Agenda item 27:
Question of Palestine (continued):
(a) Report of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People;
(b) Report of the Secretary-General
President: Mr. Hamilton Shirley AMERASINGHE (Sri Lanka).
In the absence of the President, Mrs. de la Maza (Dominican Republic), Vice-President, took the Chair.
AGENDA ITEM 27
Question of Palestine (continued):
(a) Report of the Committee on the Exercise of Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People;
(b) Report of the Secretary-General
1. The PRESIDENT (interpretation from Spanish): A draft resolution relating to this item has been submitted in document A/31/L.20.
2. Mr. KIKHIA (Libyan Arab Republic) (interpretation from Arabic): The question of Palestine, which we are again discussing at this thirty-first session of the General Assembly, has, for the past 30 years, been one of the important items that have been examined directly or indirectly by the General Assembly and the Security Council and the other organs of the United Nations under different headings and on numerous occasions.
3. The tragedy of the Palestinian people, either from the political or human point of view, or, again, from the legal point of view, or in terms of human rights, is unique. The people of Palestine, the authentic people of Palestine, which was the heir of the previous civilizations and whose Arab land was the cradle of the religions, doctrines and philosophies that have illumined and inspired mankind as a whole, started its struggle as a part of the struggle of the Arab nations since the beginning of the twentieth century. From the end of the Second World War, this people has been ready to achieve independence, as were the other Arab peoples, but the Palestinians, as a result of the imperialist plot against them, was unable to achieve independence or to exercise its right to self-determination in spite of the anti-colonialist period which had begun with the end of the Second World War and the crumbling of the colonialist empires. That militant people, instead of acceding to independence, has had the British Mandate imposed upon it, as a result of which it fell victim to the racist and Zionist invasion. It was expelled from its land and deprived of its homes and its property. For 30 years, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been impoverished, and many of them have been reduced to the status of refugee, not only once but twice or even in some cases three times. The attitude of the international community, as it has evolved, has shown that the international community now recognizes this tragedy. Today, in spite of the desperate attempts of Zionism to conceal the truth and the historical background, it is no longer possible to remain silent in the face of this tragedy and to view it merely as a spectator.
4. The injustice that was committed against the people of Palestine and the flagrant aggression that it was subjected to have no precedent, even at the most backward and darkest periods of human history. A whole people was to be deprived of its homeland, its property, its freedoms and its rights with one object only: to make the dreams of Zionists and their expansionist racist concepts a reality. The Zionists have arrogated to themselves certain rights and privileges not recognized by history; supported and encouraged by the forces of injustice and imperialism, they have invaded Arab Palestine and have committed one of the most heinous crimes of history. What happened in Palestine is but the working of the law of the jungle, in violation of the most basic principles of law and morality.
5. Zionism has conducted its criminal activities against the Palestinian people and against the Arab nation by basing itself upon the policy of deceit, corruption, lies and blackmail—blackmail that has been practised against the leaders of many countries, especially those dominated by imperialism and capitalism. Sometimes taking advantage of religious sympathies, Zionism does not hesitate to falsify history and to do damage to the Holy Places in order to carry out their Machiavellian and deceitful policy. Sometimes, taking advantage of the sentiments of the innocent, Zionism tries to draw to itself the pity shown to the followers of Moses. Zionism thereby tries to exploit guilt feelings among European peoples and the American people. Zionism has placed itself at the service of the great Powers of the world and of all the forces that believe they can influence the fate of the world. Thus the Zionist movement had turned first to the Tsar of Russia, next to Istanbul and then the German Empire, promising to make the Jewish State in Palestine an instrument of a German policy by converting Palestine into an area of German influence and a centre of German culture and civilization in the Middle East. Subsequently, the Zionist movement allied itself with the British Empire and devoted itself to the service of colonialist Britain. It promised to convert Palestine into a fortress of British colonialism so as to enable Britain to dominate the Suez Canal, the route to India and the main sea lanes of the British Empire.
6. As soon as the United States of America appeared as the major Power in the world, the Zionist movement hurried to place itself at the service of the governing establishment of the United States of America. Thus it is that the American giant has unreservedly committed itself now to supporting Zionist aggression against the Arab nation. The racist Zionist entity in Palestine in exchange has supported, financed and protected the governing American establishment. The United States of America was dragged into establishing close relations with the Zionist entity to the point where that entity has become an extension of the United States, or one of its States. The United States in particular is providing material, economic and military assistance to the Zionist entity, together its their moral, political and diplomatic support. If it were not for this growing aid, the Zionists would not have been able to deprive the people of Palestine of their land, their property and their freedoms. In its help to the Zionist entity in Palestine, the United States has stopped at nothing, even if the people of the United States had to pay the price for this by rejecting the noble principles invoked by those who fought British colonialism in America two centuries ago.
7. We must refer to the significance of the examination by the General Assembly of the question of Palestine and the exercise of its right by its people. At its twenty-ninth session, the General Assembly, in resolutions 3236 (XXIX) and 3237 (XXIX), recognized the inalienable rights of the people of Palestine and has recognized the Palestine Liberation Organization [PLO] In addition there is resolution 3376 (XXX), which again emphasized the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and its right to self-determination, to national independence and sovereignty, just as it recognized the right of the Palestinians to return to their homeland and to recover their property. Resolution 3379 (XXX) condemned Zionism as a racist movement.
8. All these resolutions point to an important change in the position of the General Assembly with respect to the Palestinian cause. They indicate that world public opinion is viewing more objectively and more equitably the tragedy of the Palestinian people. This change is an important step towards the redressing of the great wrongs done to the people of Palestine by the General Assembly at the end of the Second World War, when the United Nations had only 51 Members and was under the influence of the colonialist forces.
9. With the increasing influence of the PLO, following its recognition as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people and with the struggle of the Palestinian people as an integral part of the world-wide movement against imperialism, colonialism, backwardness and exploitation, the PLO has now become a fully fledged member of the non-aligned movement and a member of the Coordinating Bureau of Non-Aligned Countries. It has become a full member of the League of Arab States and, in this respect, has taken part in the meeting of the Kings and Presidents of the Arab League, held in Cairo on 25 and 26 October 1976.
10. I should mention here the support given on a world-wide basis, regionally and bilaterally, to the PLO, which is participating increasingly in conferences and in international activities.
11. In studying the report of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People [A/31/35], we wish to express our gratitude to members of that Committee for the sincere efforts they have made to carry out the tasks entrusted to them. I should like to mention in particular Mr. Fall, the Chairman of that Committee and Mr. Gauci, the Rapporteur.
12. The report of the Committee is objective and, together with its annexes, it furnishes a historic document which casts light on the question of Palestine and make possible a better study of it in the General Assembly. We support most of the conclusions of the Committee, especially where its report speaks of the following points.
13. First, the question of Palestine is at the heart of the Middle East problem and no solution in the Middle East can be envisaged which does not fully take into account the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people and their rights.
14. Secondly, the legitimate and inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to return to their homes and property and to achieve self-determination, national independence and sovereignty must be recognized. We are persuaded that the implementation of these three elements will contribute decisively to a comprehensive and final settlement of the Middle East crisis.
15. Thirdly, the participation of the PLO, the representative of the Palestinian people, on an equal footing with other parties, on the basis of General Assembly resolutions 3236 (XXIX) and 3375 (XXX) is indispensable in all efforts, deliberations and conferences on the Middle East which are held under the auspices of the United Nations.
16. Fourthly, stress must be laid on the fundamental principle of the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territories by force and the consequent obligation for complete and speedy evacuation of the occupied Arab territories.
17. Fifthly, the Palestinians should have an opportunity to exercise their inalienable rights.
18. Sixthly, the United Nations and its organs must play an expanded and more influential role in promoting a just and equitable settlement of the Palestine question. The Security Council in particular should take appropriate action to facilitate the exercise by the Palestinians of their right to return to their homes, lands and property.
19. Last summer the Security Council studied the report of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People pursuant to the request made in paragraph 8 of General Assembly resolution 3376 (XXX).
20. The Security Council studied this question from 9 to 29 June 1976.1/ In addition, approximately 30 countries and the Chairman and Rapporteur of the Committee considered the question and a draft resolution, very moderate in its content, was submitted to the Council 2/ emphasizing the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination, including the right of return and the right to national independence and sovereignty in accordance with the United Nations Charter.
21. Unfortunately, however, the Security Council did not adopt this draft resolution because of the negative vote cast by one of the permanent members. The United States of America used the right of veto-in fact misused it-to prevent adoption of the draft resolution in question.
22. The fact that the Security Council was unable to adopt a resolution because of the subjective approach of the United States of America makes it necessary for the General Assembly to carry out its responsibilities by adopting a just and equitable resolution calling for the adoption of appropriate measures which would emphasize the rights of the people of Palestine and implement them.
23. In the General Assembly and the Security Council as well as in other organs of the United Nations during the past 30 years and up to the present day, more than 200 resolutions and recommendations have been" adopted without a just solution of the question of Palestine being achieved.
24. The chief reason for this failure, even after the composition of the United Nations had been improved, derives from the obstinacy of Zionism, which is encouraged to adopt a negative attitude by the assistance it receives from many countries and, in particular, from the United States of America.
25. The United States of America has been assigning to itself the role of arbitrator in this matter. The United States is both judge and party, and this unlimited subjectivity on the side of Zionism reveals itself in two ways: the granting of unlimited aid to Israel and the favourable attitude towards any request by it for financial assistance or military aid. Further, the United States has refused so far to recognize the PLO as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, in spite of the fact that the United Nations and the majority of the countries of the world, including certain allies of the United States, have recognized the PLO. We are surprised that the United States should wish to play the role of arbitrator and conciliator with respect to the parties when it fails to recognize the principal party in this conflict. We shall allow the United States to respond to this itself.
