YouSaid · the spoken record

Jaafari

lines on the record: 2,603
first: 2006-07-21
most recent: 2019-11-22
sittings or episodes: 185
sources: un-security-council

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

“One case in point is the lethal weapons used by Israel in its most recent acts of aggression against Lebanon, in which it dropped millions of cluster bombs on Lebanon after the Council adopted resolution 1701 (2006). In our View, the responsibility for establishing a just and comprehensive peace is a collective one. No party should stand in the way of this responsibility. It is a common responsibility, because the benefits of a just and comprehensive peace will also be enjoyed in common. We must therefore talk about a just, comprehensive and true peace, not about supposed efforts to achieve peace that are actually unrelated to genuine peace.”
2006-10-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5552 (2006) · source
“This question is not new to the Security Council or to the United Nations as a whole. It is not new in the context of international, regional and bilateral relations. This question has long been discussed; it is constantly being raised at meetings throughout the world. Yet the Arab-Israeli conflict has not been resolved in keeping with the provisions of the Charter and international law. With the passage of time, this situation has had tragic repercussions and adverse consequences for the region. Our land has long been occupied. The occupation has been immoral and illegal and has caused great suffering to millions. Weapons arsenals are growing, and our region has become a testing ground for a host of lethal weapons.”
2006-10-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5552 (2006) · source
“They have presented many peace initiatives, which have been greatly appreciated by the international community, the most recent of which was adopted at the Beirut Summit in 2002 - an initiative that Arab foreign ministers reaffirmed in full more than one month ago here in the Council. It is increasingly clear that Israeli military supremacy cannot guarantee the continuation of the fait accompli imposed against the will of our people, who are chafing under the yoke of occupation and the frustration of their aspirations and rights. There must be political will to make peace by successive Israeli Governments and their protectors. Such peace must be based on justice, must be comprehensive and must reflect the will of the international community, as represented in the Council.”
2006-10-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5552 (2006) · source
“Whenever the Council moves in the right direction and resolves to condemn the Israeli aggressor, the clock in the Council Chamber stops because of the use of the veto by one influential State, which allows Israel to avoid complying with the will of the international community. Thus, the occupation of our land in Palestine, Syria and Lebanon continues. In addition, Violations of our rights and acts of provocation increase, and our patience and tolerance for injustice, aggression and repression is further put to the test. An equitable and just solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict is not impossible, if there is political will to achieve peace. Such political will, however, must be based on full, faithful and serious respect for the letter and spirit of international law. The Arabs have always contributed constructively in this regard.”
2006-10-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5552 (2006) · source
“The Arab-Israeli conflict is the longest-running conflict on the United Nations agenda; indeed, it is as old as the Organization itself. Decades have passed since Israel occupied the Arab territories, on 5 June 1967. The Council Chamber has been the scene of the unanimous adoption of resolutions such as resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973) 425 (1978) and 497 (1981). Those resolutions, however, owe their fame to their long duration, unimplemented, and to the Council's inability to apply them to Israel, the occupying Power. This undermines the credibility of the Council.”
2006-10-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5552 (2006) · source
“That failure becomes even more dangerous when one or two States prevent the Council from upholding the purposes and principles of the Charter and from shouldering its responsibilities in helping to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict. On many occasions over the decades, various States have assisted the Security Council in adopting dozens of resolutions - a number of them under Chapter VII - to help resolve conflicts less dangerous than the Arab-Israeli conflict and to address crises not requiring Council involvement. For reasons to which I have already alluded, the Security Council has often been unable to ensure the implementation of its own resolutions providing for the sending of fact-finding missions or missions to investigate Israeli violations of international law and humanitarian law in the occupied Arab territories.”
2006-10-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5552 (2006) · source
“Mr. Ja'afari (Syrian Arab Republic) (spoke in Arabic): My delegation wishes to associate itself with the statements just made by the Permanent Representative of Bahrain and the Permanent Representative of Cuba. I should like to congratulate you, Sir, on your assumption of the presidency of the Security Council for the month of October. I also wish to thank your predecessor for his considerable efforts in guiding the work of the Council, which culminated in the special ministerial meeting on the Arab-Israeli conflict held on 21 September 2006 as the result of a joint Arab initiative. At that meeting, the Secretary-General stated that "our continued failure to resolve this conflict calls into question the legitimacy and the effectiveness of the Security Council itself" (S/PV.5530, p. 2).”
