UNESCO. General Conference; 30th; Records ... - unesdoc - Unesco

(19.1) Mr ABED RABO (Palestine) (Translation from the Arabic):
Madam President, Mr Chairperson of the Executive Board, Mr Director-General, ladies and gentlemen, it
is a great honour for me to address you, and to convey to you the greetings of the Palestinian people and their great
esteem for this Organization, which, in its noble goals, enshrines the age-old aspirations of humanity to justice,
equality and peace.
(19.2) It is no secret that the current session of the General Conference of UNESCO is endowed with great
symbolic significance and particular operational importance. It is being held as humanity is about to enter a new
millennium, and is preparing for a decade which the world’s peoples hope will fulfil their legitimate aspirations to
security and prosperity. UNESCO’s strategy for the future will spring from the resolutions adopted at this
Conference, and that strategy will translate humanity’s desire for openness toward a new centurys, one which we
all hope promises justice, freedom, equality and cooperation in meeting the challenges of the future. This applies
to, inter alia, closing the widening gap between rich and poor, the new information society, the preservation of
cultural and linguistic diversity, the role played by education and educational institutions, including universities, in
formulating national development policies and consolidating respect for human rights and freedoms.
(19.3) Madam President, I need not remind you that my country, Palestine, is the cradle of the monotheistic
religions and the birthplace of the founder of Christianity. We greatly appreciate UNESCO’s initiative in adopting
the “Bethlehem 2000” project, and I should like to express my admiration for the hard work and the forwardlooking
vision of Mr Federico Mayor, the Director-General, in connection with that project, to which we attach the
utmost importance. It is with a feeling of pride that I convey to you Palestine’s appreciation of UNESCO’s
inestimable contribution to the work of transforming the “Bethlehem 2000” project into tangible reality. I take
great pleasure in informing you that President Yasser Arafat, as a means of expressing and translating that
appreciation, has approached the Director-General of UNESCO and requested that this Organization should be the
locale for the announcement, next 29 November, of the beginning of the celebration of “Bethlehem 2000”. I am
pleased, on behalf of the Palestinian people, to invite you all to come and participate personally in that evening of
celebration. I should also like to convey to you the greetings of the Palestinian people and express their great
esteem for your uninterrupted support over the past two decades in particular, and their acknowledgement of the
importance of that support in their quest for independence and sovereignty and the recovery of their legitimate
national rights.
(19.4) Madam President, UNESCO has always sought to protect the archaeological and cultural monuments of
the city of Jerusalem, and has adopted many resolutions to that effect; it has also made admirable efforts to preserve
and protect the city’s cultural heritage. The internationally renowned archaeologist, Professor Léon Pressouyre, has
submitted a report to this Conference (30 C/12, dated 5 October 1999) describing, with the utmost objectivity and
scientific impartiality, the serious dangers currently threatening Jerusalem, and the appalling alterations that have
disfigured and continue to disfigure the city’s character and cultural heritage. I thank the Organization for
acknowledging the great importance of Professor Pressouyre’s work and agreeing to provide further support to
enable him to continue with it, inasmuch as that work plays a role in enhancing awareness of the need for energetic
action to put a stop to these violations.
(19.5) I am well aware that you understand the Palestinian people’s need for UNESCO’s support and generous
efforts with the tasks of preserving our heritage, strengthening our identity, building our national political and
cultural institutions and obtaining our independence. UNESCO, in a variety of programmes and projects, has made
it clear that it recognizes the importance of supporting Palestinian education and culture as a fundamental element
in the building of peace. This attitude has encouraged us to ask for further support and to request UNESCO’s
assistance for our own efforts to develop an ambitious strategy in the fields of culture and education, one that will
be appropriate for the coming century and will help us recover from the long decades of occupation, war and
destruction that have affected every aspect of our national life, and will help us, as a people, to muster the
capabilities we need in order to develop in a setting of democracy and stability.
(19.6) Turning to other matters, I should like to commend UNESCO’s Medium-Term Strategy for 1996-2001
and its admirable endeavours to coordinate the activities of the International Year for the Culture of Peace in
response to the resolution of the General Assembly of the United Nations proclaiming the year 2000 the
International Year for the Culture of Peace. In this connection, I am pleased to single out the special role assumed
by Mr Mayor and his estimable efforts in crystallizing the culture of peace project, the activities relating to which
are being coordinated by UNESCO. That project addresses one of the most important needs and aspirations of the
Palestinian people, a fact acknowledged by UNESCO through its establishment of a Coordination Unit for Action
in support of the Palestinian people. I hope to see that unit strengthened and expanded. The culture of peace project
also requires a worldwide effort to change the way people think and act, in order to strengthen the basis of peace
while simultaneously avoiding the occurrence of conflict and building peace and trust among humanity. Madam
President, the foundations of a Palestinian culture based on a culture of peace between the Palestinian and Israeli
456