News
Foreign Secretary arriving at the UN
06 Jan 2009
Foreign Secretary David Miliband speaks to the media as he arrived for the UN Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East.| Speaker: | David Miliband |
| Location: | United Nations, New York |
Read the transcript here
David Miliband: Hello ladies and gentlemen. I’m just about to go in to the Security Council meeting and I’ll make a short statement now but I think that now is not really the time for questions.We’re at the beginning of over twenty four hours of very active diplomacy. I’ve just come from an extensive meeting with the Arab League and obviously I’ll be meeting with all other delegations here.
I think first of all that the terrible events at the UN school this afternoon in Gaza underline the importance of the discussions that we’re going to have here in New York over the next twenty four hours. It’s also significant that within the last half an hour there’s been an important statement by President Mubarak and I gather that there are further statements by Prime Minister Olmert and other regional leaders coming up. And that underlines the fast moving nature of the events that are under way.
I think it’s very important that the discussions that we have here and any positive developments on the ground in the region are mutually reinforcing. The position of the United Kingdom has been since Saturday the 28th of December, since the start of this conflict, to argue for an immediate and durable ceasefire. We need to get in to the details of that in terms of the action to tackle the trafficking of illegal arms and also the issue of opening up the crossings that are so important not just to relieve the misery and the humanitarian need of the people of Gaza, but also to undermine the smuggling trade.
I think it’s also very significant and I will refer to this in my speech, that today is the third Security Council discussion of the Middle East over the last three months, but the first that has been addressed by President Abbas. And I think it’s very important that we reinforce that President Abbas speaks for all the Palestinian people, whether they live in the West Bank or in Gaza, or are refugees elsewhere actually and that it’s vital for the long term future that the Palestinians are able to speak with one legitimate and democratic voice in discussions that take forward the resolution 1850 that was passed here just three weeks ago.
So if you’ll excuse me now I’ll go in to make my statement and to engage in the Security Council discussions, but I assure you that we have twenty four hours of each others’ company ahead and we also have a binding imperative to address the desperate circumstances that exist in the Gaza Strip at the moment. Thank you very much indeed. Thank you.