2006-10-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5552 (2006) · source
“In conclusion, Syria believes that we should give the investigation the time and resources necessary to allow it to pursue its work and to uncover genuine evidence quite independently from politicization, false hypotheses and all interpretations irrelevant to the true investigation. We stress yet again that Syria will continue to cooperate actively, through its ad hoc judicial committee, with the International Independent Investigation Commission and to provide it with all the information at its disposal and the results of its own investigations concerning the assassination of the late Rafik Hariri. We reaffirm once again that Syria - eager in its own core interests to continue uncovering the truth - is fully committed to cooperating so long as the international investigation is pursued professionally and expertly.”
2006-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5539 (2006) · source
“We would point to the statement distributed by the Permanent Mission of Lebanon to the United Nations on 21 June 2006, which stated that the terrorist group that carried out the assassination of the two Majzoub 6 brothers on 26 May 2006, as well as other terrorist groups, were working for the Israeli Mossad. That statement also said that the group had carried out exercises in and outside of Israel. We hope that the Commission's mandate will include that and similar terrorist crimes. Fifthly, we note with satisfaction that the principle of secrecy in the investigation continues to be upheld in a professional manner. We welcome that professionalism and hope that it will continue.”
2006-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5539 (2006) · source
“Fourthly, Syria has noted that the Commission has made great efforts, as part of its expanded mandate, to investigate terrorist crimes committed in Lebanon since 1 October 2004. In that regard, we wish to point out that many people, in Lebanon in particular and in the region in general, would have expected the Security Council to attach similar importance to the war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated recently, namely Israel's bombardment of Lebanon, given that the evidence is clear and the persons responsible are well known to all. We believe that it is important that the Investigation Commission also focus on the crime of the assassination of the two Majzoub brothers, so as to clarify the relationship between that and other crimes.”
2006-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5539 (2006) · source
“5 Thirdly, Syria has taken note of the importance that the Commission attaches to exploring new hypotheses as to the way the assassination of the late Mr. Hariri was committed. Syria would like to underscore the importance of scrutinizing all evidence accurately and carefully and in a way that adheres to international criminal investigative procedures and criteria. That is especially so with regard to evaluating false testimonies previously presented by witnesses before the International Independent Investigation Commission for well-known political purposes. Those who are providing such testimonies should come before legal authorities for misleading the legal process and be ordered to reveal the political groups or persons who forced them to give false testimony.”
2006-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5539 (2006) · source
“The accuracy and clarity of the requests made to Syria's ad hoc commission has enabled it to continue to provide the International Independent Investigation Commission with information in record time. Secondly, in the context of cooperation between Syria and the International Independent Investigation Commission, the report refers to Syria's response to the Commission's requests for information and documents. The report also points out that Syria has provided timely assistance to the Commission, and refers to the satisfactory timeliness in which Syria has responded to the Commission's requests for setting up interviews with witnesses and for putting in place security and administrative measures needed to conduct those interviews.”
2006-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5539 (2006) · source
“First, the report noted that Syria's cooperation with the Commission was satisfactory and effective. Mr. Brammertz has just reaffirmed that once again before the Security Council. In that connection, we would like to state that Syria continues to cooperate fully with the International Independent Investigation Commission, and has done so since the Commission began its work. Syria had hoped that the report would have pointed to the extent of other States' cooperation with the Commission. We would like to emphasize that the ad hoc judicial commission established in Syria oversees coordination and cooperation with the International Independent Investigation Commission and responds to all the Commission's requests for assistance.”
2006-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5539 (2006) · source
“The same is true with regard to the attempt by some parties to provide uncorroborated information to be used for purposes different from the real purpose for which the Commission was established. For those parties, one such purpose is to continue to pressure my country. I wish to underscore that the report continues to point out that, as regards uncovering the truth, the Commission will still have to make great efforts before it reaches a final conclusion. Allow me to address briefly some of the points contained in the report before the Security Council, without going into the report's substantive details, in order not to interfere with the investigation. We in Syria believe that it is important that the investigation be independent, impartial, objective and free from any political influence or interference.”
