YouSaid · the spoken record

Yasser Arafat

lines on the record: 77
first: 1998-09-24
most recent: 2001-09-24
sittings or episodes: 3
sources: un-general-debate

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“From here I call upon the Israeli Government to resume the final status negotiations in order to implement the resolutions of international legality and the agreements signed. I salute all of you and hope that this session will produce the required solutions and recommendations which will enable our peoples and our nations and the whole of humanity to live in peace, stability, progress and prosperity. May peace and God’s blessing be with you.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“I realize that the international community, after the assassination of my partner, Yitzhak Rabin, is looking forward to the peace process. From here I convey to the Israeli people my full commitment to the peace process, which I began with my late partner Yitzhak Rabin, and my partner Shimon Peres, a peace that guarantees freedom, stability and security for the Israelis and the Palestinians and all the peoples in the Middle East region — the peace of the brave; the just and comprehensive and lasting peace that will end the Israeli occupation of all the Palestinian and Arab territories and will lead to the establishment of the independent Palestinian State with Holy Jerusalem as its capital. This is what we should be working for, for the sake of our children and their children.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“It is clear that we are in need of greater international efforts, including an international presence on the ground, to help the parties move forward. In any case, the United Nations and the Secretary-General must carry out their natural and important roles in this regard so that we can achieve our desired peace objectives. I call upon the Israeli Government and the Israeli people to respond positively to this approach so that we can together build peace in the land of peace, the Holy Land of peace — the Holy Land; I repeat, the Holy Land. Needless to say, we need an expeditious effort that brooks no further delay, especially at the current international situation. We are ready to carry out our share of responsibility. We trust you are also ready to shoulder your share of responsibility.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“35 What the peace process now requires to achieve a just and lasting peace is a genuine effort on the part of the co-sponsors of the peace process — the United States and the Russian Federation — as well as influential international actors, including the European Union, and of course the Arab and Muslim countries and other friendly nations in the Non-Aligned Movement as well as in the United Nations. All of them should immediately introduce a comprehensive framework for a permanent final solution based on international legality and the agreements signed so that both parties can negotiate expeditiously the details of that permanent solution. This, of course, should be preceded by the full and immediate implementation of the Mitchell Report and the Tenet Understandings.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“I will say candidly to you that reviving and completing the peace process will need a new qualitative push, and after all that has happened it will not be possible to confine ourselves to interim solutions. It is impossible, of course, to achieve another interim agreement, as called for by some. To control the situation on the ground and to get the situation back to the way it existed before 28 September 2000 requires clear political imagination and new hope.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“This can be achieved by bringing Israel, the occupying Power, to withdraw fully from all of the occupied Palestinian and Arab territories, including Holy Jerusalem, to the boundaries of 4 June 1967, in accordance with the principles of the Madrid Peace Conference, to end settlement activities and evacuate settlers from our land, and to guarantee the right of return to the Palestinian refugees, in accordance with General Assembly resolution 194 (III), which provided for this right and called for compensation to those not wishing to return. We welcome the positive positions taken by President George W. Bush and other leaders who have called for the establishment of a Palestinian State. We believe this constitutes a significant step towards ending the conflict and establishing peace in the Middle East.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“We call upon these nations, particularly the United States, the United Kingdom, the Russian Federation, France, China, Japan, the members of the European Union and the non-aligned countries, the international community, individually and collectively, to exert every possible effort to translate this vision into action and political reality in order to enable the Palestinian people to live in peace, dignity, freedom, independence and sovereignty within their independent State on their national soil, with Holy Jerusalem as its capital.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“Allow me to extend my deepest appreciation and to salute sincerely all the brotherly, friendly nations and to the Great Powers that have realized today, more than ever before, that the establishment of an independent Palestinian State, with Holy Jerusalem as its capital, is the only guarantee for peace, security and stability in the region and the world. This constitutes a basic cornerstone in establishing and sustaining that peace.