Seventh emergency special session
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
PROVISIONAL VERBATIM RECORD OF THE FOURTEENTH MEETING
Held at Headquarters, New York,
on Tuesday, 22 July 1980, at 3 p.m.
President:
Mr. SALIM (United Republic of Tanzania)
– Question of Palestine /5/ (continued)
This record contains the original text of speeches delivered in English and interpretations of speeches in the other languages. The final text will be printed in the Official Records of the General Assembly.
Corrections should be submitted to original speeches only. They should be sent under the signature of a member of the delegation concerned, within one week, to the Chief of the Official Records Editing Section, Department of Conference Services, room A-3550, 866 United Nations Plaza, and incorporated in a copy of the record.
The meeting was called to order at 3.35 p.m.
AGENDA ITEM 5
QUESTION OF PALESTINE
The PRESIDENT: I call on the first speaker for this afternoon, His Excellency Mr. Isidoro Malmierca, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Cuba who will speak on behalf of the non-aligned countries.
Mr. MALMIERCA (Cuba) (interpretation from Spanish):
Once again we are examining in the General Assembly of the United Nations the conflict in the Middle East and, in particular, the problems inherent in the inalienable national rights of the Palestinian people. It has certainly not been for lack of depth in analysis or of clarity or fairness in the United Nations resolutions that we find ourselves once again in the unavoidable position of discussing the question of Palestine, this time within the framework of an emergency special session of the General Assembly.
The fundamental principles for a just, global and lasting settlement of the Middle East conflict and the question of Palestine have been established and repeated unequivocally in numerous resolutions of this Assembly. Nevertheless, the arrogant contempt of the Zionist authorities and the challenging imperialist manoeuvres by the Government of the United States continue to block the will of the international community, as was shown once again in the United States veto of the resolution calling for respect for the inalienable national rights of the Palestinian people, which was submitted last April to the Security Council.
This situation was envisaged last September by the Heads of State or Government of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries when they decided at their sixth summit conference that the convening; of this emergency special session should be requested should the Security Council fail to act because of lack of unanimity among its permanent members.
That is why the issue which worries us most today is how to get the needed machinery moving so as to prevent the Zionist regime and its imperialist supporters from continuing their brazen evasion of the agreements and resolutions of the United Nations, the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries, the Arab League, the Organization of African Unity and other international organizations and forums.
The representatives and the propaganda apparatus of Tel Aviv and Washington use many arguments in their tactical scheming in order to conceal their true intentions from international public opinion. It is argued, inter alia, that any actions,, including those stemming from the United Nations, would tend only to hamper the so-called peace talks between Egypt and Israel. The international community is witness to the fact that never before has the situation in the Middle East been so complex as it is today, nor so abounding in threats to the peace and security of the peoples in the region and throughout the world.
The Camp David agreements and the Treaty signed by Egypt and Israel, whose failure is acknowledged by the closest allies of Washington, have served only to cover up the acceleration of the provision of sophisticated United States weapons to the irresponsible Zionist administration and to the Egyptian regime, as well to endorse the dismemberment of the Palestinian people, condemning them to live forever as refugees.
This imperialist policy accepts aggression as a settlement formula for international problems and conflicts, for it permits the occupation of the Lebanese territory and also the intensification of Israeli bombings against its population.
If such agreements have proved useful, they have been useful only to allow the Zionist aggressor to reinforce its positions along the Syrian and Jordanian fronts, which, as is easy to understand,, will encourage Zionist aspirations to aggression and conquest of those countries.
Particularly disturbing are the manoeuvres aimed at involving the peoples of the middle East in the renewed cold-war policy of the United States Government through the establishment or building-up of its military presence in certain countries of the area. Within this context, we note with indignation the competition established between Israel and Egypt in offering their respective territories for the installation of new Yankee military bases in the area.
What could be the aim of all these warlike preparations if not to impose by force a sinister scheme aimed only at securing the interests of imperialism and allowing Israel to consummate its long-standing expansionist dreams?
We are gathered here at a time when some of the negative consequences of the Camp David Agreements and the Egyptian-Israeli Treaty are already apparent. In exchange for its betrayal of the Arab cause, and in particular the cause of the Palestinian people, Egypt has retrieved part of the arid desert in the Sinai peninsula and some oil wells already exploited to the limit by their Israeli occupiers.
But it is no less true that while the United States, Egypt and Israel persist in negotiating a so-called autonomy for Gaza and the West Bank behind the backs of the Palestinian people and of their sole and legitimate representative, the Palestine Liberation Organization w the Zionist authorities are stepping up their colonialist policy in the occupied territories, including the recent attempt to formalize the incorporation of Jerusalem into Israel's sovereignty and increasing their criminal repressive measures against the defenceless Palestinian population by introducing new terrorist methods such as those used recently against various personalities in the occupied territories. They are increasing their genocidal actions against the civilian population and the Palestinian refugee camps in southern Lebanon, and they are threatening to extend their aggression to that country and to attack other Arab countries militarily.