2006-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5539 (2006) · source
“The report before the Security Council includes a periodic explanation and description of the technical aspects on which the Commission is working within its competence, whether in terms of the scene of the crime or the alleged tools utilized in the crime. We hope that the investigation, which is based on the two previous periodic reports, will reveal the real perpetrators of this crime. In that context, we repeat what we have said on previous occasions, that one of the most dangerous things faced by the investigation is the ongoing exploitation by some parties, within or outside our 06-54337 region, of what is in the investigation to jump to premature conclusions not based on any evidence or clear proof.”
2006-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5539 (2006) · source
“The report refers to the significant and positive milestones represented by Syria's efforts to fulfil its obligations and to continue to cooperate with the Commission in an effective manner on all levels. Syria continues to respond to every demand of the Commission, providing all the information it needs in a timely manner according to the deadlines agreed between the two parties. That fact was emphasized in the statement we have just heard from Mr. Brammertz. I would once again like to reaffirm that the cooperation of the Syrian Arab Republic with the Investigation Commission is based on my country's keen desire to help to find the truth in the crime of the assassination of Rafik Hariri, former Prime Minister of Lebanon, as well as to determine the parties responsible.”
2006-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5539 (2006) · source
“Mr. Ja'afari (Syrian Arab Republic) (spoke in Arabic): At the outset, allow me to congratulate you, Mr. President, on the manner with which you have steered the work of the Security Council this month, including your sincere efforts that led to the holding of a ministerial-level meeting on the Arab initiative to revive the peace process in the Middle East. There is a need to revive the peace process in the Middle East because of Israel's refusal to implement resolutions of international legitimacy. I would like to welcome among us Mr. Serge Brammertz, Commissioner of the International Independent Investigation Commission, who has just presented his third periodic report. We have taken note of the contents of Mr. Brammertz's procedural report, as well as his working methods, professionalism and expertise.”
2006-09-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5539 (2006) · source
“When at the Beirut summit in 2002 Arabs again launched a peace initiative, Israel's response, which came while Arab leaders were still in Beirut, was to carry out the Jenin and Nablus massacres. Those have been Israel's responses to Arab peace initiatives. That is why we call upon the Council to address the Arab-Israeli conflict decisively and seriously at its upcoming meeting in September, when Arab ministers will be here to discuss the issue with the members of the Council to find a solution in accordance with binding international resolutions.”
2006-08-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5515 (2006) · source
“The Arab-Israeli conflict began before the emergence of Hizbollah in Lebanon as a force resisting Israeli occupation, which has continued on Lebanese territory for 25 years despite the fact that the Council adopted resolution 425 (1978) in 1978. Why has Israel failed for decades to accept the Arab hand extended to it in peace? What we know in that regard is that every time the Arabs have extended a hand in peace to Israel, the Israeli response has been negative, violent and terroristic. As we know, in the wake of the first Arab peace initiative, in Fez, in 1982, the Israeli response was to send Sharon to attack Lebanon and occupy Beirut. When the Arabs once again extended their hand in peace, in 1996, the result was that Israel once again attacked Lebanon and occupied parts of it.”
2006-08-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5515 (2006) · source
“The Arab foreign ministers also decided to call upon the Security Council to meet at the ministerial level in September 2006 to consider a settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict by the Security Council. They did so based on their belief in the need for the Council to assume the responsibilities entrusted to it vis-a-vis the protection and maintenance of international peace and security. The Arab-Israeli conflict did not begin two months ago with the capture of an Israeli soldier in Gaza and two other soldiers in south Lebanon. It began decades ago and is, alas, as old as this international Organization. It is futile for the representative of Israel, or others, to obfuscate that point. The Arab-Israeli conflict began before Hamas assumed power through democratic elections in Palestine.”
2006-08-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5515 (2006) · source
“Those Powers should ask themselves about their reckless and irresponsible policies, and oblige Israel to adhere to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and place its nuclear facilities under international supervision, with a view to putting an end to Israel's policy of nuclear terrorism in the region. At their recent conference in Cairo, Arab foreign ministers emphasized the central role of the United Nations in finding a just, comprehensive and lasting solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict, in accordance with the terms of reference of the peace process and the relevant resolutions of the Security Council, especially resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973), and the principle of land for peace.”
