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United Nations Daily Highlights, 97-07-15United Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The United Nations Home Page at <http://www.un.org> - email: unnews@un.orgDAILY HIGHLIGHTSTuesday, 15 July 1997This document is prepared by the Central News Section of the Department of Public Information and is updated every week-day at approximately 6:00 PM. HEADLINES
The General Assembly, in a resumed special emergency meeting on Tuesday, condemned the failure of the Government of Israel to cease the construction of a new settlement in Jabal Abu Gheim in occupied East Jerusalem. The Assembly also demanded that Israel, the occupying power, immediately cease and reverse all actions taken illegally under international law against Palestinian Jerusalemites. By a vote of 131 in favour, 3 against (Israel, United States, Micronesia) and 14 abstentions, the Assembly recommended to Member States that they actively discouraged activities which directly contributed to any construction or development of Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including Jerusalem. It demanded that Israel made available to Member States the necessary information about goods produced or manufactured in the illegal settlements, the Assembly stressed. The Assembly recommended that the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War be convened on measures to enforce the Convention in the occupied Palestinian Territory, including Jerusalem. The emergency session was resumed following a request by the Arab Group of States in the light of the recent report of the Secretary- General to the Assembly which, in part, concluded that as of 20 June, Israel had not abandoned its construction of a new settlement at Jebel Abu Ghneim. Addressing the Assembly emergency session Tuesday morning, the Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations, Nasser Al-Kidwa stressed that the United Nations bore a permanent responsibility on the question of Palestine urging the UN to go further to warn the aggressor. He said the illegal Israeli action must be stopped, including the building of the settlement at Jabal Abu Gheim. Noting that the realization of security and stability depended on the progress made to achieve peace and providing normal living conditions, the Permanent Observer said Israel should understand and accept that the achievement of its security was linked to the achievement of Palestinian security and Arab security as a whole. He said the Palestinian people and leaders were still committed to their strategic decision to engage in the peace process and to uphold their agreement with israel. The Permanent Representative of Israel Ambassador Dore Gold told the emergency session on Tuesday that while Israel had met all of its commitment, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) had met none of its obligations. He said the emergency session represented yet another breach of the agreements between the two parties and undermined the efforts of the international community and the work of all those involved in the peace process. Urging both parties to act in the spirit of accommodation and mutual respect, Ambassador Gold said the international community must support the agreed framework for negotiations. "Focusing on Israel's alleged breaches of agreements while ignoring those of the Palestinian side, and sidestepping the agreed frameworks for dispute resolution, would only weaken the chance for peace," said Ambassador Gold. Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, Ibra Deguene Ka of Senegal said the building of settlements at Jebel Abu Ghneim had continued, with Israel publishing blueprints for new settler housing units in the West bank and the Gaza Strip. He said Israel was implementing illegal measures to alter Jerusalem's character, legal status and demographic composition, including attempts to deal with Palestinian Jerusalemites as "resident immigrants". The Palestinian Right Committee deplored the Israeli Government's decision not to cooperate with the United Nations on the basis of the resolution adopted by the Assembly's emergency session last April, said Mr. Deguene Ka. He expressed the hope that the resumed session would help end the settlement policy and other unilateral measures taken by the Israeli Government. Speaking on behalf of the Arab Group, the Permanent Representative of Egypt, Ambassador Nabil Elaraby said the Assembly would not have to hold a special session if the Security Council had not failed twice in the two weeks to adopt a resolution calling for Israel to desist from all its settlement activities. Stressing that threat to peace in the Middle East came from the actions of the Israeli Government, he said the current Israeli Government bore complete responsibility for derailing the peace process through its continued disregard for the Arab Palestinian people and for international law. "Peace in the region must be based on the principle of land for peace. The Government of Israel alone could decide whether the peace process was alive or dead", he stated. Objecting to several elements of the resolution, the Permanent Representative of the United States, Ambassador Bill Richardson said the economic measures envisioned in the resolution amounted to a demand for a partial economic boycott of Israel. He said such a demand ran contrary to a basic building block of the peace process. While emphasizing that the United States shared the concern expressed by many Member States to begin construction at Har Homa, Ambassador Richardson said the resolution would further aggravate prospects for renewed progress in the peace process, which was, after all, a goal shared by most members of the Assembly and by the Palestinians and Israelis themselves. Speaking on behalf of the European Union, the Permanent Representative of Luxembourg, Ambassador Jean-Louis Wolzfeld, said the Union was extremely concerned that construction work was continuing at Jabal Abu Ghneim/Har Homa and that Israel had failed to respond to the appeals from the international community for an immediate suspension of construction. Ambassador Wolzfeld said the European Union wished to reiterate that settlements in the Occupied Territories contravened international law and constituted a major obstacle to peace. "The events over the last few days underline the urgent need for both sides to show restraint, to abstain from any unilateral action prejudging the permanent status issues, and to resume and maintain full security cooperation with the aim of fighting terrorism", said Ambassador Wolzfeld. The Government of Morocco and the POLISARIO Front have been invited to meet in London over the weekend, a UN spokesman said on Tuesday. Spokesman Fred Eckhard said the invitation follows the first round of talks in Lisbon between the two parties, under the auspices of the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Western Sahara, James Baker III. The Spokesman said the talks would focus on implementation of the settlement plan or such adjustments to it as the parties might agree. The talks, to be convened under the auspices of the Special Envoy, will be attended by Algeria and Mauritania as observers. A UN food aid agency announced on Tuesday that donor countries had responded in record time to its expanded emergency appeal for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The World Food Programme (WFP) said the appeal for more than $45 million, launched in Geneva last week, was aimed at purchasing additional food in order to double food rations for over 2 million children under six years who are threatened with starvation in the country. The World Food Programme said it had now met over 74 per cent of the food target as result of the prompt donor response. "We are delighted that donors have responded so quickly", said WFP Executive Director Catherine Bertini. "It is unheard of for our appeals to be three-quarters met within a space of less than one week. It is a record", said Bertini. She said the response was a record, showing the seriousness with which the food crisis in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was viewed. "The bad news is that we still have a long way to go to meet the country's food needs", she noted. A UN refugee agency said it was preparing to repatriate more than 20,000 Tajik refugees from Afghanistan later this week, following last month's peace agreement between the Tajik government and the United Tajik Opposition. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Tuesday that the first group of Tajik refugees was expected to cross the Oxus river by barge to their homes in southern Tajikistan. UNHCR, which has already helped more than 32,000 Tajiks to return from Afghanistan, said it planned to repatriate up to three groups a week. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said on Tuesday that Burundi refugees continued to flock daily to Tanzania, bringing the total number of Burundi refugees in that country to more than 300,000. According to the UN refugee agency, between 150 and 200 refugees from Bururi and Makamba provinces of Burundi were arriving daily in Tanzanian villages at the edge of Lake Tanganyika's Kigoma region. For information purposes only - - not an official record From the United Nations home page at <http://www.un.org> - email: unnews@un.orgUnited Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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