26. It is the basis on which Zionism is relying in order to continue its aggression. If the position of the United States as the chief Power giving assistance and protection to the Zionist entity is important in relation to the changes in the situation and the establishment of a just and lasting peace and the achievement of progress in the region, which is a critical region of the world, we can then understand the racist and expansionist nature of Zionism's purposes.
27. Zionism is the establishment of millions of Jews in Palestine so that they may occupy more and more territory and so that Zionism may expel more and more Arab inhabitants. Zionist settlement or colonization is a settler type of colonization which is typified by a recourse to force not limited by any moral human considerations. This is why the world as a whole must stand in solidarity with the militant people of Palestine by putting an end to the wave of foreign immigration into occupied Palestine. All those who encourage this immigration or close their eyes to it directly or indirectly, in good faith or otherwise, are all parties to the colonialist and Zionist plot.
28. That is why we call on all peace-loving peoples to spare no effort to stop foreign immigration into Palestine. By so doing, they would be acting in solidarity with the struggling people of Palestine and would help stem the expansion of Zionism.
29. Coexistence between Moslems, Jews and Christians is a tradition in our Arab lands and is part of our history. This is a tradition which has been upset by the wave of invasions and by the appearance of Zionism as a racist movement. This coexistence was upset by developments which were not within our power to control—anti-Semitism which appeared in Europe and for which we must now pay the price. The persecution of Jews in Europe must be made good by us, it is alleged, in order to put an end to the feeling of guilt among Europeans. We would wish to remind the Jews that what Judaism has suffered in Europe, from the Middle Ages to the Dreyfus case and the behaviour of the Nazis, has been condemned by the Arab countries. The flourishing period of Judaism has been that of the Arab and Moslem empire. Jews in our countries have become scientists, scholars, ministers and even leaders. We tell them, you have no future in our region unless you wish to live in peace with us. You are an instrument in the hands of Zionism and colonialism, which in fact do not love, admire or appreciate you. Those who give you funds and weapons to strike at the Arab nation do not seek your good but try to have you take dangerous decisions for yourselves. The Arab nation will never be vanquished. As Jews, you will find in the Arab nation all the welcome, the warmth that we are ready to extend to you. Zionism wishes to lead you to usurp the land of Palestine and to become the enemies of 150 million Arabs. But this will only produce more suffering for you. Friendship with the Arab nation is preferable to the adventure of colonialism and expansionism in Palestine.
30. Mr. ROSSIDES (Cyprus): Once again we have before us the tragedy of the Palestinian people. A whole generation of Palestinians have been born and raised in the misery of the refugee camps while, for nearly 30 years now, the problem has been stagnating in the United Nations and festering in the region. Once again now, the Palestinian refugees from their camps turn expectant eyes to this body with new hope for the termination of their long plight. The problem of Palestine, as we all know, is part of the Middle East problem. Through a series of developments it has now come to the foreground and towards a turning-point. It is all too obvious that a true and lasting solution to the Middle East problem cannot be reached until the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people are assured of their full application. The vital aspect of implementation of the relevant General Assembly and Security Council resolutions is therefore now the central concern of the General
28. Assembly and the Security Council. For, indeed, to add to the plethora of vital but unimplemented General Assembly resolutions has not helped towards a solution of the problem, nor has it relieved in any way the deteriorating situation. The rights of the Palestinian people to return to their homes and lands have been increasingly and widely recognized, as appears from General Assembly resolution 3236 (XXIX) reaffirming such rights. For, indeed, these rights are by their very nature fundamental and inalienable. No passage of time can affect such basic rights of peoples—whether in Palestine or in Cyprus or elsewhere. Such rights form part and parcel of the peremptory norms of international legal order in a civilized world. The matter is of vital importance because it goes to the very root of the respect for fundamental human rights: in this case, the right of all people not to be expelled and excluded from their homes and land. Love of home is the most profound and sacred human feeling from the dawn of man's history in civilization to this day. All the great poets were deeply inspired by this feeling since the time of Homer to the present day. To be forced to live away from home is one of the deepest of human sufferings. The tragic situation arising from the loss to the Palestinian people of their homeland goes to the very root of the Middle East problem and constitutes its pith and marrow. It has made the problem so charged with deep-rooted emotions and feelings that, by being left practically unattended without progress towards a just solution, it has grown to become one of the most dangerous and explosive problems of our time.
31. Because of the unsatisfactory course the problem has taken, the impression was left that only force wins. Consequently, developments in other parts of the region and of the world have thus been adversely affected in terms of international security and legal order. In so deteriorating a world atmosphere, acts of terrorism and hijacking have become almost the order of the day.
32. The original problem of the Palestinian refugees in 1947 has been seriously aggravated by intermittent wars, particularly the war of 1967, as a result of which the extent of the area occupied by Israel and the number of Arab refugees were considerably increased through Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. In consequence of this development, the originally limited problem developed into the much wider problem of the Palestinian peoples in their now more distinct identity as a Stateless people, demanding as such to return to the ancestral homeland from which they have been forcibly excluded and to exercise freely their inalienable right to self-determination, independence and sovereignty.
33. In this new light cast on the problem, the persistent non-implementation of accumulated General Assembly resolutions engendered an added feeling of frustration and bitterness. At the same time it further exposed the ineffectiveness of the United Nations in implementing its resolutions. What is therefore required on the Palestine problem as well as that of Cyprus and other similar problems is the effective implementation of General Assembly and Security Council resolutions on this relevant issue. There is a growing consciousness in the world community now of the dire consequences of the lack of needed implementation of United Nations resolutions, particularly of mandatory Security Council decisions on matters involving international security and peace.
34. The United Nations bears a heavy responsibility on the subject as having been instrumental in creating this major and threatening Middle East problem which now constitutes a threat to international peace and security. It bears the responsibility because of its original resolution of partition [resolution 181 (II)] that in its sequence of implementation, brought—as in all cases of partition-a situation of injustice, insecurity and endemic war, lending intensity and permanence to the seeds of division on ethnic grounds sown by colonialism in the area. The United Nations had, therefore, a specific responsibility to ensure equal implementation in its subsequent restorative resolutions considering that Israel failed to comply with them. There was an obligation to enforce those resolutions. Those resolutions called, among other things, for the return of all the refugees to their homes and property, which would lead to a better climate of understanding and security in the area and towards a solution of the problem. In contrast, the repeated resolutions of the United Nations were left wholly unimplemented and neglected, with the result that enmity and bitterness grew in the region to the detriment of the interests of the two peoples concerned, including the people of Israel.
35. By such non-implementation over the years, the problem gravely deteriorated and assumed its present threatening dimensions. This situation is not unrelated to the more general and wider problem of the Security Council, which has not as yet carried out its functions as required by the Charter for ensuring the effective implementation of its resolutions so that they could provide for the world a sense of international security through the United Nations.
36. This is a vital problem affecting the United Nations, which has been rendered unable to carry out its primary and paramount responsibility under the Charter for the maintenance of international security and peace. As such, it is a wider problem of the United Nations to be dealt with in another context and elsewhere. For the purpose of this item, however, suffice it to say that the United Nations has a compelling legal and moral duty to proceed with the implementation of its resolutions on Palestine. The General Assembly by its resolution 3376 (XXX) set up the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People with the mandate to recommend to the General Assembly a programme of implementation enabling the Palestinian people to exercise their rights as recognized in General Assembly resolution 3236 (XXIX), namely, their inalienable right to return to their homes and property from which they were displaced and uprooted and their equally inalienable right to self-determination, sovereignty and independence.
37. These rights have received world-wide recognition and now we seem to be coming into a period of implementation of these rights. The report of the Committee reflects a positive and comprehensive effort toward such implementation, thereby contributing to the elimination of the basic difficulty and stumbling-block to the solution of the over-all Middle East problem. The Committee, under the dedicated and wise guidance of its Chairman, Ambassador Medoune Fall, in carrying out is function, proceeded in a judicious way, basing itself on the Charter, as well as on the relevant resolutions of the General Assembly and the decisions of the Security Council. The Committee also took into consideration the present-day facts of the situation without disregarding the basic tenets and binding norms of contemporary international law in regard to the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by force, and the unacceptability of situations resulting from a forcible change in the demographic stature of a country.
38. Even before the United Nations came into existence, this position of the inadmissibility of acquisition of territory by force was internationally established. A distinct declaration of January 1932 3/ made a firm commitment on this principle, namely, that the United States under no circumstances would accept in any part of the world either occupation or the changes which resulted from or were introduced by force. The Assembly of the League of Nations on 11 March 1932 adopted this principle in the following terms:
"… it is incumbent upon the Members of the League of Nations not to recognise any situation, treaty or agreement which may be brought about by means contrary to the Covenant of the League of Nations or to the Pact of Paris."4/
39. At the present time, such action is universally condemned as violating international law, the Charter of the United Nations and the fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 can never create valid or acceptable situations. In this connexion the Security Council, at its meeting of 11 November, undertook by consensus to declare, among other points, that measures taken to alter the demographic composition or geographical nature of a territory, and particularly the establishment of settlements, are strongly deplored, and that "such measures, which have no legal validity and cannot prejudice the outcome of the search for the establishment of peace, constitute an obstacle to peace."5/ This statement was made in reference to the situation in Palestine, but it applies equally to Cyprus or other similar cases.