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“We made very clear and unequivocal our strategic commitment to peace, negotiations and the political solution to all outstanding issues between us and the Government of Israel. Most regrettably, the Israeli Government instructed its war generals and army to escalate the military campaign against our people, cities, villages and refugee camps. This included the buffer zones and the siege that closed off wide areas of cities, villages and cultivated lands and led to the destruction of our farms and the uprooting of thousands of trees in various places in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“Proceeding from our belief in peace as an irreversible strategic choice of our people, we have cooperated fully and positively with all international efforts and initiatives, including the Egyptian- Jordanian initiative, the Tenet Understandings and the Mitchell Report, which we accepted as a comprehensive, integrated package. We have also unilaterally declared an immediate comprehensive ceasefire, and we have exerted maximum efforts to sustain that ceasefire. On the eve of the Jewish New Year, we initiated the Palestinian call for peace, offered our sincere congratulations to the Israeli people and called upon them to make the New Year an occasion for a new era of peace, security and peaceful coexistence between the Palestinian and Israeli peoples and the peoples of the whole Middle East region.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“The active involvement of the international community and the influential Great Powers is essential to save the peace process and to put it back on the right track, to move it forward sincerely, resolutely and effectively. Lasting peace will not be achieved or sustained without international legality to provide an effective and binding international mechanism to implement the relevant Security Council and General Assembly resolutions. The accurate and honest implementation of these resolutions will establish and sustain peace and will prevent bloodshed in our region.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“International sponsorship of the Middle East peace process is the only true guarantee for efforts by 34 the international community to make peace an established reality in our region. The absence of international involvement in this conflict — in the serious search for a solution to the Palestinian question, in accordance with justice and the principles of international law — will push the region back into a spiral of violence, confrontation and bloodshed and could make the situation more explosive and fragile. Therefore, I call upon the international community to redouble its sincere efforts to end the current situation and the escalating crisis that, in the absence of the peace process, threatens to explode, with grave consequences for our region.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“Facing this aggression, escalation and the bloody war of State terror being waged by the Israeli Government against our people, land, Holy Places, — Jerusalem in particular — and Bethlehem, Beit Jala, Hebron and other Palestinian towns, the incursion into our cities, villages and refugee camps with tanks and the brutal massacres committed in various locations in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, we call on the international community, as represented by all present, and on the peace-, freedom- and justice-loving people who defend human rights and dignity throughout the world to work sincerely and resolutely and to exert all possible efforts to stop this war of aggression and to send international observers to protect our people from the occupation, terror and ethnic cleansing practised by Israel and to supervise the implementation and the consolidation of the ceasefire, by which we are abiding and which has been consistently violated by the Israeli Government.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“These practices continue to restrict the movement of goods and people, including students and teachers who are prevented from reaching their schools and universities. All these acts of closure and siege have recently been tightened. Our international borders, checkpoints and airports have been closed. All these measures violate outright basic human rights. Workers have also been prevented from reaching their work places, their means to sustain their families and children.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“Practices of the Israeli army also include the assassination of Palestinian political leaders, the demolition of homes, the destruction of private and government institutions, ruining farms and fields and uprooting hundreds of thousands of olive and fruit trees, as well as the killing of women, children and the elderly. There have been approximately 1,800 Palestinians killed and 37,000 wounded. Many of them have been handicapped for life. Thousands have been arrested in only 13 months. It should also be noted that the Palestinian economy has been devastated. The losses amount to $7 billion as a result of all forms of economic, financial, medical and food closures and sieges imposed on all the Palestinian cities, villages and refugee camps.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“This action sparked the Palestinian intifada, reflecting the rejection by the Palestinian people of the Israeli Government’s non-compliance with the agreements signed, the settlement policies, which deepen the occupation rather than end it by withdrawing from the occupied Palestinian territory, and its policies of undermining our Christian and Muslim Holy Places. The current Israeli Government continues the aggression against the Palestinian people begun by the previous Government. State terror is being practised against the Palestinian people and land, using the might of the Israeli army, including F-15s, F-16s, Apache helicopters, tanks, missiles, armoured vehicles, navy vessels and lethal weapons, including those that are internationally banned.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“Yitzhak Rabin — my partner in the peace process — consecutive Israeli Governments clearly took the path of non-compliance and did not implement Israel’s obligations stemming from the signed agreements. This impeded our sincere efforts to reach a comprehensive, just and lasting peace — the peace of the brave. The number of settlements and settlers has doubled since the start of the peace process. This reflects the lack of seriousness of the Israeli Government and its lack of commitment to the agreements signed between us. Then came Sharon’s visit to the holy sanctuary in Holy Jerusalem. I had personally and officially warned the Israeli Government of the grave consequences that would have on the peace process and the region.