It is obvious that only the military, economic, political and diplomatic support of the United States for Israel and the complicity of the Egyptian regime can account for the fact that the Government in Tel Aviv maintains such aggressive and expansionist positions in open defiance of the decisions of international bodies and with brazen contempt for international public opinion.
Can we allow the tragedy of the heroic and suffering Palestinian people to continue any longer? How much longer will the international community accept the excesses of the Zionist regime and its systematic rejection of the agreements and resolutions of the Security Council and the General Assembly? How could it not be possible for the concert of nations to enforce the Charter of the Organization and to put an end to the manoeuvres of the Zionist authorities, including their obstinate ignoring of the Palestinian people and their attempts to crush by force their national identity and even to liquidate their very physical existence?
The Heads of State or Government of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries, convinced of the need to find an urgent solution to the conflict in the Middle East and to stop in time the dangerous Zionist and imperialist manoeuvres, have in paragraphs 101 to 133 of the Final Declaration of their Sixth S»rrrnit Conference, condemned in the strongest terms the Camp David Agreements and the Egyptian-Israeli Treaty and reiterated the demand that the Security Council implement the various resolutions adopted by the General Assembly, and adopt against Israel such action as is provided for under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter.
Those paragraphs of the Final Declaration of the Sixth Summit Conference of the Non-Aligned Countries also reaffirm the universally recognized principles which establish that a just and lasting peace in the Middle East can be achieved only within the framework of global talks with the participation of all parties involved in the conflict, including the Palestine Liberation Organization, the sole and legitimate representative of that people, and on the basis of complete and unconditional withdrawal by Israel from the occupied Arab and Palestinian territories.
Any attempt to ignore that historic reality will serve only to prolong the suffering and sacrifices of the Palestinian people, to compound further the situation in the Middle East, and to bring closer the possibility of a new outbreak of war in the region.
The Cuban people, which has a long and rich tradition of fighting for freedom and justice, trusts that this great Assembly will adopt practical agreements that will without further delay permit the implementation of the inalienable national rights of the Palestinian people including its right to constitute a sovereign and independent State in Palestine.
Cuba, a country which is in the front line of the struggle against imperialism, and which pursues militant solidarity with all the just causes of mankind, once again reiterates its steadfast support for the cause of the Arab peoples, and in particular the cause of the heroic Palestinian people and its sole and legitimate representative, the Palestine Liberation Organization.
The PRESIDENT: In accordance with the decision taken this morning, I now invite the Secretary-General of the Islamic Conference, Mr. Habib Chatty, to address the Assembly.
Mr. CHATTY (The Islamic Conference) (interpretation from Arabic): I greet members in the name of the Islamic Conference, which consists of 42 member nations of the United Nations, for which great respect is felt because it represents a structure and an institution for the maintenance of international peace and service to humanity.
I should like to take advantage of this occasion to express my gratitude to you, Mr. President, for your wisdom and patience in handling the business of this session and for your faith in the mission of the United Nations, as well as your great experience in international affairs.
I once again take pleasure in expressing my appreciation to Mr. Kurt Waldheim, Secretary-General of the United Nations, in recognition of his extensive and unceasing efforts in attempting to solve the international problems that arise in the establishment of peace, unity and co-operation among all the nations of the world.
More than three decades have passed since the United Nations assumed responsibility for establishing a just solution of the Palestinian problem, without success up to the present time. Today I fear that this Organization, which was established to protect the world from the continued threat of armed conflict and destructive wars, will be incapable not only of solving the problems in question but also of upholding the objectives for which it was founded.
It was in this very Organization that the world first became aware of the misery of the Palestinian people, who were driven out of their own land, which was occupied by other peoples from all over the world.
It was in this very Organization, again, in the name of the conscience of the world; under the influence of the sympathy that was sweeping the world in the wake of the crimes committed by the Nazis, and also as a result of the terrorism committed by international Zionists to prove their existence, that the creation of the entity of Israel was declared. Thus Palestine became a shelter for all the Jewish refugees who wanted to establish their homes there.
It was said that that decision was taken to save the Jewish race and to compensate it for the suffering it had endured. Thanks to that decision consciences would be clear, even though such compensation might also be understood as an injustice to others, namely the Palestinians, who would not only be driven out of their land and exposed to acts of terrorism but also condemned to exile.
As soon as Israel had received its birth certificate from the United Nations, the international Zionists put all their power and influence behind she practice of a policy of expansionism and racism at the expense of the legitimate owners of the land, the Palestinians, while remaining insensitive to the employment of methods that are contrary to both law and morality.
