unitex@rubbs.fidonet.org (unitex) (09/12/89)
STATEMENT BY SECRETARY-GENERAL AT INTERNATIONAL NGO MEETING
ON QUESTION OF PALESTINE
The following statement was made by Under-Secretary-General
Ronald I. Spiers, on behalf of the Secretary-General, at the
Sixth United Nations International Meeting on the Question of
Palestine, which was held at the United Nations Office in
Vienna, 30 August - 1 September 1989:
It is an honour for me to welcome you, in the name of the
Secretary-General of the United Nations, to the Sixth United
Nations International NGO Meeting on the Question of Palestine.
This important meeting has been convened by the Committee on the
Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People in
fulfilment of its mandate as defined in the resolutions of the
General Assembly of the United Nations. It is my pleasant duty
to convey to you this statement for the Secretary-General,
Javier Perez de Cuellar, who has asked me to do so on his
behalf.
The Committee has been engaged for 13 years in persistent efforts
aimed at securing for the Palestinian people the exercise of its
inalienable rights. The recommendations formulated by it in
1976 to achieve that objective have been endorsed by the General
Assembly at each of its subsequent sessions. The Committee has
undertaken a number of important and useful activities in the
fulfilment of its mandate. The regional seminars and symposia,
the international non-governmental organizations meetings like
this one, the publications and studies issued under the
Committee's guidance, the International Day of Solidarity with
the Palestinian People, commemorated each year on 29 November,
and the Committee's support to the activities undertaken by the
Department of Public Information, have all contributed to the
increased awareness of the Palestinian cause in all parts of the
world.
This meeting is taking place at a time of important developments
regarding the question of Palestine. The uprising in the
occupied territories, the intifadah, which began in December
1987, and the harsh measures enforced to suppress it, remain a
matter of grave concern for the international community. The
Secretary-General is particularly disturbed at the large number
of deaths and injuries among the civilians, including women and
children. Moreover, detention of thousands of Palestinians and
numerous deportations, in violation of Security Council
resolutions, underscore the seriousness of the situation. The
Secretary-General on a number of occasions has urged the Israeli
authorities to exercise maximum restraint in the occupied
territories. He has also appealed to Israel, as the occupying
Power, to abide in full by its obligations under the Fourth
Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons
in Time of War of 12 August 1949.
Some other very important and positive developments should be
recalled. They include the Nineteenth Extraordinary Session of
the Palestine National Council, held in November 1988 at
Algiers, the consideration of the Question of Palestine by the
General Assembly at its forty-third session at Geneva in
December 1988 and the important statement and remarks made on
that occasion on behalf of the Palestinian people by Yasser
Arafat, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestine
Liberation Organization, as well as the decision of the United
States Government to enter into a dialogue with the Palestine
Liberation Organization. These are encouraging events. However,
the path to a just peace in the Middle East is a difficult one
* Origin: UNITEX --> Toward a United Species (1:107/501)
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