementation, beginning
from the very first step coupled with facing realities and not allowing either
side to escape their responsibilities.Â
The Security Council could and should play an important role in this
respect. It has to provide strong
support for the Road Map and to officially order the two sides to comply with
its provisions and to implement them.Â
We must also, through the Quartet and maybe also with the help of the
Security Council, build the agreed-upon monitoring mechanism and have a real
international presence - maybe even international troops - as the U.N.
Secretary-General has proposed in the past and as
France is
currently proposing. Such bold
steps are the required ones for ending the current tragic situation and
returning to the path of peace.Â
Â
Mr. President,
Â
I
would like to go back to affirm the responsibility of the Security Council
vis-à-vis the situation in the
Occupied
Palestinian
Territory, including
East Jerusalem.Â
 Vis-à-vis the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Situation in the Middle
East. It has been
almost nine months since the last time the Security Council dealt with the
situation, that is to say since the last U.S. veto last December. During this period, the conditions
have dramatically deteriorated to a much more dangerous situation. We believe that regardless of what
happens in the peace process, the Security Council has the responsibility for
the maintenance of international peace and security, the responsibility of
defending the Charter and international law, as well as defending its own
relevant resolutions and not allowing the violation of those
resolutions.
Â
I
want to specifically refer to the Council’s resolutions affirming the
illegality of the Israeli settlements and demanding the cessation by the
occupying Power of such activities.Â
Now there is also the expansionist wall which imposes a new and
decisive challenge to the Council.Â
The so-called wall is not being built in accordance with the armistice
line of 1949, also known as the 1967 border. It is being built on the Palestinian
land and involves the de facto confiscation of thousands of dunums of our land
and the destruction of the lives of thousands of Palestinians. The continuation of such a wall will
effectively end the vision of two States. The wall must be stopped and must be
brought down. We will call on you
to take the necessary measures in this regard at a later stage.Â
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However,
we must now take the necessary measures to prevent the looming combustion of
the situation and to ensure that no harm will be inflicted on our President.
Once more, this needs to be undertaken in compliance with international law
and in respect for the national dignity of our people and their democratic
choices and finally in preservation of the option of peace.Â
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