United Nations General Assembly

It was time to hold an international conference on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and to implement practical measures to end the occupation in a process that had, so far, been stalled because no real pressure had been exerted on Israel to implement its side of the agreements, the Head of the Political Department of the Palestine Liberation Organization said today, as debate began in the General Assembly on the question of Palestine and the situation in the Middle East. The 2003 Road Map remained the internationally recognized path to peace on the question, Farouk Kaddoumi said, but it had been flawed from the start by the 14 reservations insisted upon by Israel, followed by the five guarantees given to Israel by the United States in 2004.

The year under review was marked by the announcement of Israel’s disengagement plan from the Gaza Strip and parts of the northern West Bank, the death of Palestinian President Arafat, successful Palestinian presidential elections and cautious efforts towards a resumption of the peace process by both the Israelis and Palestinians, in spite of continued violence, which claimed lives on both sides. Internal and external closures and other measures taken by the Israeli military, although moderately alleviated towards the end of the reporting period, continued to create economic hardship for Palestinians and restrict the delivery of necessary emergency aid supplies.

Confirming to the Security Council today that there existed, once again, a window of opportunity to revitalize the Middle East peace process, the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Kieran Prendergast, urged the international community to encourage the parties to persevere as they moved along the narrow and difficult road to a just, lasting and comprehensive peace. Mr. Prendergast said in his regular monthly briefing on that situation that both parties seemed to have realized the potential for change inherent in the present situation.

Eighteen donor countries pledged approximately $90 million for the 2005 budget of the UN refugee agency UNRWA, during this morning’s meeting of the General Assembly’s Ad Hoc Committee for Voluntary Contributions. Opening the meeting, Peter Tesch, speaking on behalf of General Assembly President Jean Ping, said it was tragic that UNRWA was still desperately needed some 55 years after the international community had attempted to find a just and lasting solution to the Palestinian situation. The Palestinian refugee population had swelled 500 per cent to some 400,000 since UNRWA’s inception. The Agency, however, remained considerably cash-strapped, and its staff worked under extremely difficult circumstances.

Convinced that achieving a final and peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine — the core of the Arab-Israeli conflict –- would serve as the cornerstone of stability in the Middle East, the General Assembly today adopted resolutions concerning Palestine, Jerusalem and the Syrian Golan, among others. the world body stressed the need for Israel’s withdrawal from the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 and the realization of the Palestinian people’s inalienable rights, primarily the right to self-determination and to an independent state. Additionally, the Assembly called on both sides, the diplomatic Quartet and other interested parties to work to halt the situation’s further deterioration.

The General Assembly this afternoon began its consideration of the question of Palestine and the situation in the Middle East. Before the Assembly is the report of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, the report of the Secretary-General on the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine, the report of the Secretary-General on the situation in the Middle East, a draft resolution entitled Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, a draft resolution on the division for Palestinian Rights of the Secretariat, and a text, entitled Peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine.

The General Assembly this afternoon began its consideration of the question of Palestine and the situation in the Middle East. Before the Assembly is the report of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, the report of the Secretary-General on the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine, the report of the Secretary-General on the situation in the Middle East, a draft resolution entitled Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, a draft resolution on the division for Palestinian Rights of the Secretariat, and a text, entitled Peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine.

Yasser Arafat’s memory should serve as an inspiration to unite and strengthen the Palestinian people in their efforts to realize their national aspirations to statehood and self-determination through peaceful means, Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the Palestinian Rights Committee this morning as it observed the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. As the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People- began its observance with a moment of silence in memory of the late President of the Palestinian Authority, the Secretary-General noted that the Palestinian people had endured a dismal existence of grinding poverty and dispossession.

Concluding its work for the current session, the Fourth Committee this afternoon took action on nine draft resolutions — approving four texts relating to the work of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and five on Israeli practices in territories occupied since 1967. The Committee approved, by a vote of 154 in favour to 1 against (Israel) with 9 abstentions, a draft on assistance to Palestinian refugees, by which the Assembly would extend UNRWA’s mandate until June 2008, and call on all donors to make the most generous efforts possible to meet the Agency’s anticipated needs, including those mentioned in recent emergency appeals.

Expressing concern over Israel’s extensive destruction of agricultural land and orchards in occupied Arab territories, the General Assembly would call on that country not to exploit, damage, cause loss, deplete or endanger natural resources in those territories, according to one of six draft resolutions approved today by the Second Committee. Approving that draft by a recorded 144 votes in favour, the Committee recommended that the Assembly reaffirm the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and the population of the occupied Syrian Golan over their natural resources, including land and water.