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Statement

by H.E.Mr. Nirupam Sen
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations on Agenda Item 15: Question of Palestine and Agenda Item L4: The situation in the Middle East at the 60thSession of the UN General Assemblv

New York

November 29,2A05

PermanentMission of India to the United Nations 235 East 43rd Street,New York, NY 10017. Tel: (212) 490-9660. Fax: (212) 490-9656 E-Mail: india@un.int. indiaun@prodigy.net

Mr. President, India has warmly welcomed the agreement concluded between Israel and the Palestinian Authority on the Rafah border crossing for travel between Gaza and the West Bank, and for building a sea port in the Gaza Sttrp. We believe that this was a significant development that would go a long way towards improving the lives and economy of the Palestinian people living in the Gaza Strip. There also seems to be a need for a floating dock or some other such arrangement, which can be operationalised quickly, because the belief that there is no guaranteed border outlet se( ms to be holding back foreign investors. The opening of the Rafah border last Saturday, which enabled L,548 Palestinians to cross into Egypt without being subject to Israeli checks for the first time, has raised hopes for further progress in efforts to revitaltze the Middle East PeaceProcess. There have also been other signs generati.g optimism this year. The election of President Mahmoud Abbas in January 2005 demonstrated the commitment of the Palestinian people to democracy. In September, Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip and parts of the northern West Bank, marking Israel's first withdrawal from occupied Palestinian territory since 1967. This landmark event has set an important precedent for the evenfual reali zatton of a two-State solution. India had welcomed the withdrawal as a positive development and the beginnitg of a process that we hoped would take forward the negotiations in accordance with the Roadmap and the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions. Elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council, scheduled for January 2A06, will provide further incentive for the Palestinians to fully engage in the democratic process. Mr. President, With a renewed sense of optimism also comes the hard reckoning of reality. In his report lA/ 6A/539] dated November 7,2005 on the

agenda items under consideration, the Secretary General draws attention to the fact that the humanitarian situation of the Palestinian people in 2A04 has remained grave. About half of the Palestinian population lived below the official poverty line of $2.10 per day, compared to just 22 percent in 2000. Furthermore, 1,6 percent of Palestinians (approximately 560,000 people) were in deep poverty. Unemployment increased more than threefold since 2000, reaching a figure of 238,000 unemployed tn 2004, Iargely as a result of internal and external roadblocks in and to the occupied Palestinian territory. Palestinians continued to face problems reaching their places of work, schools and hospitals, and standards of health and education continued to deteriorate. In some parts of the territory, Palestinians' needs for additional humanitarian assistancerose sharply as a consequence. The Secretary General has also expressed concern over Israel's continued settlement expansion and unilateral construction of the wall in the West Bank. He has pointed out that lack of action on removing illegal settlement outposts erected since 2AC[ has severely undermined trust in Israel's intentions and that government-sponsored settlement activity has a negative impact on the territorial contiguity of Palestinian territory and thus remains a source of serious concern. According to the Roadmap, Israel has an obligation to freeze all settlement activity, including natural growth, and immediately dismantle outposts erected illegally since March 200L The Secretary General has also stated that Israel's unilateral construction of the wall on Palestinian land continues and that along with continued Israeli settlement activity, it constitutes a k"y challenge to the fulfilment of the Roadmap's goal of a two-State solution. At this critical stage, it becomes all the more important for the international colrununity to take steps to see smooth implementation of Palestinian trade and transit access both within its territories and with the outside world. It is equally important for Israel to stop settlement activity, Irtt curfews and ease restrictions on the movement of persons and goods and thereby significantly improve the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territories. Israel's actions should not result in prejudging final status issues or threaten longer-term prospects for Peace by making the creation of a viable and contiguous Palestinian State much more difficult.

The problem is that settlement activity leads to cantonisation and changespatterns of transportation and access.The wall's encroachment on Palestinian land and interests create great hardships for the Palestirnian people #fected by its construction and exacerbatesthe situation by placing populations, agricultural land and a part of the Moreover, continued West Bank aquifer beyond their reach. construction of the wall on Palestinian land threatens to prejudge the eventual outcome of the final stafus negotiations between the parties. We therefore reif,erateour call to Israel to abide by its legal obligations as set forth in the 9 JyIy 20A4advisory opinion of the International Court of Justiceand resolution ES-10/L5 of the GeneralAssembly. On its part, the Palestinian Authority has to also shoulder its responsibility by undertaking action on the ground to halt violence. As the Secretary General has pointed out, the Palestinian Authority must push ahead with efforts to reform the Palestinian security services. Decisive action in this regard should help to restorelaw and order. Mr. President, India has, over the years, assisted the Palestinian Authority through development projects and human resources development. Indian assistance projects in the Palestinian Authority include construction and establishment of the Jawaharlal Nehru Lrbrary at the Al Azhar University in Gaza City and the Mahatma Gandhi Librarycum-Student Activity Centre at the PalestinianTechnicalCollege at Deir Al Balah in the Gaza Strip. During the visit of President Abbas to India in Muy 2005, the Prime Minister of India announced a grant of US $ 15 million to Palestine for developmental projects. This was an addition to a grant fund hospitals announced earlier this year. These grants will, inter aLia, and Information Technology Centres in Gaza and Ramallah, an Indian Chair in Al Quds University and a school in Abu Dis. We wish to also recall the late PalestinianPresidentYasserArafat, who passed away on LL November 20A4.For nearly four decades,he representedthe national aspirations of the Palestinianpeople. On this occasion,we wish to pay homage to his memory and recall his everiasting contribution to the Palestiniancause.

Mr. President, We would urge both Palestiniansand Israelis to make optimal use of the opportunities represented in this new beginnitg. The ceasefire concluded at the Sharm el Sheikh Summit in February 2005 has broadly survived, resulting in a noticeable improvement in the security situation marked by u decreasein the number of deaths since then. Renewed and redoubled efforts are necessaryfor the peaceprocessto move forward in "Quartet" Roadmap accordancewith the relevant UN resolutions, the and international law. The international community must Press for renewed action in parallel by both parties on their obligations under the Roadmap, which provides both Israel and the Palestinians the best opportunity to move beyond the conflict and towards peace/ security and prosperity. The international cofiununity must also continue to assistthe parties in simultaneously addressingeconomic,humanitarian, security and political issues. We hope that a negotiated solution to end this conflict will be found quickly. The vision of an independent, democratic and viable Falestinian State living side by side with Israel in secureand recognised borders remains as valid, and perhaps more attainablenow, than at any other time. India urges the parties concerned and the international cornmunity to press for a just and comprehensive resolution of the conflict and the broader achievementof peace,security and stability for the entire region within the earliest possible time-frame, based on SecurityCouncil resolutions242,338,1397and 1515. Mr. President, India has advocated a comprehensivesolution to the situation in the Middle East, as the logical next step in the resolution of the wider Israeli-Arab conflict on the regional level as envisaged in the Saudi "Iand for peace" holds equally Arabian peaceinitiative. The principle of valid in addressing the other fracks of the Middle East conflict. We sincerely hope the comprehensivepolitical processcan be revived at the earliest" Thank you, Mr. President.
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