Several leaders from Middle East countries on Wednesday expressed concerns over the security situation in the troubled region and called for greater cooperation on combating terrorism when they addressed the annual General Debate at UN headquarters.[Special coverage]
"Millions of Syrians are stranded in deserts and high seas, and hundreds of thousands of them are subjected to violent deaths," said Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. "Iraqis of every ethnic group are concerned about their territorial integrity and the future of their homeland."
The defenseless people of Yemen are subjected to daily aerial bombardment, and Afghanistan, following decades of occupation and atrocity, is yet to find comfort from suffering, violence and terror, Rouhani said, adding that the Palestinians are still afflicted with "apartheid policies and atrocities" of Israel.
"Undoubtedly, if the region is to reverse the current dangerous trend into one towards development and stability, certain countries must stop bombing their neighbors, and abandon supporting Takfiri terrorist groups; and, while accepting responsibility, try to compensate for past mistakes," he said, in a clear reference to Shi'ite Iran's ideological rival, Sunni Saudi Arabia, and the conflict in Yemen.
"The future of our region rests on dealing with fundamental challenges such as security crises," he said. "We won't be able to combat criminal and terrorist networks without genuine democracy and without a real participatory approach at the national and transnational levels."
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on this session of the General Assembly "to declare 2017 as the international year to end the Israeli occupation of our land and our people, as we approach in June 2017 a half century of this abhorrent Israeli occupation."
"Our hand remains outstretched for making peace," Abbas said. "But ... is there any leadership in Israel, the occupying power, that desires to make a true peace and that will abandon the mentality of hegemony, expansionism and colonization, and that will recognize the rights of our people and will end the historic injustice inflicted upon them?"
He said Israel's expansionist settlement policies risked destroying whatever possibility was left for a two-state solution on the 1967 borders. They were also undermining Palestinian efforts to develop their economy, which is a right of international priority under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
In his address to the assembly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the conflict between Israel and Palestine had never been about Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land; it had always been about the existence of a Jewish state, a non-negotiable right.
The prime minister said that despite consistent bias against his country, Israel had a bright future at the United Nations. Governments around the world were rapidly changing the way they perceived his country, relying on Israel for its proven capabilities in the areas of terrorism, technology, cyber security and water, he added.
Netanyahu said he was ready to begin negotiations, inviting Abbas to speak to the Israeli people, and in turn, he would address the Palestinian people.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi told the assembly that "Iraq is being liberated and that Iraqis have been able to liberate most of their land and towns." He added that assisted by the international community, Iraq started to implement programs for the return of internally displaced people (IDPs) to their liberated areas.
"We call on the international community to maintain further their support for the sheltering and returning of IDPs, especially, with the forthcoming battle to fully liberate Nineveh and the anticipated increase of displaced persons," he said.
Calling for greater cooperation in the war on terrorism, Al-Abadi said he looked forward to the day when his country, and the entire Middle East, would be free of Islamic State.
"Our delight would come true only when the whole world becomes free from terrorism that threatens our peoples and nations," he said. "This requires serious collaboration to besiege terrorism, dry out its ideological and financial resources, and demolish its networks and recruitment hubs which are all over the world."