40. The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, while basing itself on the intrinsic merits of the case, has also displayed the required degree of flexibility in its recommendations so that their application might be practically realizable. It should be mentioned in this connexion that the work of the Committee was greatly facilitated by the constructive contribution made by the PLO through the reasonableness of its approach to the recommendations. The lucid and comprehensive statement made in this Assembly by the Chairman of the Committee, Mr. Fall [66th meeting], was a constructive presentation of the work of the Committee, supplemented by the excellent statement of the Rapporteur, Mr. Gauci who also made a remarkable contribution in this regard.
41. With a show of goodwill by all interested parties in respect of reasonable adjustments, these great problems can, on the basis of the recommendations of the Committee, find a just and enduring solution, ensuring peace and security within agreed boundaries for all States in the region.
42. Mr. MEDANI (Sudan) (interpretation from Arabic): I wish to make a very brief statement. At the outset, on behalf of the delegation of Sudan I should like to join my colleagues who have expressed their appreciation to Mr. Fall, the representative of Senegal and Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. We should also like to congratulate the other members of the Committee on the very fine results that they produced and we thank them for their constructive recommendations, which are the result of a constant effort deserving of our admiration and appreciation.
43. The report is objective and realistic. The contents of the report are in keeping with the General Assembly resolutions on the question of Palestine. Those resolutions, as we all know, have been rejected and ignored by Israel, which defies the Organization, its principles and its Charter. Action must be taken to repair the errors of the past and to create new confidence among the peoples of the world in this Organization and its ability to achieve its objectives.
44. The question we are discussing now has priority on the General Assembly's agenda. I do not believe there is any need to go into the background of the question of Palestine and how it has evolved over the years. The background is well known and has been recorded in the files of the United Nations since its origin. It is a record filled with the injustices committed against a people who have been the victims of colonialist and Zionist plots. These people have been driven from their land, deprived of their human and political rights and become refugees scattered throughout the world.
45. The realities of that history are brilliantly and minutely reflected in the report of the Committee, which has been done objectively and without prejudice, and has been based on facts and on resolutions adopted by the General Assembly. These resolutions, adopted in the course of the past 30 years, have not been carried out because certain major Powers have not lived up to their historical responsibilities and indeed have used their veto on all matters relating to the right of the Palestinians to their national sovereignty, to self-determination and to independence. That has made it impossible for the international community to give practical expression to its will and has made it possible for Israel to maintain its obstinate and defiant attitude towards this Organization.
46. Allow me to quote from certain paragraphs of the Committee's report. This is an opportunity to consider the achievements of this Organization, to determine where it has succeeded, where it has failed and why. Paragraph 18 of the report reads as follows:
"It was emphasized that the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination could be exercised only in Palestine. Consequently, the exercise of the individual right of the Palestinian to return to his homeland was a conditio sine qua non for the exercise by this people of its right to self-determination, national independence and sovereignty."
Paragraph 19 continues:
"In this respect, it was pointed out that Israel was under binding obligation to permit the return of all the Palestinian refugees displaced as a result of the hostilities of 1948 and 1967. This obligation flowed from the unreserved agreement by Israel to honour its commitments under the Charter of the United Nations, and from its specific undertaking, when applying for membership of the United Nations, to implement General Assembly resolutions 181 (II) of 29 November 1947, safeguarding the rights of the Palestinian Arabs inside Israel, and 194(111) of 11 December 1948, concerning the right of the Palestinian refugees to return to their homes or to choose compensation for their property. This undertaking was also clearly reflected in General Assembly resolution 273 (III) . ..".
47. The question is what has been done for the Palestinian people within the framework of these resolutions, which now number 188. The answer to that question is clear. Ever since the General Assembly adopted the unjust resolution 181 (II) of 29 November 1947, the Palestinian people have been subjected to an unjust campaign intended to drive them from their country and to liquidate them. Israel is a country based on injustice and aggression. Not satisfied with the advantages it derived from the partition resolution, in a barbaric inhuman way Israel has tried to give concrete expression to its ambitions and expansionist designs in all of Palestine. In 1967, Israel launched a treacherous attack in order to occupy the territories of certain Members of this Organization. To this day, Israel continues to perpetrate in Arab territory acts based on rank hatred towards the inhabitants of that territory, subjecting men, women and children to domination and intimidation in order to establish its settlements and thereby showing its expansionist nature and designs.
48. Not satisfied with what it has done in Palestine and other occupied Arab countries, Israel has extended its hand to the racist regime in South Africa. The close alliance between Tel Aviv and Pretoria clearly proves that Israel's policy is racist and based on aggression and demonstrates its determination to enforce its narrow views and bolster its defiance of the international community.
49. Despite all this, there are those who have clamoured in this Assembly for Israel's security—while it is the aggressor—and have clamoured for guarantees for safe boundaries for Israel—while it occupied the land of others by armed force. Israel has sought the sympathy of other countries and has posed as a threatened country. Israel, as a matter of pure fact, is undergoing a crisis. Its friends, as one intellectual said, "fear for Israel because of its very acts".
50. But the international community will not be deceived. Two years ago, from this very rostrum,6/ you heard Yasser Arafat expound the cause of his people in a most objective and revolutionary manner, in a way not based on hatred or any past memories. He spoke of a just peace and the creation of a lay Palestinian State. A few days ago you heard Mr. Farouk Kaddoumi once again give voice to the aspirations of the Palestinian people and their desire to exercise their right to self-determination and sovereignty.
51. That, then, is the position of the Palestinian Revolution in defence of justice, noble principles and in search of peace.
52. That is the position of the Palestinian Revolution, but what is Israel's position?
53. Israel has not only defied United Nations resolutions, but it continues to create new settlements in Palestinian land it took by .force and also in occupied Arab territory. Israel has encouraged all Jews to emigrate to Israel whereas it has prevented Arab refugees from returning to their land in the occupied territories.
54. The legitimacy of the Palestinian cause has been recognized by General Assembly resolution 3236 (XXIX), and the Palestinian Revolution has been making gains every day in its effort to recover the rights of the Palestinian people.
55. The PLO, whose legitimacy has been recognized by the United Nations, has now scored one more victory, having been accepted as a fully fledged member of the non-aligned group of countries. And today it is recognized by the Organization of African Unity and the League of Arab States.
56. Today our Organization has an excellent opportunity; it is one that should not be missed. We should not ignore the plea of the one who came with an olive branch saying that war is coming from Palestine and that peace must begin with Palestine.
57. The United Nations realizes that the Palestinian question is an integral part of the crisis of the Middle East. It would be difficult to achieve a settlement without taking into account the aspirations of the Palestinian people and their right to self-determination, independence and the exercise of their inalienable rights.
58. The question of Palestine has been submitted to this session of the General Assembly at what we consider to be a historic stage. We must evaluate the situation. The question of Palestine does not just involve refugees. It is not just a question of material or health aid, as the Ambassador of Israel has asserted. What is at stake is the cause of a people deprived of their homeland, a people demanding their right to self-determination and national sovereignty.
59. Our confidence in the United Nations and the confidence of future generations requires that the United Nations should redress the errors of the past and put an end to the injustices which have been committed against the Palestinian people and their just cause.
60. Mr. AL-SAFFAR (Bahrain) (interpretation from Arabic): Twenty-eight years have elapsed since this Organization adopted the resolution providing for the partition of Palestine, and establishing the Zionist entity on this planet of ours. From 1948 to this day, the Middle East has known no peace or tranquillity because aggression by Israel against the Arab countries has continued, as has the occupation of Arab land. During that period, the United Nations has been unable to implement the resolutions adopted to solve the question of Palestine or to restore peace and stability in the region. This is due to the obstinacy of Israel and its refusal to evacuate the territories it occupies under the pretext of guaranteeing its peace and security. Israel continues to ignore United Nations resolutions designed to settle the problem by basing itself upon the material and military aid that is given to it by certain Western countries.
61. That aid is likely not only to encourage Israel to continue to be stubborn in its occupation of Arab territories but also to encourage it to commit further acts of aggression against neighbouring Arab countries.
62. Last Monday, Mr. Fall of Senegal, in his capacity as Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, introduced to us the report prepared by that Committee, which was set up by virtue of resolution 3376 (XXX), requesting the Committee to formulate a programme designed to enable the Palestinian people to exercise their inalienable rights. That report is the result of arduous efforts by the Committee throughout its work. We consider this report to be a historic document because it summarizes the efforts made by the General Assembly over more than a quarter century to solve the Palestinian problem, although it has been unable to achieve any positive results. This of course is due to the aggressive attitude of Israel and its sustained attempts to block the implementation of resolutions designed to bring about a settlement, with the object of making its occupation of Arab territories a fait accompli. My delegation wishes to thank the Chairman and members of the Committee for the tireless efforts they have made in preparing this report, as presented to us by the Chairman of that Committee.
63. I wish to hail the PLO for the moderate position it adopted during the work of the Committee, at the very time when Israel was refusing to collaborate with the Committee. In spite of its proclamations in international gatherings that it seeks peace in the region, we all know what type of peace Israel is looking for. Peace advocated by Israel means, in fact, the maintenance of its presence in the occupied territories, but this is something which will never come about.
64. The measures adopted by Israel in the Arab territories since 1967 are designed to achieve the annexation of these territories. The usurpation of the land and property of the Palestinian people, the establishment of Jewish settlements and the change in the character of these territories—all this is part of the policy of oppression practised by the Israeli authorities against the Palestinian people. These measures in no way display Israel's desire to achieve a peaceful settlement of the Palestinian problem.