2006-08-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5515 (2006) · source
“Therefore, in our history we have never known the blind hatred exercised by some against our peoples and cultures. We regret that, for such hatred only serves to deepen conflict between peoples, rather than to promote dialogue and cooperation. Israel's building and deploying of eight nuclear reactors - which produce plutonium for the manufacture of nuclear weapons - in an area no larger than 20,000 square kilometres is a terrorist act that the Council must address decisively and promptly. Certain major Powers have been breaching their international non-proliferation obligations for decades by providing Israel with nuclear reactors, heavy water, scientists and nuclear technology.”
2006-08-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5515 (2006) · source
“Although our option to choose peace is a strategic one, if it does not produce results, resistance will be the alternate option, as President Bashar al-Assad recently announced. The peoples of our countries are not responsible for the failure of the policies of certain States that consider themselves "super" in our region. We are surprised at the insistence of the capitals of those States on antagonizing our peoples and our peace- loving and open cultures. Fascism, Nazism, apartheid, Zionism and colonialism are neither Arab nor Islamic products. We as Arabs and as Muslims have participated in the writing of the most beautiful pages of human civilization. We have even invented some of the most important means for developing this civilization, in the service of all of humankind.”
2006-08-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5515 (2006) · source
“Those who provide the requisite support for Israeli terrorism - including absolute support for colonial settlement, occupation, aggression, the construction of the wall, the abduction of the members of a Palestinian Government elected through Western democratic standards and the arrest of the Speaker of the Palestinian parliament to try him before an occupying authority without legitimacy - bear the brunt of responsibility for the escalation and tension in our region. Our people, along with peace-loving people throughout the world, will not permit the transformation of our suffering and pain resulting from Israel's occupation, aggression and terrorism to become Hollywood spectacle from time to time.”
2006-08-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5515 (2006) · source
“In that regard, it will suffice to state that, as everyone knows, the terrorism committed in 1996 by Israel in the first Qana massacre claimed the lives of 104 Lebanese civilians who had taken refuge in the headquarters of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). That act of Israeli terrorism permanently disabled 25 Lebanese children. However, Israeli terrorism did not end there. In the second Qana massacre, earlier this month, Israeli terrorism was responsible for the deaths of those 25 handicapped children. Is that terrorism not demonic?”
2006-08-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5515 (2006) · source
“The fact that the United Nations has adopted more than 1,000 resolutions condemning Israel by name and calling on it to put an end to its occupation of Arab territories in Syria, Palestine and Lebanon; to halt the building of its illegal settlements on Arab territories; to put an end to the continued Judaization of Arab Jerusalem, the burial of nuclear wastes in the occupied Syrian Golan and its continued disregard for the July 2004 advisory opinion of International Court of Justice and for General Assembly resolution ES-10/15 regarding the building of the separation wall in the occupied Palestinian territory: all of that shows that Israel and its politicians are demons of international terrorism and hotbeds of falsehood and hypocrisy.”
2006-08-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5515 (2006) · source
“However, the Secretary-General's report mentions Israel by name dozens of times and indicates that it has violated resolution 1701 (2006), which the Security Council adopted only a few days ago. Indeed, the Secretary- General points out that Israel violated resolution 1701 (2006) several times only hours after its adoption.”
2006-08-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5515 (2006) · source
“Within the past two months, the Human Rights Council in Geneva, by an overwhelming majority, adopted two resolutions condemning the human rights violations committed by Israel, the occupying Power, in Palestine and Lebanon. The Human Rights Council adopted those resolutions in the first two special sessions it has held since its inception. The report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of resolution 1701 (2006) (S/2006/670), which comprises 65 paragraphs in 13 pages, mentions my country only twice, and then in positive contexts: first, when the Secretary-General states that 107,000 Lebanese displaced persons who sought refuge in Syria because of the recent Israeli aggression have returned to Lebanon; and secondly, when he refers to the assistance provided by Syrian authorities to Lebanese refugees in Syria.”
2006-08-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5515 (2006) · source
“World public opinion has also become aware of a strenuous efforts made by a super-Power's politicians to obstruct the adoption of a draft resolution that would have achieved a ceasefire early in the Israeli aggression against Lebanon, and of the fact that, prior to that, the Permanent Mission of that State exercised the right of veto against a draft resolution condemning the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip. The Israeli-Arab conflict, which is an issue that threatens international peace and security, goes to the heart of the responsibilities of the Security Council. Israel's aggression against the peoples of the region and its occupation of our territories in Palestine, Syria and Lebanon cannot be concealed by the Israeli representative's efforts to transform that aggression and occupation into a 19505 Hollywood epic.”
