... Mr President, the Palestine Liberation Organisation, which affirms its strategic commitment to peace, submits to your august body the following practical steps which will make of the consensus of the international community a fact, transforming its resolutions into actual practice and inspiring confidence and hope in the role and effectiveness of your august body in justice.

First: the designation by the Secretary General of the United Nations of a special and permanent envoy to work full time on the peace process and to conduct the necessary contacts to secure a peaceful, just and durable solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict or that the Secretary General undertake the duties of this mission on his own.

Second: the adoption by your august body of a resolution for provide international protection to the Palestinian people, under the flag of the United Nations to safeguard their lives, properties and holy places in the occupied territories and by means of international emergency forces in addition to the deployment along with force [sic] now stationed in Jerusalem, with the purpose of completely ending the Israeli occupation of our Palestinian land.

Third: the adoption by your august council of a clear resolution in order to stop settler immigration to the occupied Palestinian territories, and ensuring its supervision and implementation – a decision that will completely prevent the construction and expansion of Israeli settlements, military or civilian, in the occupied Palestinian lands, particularly in Arab Jerusalem, through the implementation of the relevant international resolutions.

Fourth: that your august body call the representatives of the permanent members of the security council to an immediate meeting to peace process, and to prepare for the convening of the international conference for peace in the Middle East, in implementation of international resolutions.

Fifth: to start adopting the necessary arrangements preparations [sic] for the imposition of sanctions on Israel in accordance with chapter seven of the United Nations charter, as a response to the crimes committed by Israel against the Palestinian people in the occupied territories and as a consequence of its breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 relative to the treatment of civilians in time of war and also for its refusal to implement the relevant international resolutions, and for its deliberate defiance and for impeding the peace process in the Middle East.

The experience of the United Nations in imposing sanctions against South Africa has borne fruits in Namibia were the heroic Namibian people have gained their independence through the New York agreement, implemented under the auspices of the United Nations; it has also started to bear fruit for the people of South Africa with the release of the militant hero, Nelson Mandela, and with the start of building the peace and the fulfilment of the rights of the people of South Africa far from racial discrimination and apartheid ...

Mr President, in reaffirming that our choice of the path of peace is a genuine strategic alternative, we also affirm our right to continue our resistance and our self-defence until an end is put to the Israeli occupation. That is a sacred right guaranteed to us by the law of human rights, the United Nations charter, international decisions and by the will of the Palestinian people...

Source: Pamphlet – Yasser Arafat at the extraordinary session of the UN security council, PLO, Tunis, 1990.