Palestinian issues

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks to the opening of the 2016 session of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, today in New York:

Palestinians were losing hope after nearly 50 years of occupation by Israel, but despite the challenges, the United Nations remained committed to creating the conditions for the resumption of meaningful negotiations, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Palestinian Rights Committee today as it opened its 2016 session.

JAKARTA, 16 December — After the two-day International Conference on the Question of Jerusalem concluded on 15 December, the United Nations Civil Society Forum on the Question of Palestine met this morning to hear from experts and engage in discussions on the theme of “Civil society action in support of justice in Palestine and ending the occupation”.

JAKARTA, 15 December — As the two-day International Conference on the Question of Jerusalem concluded this morning, experts in a plenary session on historical and contemporary models of coexistence provided a glimpse of the city’s past and present while offering suggestions for the future.

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message, delivered by Douglas Broderick, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Coordinator in Indonesia, to the Meeting of the United Nations Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on the Question of Jerusalem, in Jakarta today:

JAKARTA, 14 December — The International Conference on the Question of Jerusalem, which opened here this morning, held a plenary session in the afternoon, examining the status of religious sites under local and international law, protection of civilians and the current situation and its genesis.

JAKARTA, 14 December — The two-day International Conference on the Question of Jerusalem opened in Jakarta, Indonesia, this morning under the theme “Addressing the present and shaping the future” of the city also known as Al-Quds Al-Sharif.

The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, in cooperation with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), will convene an International Conference on the Question of Jerusalem in Jakarta, at the Hotel Borobodur on 14 and 15 December 2015, under the theme “Addressing the present and shaping the future of Jerusalem”.

In a meeting commemorating the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, to be observed 29 November, the Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine called on the international community to stop selective and biased policies in applying justice, stressing that the lack of implementation of United Nations resolutions on Israel enabled that country to continue behaving as “a State above the law”.