2006-08-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5515 (2006) · source
“In the unanimous view of the international community, Israel's continued occupation of Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian territories is the real reason for the instability, lack of peace and escalating tensions in our region. The suffering of our peoples caused by the continued Israeli occupation and by a super-Power's support for that occupation - including providing it with the most sophisticated means of military murder - has become intolerable. World public opinion has become aware of the magnitude of the Israeli State terrorism that for decades has targeted the Lebanese and the Palestinians.”
2006-08-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5515 (2006) · source
“That makes the United Nations, including the Security Council, responsible and accountable in the eyes of the peoples of peace-loving States, who find it difficult to understand the total lack of recourse to the effective mechanisms of the Charter and the inability to fully implement the will of the international community as represented in resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973), adopted 39 and 33 years ago, respectively. In fact, those resolutions have not been implemented on the ground because of a super- Power's blind support for the continued Israeli occupation and aggression. As all members are aware, that support is expressed in the United States delegation's use of the right of veto 43 times in the Security Council to protect Israel in its refusal to shoulder its responsibility to implement resolutions of international legitimacy.”
2006-08-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5515 (2006) · source
“They were also unanimous in stating that the Palestinian question is the core of the Israeli-Arab conflict, not one of its details, as the Israeli representative tried in vain to suggest. We are gravely concerned that the issue of the Israeli occupation of Arab territories continues to be on the United Nations agenda month after month and year after year without the implementation of the resolutions of international legitimacy aimed at putting an end to that blood-drenched occupation, which has continued for decades.”
2006-08-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5515 (2006) · source
“Mr. Ja'afari (Syrian Arab Republic) (spoke in Arabic): We listened very attentively to the briefing by Mr. Ibrahim Gambari, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, on the longest-running conflict on the United Nations agenda: the Israeli-Arab conflict, which is as old as this international Organization. We also listened carefully to the statements made by our colleagues, the representatives of States members and non-members of the Security Council, who were unanimous in emphasizing the central importance of establishing a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East region on the basis of resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973) and the principle of land for peace.”
2006-08-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5515 (2006) · source
“Like Martin Luther King, I have a dream - that peace will prevail in our region and that our people will know stability, peace and development, instead of war, threats of war and the drums of war.”
2006-07-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5493Resumption1 (2006) · source
“Therefore those Israeli leaders responsible for war crimes and collective massacres of the Palestinian and Lebanese people, such as the Jenin, Nablus and Qana massacres, as well as the Marwahin massacre a few days ago, have inherited the propensity to do so from their forefathers, who perpetrated the Deir Yassin, Kafr Qasim and Bahr Al-Baqr massacres, among many others. The real terrorism in the region is the continued occupation by Israel of Arab lands. It is Israel's hostile acts that are given infinite support by some influential countries that have tried to cover up their failed policies by blaming others for their own failures. In conclusion, let me say that, like Martin Luther King, I have a dream. I have a dream that the Israeli acts of aggression will come to an end.”
2006-07-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5493Resumption1 (2006) · source
“I do not think I would be wrong if I were to say that Count Bernadotte was the first martyr of this international Organization to fall victim to Israeli State terrorism and acts of aggression. Israel has refused to receive numerous commissions of inquiry established by the United Nations, the last of which was entrusted with investigating the Jenin massacre. What we are really seeing is a cancer - State terrorism perpetrated by Israel against the peoples of the region, including the Israeli people. The heads of Zionist gangs have become prime ministers in Israel and are known as such in many parts of the world.”
2006-07-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5493Resumption1 (2006) · source
“The Security Council has adopted a number of resolutions condemning that occupation and calling for its end. Where is the terrorism in the examples that I have cited? How can we consider it that in the light of the experiences of our people? We have to stop confusing the two issues. Counter-terrorism efforts should be based on purely legal considerations and norms, not political agendas that undermine the credibility of the Council and raise questions as to its legitimacy. As for the accusations levelled against my country in the statement made by the representative of Israel, I think that the same thing can be said about their credibility. However, in that respect, we have to recall yet again that the State terrorism perpetrated by Israel has included many distinguished figures from the United Nations itself.”