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“On this new approach, we went to the Madrid Peace Conference, which was based on the principle of “land for peace” and which had the objective of implementing all relevant international resolutions related to Palestine, particularly Security Council resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973), 425 (1978) and General Assembly resolution 194 (III) concerning the Palestinian refugees. Then we signed the Oslo Agreement at the White House in Washington, D.C., in the presence of and witnessed by representatives of the United States of America, the Russian Federation, the European Union, China, Japan, Egypt, Jordan and other countries, including Arab, African, Asian and Latin America States. Later we signed a number of agreements and memorandums of understanding. After the assassination of my late partner, Mr.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“The Palestinian people continue to seek their rights to self-determination and return — rights that today form the backbone of all relevant Security Council and General Assembly resolutions, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, international 33 law and international humanitarian law and that should be exercised on the Palestinian national soil. Members are aware that we have accepted the solution provided for by international legality. Yes, we have accepted less than 25 per cent of historic Palestine, while the General Assembly granted us almost 50 per cent of historic Palestine, as provided for in resolution 181 (III).”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“Last year I had the honour of addressing the United Nations Millennium Summit. Today I am once again addressing the Assembly, bringing the pain of the Palestinian people and their just cause, which still awaits a just solution. As Members will recall, in 1947 the General Assembly adopted resolution 181 (III), which provided for the partition of Palestine into two States — one Jewish and the other Palestinian. But the Palestinian State has still not been recognized by the United Nations. The Palestinian people faced tremendous historic injustice, and the majority of them were uprooted from their homes and made refugees.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“Bush for the declaration contained in the statement he made yesterday with regard to the need to achieve a just peace based on the implementation of Security Council resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973) and 425 (1978) and on the basis of a two-State solution — Israel and Palestine — and with regard to expeditiously resuming the peace process. For our part, we will exert every possible effort to achieve those objectives. We have worked to provide the best possible conditions for that endeavour, and we will continue to do so. I would also like to salute, and extend my appreciation to, all my brothers who have preceded me and clearly and eloquently made references to the question of the Palestinian people and their right to realize their legitimate rights under international legality.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“Bush and to the Government and the friendly people of the United States. In particular, I wish to express my condolences to the families of the victims. The Palestinian people have expressed their readiness to confront all forms and manifestations of international terrorism, including State-organized terror, in order to build a new world that guarantees justice, peace, security and freedom for all peoples — a new world based on human rights and international legality. We call on all nations to coordinate their efforts within the framework of the United Nations and international legality and the need to pursue and encourage a dialogue between all nations, religions and civilizations. I would like to express my deepest appreciation to President George W.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“I would like to begin by extending my congratulations to you, Mr. President, on your election as President of the General Assembly at this session. I would also like to extend my congratulations to Mr. Kofi Annan on his re-election to a second term as Secretary-General of the United Nations. I also wish to congratulate him and the United Nations on being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. It is important for me to be here today at this meeting, which is being held in very critical and important circumstances in the aftermath of the horrific, criminal and ugly terrorist acts against the cities of New York and Washington, D.C., on 11 September 2001. We strongly condemn those acts. In this context, I would once more like to extend our deepest and warmest sympathy to President George W.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“They have all provided immeasurable support to the just cause of the Palestinian people and have most certainly contributed to advancing the peace process towards the achievement of a just, permanent and comprehensive peace — a peace of the brave that will secure justice and freedom for the Palestinian people and their sovereignty over their land, along with security, stability and peace for all countries and peoples of this region. Once again I express my congratulations to you, Mr. President, and my gratitude to all the members of the international community, reiterating to you the appeal of Palestine — an appeal of right, justice and peace.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“I should like to extend my gratitude to the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, to the Committee’s Chairman, Ambassador Ibra Ka of Senegal, to the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and other Arabs of the Occupied Terrotiries and to all the staff members of this international Organization working in programmes relating to the question of Palestine.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“It is a religious and spiritual occasion of high importance, not only for our people and the other peoples of the region, but also for all the faithful around the world and for the entire international community. I appreciate the unanimous adoption last year of the resolution concerning this great and important matter, and invite the Assembly to continue to grant it its attention and consideration this year. Here, I wish to extend once again the Palestinian people’s invitation to the Assembly and to all the leaders of the world to visit us during this important spiritual and religious occasion in Bethlehem, Jerusalem and the other religious and spiritual places, so that we can proudly live together in peace at this special, historic time.