The General Assembly resolution that created the Zionist entity, resolution 161 (II), was, however, only conditional, since it outlined well-defined limits for that entity while at the same time it established definite conditions for a Palestinian State, thus giving an international right to Palestine which cannot be denied. It is also evident that Israeli rights are based upon the recognition and creation of a Palestinian State. But where do we stand today with respect to this legal question and to the well-defined boundaries planned for partition by the United Nations?
Since Israel established itself on Palestinian land, it has insisted more than once that it has no intention of remaining within the boundaries defined for it by the United Nations. They are, in effect, attempting to follow the schedule of the Zionist movement, which is essentially based on expansion at the expense of the Arabs, with the intention of fulfilling the plan for a Greater Israel.
In 1948 and at the beginning of 1949 Israel broke the promise that had been made by the Zionist agency to the United Nations, to keep within the areas outlined by the international Organization for Israel and not to go beyond those areas. But Israel took over lands that had not been assigned to it by the partition plan approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations.
Some 10 years after the 1956 aggression Israel repeated this action with a notorious attack in June 1967 and took over other territories that belonged to independent Arab countries, including East Jerusalem, to be placed under its administration.
It is therefore obvious that Israel, which expanded its territories before the war of 1967 by taking over 25 per cent of the territories that had been given to the Palestinians by the Partition Plan, is attempting to follow the Zionist plan based on the idea that the implantation of the Israeli State in a certain territory represents a first step towards a larger expansion. All this is taking place while the countries that approved the Partition Plan and took part in outlining the boundaries separating the territories attributed to the State of Israel and the lands recognized as belonging to the Palestinian State are not lifting a finger to prevent Israel from expanding, and are not standing firmly behind the Palestinians in respect of their right to establish their State on the territory that was legally given to them.
As events continue there appears to be a conspiracy of silence surrounding the Palestinian ease. On the one hand, we find a usurper State continuing in its conquest of Palestinian lands and driving the legitimate owners out of their country into others. On the other hand, we find nations that pretend to represent international conscience ignoring; acts that are contrary to both law and morality. And if representatives of those nations were to speak out, it would be only to make excuses, as if they regretted having subscribed to the resolution of 1967 with its two conditions, because their interests now are concentrated on defending and saving the Israeli State, while ignoring and forgetting the dispositions concerning the Palestinian State. Justice and right, however, must have the same meaning, regardless of differences in locality and circumstance.
Once human rights begin to be ignored, it becomes increasingly difficult to restore one's faith in respect for them. The legal and historical facts are still before us. They date back only about a decade. Yet it seems that there is sone confusion, to such a point that we now see an Arab State negotiating with the Israeli entity about so-called autonomy for the Palestinians. We see some Western countries giving the world something they think is new, by declaring their desire to give each side its rights and proclaiming that the solution to the Middle Eastern conflict involves giving Israel the right to exist within secure borders and the Palestinians the right to decide their future.
In 1980 the international community continues to hold a negative view of what Israel has gained by force in disregard of the United Nations resolution. Yet at the same time the same community will not admit the rights of the Palestinians to have their on State, even though it has recognized those rights legally from the beginning.
In fact, Israel has taken advantage of the indifference of the international community that created it by taking over Arab lands, with no intention of relinquishing them, in spite of indignation and reproaches over this illegal expansion – which indeed was the subject of temporary disapproval but was then quickly forgotten. Later, attention was focused on new situations which Israel had created once again by taking over other territories. Thus the earlier conquest became an accomplished fact and those acts were recognized as an Israeli right.
Israel's greatest hope in the late 1960s was to be recognized by the Arab and Islamic world within the boundaries that existed before the war of 1967. But the situation changed when at that date it undertook other aggressive acts against its neighbouring Arab countries and occupied vast territories that had belonged to them.
Consequently Israel demanded what was called a slight rectification of its borders so as to legitimize its seizure of the land. Then came the next step, that of the Judaization of Jerusalem and the transformation of its features so as to make it the capital of the State of Israel while the Arabs continue to be driven into exile by force and civil terrorism, as has been the case constantly since 1935. This policy has now been highly organized under a central administration, with other administrations branching from it, so as to install Jewish settlements by armed force and to force Arabs into exile.
The terrorism committed at the beginning of Israel's existence was legitimized by government authority – that is to say, by the army and the police – by virtue of the law of exceptions. But it seemed that this method was not totally satisfactory, so the present leaders of the Israeli entity went back to the use of their terrorist methods, which permitted them to rid large numbers of Arab territories of their original inhabitants. Remembering the effectiveness of their old methods, they decided to reapply them once again, especially because they were convinced that the Palestinian people in the Arab territories are determined to resist and to remain steadfast in rejecting the legitimacy of the Zionist occupation; and they completely refuse to recognize the faits accomplis that Israel is trying to transform into legitimate rights.