65. The events that have taken place in the occupied territories in the past year remain present in our minds. These events have taken the form of a revolution against the policy of annexation being practised by the Israeli authorities. The Palestinian people in the occupied territories have shown that they reject this policy, that they are opposed to the designs to change their culture and to eliminate their personality. The people of Palestine have demonstrated their resolve to free themselves from Israeli occupation in spite of the acts of oppression carried out by the occupying authorities. Opposition to occupation is a legitimate right and a national duty for all peoples. The people of Palestine have the right to oppose occupation like any other people.
66. It is the duty of the General Assembly not only to condemn the occupation but also to take practical measures to bring it to an end and to help the Palestinian people to recover their legitimate rights. The General Assembly must adopt the necessary measures to bring about the return of the refugees to their homes, in accordance with the resolutions adopted by this Assembly.
67. The Committee submitted its recommendations to the Security Council last June through the Secretary-General, so that the Council might examine them and adopt appropriate decisions. However, the Security Council could not adopt a decision because of the opposition of a permanent member, notwithstanding the realistic and objective conclusions of the report.
68. The General Assembly today is invited to take a stand on that report, since the Security Council was unable to take a decision on it.
69. The report summarizes many of the constructive and objective resolutions approved by the Security Council and the General Assembly during the past few years. Those resolutions were based on two essential principles, without which no settlement of the Palestine question can come about. These are: first, the right of the Palestinian people to return to their homes, and secondly, the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination. These two principles are fundamental to any settlement of the Palestinian question.
70. The representative of Israel, who is always talking about his desire for peace, has never indicated that he is ready to accept these two principles, which, as we see it, are fundamental to the Middle Eastern question. If Israel seeks lasting peace, it must establish the necessary atmosphere within the region and it must recognize these two fundamental principles. But what we see at present is the racist and expansionist policy practised by the Israeli authorities and they in no way illustrate Israel's desire to find a solution to the Middle Eastern crisis.
71. We believe that the report submitted to us by the Chairman of the Committee spells out all the appropriate means for putting these two principles into effect. The programme proposed in the report to enable the Palestinian people to exercise their inalienable rights is a realistic one, because it takes into consideration the existing situation in Palestine and in the Middle Eastern region. Although my delegation is not entirely in agreement with all the material contained in the report, we consider that the report contains positive elements which could be the starting point for a solution to the Middle Eastern problem.
72. My delegation is pleased at the participation of the PLO in the discussions and we wish to express our satisfaction at the positive position adopted by the PLO on the recommendations contained in the report of the Committee. The participation of the PLO, the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, at all conferences held to study the Middle Eastern problem-its participation on a footing of equality with the other parties concerned-is a realistic necessity that is in keeping with resolutions 3236 (XXIX), 3375 (XXX) and 3376 (XXX) of the General Assembly. It is also in accord with the international prestige acquired by the PLO, which enables it to assume that responsibility. I might add that it is the right of the Palestinian people to be represented at all conferences held to study their own cause—the cause of the Palestinian people.
73. To conclude, I wish to point out that the document before us deals with the roots of the Middle East crisis, namely, the question of Palestine. No effort, wherever it may come from, to achieve a lasting solution of the problem of the Middle East without recognizing the right of the people of Palestine, can be successful. That is why we hope that the General Assembly will grasp this occasion and support the recommendations contained in the report of the Committee and ask the Security Council to adopt practical measures for their adoption. This would be in accordance with the express desire of the majority of the Members of this Organization, which are seeking a just peace and the elimination of the spectre of war and destruction from the Middle East, so that international peace and security in the region may be restored, as well as security for the Palestinian people, enabling them to live like all other peoples, in dignity and in their own country.
74. Mr. KINENE (Uganda): I should like to start by thanking the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and congratulating it on the illuminating report contained in document A/31/35, which we have studied carefully and with keen interest. I would also like to thank the Secretary-General of the United Nations for his report A/31/271 on the same item and for the continuous efforts he has deployed in order to find a just and lasting solution to the Middle East problem. My delegation would also like to pay a tribute to all those who have spoken before me, especially the representative of the PLO [66th meeting], the legitimate and authentic representative of the Palestinian people, for the valuable contributions they have made in the search for a just and lasting solution to the question of Palestine. Those reports show clearly that the question of Palestine is still an explosive issue and lies at the heart of the Middle East conflict. As we debate here the question of Palestine, the Palestinians are still suffering and languishing in misery because of the continued Zionist aggression committed against them over the last 28 years and because of the continued Zionist occupation of the Arab territories.
75. The Organization of African Unity and the non-aligned countries at their different summit conferences have passed resolutions expressing support for, and solidarity with, the Palestinian people in their legitimate struggle to recover their inalienable national rights in Palestine. The Security Council and the General Assembly of the United Nations have passed numerous resolutions calling upon Israel to co-operate in solving the Middle East conflict ani withdraw from the occupied Arab land. The Zionists^ exploiting the sympathy the world had for the Jews had been oppressed in some European countries, grabbed' the land of other peoples—the Palestinians—expelled thern* and forced them to leave in exile while they established the so-called State of Israel in Palestine. There is no doubt that that act was a wrong one; Israel tried to correct injustices' committed against the Jews by committing injustices against the Palestinians. My delegation believes that Israeli must recognize the inalienable rights of the Palestinians and* withdraw from all occupied Arab land because two wrongs do not make a right. Israel has gone so far as to say that the-settlements that are being put in the occupied territories are not going to be pulled down. One wonders, therefore, whether Israel seriously considers that it will have to give those lands to their rightful owners. It is because of those actions of Israel and its expansionist policies and its whole, attitude in the Middle East that Uganda reaffirms they'll legitimacy of the struggle of the Palestinians and other Arab peoples to liberate their lands by all means at their disposal.
76. Central to the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people are, among others, the right to return to their land and to recover their property; the right to self-determination without any foreign intervention; the right to exercise their sovereignty in their own land; and the right to establish an independent nation. It is ironic that Israel that speaks so much of the hardships and suffering encountered by the Jews in the Second World War is now inflicting the same treatment on the Palestinians, as if the latter were the ones responsible for the suffering of the Jews.
77. My delegation is, however, sure that Israel would not have been in a position to commit those atrocities against the Palestinians and at the same time defy the entire world community had it not been for the full support she enjoys from the imperialist Powers. It is because of that support that Israel is still unwilling to co-operate in finding a just and lasting solution to the Middle East problem. Israel's intransigency and refusal to withdraw from the occupied Arab lands is a threat to world peace and security. Uganda takes this opportunity to call once again upon those countries whose support for Israel encourages it to commit aggression against its neighbours to change their attitude so that a just and lasting solution could be reached.
78. It is with this in mind that Uganda will support any action in the General Assembly that is aimed at achieving a lasting solution to the Middle East problem by recognizing the legitimate rights of the Palestinians and the withdrawal by Israel from all the Arab territories it occupies by the force of arms.
79. Mr. MONDJO (Congo) (interpretation from French):
In speaking at this late stage, when the debate on Palestine is coming to a close, my delegation does not wish to make any elaborate speeches.
80. My statement will therefore be limited to the reaffirmation of the position of my Government on this tragic question of Palestine, on the exceedingly tragic situation of a people, which, over the centuries, has known nothing but domination for centuries, which has been humiliated and assacred, a people which is being crossed off the map of the world and which certain retrograde forces are trying to deprive of all but its emotions.
81. The Palestinian problem is not a new phenomenon. On the contrary, this is a question whose causes and manifestations are well known. It is the history of a people which neo-colonialist arrogance and contempt and Zionist domination have prevented from exercising their inalienable right to self-determination and their right to recover their homeland.
82. Condemned to wander, as the Jewish people itself was formerly, the Palestinian people shows us today the hideous' countenance of imperialism of which the State of Israel is the most eloquent example in the Middle East.
83. There is no need to question the patriarchs in order to realize that Palestine belongs to the Palestinians and that they have an inalienable right to live in peace in a democratic, lay and brotherly Palestine.
84. On a number of occasions our Organization, for which this question is one of the gravest concern, has tried in vain to resolve once and for all the problem posed by the return of the Palestinians to their country following upon their displacement during the hostilities of 1948. It is true that the various relevant initiatives of our Organization have been accepted by the international community as a whole; but all the resolutions adopted are constantly trampled underfoot by the Israeli Government, which has most brutally rendered them meaningless by engaging in an expansionism which quite understandably disturbs the neighbouring Arab States to a point where no one can say today how far the mad machine that Israel has launched upon the Middle East will go.
85. The' Israeli Government is thus alone with that of South Africa in defying with impunity the whole of the international community, bringing daily ruination and tears and obstinately re/using to consider seriously how to achieve peace with its neighbours or even to attempt to work out the plans for such a peace.
86. The acts of aggression against the human person in South Africa are, in the last analysis, not all that different from those which are being endured daily by the Palestinian population living at present in the territories occupied by Israel.
87. The acts of plundering and humiliation are in all respects identical whether they occur in Johannesburg or Jerusalem.
88. In both cases the purpose is to maintain the volume of nationals within a proportion called "reasonable" so as to be able to perpetuate domination.
89. It is not futile to repeat from this rostrum that, in my delegation's view, as long as this terrible imbroglio lasts, international peace and security will be gravely threatened in the Middle East.
90. We can readily visualize the mind of the martyred Palestinian people, victims of so many myths and alibis of the Israeli Government, which, indeed, seems to have forgotten that, throughout its tragic history, the Jewish people has also been exposed to threats and oppression and that it should have been less free in indulging in processes whose implacable brutality has left the Palestinian people with only one choice: armed struggle for national liberation so as to wrest from the present reluctant authorities a future propitious for the legitimate aims of the Palestinian people, properly represented here by the PLO.