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“All of this will lead to a more credible system of international relations, in which the incentive to commit wrongs will be lessened 26 and the collective capability to confront and prevent those wrongs will, in turn, be enhanced. It is with great pride that I would now like to speak of the Bethlehem 2000 celebrations. The Palestinian city of Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus Christ, is the place where we are making preparations to celebrate the end of the second millennium and the beginning of the third. It is also there, in Palestine, that the past, the present and the future will meet in a global vision of hope for all peoples.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“In addition to economic matters, we must also strive to achieve some needed improvements at the political level, particularly with regard to international political relations. It is imperative in this connection that we all give greater significance to the United Nations. This must be done in order for this body to truly and urgently become the effective centre of international and political relations and the source of international legitimacy. It is also necessary to be wholly committed to upholding the principles and provisions of the Charter of the United Nations and of international and humanitarian laws, as well as ensuring that they apply to all. We should apply to others the same moral values as we accept for ourselves. There should be one set of criteria and one standard for all cases and in all places.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“But I would like, in particular, to refer to the rise of extreme poverty and to the widening gap between the haves and the have-nots on the individual, national and regional levels. Perhaps it is we, the poor people of the South, who are most concerned about how to bridge the gap between us and the North, particularly in this era of globalization of the world economy, whose challenges and consequences we must all face. Here we must exert serious efforts and seek creative means beyond hasty and temporary measures. While it is time for the South to be more prepared to realize such an achievement, the North should also be more prepared for partnership and more realistic, effective and just sharing.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“There are also the follow-ups and reviews of a series of international conferences five years after their convening, in addition to the preparations being made with regard to such important issues as the culture of peace and the dialogue among civilizations. All of these things are important developments, but perhaps not enough for us to be able to begin the new millennium under new circumstances. This is particularly so if we look at some of the events and worrisome developments in different areas. There is the continuation of the state of siege in Iraq and the profound suffering of its brotherly people. There is also the continuation of internal conflicts in many countries, such as Afghanistan and others. Recently there have also been worrisome developments in East Timor.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“In this respect, we have observed some positive developments which are quite reassuring. There is tangible improvement in the area of conflict resolution on the African continent and on the path towards achieving better economic and social development in that great continent. There is the international attention given to Kosovo, as well as other measures carried out in the Balkans. There is also the adoption of the Statute of the International Criminal Court, as well as the additional consideration being given to the four Geneva Conventions on the occasion of their fiftieth anniversary. We refer here, with appreciation, to the convening of the Conference of the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention last July regarding the Israeli occupation of our land.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“The shadows of poverty and unemployment still threaten our economic abilities and plans to reconstruct, build and develop. The achievement of all of this necessitates the continuation of the constructive efforts of the United Nations, which has permanent responsibility towards the question of Palestine until that issue is resolved in all its aspects. We will also remain in need of our Arab brothers, the Islamic countries and our friends in the Non-Aligned Movement. We will remain in need of the two co-sponsors of the peace process, the United States and the Russian Federation, and also of the European Union, China, Japan, Norway and our other friends around the world. We must heighten all our efforts until the arrival of the new millennium in many areas and spheres, and not only in the Middle East.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“What is required foremost in this regard is raising the Palestinian economy up from the miserable situation in which it finds itself as a result of the long years of occupation, so that building cooperative economic relations in the region will become possible. Here I wish to thank the donor countries that have provided and continue to provide important assistance to the Palestinian people and to the Palestinian Authority. This assistance is necessary to enable us to overcome the immense difficulties that we have been confronting since the establishment of the Palestinian Authority, as a result of the closures and sieges imposed by the previous Israeli Government on the Palestinian territory for long periods, which worsened further the total destruction of the Palestinian economy.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“There is no way to achieve peace, stability and security in the Middle East without a solution to the question of the refugees of Palestine and the implementation of resolution 194 (III), which declares their right to return to their homeland. 