Our purpose in coming back to the United Rations today is to demand not that the international community adopt a new attitude towards a just case, but that it respect its responsibilities by withdrawing the Israeli army and establishing a Palestinian State. We have come here to invite the United States of America, especially, to take full responsibility for international security and for the judgement that history sooner or later will make with respect to its Arab policies.
We ask the United States to respect the high principles on which that nation is based and the higher values which we share with the United States and which the United States prides itself on having. tee ask it to support this international Organization and to aid its efforts to respect its resolutions and decisions.
We have had enough of injustice and neglect; we can no longer tolerate the division of humanity into one category that must be respected and another whose rights can be neglected and violated.
We have come to assure all of you that peace in the Middle East will be impossible unless the Palestinian people regain their national rights and are allowed to establish their own independent State in the land of their ancestors.
We have come here to draw the attention of the international community to what Israel is doing concerning the rights of the Palestinian people, which will have dangerous effects on peace if that entity is not led to respect international lair and morality by withdrawing its troops from the Arab territories that it occupied by force during the war of 1967, including the City of Jerusalem.
Thirty years have passed while the world watched this tragedy, and the Islamic nation has been suffering its effects. We have undergone many trials and tribulations, and the time has come to judge them.
It appears that a solution to the Palestinian problem by adopting the resolutions and declarations condemning these indignities is neither useful nor efficient. It is also a method that would do more harm to the United Nations than it would solve the problems in question. Today, we have the impression that the United Nations has become an organization that can scarcely be considered effective. Certainly some will benefit from this situation, especially when the decision of the United Nations, which is based on public opinion, has no effect on the will of so hard-spoken and narrow-minded a man as Mr. Begin.
It is surprising to the people of the third world, and even to the developed nations, to realize the inability of the Organization to carry out its decisions, even though it has available effective and legitimate methods of dealing with the situation. There are various methods of punishment stipulated by international law, but they have not been put into action against Israel.
It is every individual's right to ask how Israel keeps its status as a Member of this Organization when it does not fulfil its responsibilities, disobeys its laws and denies its decisions. Or are we to understand also that membership in the United Nations is dependent upon the circumstances and interests established between one country and another? If the United Nations abstains from using such methods, and if Israel continues its expansionism, public opinion will come to the conclusion that the United Nations is failing, and will have no use for its decisions.
The responsibility of the United Nations towards the situation in Palestine is a complete one: it is the United Nations that decided to create Israel and gave it legal character. The United Nations also knew about the problems that would ensue from the creation of that entity and from the actions of its leaders. The United Nations is still the only legal authority which should assume the responsibility of facing that very dangerous problem and impose a solution upon everyone, in conformity with its previous decisions.
Such a decision must secure international peace, which is being gravely threatened by the existing situation – one that will also involve the rest of the world.
In our opinion, the basis for a solution already exists: in the first place, the Partition resolution of 1947, which recognized the existence of an independent Palestinian State; in the second place, the successive decisions by the Security Council and the General Assembly; in the third place, the will of the Palestinian people who have never been – and never will be – conquered, and who decided to establish an independent State on the land of their ancestors. Finally, there is the support of the entire world for the Palestinian people and the recognition of the Palestinian Liberation Organization as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.
If solutions exist, do we not have the right to wonder why the crisis situation is still in existence and getting worse?
In fact, it is evident that the difficulty is not caused by the Palestinians, who have proved their flexibility, their sense of responsibility and their appreciation of international law. It is equally evident that it is Israel that has opposed a solution, because that State does not believe in peace and friendly neighbourliness, but believes only in force and control; its purpose is to expand its borders.
It is regrettable that Israel finds in the United States a powerful ally that supports its policies under the pretext of the security of Israel. The experience of the past 30 years has shown that security in that area and probably in the entire world is threatened by Israel's acts of aggression. International law does not permit Israel to keep the territories occupied by force even if the justification is that it does so to guarantee security. This principle is recognized by the Americans themselves, who defend it in other parts of the world.
The truth, then, is that Israel is not interested in expanding its territory for the sake of security, but rather is interested in extending its authority to the farthest territory possible in order to fulfil the old dream of Zionism.
The Islamic people look today upon this session with determination and anxiety. It does not expect from us decisions that will lead to the same results that previously occurred and are now part of history. Rather, it expects strong determination to fulfil our desire. It expects initiatives that will restore its confidence in the United Nations and its seriousness,of purpose, and which will assure the world that all nations are equal in the eyes of international law.
Today, the least that is expected by the Islamic people is an attitude that can dissuade Israel by using the sanctions set forth in Chapter VII of the Charter, including the suspension of its membership in the United Nations if it continues to ignore the decisions of the United Nations and refuses to evacuate the Arab territories occupied after the 1967 war.
