BICOM

Prime Minister David Cameron addressed the UN General Assembly yesterday, with a speech that focused on the Arab Spring, where he urged world leaders to seize the ‘massive opportunity’ to transform the Middle East. Cameron spoke at length about the opportunity for change in the region as a result of the Arab Spring, but he also noted the challenges facing societies ‘where countries have inherited sectarian and regional divisions, weak political parties, state institutions enfeebled by misuse and a politics distorted by the false choice between repression on the one hand and Islamist extremism on the other.’ 

On the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Cameron expressed scepticism regarding the chances of a UN resolution advancing peace between the two peoples. He said peace would only come when ‘Palestinians and Israelis sit down and talk to each other, make compromises, build trust and agree.’ 

In his speech Cameron also addressed Iran and Syria, calling for a ‘credible resolution threatening tough sanctions’ against the Assad regime, and voiced criticism of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s speech earlier in the day. Cameron also accused the Iranian regime of violently suppressing protests, repressing freedom of speech and ‘torturing those who argue for a better future.’

Ahmadinejad speech, shortly before Cameron’s, prompted a walk-out by US delegates, when the Iranian president said that ‘arrogant powers’ threatened anyone who dared to ‘question’ the Holocaust or the September 11 attacks on the United States with sanctions and military actions. Some delegates from other western countries also took part in the walkout. The Iranian president also claimed that western powers view Zionism as a ‘sacred notion and ideology.’ 

Ahmadinejad’s address failed to mention the current Palestinian statehood bid, and also contained no mention of the Iranian nuclear programme.