 |
Ambassador A. Peter Burleigh Chargé d'affaires, a.i. of the United States Mission to the United Nations Statement in Explanation of Vote in the Tenth Emergency Special Session of the General Assembly on "Illegal Israeli Actions in Occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territory" February 9, 1999 |
USUN PRESS RELEASE #03 (99)
February 9, 1999
CHECK TEXT AGAINST DELIVERY
Statement by Ambassador A. Peter Burleigh, Chargé d'affaires, a.i. of
the United States Mission to the United Nations, in Explanation of Vote on "Illegal
Israeli Actions in Occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian
Territory" in the Tenth Emergency Special Session of the General Assembly, February
9, 1999
Mr. President,
Yesterday, we gathered in this chamber to hear powerful tributes to King Hussein. Different regional groups spoke; representatives of different countries made statements in a number of languages. But all drew one conclusion about what made King Hussein great: his tireless work for peace and unrelenting efforts to bring the benefits of peace to his people. This is something to which we all aspire -- the very aim that brings us here today.
The United States is working hard to achieve a just, lasting, and comprehensive settlement of the conflict in the Middle East. I think we all share this goal. The United Nations can play a positive and important role in that quest. The question we must ask ourselves is this: Does this Emergency Special Session -- or this resolution -- contribute to that goal? The answer, clearly, is no.
My Government does not believe that this resolution, either in content or in tone, advances the cause of Middle East peace, or even promises to improve the lot of the Palestinians, which is the avowed purpose of this initiative. In fact, this resolution is likely to have just the opposite effect, damaging further the environment between the parties, precisely at a time when actions are needed --on both sides -- to improve that environment.
The Palestinians and the Israelis agreed to handle the issues raised today in their negotiations. We do not believe that the United Nations or any other body should interfere in that discussion. But more importantly, we believe that this initiative will be counter-productive.
The resolution's call for a meeting of all the high contracting parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to "enforce" the Convention in the occupied territories will only serve to damage the climate necessary for productive and ultimately successful negotiations. The language of this resolution and its proposed steps prejudge negotiations on permanent status issues and hamper the chances for eventually achieving the goal of peace shared by us all.
We remain deeply concerned that this resolution, like similar ones in the past, constitutes an unacceptable assault on the basic uses and meaning of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
This resolution is another step toward politicizing that noble Convention, which is fundamentally humanitarian in nature. It demeans the Convention to use it as a vehicle to drive the political agendas of parties to a negotiating process.
This resolution is redundant and hortatory and will not accomplish the goal it ostensibly seeks to achieve. It will, in fact, not advance that process even incrementally. If it succeeds at anything, it will succeed, perhaps, in politicizing the Fourth Geneva Convention. Is that really something any of us would characterize as a success?
Let us not lose sight of our goal. My government has not, and we are working every day to bring about a just and lasting settlement between Palestinians and Israelis. We want to see the Wye River Memorandum implemented in its entirety -- by both sides -- as soon as possible. We want to see progress in the permanent status negotiations.
That is why the United States will vote "no" on this resolution. We ask all of you to do the same.
* * * * *