The problem is no longer merely a humanitarian one, even though that aspect of the issue can be embraced by all men of good will. It is a serious and legitimate problem concerning a people whose rights have been usurped, rights that the world has recognized. But there is a country that has ignored international law. The problem also involves a more serious political problem that concerns international peace. It concerns a strategic area suited by its location, fortune and position to be a battleground for a struggle between the super-Powers. This may lead to some unforeseen results concerning stability and detente. Any explosion in the area – God forbid – will lead to such unwarranted situations that its consequences for international peace and for the United Nations itself cannot be predicted.
Our meeting today in an emergency special session is serious and of extraordinary significance. We are here because Israel at this very moment is trying to create a situation of fait accompli that would enable it to keep all the occupied Arab territories under its control for ever.
We are now faced with a stagnant situation, that of an occupied territory that retains its former legal status; but that situation may be changed when circumstances allow by means of a peaceful solution.
The new situation that Israel created by using terrorist methods against Arab citizens and by changing the character of Islamic Jerusalem requires urgent resolutions to end it.
Let us contemplate the responsibility that we have today and work, in the name of justice and law, to dissipate doubts in the minds of people in this Organization and the spread of misery in the hearts of the Palestinians. Let us not ignore the dangerous situation that will threaten international peace.
The PRESIDENT: I should like to propose, as I announced this morning, that the list of speakers be closed tomorrow, Wednesday, 23 July, at 12 noon. If I hear no objection, I shall take it that the Assembly agrees to this proposal.
It was so decided.
The PRESIDENT: The next speaker is Mr. Ezzeddine Laraki, Minister of National Education and Special Envoy of His Majesty King Hassan II, who is the Chairman of the Committee of Jerusalem.
Mr. LARAKI (Morocco) (interpretation from Arabic): The special session of the General Assembly of the United Nations devoted to the question of Palestine is an event whose importance and significance can escape no one. When we called for this session we did not intend just to expose once again the truth about the plight of the Palestinian people to the entire world; we wished this session to lead to clear and vigorous decisions that would pave the way for the Palestinian people to recover their inalienable rights.
We consider that the personal participation in this session of a large number of governmental leaders is an illustration of the importance to the international community of a just and equitable solution of the Palestinian problem.
We are meeting today at a time when the question of Palestine and the question of the Holy City of Jerusalem are going through one of the most critical stages in the troubled history of this area. The Israeli occupying forces have stepped up their repressive action in the occupied territories and are daily pursuing a policy of terror against the unarmed populations, harassing peaceful citizens and primarily directing their efforts against the elected mayors of small towns. This terrorist action has even gone so far as to include attempts at liquidating some of the leaders, among them the mayor of Nablus, Mr. Bassem Al-Shaka, who was a victim of a premeditated act, and the mayor of Ramallah, Mr. Karim Khalef.
Israel has also chosen this time to defy the international community and Islamic dignity by announcing the annexation of Jerusalem. Israel has undertaken to make the Holy City its capital by transferring to it the administrative functions of- government. The Israeli leaders have confirmed their determination to pursue a policy of systematic colonization of occupied Palestinian territory.
The Palestinian question represents the greatest injustice in modern history. It constitutes the most serious threat to international peace and security in the Middle East and in the world. The land of Palestine has been a victim of Zionist aggression,the avowed purpose of which is to drive out the Arab populations and to establish new communities there. Thus the Palestinian people would be the only ones paying for the crimes of the Nazis, crimes of which they are obviously innocent. Since that time the people of the area have had to submit to the worst forms of deprivation and have suffered from racial discrimination in its most degrading form.
The Palestinian people in 19+8 represented the overwhelming majority of the population of Palestine, and Palestine for thousands of years has been the national territory of those people. But that people today must live in squalid camps outside their territory after having been driven away by Zionist terrorism, of which the massacre at Deir Yassin is the most hideous example.
We must recognize the attempts made by the United nations within the limits imposed by the interaction of internal forces, in an effort to produce a solution and to deal with the tragic consequences of the aggression of which the Palestinian people have been victims for more than 30 years and which is aimed at destroying the very essence of the people and at uprooting them.
We must note that our Organization has constantly attempted to put an end to those repeated acts of aggression against neighbouring countries that have been victims of that aggression and to Israel's occupation of parts of the territories of those countries.
Yet it is our duty to note today that all the efforts of the international Organization have thus far lacked the vigour and determination needed to approach these problems in their true framework. From the beginning, in fact, the problem of the Palestinian people should have been tackled in all its aspects since it constitutes the main stakes and the basic problem in what has come to be called the Middle Eastern question. And the fact that this problem has not been faced up to has unfortunately led to a needless prolongation of the suffering of the Palestinian people in their struggle against the systematic Israeli acts of terrorism and destruction.
Thus, the true problem of Palestine was not considered as such by the General Assembly until 1974, when the Assembly decided to consider this problem as a separate item on its agenda.
