Morsi: Palestine is No. 1 global issue

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 26 (UPI) -- Mohamed Morsi, addressing the United Nations for the first time as Egypt's president, called Palestine "the first issue" the world must try to resolve.

"Long decades have passed since the Palestinian people expressed their longing for restoring their full rights and for building their independent state, with Jerusalem as its capital," Morsi, Egypt's first democratically and freely elected civilian president, told the U.N. General Assembly's General Debate Wednesday at U.N. headquarters in New York.

"Despite their continued struggle, through all legitimate means to attain their rights, and despite the acceptance by their representatives of the resolutions adopted by the international community as a basis for resolving its problems, this international legitimacy remains unable until now to realize the hopes and aspirations of the Palestinian people," he said. "The resolutions remain far from being implemented. …

"I call upon all of you, just as you have supported the revolutions of the Arab peoples, to lend your support to the Palestinians in their endeavors to regain the full and legitimate rights of a people struggling to gain its freedom and establish its independent state," Morsi said, adding Egyptians support "the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and are determined to pursue all efforts side by side with them until they regain their rights."

The Egyptian president also said the crisis in Syria weighs "heavily" on the minds of members of the international community, saying the bloodshed and the humanitarian crisis there "must be stopped."