General Assembly: 72nd Plenary
General Assembly Requests Secretary-General to 
Submit Further Report on Investigations into
Violations During Gaza Conflict –  Part 1
February 26, 2010

 PALESTINIAN REPRESENTATIVE:  Thank you Mr. President.  Mr. President, I would like to begin by expressing the gratitude of Palestine to all those who were able to venture this massive snowstorm and to come to this room today and to participate in adopting a very important resolution.  We thank them all, and we regret that 56 delegations were unable to make it, and I'm sure the reason is the snow.
However, the trend is obvious and clear.  The number who are opposing the essence of this resolution and the resolution before it is shrinking.  It moved from 18 who opposed last time to 7 who opposed this time.  I think that this is victory to all of us, victory to victims of the Palestinian people and victory to international humanitarian law.  
I wish to begin, again, by expressing Palestine's deep appreciation to you for convening this meeting of the General Assembly, ensuring the continuity of the principled efforts by the international community to follow up the report of the United Nations fact-finding mission on the Gaza conflict, the Goldstone report.  That report, as we all know, was a pivotal report that has, along with many other investigative reports issued in the aftermath of last year's Israeli's military aggression against the Gaza Strip, exposed the true scope and scale of the grave breeches of international humanitarian law and human rights abuses committed by Israel against a defenseless and besieged Palestinian civilian population under its occupation.  
In our ongoing quest to end impunity and to ensure accountability for crimes committed and to ensure justice for the victims, we have returned to the General Assembly following its initial effort to follow up the Goldstone report with the adoption of resolution 64/10 last November.  In this regard, we express our thanks to the United Nations' Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon for his recent submission of a report as requested by the Assembly in resolution 64/10.
We have given due consideration to the Secretary General's report, particularly his observation that no determination could be made as to the implementation of the resolution's provisions.  In our efforts at this stage of the followup process as reflected in the clear, focused content of the resolution that has just been overwhelmingly adopted by this august assembly.  
In this regard, as affirmed by the Arab Group, we reiterate that we interpret this observation to mean that the Israeli paper annexed to the Secretary General's report does not constitute compliance, as it does not fulfill the call for independent, credible investigations conforming with international standards into the serious violations reported by the fact-finding mission.
Thus, the Assembly has reiterated its call on Israel for independent and credible investigations towards ensuring accountability and justice for the crimes committed.  At the same time, since by the end of the reporting period the Palestinian side had only been at the preliminary stage of its effort to conduct an independent, credible investigation as called for by resolution 64/10, the resolution adopted today also reiterates the urging to the Palestinian side for the conduct of such an investigation.
We reaffirm that we take this responsibility upon ourselves very serious based on our deep conviction in and respect for the rule of law, including humanitarian and human rights law and for UN resolutions.  As such, the independent, investigative commission that has been established by presidential decree has set up to take the necessarily steps to fulfill its mandate in accordance with the recommendation of the fact-finding mission and pursuant to General Assembly resolution 64/10 towards ensuring accountability and justice.  
Palestine thus intends in the coming five months, the reporting period defined by the resolution just adopted, to carry out in the most efficient manner an independent and credible investigation into the allegations made in the report of the fact-finding mission and to submit to the Secretary General a substantial response.
Further, in this regard, we reiterate that we do so not on the basis of any symmetry or proportionality between the Palestinian people under occupation and Israel, the occupying power, for there is no equivalence whatsoever between the scope, scale, intensity and gravity of the Israeli aggression and crimes against our people and actions by the Palestinian side.  Rather, we do based on our firm believe that our adherence to international law and the fulfillment of our responsibilities can only further enhance the collective efforts to uphold international law, including in particular those laws explicitly intended to ensure the safety, well being and protection of civilians in armed conflict in all circumstances.
Moreover, we do so -- we do so based on our firm belief that such efforts will enhance our collective efforts to end the culture of impunity that Israel, the occupying power, has so arrogantly, flagrantly and aggressively conducted itself with for far too long without repercussions.  Acting above the law, Israel has inflected untold suffering and devastation on the Palestinian people it has opposed for over four decades in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and has its course gravely undermined the applicability and credibility of international law.  It is high time to end and reverse this destructive, obscene pattern of behavior by Israel and that begins with ensuring accountability by punishing those responsible for the perpetration of war crimes against innocent civilians and ensuring justice for the many victims of those crimes.
In this regard, we stress that our quest for accountability will not end until we achieve justice for the thousands of Palestinian victims, children, women and men who have so suffered under Israeli occupation and who look to the international community to ensure that justice is served and that international law is upheld and respected equally in all circumstances.
Further, in this connection, we cannot overemphasize the importance of the reaffirmation in the resolution we have adopted regarding the applicability of the fourth Geneva Convention to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and for the relevant human rights instruments.  Respect and ensuring respect of the convention in accordance with common article one is paramount and is an obligation that all high-contracting parties must uphold with utmost seriousness.
We thus welcome the reiteration by the Assembly of the recommendation to Switzerland in its capacity as the depository of the Geneva Conventions to reconvene as soon as possible a conference of high-contracting parties on matters to enforce the convention in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.  
The Occupied Palestinian Territory cannot remain the exception to the rule when it comes to respect of the provisions of this convention.  That explicitly aims to ensure the protection of civilians in time of war, including in situations of foreign occupation.  
Practical measures are clearly needed to enforce respect for the convention.  We thus hope that the conference will be reconvened in the timeliest manner and will build upon the important, comprehensive declaration adopted by the high-contracting parties in December 2001.
Mr. President, I wish to conclude by expressing Palestine's genuine and deepest gratitude and appreciation to all of the member states that have voted in favor of this resolution today.  Their principled support is a clear reaffirmation of their conviction in the rule of law, including international humanitarian and human rights law, and their collective commitment to upholding the law in all circumstances, including with regard to the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.  It is also a clear reflection of their desire and efforts to prevent impunity, ensure justice and deter further violations of the law, all of which are imperative in our long quest to promote a just, lasting, comprehensive and peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine, for peace cannot be attained without justice.  
I reiterate our thanks for the overwhelming and principled support of the General Assembly, and I thank you very much, once again, Mr. President.