91. It is not our intention to make an apology for violence; indeed, there is no one here in this Assembly who does not love peace and security, but it is necessary to have the courage to say that we must not continue on this question to adopt a partisan attitude. You condemn violence if it is exercised outside the Palestinian battlefield and yet you are prepared to tolerate it when it is directed in Palestine against the Palestinians or the Israeli opponents.
92. Peace must be total and indivisible. As far as we are concerned, there is no other therapy than to uproot the evil and, in the case of Palestine, to look for the ways and means which could bring the Palestinian people as soon as possible to the enjoyment of its inalienable rights. As long as the Israeli Government persists in its mistaken intention to annihilate any form of conscience on the part of the Palestinian people, the latter will have no choice but to break by every means the yoke of an existence which is an unjust as it is stultifying.
93. There is no question of annihilating anyone. In particular there is no question of threatening the existence of the State of Israel; what is at stake is to lay down conditions which are likely to put an end to the state of war in the Middle 'East, bearing in mind that at the root of this drama we shall find the problem of the inalienable right of the Palestinians to their homeland.
94. Our support for the Arab cause is based therefore on principles of justice, dignity and equality, which alone are capable of promoting a real and lasting peace between the peoples of the Middle East.
95. It is time for Israel to become convinced that it cannot maintain the status quo indefinitely by violence, Zionism or expansionism. In conformity with the pertinent resolutions of the United Nations the Israeli Government must be invited to withdraw its troops which are presently occupying the Arab territories. Such a withdrawal seems to us to be one of the first conditions for a progressive repatriation of Palestinians.
96. The assistance of the international community and of the specialized agencies of the United Nations system will be necessary to improve the material conditions of the Palestinians, to facilitate their resettlement, and especially guarantee peace.
97. In any event, my delegation wishes to give its full support to the report of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, a document containing highly pertinent proposals which, we are convinced, will guide the decision of our Assembly in a most sensible way.
98. May I be permitted to express here to the Committee the satisfaction of my delegation and to say how grateful we are to its Chairman, my friend and brother, Mr. Medoune Fall of Senegal, whose intellectual objectivity and the unfailing devotion to the cause of justice and peace we are all familiar with.
99. The time for silence is past. It is now necessary for us, by exorcising the demons of resigned indolence, to contribute together to the restoration of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, which is a pledge of genuine peace in the Middle East, and we must say to the Jews, wherever they may be, that the dynamic of peace condemns them to face • squarely what everybody now calls "the Palestinian dimension of the Middle East conflict". A Jewish writer said, in connexion with relations between the Arab and Jewish communities: "I call for justice for my own without injustice for others". It is only by adopting this courageous attitude that we shall finally be able to abandon the apocalyptic vision of the situation in this particularly vital region of the Middle East.
100. Mr. ALLAF (Syrian Arab Republic) (interpretation from Arabic): Arab soil has been under Israeli occupation for 10 years and the Arab people of Palestine are coming to the end of their twenty-ninth year of life in exile after having been expelled from their homes by the racist-settler aggression, which has usurped their land, affected their identity as a people and transformed them into 3 million refugees, doomed to live under oppression and injustice. What has the international community done in this world Organization, which was established, according to its Charter, in order to proclaim once again faith in the fundamental human rights, the dignity and worth of the human person, the equality of rights of men and women as well as of nations large and small? What has this international community done, and what has this Organization done, to put an end to the tragedy of the Palestinian people or to liquidate aggression-an aggression which is strangling the Arab nation?
101. Our Organization had scarcely been created for a year when, for the first time, it studied the question of Palestine. It had not concluded its second year before it adopted on 29 November 1947 its famous resolution 181 (II), calling for the dismemberment of Palestine into two separate States, an Arab State and a Jewish State and into an international zone including Jerusalem and the neighbouring Holy Places. This Organization has now concluded its thirtieth year and is beginning its thirty-first year, but the tragedy of Palestine and the Middle East conflict resulting from that problem remain two items included in the agenda of the General Assembly every year, two items concerning which successive resolutions have been adopted at session after session; and yet no end has been put to the tragedy of this militant people.
Mr. Amerashinghe (Sri Lanka) took the Chair.
102. Weizmann and the Zionist organization, by putting pressure on the United Kingdom and by exploiting the need of the Allies during the First World War for the enormous financial resources at the disposal of Zionism, managed on 2 November 1917 to extract from Lord Balfour, then Foreign Minister of the United Kingdom, a declaration in the form of a message addressed to Lord Rothschild. The message said: "His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country."7/
103. Quite aside from the immorality and illegitimacy of that Declaration, in which Great Britain offered a land which it did not own to a group of foreigners having no rights, and quite aside from the fact that Great Britain had not entirely dominated Palestine after that War, I should mention here that the Balfour Declaration contained a condition that the civilian and religious rights of the non-Jewish population living in Palestine would not be violated. Believe" it or not, the number of non-Jewish inhabitants was at the time 644,000 Arabs—I repeat 644,000 Arabs, both Moslems and Christians-as opposed to 56,000 Jews. That means that the Arab majority comprised 92 per cent of the population and had 97 per cent of the land in Palestine.
104. In spite of the injustice and illegitimacy of the Balfour Declaration, the Zionists, thanks to the pressure of the colonialist countries which supported them, were successful in incorporating that Declaration in the text of the Mandate given by the League of Nations to Great Britain-a Mandate to carry out the plan to partition the Ottoman Empire according to the secret Sykes-Picot agreement of 1916. The League of Nations made the Balfour Declaration legitimate by including it in the text of the Mandate and, in so doing, it violated its Covenant and all the principles of justice and self-determination as regards the majority- indeed, 92 per cent-of the inhabitants of Palestine.
105. Since the Balfour Declaration of 1917, about 60 years have passed. That period could be divided into two different phases, each made up of 30 years. During the first stage, from 1917 to 1947, the Zionists, after the Balfour Declaration, accomplished the following: first, they subjected Palestine to the British Mandate in order to give effect to the Balfour Declaration, their plan being to turn Palestine into a Jewish homeland; secondly, they carried out a stage-by-stage colonization by bringing in thousands and thousands of Jews, both lawfully and unlawfully, right under the very noses of the authorities of the British Mandate; thirdly, they conducted an unbridled campaign to seize Arab lands through persuasion, or at times threats, and to establish Jewish kibbutzim and colonies in the strategic parts of Palestinian land; and, fourthly, they concluded an alliance with the authorities of the British Mandate to refer the question of Palestine to the recently created United Nations in order to carry out the plan to partition and dismember Palestine.
106. During the second stage, which lasted for three decades, from 1947 to the present day, the Zionists, with the assistance and pressure of the Western colonialists led by the United States, managed to get the United Nations to adopt resolution 181 (II) of 1947, whereby the General Assembly decided to partition Palestine into two States-an Arab and a Jewish State—while setting up a special international regime for Jerusalem and the neighbouring Holy Places.
107. During that period the Zionists strengthened their racist entity by aggression. They seized roughly 80 per cent of the Palestinian lands between 1948 and 1949. After the Suez war, which failed in 1956, and after 5 June 1967, they seized the rest of Palestine and large portions of Egyptian and Syrian territory.
108. In contrast to the Zionists, who say that they accepted resolution 181 (II), the Arabs did .not approve the partition plan of 1947 and voted against that resolution. The Zionists have tried to portray the Arab position as a crime committed by the Arabs deserving sanction.
109. But since when does the refusal of people to allow their land to be dismembered come as a surprise? Is it surprising that the Arabs have not agreed to the plan to partition their land and give it to foreigners? Of course the Zionists immediately accepted the partition plan. The Zionists even danced all night in the streets of Tel Aviv. No wonder. A thief who breaks into a house is happy when a judge comes along and tells him that the house he has broken into will be divided between himself and the owner in order to settle the dispute.
110. Why should the Zionists not have welcomed the partition of Palestine? Fifty years ago, they were trying to gain some land here and there, from Argentina to Uganda, without any success.
111. In the last days and hours before the adoption of the partition resolution, the Zionists tried by every means available to secure a two-thirds majority. They even went to the White House and contacted the capitals of the more reluctant countries and threatened them with blackmail, trying to get them to support the partition resolution. They tried to postpone the meeting in the course of which a vote was scheduled to be held to give the White House enough time to put pressure on smaller countries. Sumner Welles in his book entitled We Need Not Fail, described what happened, and I quote:
"By direct order of the White House every form of pressure, direct and indirect, was brought to bear by American officials upon those countries outside of the Moslem world that were known to be either uncertain or opposed to partition. Representatives or intermediaries were employed by the White House to make sure that the necessary majority would at length be secured."8/
112. And so, just as the League of Nations violated its Covenant by incorporating the Balfour Declaration in the text of the British Mandate, which was imposed on Palestine and on the neighbouring Holy Places instead of their being given independence, the United Nations in turn violated its own Charter, which provides that friendly relations should be developed among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples. And that requires respect for the territorial integrity and political independence of countries and peoples.
113. The United Nations dismembered Palestine against the will of the majority of the people. It gave more than 56 per cent of Palestine to the Zionist intruders who, at the end of 1947, in spite of the legitimate and illegitimate emigration, represented only a third of the population, whereas the overwhelming two thirds of the population, the Palestinian Arabs, the rightful owners of the country, received but 43 per cent of the land.
114. The Zionists at the time did not own more than 6 per cent of all of Palestine, whereas the Arab majority,-the plotting and the partitioning notwithstanding—remained the legitimate owners of 94 per cent of the Palestinian land.
115. The United Nations then dismembered Palestine as a result of the vote of 33 countries, among which there was only one Asian country and two African countries, one of which was the racist Union of South Africa.