2006-07-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5493Resumption1 (2006) · source
“We in my country idolize President George Washington because he chose to liberate his country. We do not consider him a terrorist. We also respect the principles embraced by President Wilson and teach them to our schoolchildren. We also consider Gandhi to be a nationalist fighter who resisted foreign occupation. We view Jeanne d'Arc of France as a national heroine who fought against foreign occupation. Then there is Djamila Bouhired of Algeria, a national heroine who also resisted foreign occupation. And let us not forget Nelson Mandela. We view with respect - and I believe others do the same - all who resist foreign occupation and defend the dignity of their homeland. Let me recall here that part of my homeland - the Syrian Golan - has been under Israeli occupation since 1967.”
2006-07-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5493Resumption1 (2006) · source
“The Syrian Arab Republic works with a high sense of responsibility with the Security Council ad hoc committees established pursuant to Council resolutions to counter terrorism. The chairpersons of those committees have continuously commended Syria's cooperation. Furthermore, Syria has even cooperated with the United States of America to counter terrorism. The information provided by my country to the American side saved the lives of many Americans. Therefore, many senior officials in the former American Administration expressed appreciation for this cooperation. It has become necessary, on both moral and legal grounds, and in every possible humanitarian consideration, to avoid the issue of counter-terrorism in pursuit of certain political agendas aimed at covering up aggression. Syria abides by internationally agreed legal norms.”
2006-07-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5493Resumption1 (2006) · source
“The statement by the representative of the United States, accusing my country of supporting terrorism, is totally unfounded and far from the truth, both in letter and in spirit. The representative of the United States of America wilfully ignores the fact that the Syrian Arab Republic was the first - even before his country - to address collectively the threat of terrorism. Since 1986 Syria has persistently called for the convening of an international conference to define terrorism. It has worked with many delegations here at the United Nations to submit a resolution to the General Assembly to that effect. Since the early 1990s, the United States of America persistently voted against that resolution.”
2006-07-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5493Resumption1 (2006) · source
“The Syrian Arab Republic has persistently stressed its readiness to achieve a just and comprehensive peace, as well as stability and security in the Middle East region, through the Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Palestinian, Syrian and Lebanese territories. In the face of the Israeli aggression campaign against Lebanon and Palestine, the Syrian Arab Republic urges the Council to exert pressure on Israel for an immediate ceasefire and put an end to the destruction of the two countries. We also call on the Council to hold Israel responsible for this aggression and for compensation for the ensuing casualties and losses. The Syrian Arab Republic is making genuine efforts to pave the way for a serious opportunity for diplomatic action aimed at ending aggression and establishing a just and comprehensive peace in the region.”
2006-07-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5493Resumption1 (2006) · source
“The foreign ministers of the Arab States decided that it was necessary for the peace process to be restored to the United Nations, because Israel and its supporters killed every prospect for peace in the Middle East. The peace that they themselves perceived and tried to impose on certain peoples of the region is agonizing and can no longer be enforced. We do not want the United Nations to be sacrificed on the altar of tragic and irresponsible policies. My country, the Syrian Arab Republic, was among the founding fathers of the United Nations and among those who contributed to the San Francisco Charter. We will remain committed to the United Nations, because it is our only option in the face of those who break the law and perpetrate State terror, and against those aggressors who destroy the standards of human existence itself.”
2006-07-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5493Resumption1 (2006) · source
“Instability in the region is caused by Israel's continued occupation of Arab territories and the impunity given to Israel by certain influential Powers, allowing it to act as if it was above the law, to the detriment of our legitimate rights in Palestine, Lebanon and the Golan. Furthermore, the unfair and biased policies pursued in our region by superpowers further increase instability and tension there. We therefore wonder: is the new Middle East promised by some superpowers in the region based on granting Israel a licence to kill and to commit aggression against the peoples of the region, and on providing justification, cover-up and protection in order to allow the aggression to continue?”
2006-07-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5493Resumption1 (2006) · source
“The Syrian Arab Republic calls on the Security Council to assume the responsibilities entrusted to it by virtue of the Charter, to put an immediate end to the Israeli aggression against the Lebanese and the Palestinian peoples. We hope that the Council's measures will be independent and compatible with the Charter and based on protecting Lebanon's sovereignty and territorial integrity from Israeli aggression, rather than on interference in its internal affairs. Whoever defends this aggression and shields its continuation is obstructing the Security Council's role to achieve a peaceful and just settlement of a dispute that is as old as the United Nations. In obstructing the Council's role it thus continues to adopt its agendas and unsuccessful policies in the region, and increases the sufferings of the peoples there.”
