Panel On Palestinian Rights Marks 30th Anniversary

UN Panel On Palestinian Rights Marks 30th Anniversary But Sees Failure Of Peace Efforts

New York, Nov 10 2005 7:00PM

Marking the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, its lead officials today said the occasion is not a cause for celebration but rather an opportunity to reflect on decades of failed efforts to resolve the question of Palestine.

"Today's anniversary also reminds us that we have to redouble our efforts at bringing about a just solution of the question of Palestine," the Committee's bureau said in a statement.

On 10 November 1975, the General Assembly adopted a landmark resolution establishing the Committee and outlining its mandate. In that resolution, the General Assembly expressed its deep concern that no just solution to the problem of Palestine had yet been achieved, and recognized that the problem of Palestine continued to endanger international peace and security.

Since then, the Committee's programme of work has gradually expanded, now encompassing a variety of activities, such as the convening of international meetings and conferences in all regions of the world, establishing cooperation with a wide network of civil society organizations active on the question of Palestine, and organizing an annual training programme for young staff of the Palestinian Authority.

In September of this year, the Committee said the removal of Israeli settlements from the Gaza Strip and parts of the northern West Bank and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip was a promising step that could revive negotiations within the framework of the Road Map, and move forward the stalled peace process. It voiced hope that the resulting positive momentum would be followed by similar steps in the rest of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and breathe new life into the political process.

In its statement today, which responded to recent events, the Committee expressed concern "about the creation by Israel, the occupying Power, of new facts on the ground that include settlement expansion in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and accelerated construction of the illegal wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory." The Committee noted that those activities contravene international law.

"Today, we are as committed and ready as ever to work hard to help the Palestinian people to fulfil their inalienable rights and realize their national aspirations in a State of their own," the bureau said, pledging to "carry on most vigorously the important mandate entrusted to the Committee by the General Assembly for the benefit of the Palestinian people."

ENDS

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