25 Two essential things must occur for peace to be complete. First, it is necessary to reach a final settlement on all tracks — the Palestinian, Syrian and Lebanese — on the basis of the complete and precise implementation of international legitimacy, especially Security Council resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973), and 425 (1978). The second is the provision of economic support and assistance by the international community sufficient for the achievement of a better economic situation and for achieving prosperity in the region.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“The catastrophe that befell our people 51 years ago, uprooting them from their homeland and dispersing them into exile — thereby stripping them of their dreams and rights as human beings in an attempt to negate their existence — is one of the greatest human tragedies witnessed by the twentieth century. The question of the refugees of Palestine is the oldest and greatest refugee question in our contemporary world. We must recognize the legitimate right of those refugees to return to their homeland, in accordance with United Nations resolutions. Four million Palestinians live in exile and in refugee camps awaiting the time of their return to their homeland, from which they were forcibly expelled.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“The time has come for the international community, represented by the General Assembly, to reaffirm this right and to work for its realization. The goal of the current peace process is the implementation of Security Council resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973) and 425 (1978) and the application of the principle of land for peace. The latter means total Israeli withdrawal from all Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Al-Quds Al- Sharif — the Holy City of Jerusalem, which is the first of the two Qiblahs and the third Holy Sanctuary of Islam, the place from which the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven, and the cradle of the birth of Jesus Christ.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“The realization of the right of the Palestinian people to establish their independent State with Al-Quds Al- Sharif as its capital will provide the definitive guarantee for the establishment of a permanent peace in the Middle East. It will also be a validation of the Charter of the United Nations and its numerous resolutions over 50 years, beginning with resolution 181 (II) which called for the establishment of two States in Palestine, one Jewish, which is Israel, and one Arab, which is Palestine. The rights of peoples do not diminish because of a statute of limitations or under oppression, and our people have proved through the years that they deserve life, freedom and their own independent State.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“Hence, we look forward to seeing new, real and tangible changes in the positions and actions of the Israeli side that will open the door, in word and in deed, for the achievement of a just and comprehensive peace — a peace of the brave that will lead to the realization of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and to the establishment of their independent State, with Al-Quds Al- Sharif (Jerusalem) as its capital, and the realization of the right of the Palestine refugees to return to their homeland in accordance with resolution 194 (III) which affirms the right of the refugees to return to their homes and the right to compensation for those who do not wish to return.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“At the forefront of these are the settlement activities and the confiscation of land, especially in AI-Quds Al-Sharif, and its vicinity, and the siege of the city of Bethlehem and the rest of the Palestinian territories. The continuation of these settlement policies and practices will quash the hopes and expectations generated by the signing of the Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum and destroy prospects for the final settlement negotiations, which began on 13 September. The cessation of all such measures is needed in order that we can, together with my new partner, Mr. Barak, continue the march of the peace of the brave that we began with two other partners — the late Yitzhak Rabin, who gave his life for this peace, and Shimon Peres — for a new Middle East.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“As we reaffirm once more our commitment to the peace process and the implementation of the signed agreements, we hope that this time the Israeli side will implement these agreements scrupulously and honestly, including the phases of redeployment agreed upon in the Wye River and Oslo agreements, the release of prisoners and the other obligations of the transitional period, such as safe passage between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and the construction of the Gaza seaport. The Israeli Government is called upon to immediately and decisively cease all measures that violate international resolutions, laws and covenants and thus destroy the chances of peace.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“I therefore call upon the international community to accelerate and strengthen its efforts and participation to push the peace process forward and revitalize it on all tracks. A just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East can last only if it is protected by international legitimacy and if efforts are undertaken to implement all of the resolutions pertaining to the Middle East conflict on the Palestinian, Syrian and Lebanese tracks. We should work hard so that the signing of this Memorandum will succeed in ending the stagnation of the peace process and in opening the door that the former Israeli Government closed in the face of all serious efforts aimed at achieving real peace.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“In this connection, I extend my gratitude and thanks to all those who contributed to the conclusion of the Memorandum, particularly our host in Sharm el-Sheikh, President Hosni Mubarak, as well as King Abdullah II and Secretary of State Albright, who undertook tangible and concrete efforts as a representative of President Clinton, and the European leaders, their representatives and their envoys to the peace process. The continuous involvement of these friends in this process was essential and necessary for pushing the process forward. International sponsorship of the Middle East peace process is the guarantee for its definitive and final success. 