116. The fate of this country which is at the cross-roads of Africa and Asia was thus determined in the absence of the people of the area and against their will.
117. The history of Israel in the area is a series of acts of expansion and aggression, and, ever since the creation of the Zionist State, there have been four wars in the area which have caused much death and destruction.
118. Yet the Zionists seem to be not ashamed, and they continue to distort the truth. The representative of Israel just a few days ago [70th meeting] claimed that the Arab countries had attacked Israel on 15 May 1948 in an effort to liquidate Israel and throw the Jews into the sea. The Arabs were defending their land but they were portrayed as those responsible for the aggression; but the Zionist representative seemed to overlook the fact that the partition plan had only just been adopted at the time and that the Zionists had carried out plan C. Plan C was immediately to attack the Arab villages and quarters.
119. The execution of that plan was pursued between November of 1947 and 1 April 1948. The Irgun, the Stern and the Haganah attacked the population of Arab quarters and towns in the last month of 1947 and during the first three months of 1948 against heroic Arab resistance. Resistance was heroic, but the Arabs were poorly trained and armed. The Arab towns of Haifa, Jaffa, Jerusalem, Lydda, Safad, Nazareth, Tiberias and other towns were attacked on different occasions, causing the death of hundreds of innocent Arab inhabitants and the wounding of thousands of others. On 1 April 1948, a month and a half before the Arab forces came to the assistance of the Arabs in Palestine, the Zionists carried out the grand Zionist plan, known as the Dalet plan. The Zionist leaders made explicit the aims of plan D when they said:
". . .[the] control of the area given to us [the Zionists] by the U.N., in addition to areas occupied by Arabs which were outside these borders". [Qravot, 1948, p. 16.] 9/
120. The Haganah and the terrorist Jewish cliques carried out the Dalet plan in 13 operations between 1 April and mid May 1948. All of those military operations and all those acts of aggression against the unarmed Palestinian people took place before the first Arab soldier set foot on the land of Palestine on 15 May 1948.
121. But let us hear what Mr. Yigal Allon, leader of the Zionist Palmach group and current Israeli Minister for Foreign Affairs, has to say about what happened before 15 May 1948 in the book Ha Sepher Ha Palmach, vol. 2 p. 286:
"There were left before us only five days before the threatening date, the 15th of May. We saw a need to clean the inner Galilee and to create a Jewish territorial succession in the entire area of the upper Galilee."9/
122. All those acts of aggression, by the admission of the Foreign Minister of Israel himself, were carried out in accordance with the Dalet Plan and the Zionist expansionist plan to seize as much Palestinian land as possible before 15 May 1948, the official date of the end of the British Mandate.
123. That is the background of the first Arab-Israeli war of 1948. The war against the defenceless Palestinian people had already been in progress for five months at the time of the massacre of Deir Yasin on 9 April 1948, in the course of which the Zionists liquidated all of the 204 men, women and children of this Arab village. All that killing, all those attacks spread to dozens of Arab towns and villages, prompting the forces of neighbouring Arab countries to fly to the assistance of the Palestinians, who were exposed to veritable genocide.
124. The Charter of the United Nations expressly stipulates that there is an individual and collective right of self-defence, just as it stipulates the right of regional agencies to work for international peace and security.
125. The intervention of Arab forces took place, and its intent was to stop Israeli aggression and killing. It was an act of self-defence to protect 1,300,000 Arabs who were being exposed to a massacre. If the armies of the United States covered thousands of miles and crossed the oceans to come to the assistance of their European allies, is it conceivable that the Arab countries should have stood idly by as the people of Palestine were being annihilated, had their lands plundered a few kilometres away from their frontiers?
126. The forces of the Zionists, in the act of aggression of 1948, and as a result of all subsequent acts of aggression ending in 1949, have occupied more than 80 per cent of the land of Palestine. And, as a result of killing and acts of oppression, they have driven the Palestinians from their homes and have forced them to leave their countries.
127. Here again is the big lie propagated by the racist Zionists in an effort to shirk their responsibility for the crimes committed against the Palestinian people and to prevent the refugees from returning to their homes. According to the big lie, the Arab leaders-and not Israel-had dispersed the Palestinian people and asked them to leave their homes.
128. The whole world knows how the Palestinian people were uprooted from their lands in accordance with the Zionist plan, which was carried out years ago, and according to the Dalet Plan too, which we have discussed in detail.
129. The Zionist plan from the very outset was aimed at the Palestinian land and its people because the Palestinian people were the sole obstacle that would not be assimilated. They had to be thrust out of the way to make room for the thousands of Jews who were brought from the entire world to populate Palestine. As the Arabs were attached to their land, like all other peoples in the world, and as they would accept no bargaining, the Zionists decided to liquidate those persons through repression.
130. If only the Zionist representative could remember the confessions of Mr. Yigal Allon, the Israeli Foreign Minister in his book Ha Sepher Ha Palmach before trying to propagate these big lies. Mr. Allon states:
"I gathered all of the Jewish Mukhtars who had contact with Arabs in different villages and asked them to whisper in the ears of some Arabs that a great Jewish reinforcement had arrived in Galilee and that it was going to burn all the villages of the Huleh. They should suggest to these Arabs, as their friends, to escape while there was still time. And the rumour spread in all the areas of the Huleh that it was time to flee. The flight numbered myriads. The tactic reached its goal completely."10/
131. And the writer I. F. Stone said:
"Jewish terrorism, not only by the Irgun, in such savage massacres as Deir Yasin, but in milder form by the Haganah itself 'encouraged' Arabs to leave areas the Jews wished to-take over for strategic or demographic reasons. They tried to make as much of Israel as free of Arabs as possible."'0
132. In order to refute once again these lies that the Arabs induced the Palestinian people to leave their homes, I should like to refer to the findings of Erskine Childers in a study published in 1961 11/ which, after referring to reports of all the Arab, Israeli and British radio broadcasts during 1948, established that there had been no orders, appeals, comments or even insinuations by any Arab country that the Arab inhabitants should leave their homes and their land. Mr. Childers found precisely the opposite: namely, appeals to Arabs to remain in their country and in their homes.
133. Israel, with its lies and its distortions of the truth, will not be able to shirk its historic responsibility for its crimes against the Palestinians when they were driven from their land. But, for the sake of argument, let us suppose that the Palestinians did leave their homes of their own free will, either fleeing war or acting upon their leaders' instructions, does that deprive them of the right to return to their homes and lands?
134. By straining to find an analogy between its crime against the 2 million Palestinian refugees and the legend it calls "the 800,000 Jewish refugees" in the Arab States, Israel will only subject itself to ridicule.
135. If, as the Zionists claim, Israel is considered the national home of all the Jews in the world, that would mean that these 800,000 Jews-we shall not for the moment question this figure—by returning to Israel are indeed returning to their "homeland". Can those who return to their land be considered refugees? According to Zionist logic, those Arab Jews were "refugees" while they were living in the "Diaspora", or "in exile" in the Arab countries, and they lost their status as ."refugees" when they returned to their "promised land".
136. Israel is twisting logic in its racist attacks, which are aimed at securing the emigration to Israel of those it calls its own people from the Soviet Union and the Arab countries. Israel claims to represent the Jews of those regions, and argues that those Jews will be hostages as long as they remain there.
137. On the one hand Israel accuses the Arab countries of expelling Arab Jews and turning them into refugees; on the other hand it accuses those countries of keeping the Jews there by force, as hostages. The Arab Jews, therefore, are refugees if they leave and hostages if they stay, and in either case, so the argument runs, the Arab States are always at fault.
138. In point of fact, not a single Jew has been driven from an Arab country, for the simple reason that the Arabs, in keeping with the teachings of their religion, do not believe in racial segregation. They will not accept Israel's claim of stewardship or responsibility for citizens of Arab countries simply because they profess Judaism. Those who have destroyed the lives and the homes of Arabs are the Zionists themselves, who have tried to occupy each parcel of land in execution of their plan D. But they have done worse than that: their mercenaries have planted bombs in churches and even in the synagogues of Jewish communities in Arab countries—as was the case in Iraq in 1950, in Morocco in 1961 and in other Arab countries—all in an attempt to justify their position in the eyes of world public opinion, to unite all Jews throughout the world and to make Jews believe that they would not be safe as long as they remained in Arab countries. The Jews who left Arab lands after the creation of Israel, either as a result of Zionist threats or because of the war, are now suffering—they are suffering from segregation in Israel itself because they are considered as under-developed and backward Jews of the East and most of them regret that they were taken in by Jewish propaganda and now only want to go back to their Arab countries of origin. And their desire has been met sympathetically by all Arab countries, which are willing to welcome those Jews; the doors are kept wide open for them so that they may be able to return to their countries of origin.
139. Israel continues to perpetrate acts of aggression and is responsible for the killing of Arabs in Palestine and in neighbouring Arab countries and has done that since 1948 almost uninterruptedly. Israel has destroyed hundreds of Arab towns; it has driven away from their land more than a million Palestinians, and Israeli forces in 1956 suddenly committed an act of aggression against the Sinai, with France and the United Kingdom, that aroused the wrath of world public opinion. Israel was forced to withdraw after its aggression had. been condemned by the majority of countries, including the United States and the Soviet Union. Israel perpetrated a treacherous act of aggression on 5 June 1967 against Arab countries, and on that occasion succeeded in absorbing the rest of Palestine and large portions of Egypt and Syria, thereby confirming that the Zionist entity can live only on aggression and expansion.