The invitation extended by the General Assembly during its twenty-ninth session to the militant Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, as spokesman of the struggling Palestinian people, and the admission of the Palestine Liberation Organization as Observer to our Organization have been decisive and: positive steps by the General Assembly towards realism and justice and must be considered as a manifestation of the wish of the international community as a whole to put an end to the injustice committed against the Palestinian people.
Thus, the General Assembly, at its twenty-ninth session, took a decisive step in the right direction in its search for a just and lasting settlement
of this problem. Indeed, the Assembly reaffirmed in its resolution 3236 (XXIX)
and
The General Assembly continued its progress in the right direction when it called for the creation, in 1975, of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and requested that Committee to prepare recommendations with regard to the implementation of resolution 3236 (MIX).
In fact, the positive action taken by that Committee under the chairmanship of the fraternal country of Senegal has given a beneficial impetus to the efforts made within the framework of the United Nations in the search for a just solution to the Palestinian problem. The recommendations made by that Committee since 1976 may be justly considered a model of objectivity and impartiality, and for that reason the Committee and its Chairman continue to enjoy our appreciation and esteem.
I should like especially to thank the Chairman of that Committee and to make mention of one of the Committee's recommendations which, in our opinion,forms a fundamental element in the action of the United Nations. The Palestine Liberation Organization represents the Palestinian people and must therefore participate on an equal footing with the other parties in all efforts towards the solution of the Middle East problem.
But we must note that, despite the General Assembly's approval of the Committee's recommendations during its four last sessions, those recommendations have thus far remained a dead letter owing to the inability of the Security Council to respond to the Assembly's request that it enact the measures necessary for the implementation of the recommendations. The Security Council's failure and impotence in these circumstances have led principally to the prolongation of the martyrdom of the Palestinian people and to the denial of its right to self-determination and national independence as well as of its right to return to its homeland.
What is more, it has encouraged Israel to persevere in an attitude that renders it deaf to all understanding and in the pursuit of its policy of force and violence.
I do not feel that there is any need to review all the stages through which the Palestine question has passed or to review all the actions and acts of aggression committed by Israel against the Palestinian people.
Israel since the beginning has founded its existence on violence and repression and it has unswervingly persisted in that policy. Since 1918 Israel has not ceased to practise all forms of terrorism, murder and destruction and has profaned Islamic and Christian Holy Places without the least shame. Israel's Administration has confiscated lands and has tried to destroy the Islamic nature of the Holy City so as to give it a Jewish appearance. In consequence the indigenous population has been replaced by immigrant Jews from Eastern and Western Europe and from all parts of the world in accordance with a calculated policy of the Judaization of the whole of the land and its population.
Thus, Israel has made its settlements policy one of the bases of its system, creating many settlements in the West Bank area – more than 80 to date – and preparing to establish others so as to increase the Jewish population of the occupied Palestinian territories so that the Arab population will be a minority at the mercy of Zionist ambitions.
This blatant settlement policy is, without doubt, a challenge to the United Nations and to world opinion. The objective of zionism is perfectly clear: Zionism would like to isolate the occupied Arab areas from other Arab regions and to encircle Arab towns in the occupied territories with Zionist settlements, thus creating a sort of Jewish barrier, preventing contacts between Arab populations. Israel°s ultimate goal is clearly to judaize all the occupied Arab territories and finally to annex them.
Together with Israel's action of massive displacement of populations against their will and of their replacement by Jewish immigrants, the occupation authorities have begun to distort Arab and Islamic culture and civilization. What has happened in Jerusalem and in Hebron, including the desecration of both Christian and Moslem Holy Places, is a shocking defiance of the religious sentiments of believers throughout the world.
As His Majesty King Hassan II is the current Chairman of the Al Quds Committee, it is my duty especially to insist on the question of the Holy City of Jerusalem. As everyone knows, the Holy City occupies a unique and privileged place in the hearts of the believers in the three monotheistic religions and especially in the hearts of Moslems for whom it is the first kibla to which they bowed even before Mecca itself. Also, many of the miracles of the Moslem faith took place in Jerusalem. In the city of Jerusalem are many holy buildings and places to which believers in one God fervently cleave; they consider that that city is a part of their inalienable patrimony, to which they remain faithfully attached.
History has recorded that the Arab community has lived in Jerusalem for centuries and that Arabs have maintained their traditions, civilization and faith there.
In spite of repeated invasions, Jerusalem remained an Arab city until the Islamic caliphate and the British Mandate at the beginning of the century.
From the religious point of view, the Holy Places of Islam, Christianity and Judaism have never enjoyed peace and security, secure from any threats, unless they were under Islamic protection. That is an established fact.
