Chairperson, I move without notice:
That the Council -
1) notes that the 66th sitting of the United Nations General Assembly is being held from 19 to 23 September 2011 to discuss and resolve major issues facing the world today in pursuit of world peace and co- operation under the theme " The role of mediation in the settlement of disputes by peaceful means";
2) further notes that Palestine has submitted a letter of application for statehood to the UN General Assembly that will be discussed at this Assembly;
3) also notes that, since the signing of the Oslo agreement in 1991, 20 years ago, no meaningful progress has been made to resolve this age- old conflict; on the contrary, the Palestinian people have only been subjected to ever-increasing oppression and hardships, with Israel continuing with acts of aggression, new settlements and building of apartheid-style borders - in fact the negotiation process has completely collapsed;
4) welcomes the stance of our government to support the application for statehood by Palestine and calls on all peace-loving South Africans to rally behind this bold and progressive position, which we believe will drastically move the peace process forward, which will result in peace in Palestine and freedom for the Palestinian people; and
5) calls on the United States of America not to stand in the way of Palestinian statehood by means of veto in the Security Council but to uphold its commitment to grant Palestine statehood this year.
Motion agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.