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) --- Patt Haring | UNITEX : United Nations patth@sci.ccny.cuny.edu | Information patth@ccnysci.BITNET | Transfer Exchange -=- Every child smiles in the same language. -=-