Under Arab administration, this region enjoyed one of the longest periods of peace, stability and fruitful coexistence between the Islamic, Christian and Jewish communities. Throughout that period, the Holy Places of the three religions enjoyed equal respect and protection, for Islam orders fraternity and respect for prophets because they believe in the three monotheistic religions.
The City of Jerusalem has long been the favoured meeting ground of the great revealed religions, and since the dawn of history has always been one of the most important sources of history and a meeting place of civilization. Jerusalem must preserve its character, its value and its originality and must again become the cradle of fraternity and co-operation which it has always been throughout history and not a centre of. friction greatly endangering peace and security in the region and in the world.
The Zionist criminal act in setting fire to the Al Aqsa mosque in 1969 shocked the deepest feelings of Moslems throughout the world. That led His Majesty King Hassan II to convene the First Islamic Summit Conference in Rabat.
On that occasion, the Heads of State and Government proclaimed their determination to protect the permanent sovereignty of Islam over the Holy City, while reconfirming their active solidarity with the Palestinian people in their struggle for the liberation of the occupied territories and for the implementation of their right to self-determination, to return to their homeland and to achieve the withdrawal of Israel from all occupied Arab territories.
Because of the special position of Jerusalem in the hearts and souls of Moslems, the Islamic Conference decided to establish a Special Committee on Jerusalem, under the chairmanship of His Majesty King Hassan II. Within the framework of the decisions adopted by that Committee, King Hassan took certain initiatives aimed at achieving as soon as possible the liberation of the Holy City and restoring it as the capital of dialogue, co-operation and fraternity, instead of its being a centre of friction and struggle.
Thus His Majesty King Hassan II paid a visit to His Holiness Pope John Paul II to discuss with him the future of the Holy City and the need to safeguard its original character and its historic role. The Supreme Pontiff showed great understanding of the problem and a profound desire to arrive at a peaceful solution of this complex problem. Furthermore, the two leaders reaffirmed the need to pursue the Islamic-Christian dialogue for the benefit of all the revealed religions and of all mankind.
His Majesty the King also had talks with the President of France, Mr. Giscard d'Estaing, and with other leaders of European countries in an effort to bring about a better understanding of the problem of Palestine and Jerusalem and to secure a European position favouring the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people and an open dialogue with its representative, the Palestine Liberation Organization.
All the efforts being made by the Committee on Jerusalem of the Islamic Conference constitute a positive contribution to the work of this organization and should help to produce forthright and effective solutions for the Palestine problem.
The international community is today more than ever aware that the perpetuation of the serious situation in this region, the denial of the rights of the Palestinian people, the continued occupation of Palestine and broad areas of neighbouring Arab territories, and the string of violations of the most, elementary human rights accompanying such a situation, are all elements of an explosive situation in a particularly sensitive part of the world, exposing international peace and security to incalculable risks.
We are convinced that the General Assembly of the United Nations, aware of its responsibilities with regard to the dangers threatening international peace because of the blindness and stubbornness of Israel on the problem of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and of the occupied Arab territories, will be moved to adopt concrete measures aimed at the implementation of the recommendations of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People.
It is in that spirit and in that context that we have called for the convening of this emergency special session, for we remain convinced that our Organization will assume its full responsibility in the circumstances in order to secure the implementation of its own decisions, in an atmosphere of objectivity and on the basis of justice and peace.
We remain convinced that all States that love peace, justice and liberty and respect human rights throughout the world, particularly those in a position positively to influence developments in the region and, further, to enable the United Nations to implement its on decisions, will support the resolutions to be adopted at this session so as to ensure their implementation.
We derive comfort from the hope of seeing a just solution of the problem of Palestine in the near future, since we note today a growing understanding and support of this cause, both in international and regional conferences in all multilateral meetings. In addition to the support of the Arab League, the Islamic Conference, the Organization of African Unity and the Non-Aligned Movement, we note today that the cause of the Palestinian people now enjoys positive understanding in Western Europe, both at the governmental level and at the level of the people.
Although the latest European declaration in Venice did not entirely meet all the expectations and hopes of the Palestinian people, it undoubtedly remains a positive element which augurs well for a more forthright commitment on the part of the Western European countries in favour of justice for the Palestinian people and the recovery of their legitimate rights. It is that increasingly global understanding of the Palestinian problem and the international sympathy enjoyed by the Palestinian people that lead us to believe the time has come for the United Nations General Assembly to live up to its historic responsibilities at this special session by deciding to create bodies capable of translating its resolutions into reality.
We call upon this Assembly to take appropriate action in the course of this emergency special session to enable the Palestinian people to exercise its inalienable rights to self-determination and national sovereignty over its territory and to return to their homes and properties. Furthermore, the General Assembly must set a deadline for Israel's withdrawal from all occupied Palestinian and Arab lands and for the establishment of a body to follow the implementation of these decisions by empowering the Secretary-General to make the necessary arrangements for this purpose.
