General Assembly Session Not Conducive to Peace Process
Emergency session on Mideast violence opens
By Judy Aita
Washington File United Nations Correspondent
United Nations -- Representatives of Israel and the Palestinian
Authority outlined their positions on the violence in the occupied
territories to a sparsely attended opening session of the 10th
emergency special session of the General Assembly October 18.
The session, which was requested by the Palestine Observer Mission to
the U.N. with the support of the 114-nation Non-Aligned Movement, was
scheduled despite calls by the United States and Israel to refrain
from holding a potentially inflammatory session so soon after the
difficult summit at Sharm el-Sheikh produced an understanding by
Israeli and Palestinian leaders to halt the bloodshed.
U.S. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke said, "the President of the United
States, the Secretary General of the United Nations, President
Mubarak, Chairman Arafat, and Prime Minister Barak and others met at
Sharm el-Sheikh yesterday. They reached an agreement. One of the
agreements was don't introduce or reintroduce points of conflict and
tension."
"This General Assembly session today may make some countries feel
good. It's a chance for some ambassadors to stand and to make a speech
into the emptiness of the General Assembly hall about how they feel,
but it is not conducive to the peace process," Holbrooke told the
Washington File.
"If you support peace -- and I think the majority of the people in the
region still want peace in spite of the tragedy -- then you want to
put some calming atmosphere on the situation. A debate in the General
Assembly today is not conducive to that goal," the ambassador said.
"I understand the anger of people in the Arab world about the
situation, about the incidents and events in places like Ramallah and
Nablus. I can understand that," Holbrooke said.
The one-hour opening session heard statements by Palestinian Observer
Ambassador Nasser Al-Kidwa; Israeli Ambassador Yehuda Lancry; African
Ambassador Dumissnik Kumalo, on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement;
and Senegal Ambassador Ibra Ka, chairman of the Committee on the
Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. The
session then adjourned until October 20 when it will hear a report
from Secretary General Kofi Annan, who took an active part in the
summit negotiations.
Holbrooke said he hoped the session "will make everyone feel they have
had their say and then we can get back on with the peace process."
While continuing to stress that the session was "unnecessary," the
ambassador said that he attended "out of respect for the
representative of the Palestinian (Observer) Ambassador Al-Kidwa and
Israeli Ambassador Yehuda Lancry and Ambassador Kumalo of South Africa
and the Ambassador from Senegal."
A draft resolution before the assembly condemns "acts of violence and
the excessive use of force by the Israeli occupying forces against
Palestinian civilians;" supports the need for full respect of the holy
places in Jerusalem; and says that "Israeli settlements in occupied
Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem, are illegal and are an
obstacle to peace."
Al-Kidwa said that the sponsors of the resolution will review the
draft in light of the summit and "what will happen in the coming
hours" and may make revisions.
Holbrooke said that "a resolution in the General Assembly is
incompatible with the role of either the United Nations or the United
States functioning as an honest broker."
In his address to the assembly, al-Kidwa blamed Israel for using "its
huge war machine to launch a bloody campaign of repression against our
people," imposing severe restrictions on the movements of persons and
goods, and using tanks and other heavy weapons to impose "a siege" on
Palestinian cities and villages.
"The occupying forces have used heavy weaponry, helicopter gunships
and, in many cases they have caused a large number of casualties and
losses among our people," al-Kidwa said. "In addition to all of this
ugliness, Israel, the occupying power, attempts to lay the blame on
the Palestinian side, to point the finger of blame to those who have
been killed and injured."
Israel's Ambassador Lancry cited a number of Palestinian actions,
including the freeing of prisoners who have been convicted of
committing violent acts against Israelis, as "an alarming pattern of
behavior by the Palestinian leadership" that sent "a clear signal to
their people, to Israel, and by now to the world, that they are
choosing the path of violence."
Allegations that Israel used "excessive force" in confrontations with
Palestinians "are completely unfounded," Lancry said. "There is no
nation on earth that would tolerate such violent life-threatening
attacks against its citizens and not respond in kind."
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