4 November 2011 General Assembly GA/SPD/497 Department of Public Information • News and Media Division • New York Sixty-sixth General Assembly Fourth Committee 21 st Meeting (AM) OPPORTUNITY FOR ISRAELI ‑‑‑PALESTINIAN PEACE ‘SLIPPING AWAY’, FOURTH COMMITTEE HEARS DURING CONSIDERATION OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE ISRAELI PRACTICES Palestinian Observer Says ‘Occupying Power’ ‘Makes Mockery’ of International Law; Israel Highlights ‘Glaring Omissions’ in Special Committee’s ‘One ‑‑‑Sided Narrative’ The opportunity for Israeli ‑Palestinian peace was “slipping away” and all efforts must be exerted to achieve a final peace settlement, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) heard today as it began its consideration of the work of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories. For its report, the Special Committee, which was established by the General Assembly in 1968, had carried out its first ever mission to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, specifically to the Gaza Strip, by crossing Egypt’s border with Gaza. It also convened meetings in Jordan, and engaged with interlocutors in the occupied Syrian Golan via videoconferences. In the course of its mission, the Special Committee collected testimony from 53 individuals. During the morning’s debate, the observer for Palestine said that while Israeli officials had made statements in the media and at the United Nations about their commitment to realizing peace, according to the Special Committee’s report, during the reporting period more than 91 persons had been killed at the hands of Israeli occupying forces and more than 750 Palestinians in the West Bank had been displaced after their homes were demolished. In the past month alone, amid serious diplomatic efforts by all concerned parties, Israel had announced the construction of nearly 6,000 more settlement units in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, where its settlement expansion remained the most prevalent, she said. At the same time, Israel’s expansionist wall continued unabated. “The occupying Power”, she said, had chosen to make a mockery of the international legal system by continuing to deliberately engage in the violation of international law, including international humanitarian law and human rights law, by committing systematic human rights violations against the Palestinian people, including “countless acts constituting war crimes and State terrorism”. She stressed that the international community must be unanimous in demanding that Israel fully lift the blockade and allow for the rehabilitation of a society that had been “decimated by this vicious form of collective punishment”. Egypt’s representative, speaking on behalf of the Non ‑Aligned Movement, said the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, continued to deteriorate severely. That infringed on their human rights, including their rights to self ‑determination, to freedom of movement, to education, to property, to development, to worship and even to life. He said the Movement was extremely concerned about the Israeli measures aimed at the displacement or transfer of the Palestinian civilian population from strategic areas in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, through illegal practices, which included the continuing aggressive settlement campaign, the construction of the wall, forced evictions, home demolitions, and the revocation of Palestinian residency rights. He urged the international community to act to prevent a total collapse of the peace process after so many years of efforts, and to remain united in its demand that Israel respect its legal obligations as an occupying Power and cease all violations. There was unanimous conviction that such respect was imperative for achieving the two ‑State solution that was mutually agreeable. The representative of the European Union delegation said that recent events had shown the necessity of heeding the legitimate aspirations of people in the region, including those of Palestinians for statehood and of Israelis for security. He reiterated an appeal to the parties to resume negotiations under the terms and within the timelines indicated in the Quartet statement of 23 September, and underlined the Quartet’s crucial role in facilitating the resumption of direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians. He condemned the indiscriminate targeting of civilians everywhere, including through the renewed exchange of fire in the Gaza Strip and the south of Israel. Israel’s representative said that to describe the reports of the Special Committee as “blind” would be charitable. Year after year, the glaring omissions, findings presented out of context, and blatant distortions made a mockery of the fact ‑finding process and undermined the credibility of the Fourth Committee. That made it impossible to accurately or impartially reflect on the situation on the ground. While the reports offered harsh and wide ‑ranging criticism of Israel, Hamas’s brutal repression of Palestinians in Gaza was ignored. He said that thousands of Israelis who had been killed and widowed by acts of Palestinian terror remained unmentioned, and the continued incitement in Palestinian schools, mosques, and media was not discussed. He said the report contained “pages and pages bashing Israel” following the Special Committee’s July visit. He said that when the Special Committee was on the ground, terrorists in Gaza fired 19 rockets and mortars at Israeli civilians. Those attacked were conveniently omitted from the report, as were the more than 9,000 rockets that had been launched in southern Israel over the past 10 years. Advancing a one ‑sided narrative, the Special Committee suggested that settlements were the core cause of the Israeli ‑Palestinian conflict, he said. That was an interesting assertion, considering that the conflict had bee raging for nearly half a century, before a single settlement had sprung up in the West Bank. Like any country, Israel had the right to defend its citizens, he said. Today, the Palestinian leadership was calling for an independent Palestinian State, but insisted that its people “return to the Jewish State”. That proposition was unacceptable to anyone who believed in the right of Israel to exist, because the so ‑called “right of return” would mean the destruction of the State of Israel. At the start of the meeting, General Assembly President Nassir Abdulaziz al ‑ Nasser, spoke. Reports were introduced by Palitha Kohona (Sri Lanka) and Ivan Šimonović, Assistant Secretary ‑General for Human Rights. Also speaking in the debate were the representatives of Senegal, Malaysia, Venezuela, Indonesia, Sudan, Syria, Kuwait, Namibia and the United Arab Emirates. The Fourth Committee will meet again at 10 a.m. on Monday, 7 November, to continue this debate. Background The Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) met today to begin its consideration of Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the Palestinian people and other Arabs of the Occupied Territories, for which it had before it several reports. The Committee had before it a note by the Secretary‑General transmitting the forty ‑third report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories (resolution 65/102) (document A/66/370 ). The report reflects information gathered during the Special Committee’s mission to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, specifically the Gaza Strip, as well as from a meeting convened in Jordan. The report emphasizes the situation of children in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the situation of Palestinians detained by Israel, and Israel’s blockade of Gaza. It also addresses continuing concerns throughout the occupied territories, such as land confiscations, demolitions, settlement expansion and restrictions on movement. The report states that owing to the continuing practice of non ‑recognition of and non ‑cooperation with the Special Committee by the Government of Israel, the Special Committee’s annual mission to the region was not able to directly access all of the occupied territories within its mandate, or to hold consultations with relevant Israeli authorities. However, the Special Committee was able to carry out its first ever visit to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, specifically to the Gaza Strip, by crossing Egypt’s border with Gaza. The Special Committee sought a wide range of views regarding Israeli practices affecting the human rights situation in the occupied territories, the report states. Invitations were extended to Palestinian, Israeli and Syrian victims, witnesses and non ‑governmental organizations, and support was made available to facilitate their appearance before the Committee. The report contains sections on the urgent need to reconstruct Gaza, Israeli ‑enforced restrictions on freedom of movement in Gaza, land confiscation, demolition, displacement and settlements, and other issues. The Committee also had before it a report of the Secretary ‑General on the Work of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories (document A/66/373 ). This report also draws attention to the Special Committee’s first ever mission to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, specifically