140. Once again the representative of Israel repeats Israel's lie, namely, that it is the Arabs who were responsible for the war of June 1967, or rather that Israeli aggression was but a defensive reaction to actions by Syria and Egypt in the weeks immediately preceding that war. The Zionists have tried to portray their aggression of 1967 as an act of self-defence against the Egyptian fleet which allegedly had been detected on radar heading towards Tel Aviv. But the lie was exposed when it was discovered that Arab aviation had been surprised on the ground or in airports. The Israelis also claimed that the aggression of 5 June 1967 was but a response to the closing of the Straits of Tiran by Egypt.
141. But the truth came out subsequently, and it was proved that Israel had planned the aggression of 5 June 1967 months and even years before. Major-General Mordechai Hod, writing in The Sunday Times on 16 July 1967, recognized this plan:
"Sixteen years of planning had gone into those initial 80 minutes. 'We lived with the plan, we slept on the plan, we ate the plan. Constantly we perfected it'."12/
142. Mordechai Bentov, who had been a member of the Israeli coalition government in 1967, wrote a few years later, on 14 April 1971, in Al Hamishmar, that Israel had not been threatened by Egypt or Syria, and revealed the true reason for the aggression of 1967. He wrote: "The entire story of the danger of extermination was invented in every detail, and exaggerated a posteriori to justify the annexation of new Arab territory."13/
143. So it was clear to the entire world that Israel's aggression against Arab territory in June 1967 had been premeditated and planned. A new chapter in Zionist expansionist traditions began in an effort to control all the Palestinian territory and to seize large parts of Jordanian, Syrian, Lebanese and Egyptian territory.
144. More than three years have passed since the last Arab-Israeli war in the Middle East, but Israel is trying to maintain its occupation of Arab territory and continues to violate the rights of the Arab people of Palestine. The facts show that the Zionist regime has not learned the lessons of the October war of liberation and is now trying to carry out its Zionist and aggressive plans and to occupy all Arab lands. The Jewish settlements which have been created or
12 are about to be created in the West Bank of the Jordan, in Gaza, in the Golan Heights and in the Sinai peninsula now number more than 100. The Zionist regime has constantly taken repressive action against the people of occupied Arab territory and continues to violate the most elementary human rights. At the same time, the Judaization of Arab lands continues. Acts of aggression have been committed against the Moslem and Christian Holy Places by bands of Zionists, with the encouragement and acquiesence of the Israeli occupying authorities.
145. The situation in the area is very much what it was before the October war of 1973 when the Arab Egyptian and Syrian forces found they had to act to liberate their land after six years of unsuccessful international efforts, which were unable to convince the Israeli aggressor that it had to evacuate occupied lands and put an end to its violations of the rights of the Palestinian people.
146. That is the background of the Palestinian tragedy. That is the history of the crisis in the Middle East. It is something that the Israeli representative has tried to distort whenever the opportunity has presented itself.
147. The General Assembly in its historic resolution 3236 (XXIX) recognized the inalienable national rights of the Arab people of Palestine, described what those elementary rights were, and prescribed that those rights should be ensured and respected in the same way as for all other peoples. The plan was to prepare a programme to implement those rights, to make it possible for the Palestinian people to exercise those rights and enjoy tfem. The General Assembly at its thirtieth session, under resolution 3376 (XXX), set up the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, which is composed of 20 countries, representing Asia, Africa, Latin America, the West and the socialist countries, and it instructed that Committee to prepare the aforementioned plan of action.
148. Israel, plus a number of other colonialist countries favourable to Israel, boycotted the work of the Committee of 20 nations, as might have been expected, and refused to co-operate with it. We have seen how the Zionist representative only a few days ago harshly criticized the Committee, claiming that its report submitted to the General Assembly in document A/31/35 was nothing less than "… a prescription for the dismemberment of a State Member of the United Nations" [70th meeting, para. 20].14/
149. Such a statement on the part of the Zionist representative is most surprising. How could a report that based itself entirely upon United Nations resolutions, and in particular, on the two resolutions by virtue of which Israel was created and which made it possible for it to be admitted to the United Nations-how could such a report based on such resolutions—dismember and divide the State that was created precisely on the basis of these two resolutions?
150. The two most important resolutions on which the recommendations in the report of the Committee are based are General Assembly resolution 181 (II) of 29 November 1947, and resolution 194 (III) of 11 December 1948.
151. Resolution 181 (II), the resolution on the partition of Palestine, on which we have spoken at length and which has been considered by the representative of Israel himself in his intervention in the General Assembly last Thursday as "an historic act", is to some extent a birth certificate for the Zionist entity, because the Jewish State-like the Arab-Palestinian State which has not yet seen the light of day has been created by virtue of this resolution, the only State to have been created out of nothing at the expense of other people's land in accordance with the United Nations resolution.
152. That resolution, therefore, must be dear to the heart of the Zionist representative, who should be the first to welcome the fact that the Committee based itself upon that resolution in submitting its recommendations.
153. As for General Assembly resolution 194 (III), it also must be very important for the Zionist entity because, in addition to resolution 181 (II) dealing with the partition of Palestine, it was one of the two resolutions which Israel undertook to respect and implement as a condition for its admission to the United Nations by virtue of General Assembly resolution 273 (III) of 11 May 1949, at the time adding that Israel committed itself without qualifications to comply with its obligations under the United Nations Charter.
154. Might I perhaps refresh the memory of the representative of Israel by reading out the fifth preambular paragraph of General Assembly resolution 273 (III) on the admission of Israel to membership in the United Nations:
"Recalling its resolutions of 29 November 1947 and 11 December 1948 and taking note of the declarations and explanation made by the representative of the Government of Israel before the ad hoc Political Committee in respect of the implementation of the said resolutions."14
Here is another precedent which Israel has set. Just as it is the one and only State to have been created by a United Nations resolution, it is also the one and only State in the history of the United Nations whose admission was made contingent on its compliance with other resolutions adopted by the Assembly. The logical and legal consequence is that the continuation of Israel's admission to membership in the United Nations is conditional upon its implementation of the aforementioned General Assembly resolutions 181 (II) and 194(111).
155. In the light of the foregoing it is difficult to explain the position of the representative of Israel vis-a-vis the recommendations of the Committee, which are based essentially, as I have already illustrated, on the General Assembly resolutions I have referred to. If the implementation of these two resolutions means the destruction of Israel and its dismemberment, as alleged by the Zionist representative, how is that Israel was created and became a Member of the United Nations only by virtue of these two resolutions and on their basis? The only significance of all this is that the Zionist entity has changed from the form in which it was established by the United Nations-and has changed radically—and has assumed dimensions which the world Organization could not foresee, so much so that the simple implementation of the resolutions by virtue of which Israel was in fact established and admitted to the United Nations has become a reason for the destruction of Israel and its dismemberment.
156. Among the criticisms made by the representative of Israel and those who sympathize with him of the report of the Committee is that the report does not mention Security Council resolutions 242(1967) and 338(1973) and does not take them into account in its recommendations. All those who hear the Tel-Aviv representative talk persistently about those resolutions might be led to believe that Israel is doing its utmost to implement them and is defending them with all the enthusiasm at its command. Regardless of these two resolutions and their merit or demerits, one look at the developments in the situation and in the international efforts made in the region since 1967 to the present day within the United Nations and outside, suffices to expose the obstructionist role Israel has played and is still playing in order to stand in the way of the establishment of a lasting and just peace in the region and to delay the taking of any effective measures for the implementation of resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973).
157. I do not think it is necessary to speak at length about the persistent attitude of Israel concerning the international efforts starting from the Jarring mission and going on through the attempts of the four Powers, the Rogers plan and later the efforts of the wise men of Africa, the Geneva Conference and so on.
158. All I can say is that the Committee has omitted none of the elements, contained in the resolutions of the Security Council and the General Assembly relating to the question, including everything of interest to Israel in Security Council resolution 242(1967). In the part one of its report, chapter IV, section D, paragraph 34, the Committee states:
"Once the Palestinian State was established, it could participate, on a basis of equality, in the negotiations for a peace settlement in the Middle East, which would cover the question of secure and recognized boundaries for all States in the region."15/
159. In section F paragraph 45 of the same part and chapter, the report states:
"The Security Council could provide international guarantees for the peace and security of all States and peoples in the Middle East . . .".15/
160. What is more important still is that, in section H, paragraph 52, the Committee describes the agreement on the fundamental principles of the establishment of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, namely:
"(a) Israel should withdraw from all the Arab territories occupied since 1967 . ..;
"(b) The Palestinian people should be enabled to exercise its inalienable right to national self-determination …;
"(c) Appropriate arrangements should be made to guarantee, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of all the States in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries."
161. We should mention here that these three principles derive from the draft resolution S/l1940 16/ voted on by the Security Council during its historic discussion of January last relating to the Middle East, including the Palestinian question pursuant to resolution 381 (1975) and approved by most of the members of the Security Council, including the majority of the Western countries. That draft resolution was not adopted solely because the United States used its veto for the benefit of Israel.
162. Part two of the report, which is more important, contains the recommendations of the Committee, and it is indicated in paragraph 65 that the Committee has based its recommendations on the numerous resolutions of the United Nations, including Security Council resolution 242 (1967) and resolution 338 (1973).
163. Similarly, paragraph 72 (g) states: ". . . the establishment of a just and lasting peace in the region, in accordance with all relevant United Nations resolutions".17/. This phrase, "all relevant United Nations resolutions" includes of course, Security Council resolutions 247 (1967) and 338(1973)—or perhaps the representative of Israel considers that these two resolutions, 242(1967) and 338 (1973), have no relevance to the questions of Palestine and the Middle East.
