UN General Assembly
2000

peace in that peninsula. I wish to state also that the Government of the Republic of the Marshall Islands encourages the leaders of Israel and Palestine to seize the historic opportunity that is within reach to peacefully conclude a framework agreement towards lasting peace in the Middle East. I wish to commend the efforts of the United States of America in this regard. The immutable law of change makes it necessary for the United Nations to continue to critically examine its performance and structures in search of practical and timely solutions. This it must certainly do, because 38 the current political landscape is vastly different from the one that prevailed 50 years ago. It is characterized by a more than threefold increase in the number of nations with membership in the United Nations, and by a heightened spirit of generosity and desire on the part of civil society and corporations to become more active players in the process of change. It is imperative, therefore, that those elements and structures which are antiquated, those which have ceased to promote the