24 The absence of such an international role would send the fragile situation in the region back to square one.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“The Memorandum is aimed at the implementation of all the obligations of the interim period under the Oslo agreement, the Wye River Memorandum and the Hebron Protocol, and at the resumption of the final status negotiations. This was done with the hope of bringing to an end the policy of protraction and freezing that was pursued by the former Israeli Government, which completely paralysed the peace process and almost dashed the ambitious hopes created by this process for all the countries and peoples of the Middle East. The Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum serves as a source of new hope for putting the peace process back on the right track, as it reaffirms the implementation of existing agreements and of all the obligations within a specific time-frame.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“I look forward to the participation of Palestine, as a Member State of the United Nations, in the deliberations of the coming millennium summit, and I hope for and trust in the Assembly's support for this Palestinian determination to achieve independence so that Palestine can assume the position it deserves within the family of nations. As the Assembly is aware, we concluded the Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum with Mr. Barak, the new Prime Minister of Israel, on 4 September, under the auspices of President Hosni Mubarak, and in the presence of King Abdullah II, Secretary of State Albright, Mr. Moratinos, representing the European Union, and Mr. Larsen, representing Mr. Kofi Annan.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“I address the Assembly today — the representatives of the international community — for the second consecutive year, seeking the continuation of support for the realization of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, particularly at this crucial and sensitive stage that lies between us and the declaration of our independent Palestinian State and sovereignty over our liberated land. This requires the strengthening of international efforts in order to really achieve a just solution to the question of Palestine, the crux of the Middle East conflict. The coming millennium summit, with all the renewed hope and promising beginning it represents for all people, must be a decisive deadline for the achievement of peace in the Middle East. We should work collectively and vigorously to achieve this.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“I call upon the United Nations to continue to undertake this historic role to eliminate all forms of occupation and colonialism and to strengthen the foundations of peace throughout the world. As I congratulate and welcome you, Sir, I would be remiss if I did not extend our gratitude to your predecessor, Mr. Didier Opertti. It also gives me great pleasure to express our deep appreciation to Mr. Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General, for his distinguished role in leading this international Organization and promoting for world peace. I also want to congratulate the three new members of the United Nations: the Republic of Kiribati, the Republic of Nauru and the Kingdom of Tonga. Their membership is an important step towards the realization of the universality of the Organization.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“Mr. President, it gives me great pleasure to see you presiding over this new session of the General Assembly after your long struggle to gain freedom, along with Sam Nujoma, Nelson Mandela and others who fought to bring an end to the era of colonialism, apartheid and foreign occupation. Your presence here today leading this session of the General Assembly attests to the victory achieved by the people of Namibia in the battle for freedom and independence. It strengthens the hope of the Palestinian people that the dawn of their freedom and the independence of their homeland, Palestine, is near. Furthermore, the victory of your friendly country, Namibia, affirms the constructive role played by the United Nations in the eradication of the colonialism that has burdened oppressed peoples and in enabling them to gain their national independence.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“I also take this opportunity to thank its sister Committee, the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People. I look forward to speaking to you once more when Palestine will have taken its natural place in the community of nations, as an independent State, and when peace will have prevailed in the land of peace and in the entire Middle East.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“The Palestinian people have actually begun serious preparations to celebrate this important religious, historic and international occasion, with the cooperation of many religious, political and social institutions concerned. We call upon you to join us in bearing the responsibility of these preparations, and we invite you to participate directly in the forthcoming celebrations to start together, God willing, a new march. In this regard, we appreciate the addition by the General Assembly of a new item on its agenda entitled “Bethlehem 2000”. We also extend our thanks to the Chairman and members of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People for their initiative in this regard.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“I invite the Israeli Government to engage in common, serious work between us to address that. There is no alternative to peace. Help us to achieve it. In the year 2000, the past and the future will meet in Palestine, joined by a global vision of hope and peace for all peoples of the world. On that occasion, the world will celebrate the second millennium of the birth of Jesus Christ — peace be upon him — and the beginning of a new millennium. It is a religious and spiritual occasion of great importance not only for the Palestinian people and the region, but also for all the believers in the world, as well as for the entire international community.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)