164. The most important paragraphs in the report of the Committee are paragraphs 68, 69 and 72, because they contain the recommendations of the Committee pursuant to the mission entrusted to it. All of these paragraphs are legitimately based upon the relevant General Assembly and the Security Council resolutions, as well as, of course, on the letter and spirit of the United Nations Charter.
165. I defy the representative of zionism to point to any of the recommendations of the Committee contained in these paragraphs or even in the report of the Committee as a whole which would, if implemented, dismember Israel as he maintains.
166. Why would the return of refugees expelled from their land after the aggression of June 1967 lead to the destruction of Israel unless Israel intends to annex and keep these occupied Arab territories?
167. Why does the return of refugees—who wish only to return to their homes and to live in peace with their neighbours or, in the case of those who do not wish to return, to receive compensation, pursuant to General Assembly resolution 194 (III)—be harmful to Israel since its existence and its status as a Member of the United Nations were made contingent on this condition?
168. Why should Israel's withdrawal by 1 June 1977 from the Arab territories it occupied following the 1967 aggression—in other words, after 10 years of occupation based upon aggression—why should such withdrawal from land belonging to others destroy Israel?
169. Why would ceasing to establish Jewish settlements in territories occupied by Israel since 1967 and the dismantling of existing one?, be detrimental to Israel, since these settlements violate the United Nations Charter and international law and the Geneva Conventions? Why, then, should the cessation of settlements in territory that does not belong to Israel be harmful to Israel? Why should all this mean the dismembering of Israel?
170. Why should the establishment of a Palestinian Arab State on the territory specified by the United Nations, as stated in the resolution which created the State of Israel, lead to the dismemberment of Israel? And, finally, why should negotiations between the countries directly concerned and the Palestinian entity for the implementation of national rights of the Palestinian people and the solution of pending questions with a view to the restoration of a just and lasting peace in the region on the basis of all the resolutions of the United Nations—why should all that be destructive to Israel?
171. Which Israel does the representative of Zionism speak of? What is this Israel that would be destroyed by the implementation of United Nations resolutions? Is this the Israel that was established by the United Nations, and whose map was drawn by a decision of the partition resolution of 1947? Or is it the Israel created by the Irgun, Stern and Haganah bands and as a result of all the massacres and aggressions of 1948 and 1949? Is it the Israel that has emerged after the June 1967 war, which has absorbed Palestine in its entirety as well as the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights? Or is it the Israel of the Torah, which the representative of Zionism refers to constantly in his interventions and which seemingly stretches from the Nile to the Euphrates?
172. The Security Council was once again unable to carry out its responsibilities under the Charter when the report of the Committee was submitted to it in June last for much the same reason why it was unable to adopt any decision during the last two years to put an end to the Israeli aggression and to pave the way to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East. That reason is nothing other than the United States veto used for the benefit of Israel,
173. The delegation of the Syrian Arab Republic has taken part in the work of the Committee as an observer with all due interest and I can refer you to the statement of our representative in document A/AC/183/L.8 of 17 March 1976. It likewise took part in the discussions in the Security Council on the report of the Committee for the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People.
In my statement on 29 June 1976, I said:
"In spite of certain reservations, which relate to emphasis or procedure rather than to substance, my delegation finds the Committee's recommendations, coming as they do from a body established by the General Assembly, most fair and reasonable. The Palestinian people is entitled, exactly like any other people, to self-determination, national independence and sovereignty. The Palestinians are entitled also to return to their homes and property, whether they were dispersed 1948 or in 1967. The Palestinian people's right to self-determination cannot be implemented unless Israel first, withdraws from the Palestinian territory it occupied by force, contrary to the United Nations Charter and United Nations resolutions and, secondly permits the refugees and the displaced Palestinians who; were uprooted or expelled or fled during and after the hostilities of 1948 and 1967 to return to their homes and property."18/
As for the delay we had anticipated on the part of certain permanent members of the Security Council, I said in the same statement:
"If any obstruction should be raised by the Security Council itself owing to the abuse of the right of veto by one or more of its permanent members, then the Committee should recommend to the General Assembly , in its subsequent report that the General Assembly itself carry out its responsibilities in accordance with the United Nations Charter and existing precedents."18/
174. That remains the unchanging position of the delegation of my country. We believe that the General Assembly should adopt the report and the recommendations of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. The General Assembly must urge the Security Council to discharge its responsibilities arising from the Charter and put an end to the dangerous situation arising from Israeli aggression in Palestine and the Middle East by implementing all United Nations resolutions relating to the question. That would make it possible for the Arab people of Palestine to exercise their national rights to sovereignty and national independence and their right to return to their homeland and to self-determination. The General Assembly must draw the attention of the Security Council to the danger arising from the non-compliance with responsibilities. That would require that the General Assembly discharge its responsibility in connexion with international peace and security under the provisions of the Charter and in keeping with precedents in the area.
175. The delegation of my country welcomes the work done by the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and we can thank the Chairman, Mr. Fall, the Rapporteur, Mr. Gauci, and all the members of the Committee for their efforts in discharging the delicate task assigned to them. We believe that the Committee can still render valuable services to the cause of the Palestinian people and can help build a just and lasting peace in the area.
176. The dangers of the situation in the Middle East at the present time are a threat to the security of all the peoples of the world, not just to the security of the people and countries of the area. The close relationship between security in the Middle East and elsewhere in the world was made clear in the October war of 1973, which showed that the security of the international community and its economic prosperity largely depend on the establishment of peace and security in the Middle East.
177. It is clear that the international community no longer stands to gain anything from pursuing its policy of indifference towards what is going on in the area. If not for the cause of peace and justice, it should act to preserve its own security and interests.
178. The substance of the Arab-Israeli conflict lies-contrary to the allegations of the Israeli representative-in the question of Palestine, which is the direct cause of the conflict. If the question is not disposed of by guaranteeing the international rights of the Palestinian people and if the Palestinians represented by the PLO do not participate in all international efforts to establish a just and lasting peace in the area, then peace will never be restored and that would be a threat to peace and security not only in the Middle East but in the entire world.
179. The PRESIDENT: A draft resolution on the question of Palestine has been submitted in document A/31/L.20 of 22 November 1976. I now call on the representative of Uganda, who will formally introduce that draft resolution.
180. Mr. KINENE (Uganda): On behalf of the sponsors of draft resolution A/31/L.20 on the item I have the pleasure and honour to introduce the said draft resolution, which deals with the mandate given to the General Assembly by resolution 3376 (XXX) of 10 November 1975.
181. Ambassador Fall, the Chairman of the Committee, has already informed in detail this Assembly about the work of this Committee [66th meeting]. This Assembly has listened with great interest to the eloquent statements made by a great number of representatives on the item. All of the speakers have dealt at length with the different aspects of the question of Palestine. This question, as stated by all delegations, is the core of the conflict in the Middle East. All delegations expressed their firm belief that there will be no just and lasting solution to the conflict in the Middle East, and consequently no peace, until a just and lasting solution to the question of Palestine is found.
182. The report of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People recommends ways and means of securing such a long-awaited and overdue solution, which would put an end to the misery and suffering of the Palestinian people and restore their inalienable rights, including the right of self-determination and the right to national independence and sovereignty in Palestine. The Committee has performed a great task in carrying out the mandate assigned it by the General Assembly. It is therefore important that the General Assembly should endorse the recommendations made in the report as the basis for the solution of the question of Palestine. It is also important that the General Assembly should request the competent bodies of the United Nations to take the necessary and appropriate measures in accordance with the programme of implementation proposed by the Committee in its recommendations.
183. Special attention should be given to the role that the Security Council is called upon to play in the search for peace and justice. The Committee should be authorized to continue the performance of its task with a new assignment, namely, to promote the implementation of its recommendations. It is our understanding that the membership of the Committee is open to any new member that would like to participate in its efforts to achieve a just and lasting solution to the question of Palestine and, consequently, to the conflict in the Middle East.
The meeting rose at 6.15 p.m.
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1/ See Official Records of the Security Council, Thirty-first Year, 1924th. 1928th and 1933rd to 1938th meetings.
2/ Ibid., Thirty-first Year, Supplement for April, May and June 1976, document S/12119.
3/ See Walter Lippmann, The United States in World Affairs: An Account of American Foreign Relations, 1932 (New York, Harper & Brothers, 1933), pp. 195-196.
4/ See League of Nations, Official Journal, Special Supplement No. 101, p. 87.
5/ See Official Records of the Security Council, Thirty-first Year, Supplement for October, November and December 1976, document S/12233.
6/ See Official Records of the General Assembly, Twenty-ninth Session, Plenary Meetings, 2282nd meeting
7/ See Official Records of the General Assembly, Second Session, Supplement No. 11, vol. II, annex 19. Quoted in.English by the speaker.
8/ See Sumner Welles, We Need Not Fail (Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1948), p. 63.
9/ Quoted in English by the speaker.
10/ Idem,
11/ See Erskine B. Childers, "The Other Exodus", in The Spectator, May 12th 1961.
12/ See Randolph S. Churchill and Winston S. Churchill, The Six Day War (London, Heinemann, 1967), p. 91. Quoted in English by the speaker.
13/ Quoted in English by the speaker.
15/ Quoted in English by the speaker.
16/ See Official Records of the Security Council, Thirty-first Year, Supplement for January, February and March 1976.
17/ Quoted in English by the speaker.
18/ See Official Records of the Security Council, Thirty-first Year, 1937th meeting. Quoted in English by the speaker.
Document Type: Meeting record
Document Sources: Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP), General Assembly
Subject: Agenda Item, Assistance, Credentials, Middle East situation, PLO/Palestine, Palestine question, Self-determination, Situation in the OPT including Jerusalem, Statehood-related
Publication Date: 22/11/1976