STATEMENT BY H.E. AMBASSADOR OMBENI SEFUE, PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF THE UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA TO THE UN, ON THEAGENDA ITEM: THE SITUATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST, INCLUDING THE PALESTINIAN QUESTION, NEW YORK, APRIL 21, 2011

Ambassador Ombeni Sefue

Mr. President, Thank you for convening this meeting. The United Republic of Tanzania is pleased to see Colombia preside over the Security Council and host deliberations on the Middle East and particularly the Palestinian Question. We commend the commitment and efficiency with which you are leading the deliberations.

Mr.President, The Security Council decided in 1948 to have two States, Palestine and Israel, existing with each other in peace, in some part of the Middle East.

Politics, Group interests and Individual acrimony eventually led to the disintegration of the UN arrangement. The Cold War only served to exacerbate the situation.

Mr. President, Since 1948 a lot of statements have been made in the Council urging it to rectify the situation, to no avail. Must we continue talking, endlessly, as if no one is listening? The Middle East situation and the Palestinian Question were created by human beings, using the Security Council. The issues can also be solved by, human beings using the same Council or any other means of its choice at its disposal.

Mr. President, We can not afford to say that the Security Council has failed to solve the Palestinian question. We are all aware that discontent causes conflict and that conflict produces by-products which we can not always predict, and which we can not always like. In any conflict, parties involved lose properties and lives. Let us therefore, not only think of war and conquest. Let us think of making durable peace and go for it.

Mr. President, The Quartet elaborated a roadmap which would lead to a two-State solution – of Palestine and Israel living with each other in peace. I believe the Council has not failed to pursue this option.

Let the Security Council pledge to us and vow that during the next meeting, it will tell us about results, not work in progress.