2006-07-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5493Resumption1 (2006) · source
“It also blocks the international community's desire to achieve a just and comprehensive settlement in the region. We therefore question the benchmark against which we can measure the weight of statements made by a representative of a superpower that is supposedly entrusted, under the Charter, with the responsibility to maintain international peace and security when this representative uses the veto privilege against a draft international resolution to protect the Palestinians, when he calls explicitly for continued aggression against the Palestinians and the Lebanese and rejects a ceasefire. That flagrantly contradicts the concept of the maintenance of international peace and security and constitutes a deliberate obstruction to international legitimacy in carrying out this responsibility.”
2006-07-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5493Resumption1 (2006) · source
“It is also a problem of displacement of peoples of the region, depriving them of their most basic rights to return to their homeland, in a flagrant violation of international law. Lebanon suffered considerably over the past years as a result of Israel's defiance of international legitimacy. The repeated Israeli invasions of Lebanon- in 1978, 1982 and 1996 - and the occupation of southern Lebanon for over 20 years are stark examples of how Israel flouts this legitimacy. Obstructing the role of the Security Council by this or that country - for reasons related to a well-known political agenda, reasons far removed from its role in maintaining international peace and security - contributes to beating the drums of war, gives a green light to Israel to continue its aggression and covers its criminal acts.”
2006-07-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5493Resumption1 (2006) · source
“That leads us to question the degree of commitment by the mighty to the law and the need for it. What about its credibility or usefulness? Applying such a double standard to international norms would lead to the hegemony of the law of the jungle. We and the people of the world ask: "Where are we going?" While Israel declares that it reserves the right to interpret the question of self-defence unilaterally, it ignores the right of others to defend themselves, too, against foreign occupation, colonization and aggression, as stipulated in the Charter. Israel, and those who protect it, will always seek, while continuously attempting to distort facts, to abridge the Arab-Israeli conflict - to minimize it - and to ignore the fact that the problem is primarily one of occupation of and settlement in occupied Arab territories since 1967.”
2006-07-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5493Resumption1 (2006) · source
“Were not those countries supposed to be bringing pressure to bear on Israel in the Security Council to cease firing and to put an end to the bloodbath that is currently under way? The barbaric Israeli acts of aggression are notjust targeting Lebanon, or even international peace and security. They are designed to undermine the credibility of the United Nations itself. Throughout its long history, the United Nations and its resolutions have never been ignored as they have been in the case of Israel. More than a thousand resolutions have been adopted calling on Israel to comply with resolutions of international legitimacy. However, those resolutions have never been implemented or seen the light of day. Some act as if the law is to be respected by the weak only.”
2006-07-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5493Resumption1 (2006) · source
“My country has received hundreds of thousands of Lebanese, as well as foreign diplomats and Arab and foreign tourists seeking a safe haven, away from the indiscriminate Israeli destruction machine. Nevertheless, the Israeli war machine has made that road to Damascus fraught with danger. Israel did not even spare buses and other vehicles transporting those people, let alone Arab humanitarian convoys. Unfortunately, volunteers have fallen victim to the Israeli acts of aggression. While we understand the efforts made by some internationally influential countries to transport their citizens out of Lebanon, we ask about the validity of the concept that discriminates between peoples' lives.”
2006-07-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5493Resumption1 (2006) · source
“How can the occupiers, the aggressors - those who have perpetrated carnage against civilians for decades - be in a position of self-defence? Can any member of the Security Council, or other Members of this international Organization, understand the reason why Israeli fighter jets and warships would destroy the Rafik Al-Hariri Airport in Beirut and the infrastructure in Tripoli, Sidon, Tyre, Baalbek and other Lebanese towns? Can we understand why Israel would kill scores or even hundreds of children, women and other innocent civilians in Lebanon and Palestine? Can we understand the meaning or the scale of the bombing by Israel of the Damascus - Beirut highway used by Arabs and foreigners, including diplomats, residing in Lebanon, who were seeking a safe refuge and fleeing the indiscriminate Israeli war machine?”
2006-07-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5493Resumption1 (2006) · source