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Statement “The Situation in the Middle East” New York, 1 December 2000
The past year will be chronicled in history as one marked with surging hopes and great optimism as well as of deepening despair and bitter frustration in reaching a comprehensive peace to the Arab-Israeli conflict, particularly the restoration of Palestinian inalienable rights. This session should have borne witness to a final settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian track of negotiations that should have heralded in a new era assuring a historic reconciliation of all peoples in the region and enabling them to live in peace, harmony and human dignity. Instead, we are confronted with a rapidly deteriorating and explosive situation in the Middle East region. We can not but express our dismay and disappointment at the current state of affairs where military aggression has been substituted for peace negotiations. The Palestinian people including innocent civilians, women and children are bearing the brunt of a campaign of violence in which hundreds of them have been killed and injured. The nascent Palestinian economy and physical infrastructure have been devastated and the rule of force is seeking to stem the will of the people. Given the danger of further escalating violence and widening conflict, there should be no delay in according urgent consideration to the deployment of a UN protection force. We also hope that the visit of the UN fact-finding mission will help yield useful information and thereby contribute to quelling the violence. Israel must be called upon to cease its aggression without pre-conditions for failure to prevent further escalation on the ground will ignite the whole region and result in incalculable and uncontrollable consequence not only for the Middle East but for the world at large. There can be no alternative to seeking the path to peace. From Madrid to Oslo, Washington to Hebron, Cairo to Wye River and Sharm el-Sheikh to Camp David, the peace negotiations have been long and arduous and strewn with formidable obstacles. Throughout this process, the Palestinian people have been undaunted by their adversities and sufferings and vigorously pursued the path to peace. The stakes for achieving peace to the Palestinians and to the people in the region are high for the issues involved do not only involve the question of peace, territory and settlement but also the future of an entire peoples and their never-ending struggle for freedom and independence. Peace is however illusory if it means unimplemented agreements, broken deadlines and un-kept commitments. Neither can peace flourish and grow, when on the one hand accords are reached while untenable policies continue unabated. These have included, expansion of settlements, confiscation of Arab lands, demolitions of houses and properties and economic strangulation of the Palestinian territories. The interests of peace can never be served if its sole purpose is to legitimize occupation and dispossession. Indonesia has held steadfast to its position as reaffirmed in numerous General Assembly and Security Council resolutions that a just and lasting settlement in the Middle East, with the question of Palestine as its core, can only be attained by fully taking into account the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including the right to their homeland and due recognition of the rights of all States in the region to live within internationally recognized boundaries. This settlement must be on the basis of Security Council resolutions 242 and 338 and based on the bedrock principle of land for peace. It is essential therefore that Israel withdraw from all occupied territories, including Jerusalem and the Syrian Golan Heights. Furthermore, the United Nations should play an active role especially since the Organization has in the past and can in the future make important contributions to peace in the Middle East. This is the task before us in seeking productive negotiations to reach a solution based on mutual respect and accommodation for freedom and prosperity of future generations. It is our fervent hope that out of the tragedies in recent weeks, a new and just vision of peace will be realized for all the peoples in the region. Finally, Mr. President, my delegation has noted with satisfaction at the positive developments that have taken place in Lebanon, especially the withdrawal by Israel in accordance with Security Council resolution 425. It is particularly gratifying that after more than two decades of occupation, the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of Lebanon has been fully restored. In beginning this new century, this rare opportunity to reach a peaceful settlement should be seized not only for the people who have endured long years of insecurity, violence and denial of their fundamental rights but also for international peace and security. The United Nations and the international community should exert every effort to support the common cause and for all parties to move decisively forward in the quest for lasting peace in the region. Only then can it be said that one of the most intractable conflicts of the last century has been relegated to history. Thank you, Mr. President.
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