Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I'm not challenging the ruling that it's not out of order, but I have to say that it seems to me it shows a fundamental misunderstanding about the point of calling for an immediate ceasefire, period. Nobody in their right mind would suggest--and even the most cynical, differing politicians could pretend--that those who would vote unconditionally for an immediate ceasefire favour a ceasefire that's not sustainable. That's patently ridiculous.
The whole point of an immediate ceasefire is twofold. One is to stop the killing on both sides now. That's why more and more voices in the international community have joined the call for the ceasefire now. Secondly, the point of the ceasefire now is to create the conditions in which the ceasefire will either be made sustainable or not, depending upon how robust, skilful, and inclusive the comprehensive the peace process is.
That means you have to recognize that in that process you have to respect and include both state and non-state parties. You have to recognize that what you're doing is bringing together parties that are either openly at war with each other, or have very different intentions about where this should end up.
As has been pointed out to us again and again as we've done our homework on what kind of comprehensive peace process is necessary to build genuine lasting peace in the Middle East, you cannot constantly demonize one party while you tolerate the most incredible violations from another party. You can't say that we so despise what we think are the intentions of Syria, Iran, and others in the region, we won't recognize that they have to be brought into a comprehensive peace process.
There is no other way to arrive at a sustainable peace in the Middle East. In order to arrive at that, the first condition required is to stop the killing--an immediate ceasefire. Then the international community will be tested. All of the parties contributing to this serious problem and all who are trying to contribute to a solution will either do their work in a way that creates the sustainability of that immediate ceasefire or fail to do so.
Let's demand the unconditional immediate ceasefire, and then let's all get to work and understand what it's going to require of us to put an end to the killing—not just immediately but in the medium and long terms.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.