SPECIAL MEETING TO MARK SIXTY YEARS OF OF DISPOSSESSION PALESTII{E REFUGEES
United Nations Headquarters, New York 20 June 2008

CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY

I
by Closingstatement

H.E. Mr. Paul Badji Chairman Riehts of on Committee the Exercise the Inalienable People of the Palestinian

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen.

On behalf of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the PalestinianPeople,I would like to expressour sincereappreciation all the participantsfor to their important statements. Our special thanks go to the distinguishedpanellists for sharing with us their valuable insightsand expertise.

The unresolvedquestionof Palestineis without parallel in the history of the modern world insofar as it has impactedthe lives of so many rnillions of people for such a prolonged period of time. The eventsthat unfolded in Mandate Palestinein the first half of l94B led to the dispossession deprivationof the entire Palestinianpeopleof their homeland,their and properly and their identity. The major victims of the Nakba, the Palestinerefugees,seemto have moved somehow to the periphery of the attention span of the international community, as an old and semi-forgottenrefugeecrisis that rarely makesthe headlinesanymore. The Palestinerefugeeissueweighs heavily on our collective conscience, the prevailing as situation of the refugeesis one that standsout in sharp contrastto the lofty humanitarian idealsthat we proclaim our allegianceto, as individuals and as States. Resolvingthe issue has been given a high priority by the international community in its efforts to find a just and lasting solution to the questionof Palestine. We simply cannot comprehensive, allow millions of Palestine refugeesto continueto suffer forever, locked into a marginalized existence,disempowered, with little dignity or control over their environment,disgruntled,an easy prey for extremists,and a permanentsourceof regional instability.

The right of return of the Palestinerefugees- an inalienableright - is not just a highminded but unattainable humanitarianideal, or a bargainingchip, expendable the context in of a future permanentsettlement.Neither'shouldthe Palestinerefugeeissuebe one of those intractable chronic situationsthat can only be expectedto be deferred indefinitely and managedthrough humanitarianand securityefforts. Workable solutionsmust be sought,by convincingjust a few skeptics,clearingup some of the fog of the convenientmisconceptions clinging to the issue,and challengingsome of the myopic and complacentviews. The situation of the Palestine refugeesand the vortex of problemswhich it entailsare not becoming better with the passage time. This is a problem that demandsa permanent of solution.

The United Nations' position is that without a just solution to the issue of Palestine refugeesin accordance with GeneralAssembly resolution 194 (1948), a sustainable peacein the entire region will not be achieved. For its part, the Committee will continue to raise awarenessof the root causeof the Israeli-Palestinianconflict - the occupation by Israel of the PalestinianTerritory. It should be brought to an end on the basisof SecurifyCouncil resolutions 242 (1967),252 (1968),338 (1 973), 1397(2002)and 1515 (2002), andthe Arab PeaceInitiative, leadingto the creationof a PalestinianState,with East Jerusalem its as capital, living side by side in peaceand securitywith Israel.

Before concluding,I would like to inform you that all relateddocumentation this to Meeting will be made available on the web site maintainedby the Division for Palestinian Rishts of the United Nations Secretariat.

I would like once again to expressour appreciationto all the participants.

I now declareclosedthe Specialmeetingto mark sixty years of dispossession of Palestinerefusees.