A just and lasting comprehensive settlement of the Palestinian problem and the Middle East problem will make it possible not only to rid the area once and for all of the nightmare of destruction and of war that has constantly haunted it for more than 30 years, but also to open up vast prospects for fruitful co-operation taking advantage of the huge material and human potential there. It is only thus that our peoples will be able to play their traditional role once again, by making their concrete contribution to the progress of mankind in an era in which justice, peace and prosperity can be ensured for all equally.
Ms. GONTHIER (Seychelles): Having only recently been appointed the Republic of Seychelles' representative to the United Nations, I feel it great honour to address this august Assembly on one of the most crucial matters of concern to the world community today. We have come together to discuss a question of fundamental human rights. The Palestinian question is one of essential importance to us all.
However, Mr. President, before I proceed, please allow me this opportunity to congratulate you on having been elected President of the thirty-fourth General Assembly. Your country has long stood for the inalienable rights of all. My own deep appreciation of these rights was nurtured during the years I was privileged to spend among your people and in your educational system.
The historic and valiant struggle of the Palestinian people is known to us all, as are the annexation, occupation, settlements, deportation, displacement, destruction, pillaging, assassinations and mass arrests to which they have been subjected. The issues have often been debated in this Assembly and in the Security Council and the result has been the passage of numerous resolutions.
As recently as last month the thirty-fifth session of the Council of Ministers of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in Freetown, Sierra Leone, passed a number of resolutions regarding the Palestinian issue, namely:
Resolution 787 on the Palestinian question. In particular we quote paragraph 9
Resolution 791 on Jerusalem of which we stress paragraph 6 which
Paragraph 10 of the same resolution "Calls upon all States not to recognize that illegal decision."
What we now have to concern ourselves with is action. Further rhetoric is to no avail.
Let us not allow this special session to end with resolutions alone. There has been enough discussion. The principles of the Charter of the United Nations and that of the OAU against racism and zionism have been reiterated countless times in our forums. The decisions of the Sixth Non-Aligned Summit have been unheeded, as have United Nations General Assembly resolutions 3236 (XXIX) and Security Council resolution 452 (1979).
All supporters of the Palestinian people and their just cause have agreed time and time again that the policy of Israel and of its allies is a challenge to world opinion, a flagrant violation of the principles of the United Nations, of the OAU, of the Non-Aligned Movement and of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The right of the Palestinians to return to their homeland, to self-determination and to the establishment of their independent sovereign State has been stated more than enough.
The Government of the Republic of Seychelles wishes to express once more its full unconditional support for the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in its just cause and the hope that this special session will finally come to an agreement on a peaceful settlement of the crisis.
The situation is too pressing, too urgent and too critical to allow the Assembly at this session to be taken as yet another forum where we shall
simply reiterate our views and pass resolutions. We need to establish a plan of action so as first,to return all Palestinians – those displaced during the 1967 war and those displaced over the period from 1948 to 1967 – to their homeland; secondly, to establish the right of the Palestinians to self-determination and independence, both involving complete evacuation of their lands by Israel – in this way the recommendations of the stated resolutions will be put into force; thirdly, to request and authorize the Secretary-General to establish the necessary United Nations machinery to arrange, supervise and confirm the withdrawal of Israel from all the occupied Palestinian and other Arab territories including Jerusalem, and to take over the evacuated Palestinian territories and, subsequently, with the co-operation of the League of Arab States, to hand over the evacuated Palestinian areas to the PLO, the representative of the Palestinian people; finally, to appeal to the international community for the intensification of pressure on Israel.
It is about time for concrete action to replace discussion and deliberation. An entire people has endured for too long.
Mr. RAO (India): Mr. President, my delegation is gratified to see you preside over this emergency special session of the General Assembly on Palestine because, given your commitment and also that of your country to human liberty and dignity, I am sure you will guide the deliberations of this session so as to make it an important milestone in the struggle of the Palestinian people to gain their national rights.
The convening of this emergency special session of the General Assembly to discuss the question of Palestine points at once to both the weakness and the strength of the United Nations. Thirty three years ago the United Nations General Assembly decided that an Arab Palestine should be established as a homeland for the Palestinian people,. Over these years, not only has that decision remained unimplemented, but the world body has been able to do little to alleviate the sufferings of a people uprooted from their homes and subjected to brutal atrocities and indignities. The resolutions put forward in the Security Council to tackle the fundamental issue were set aside because of the veto or the threat of use of the veto by a permanent member of the Security Council. Even those which were adopted could not be implemented because of Israel's blatant defiance of the United Nations. Whether it be the breakdown of the principle of great Power unanimity in the decision-making process of the Security Council or the inability of the world body to bring an erring Member to the right path, the inadequacy of the United Nations has been amply demonstrated by its performance on the question of Palestine, a question which directly affects international peace and security.
At the same time, it is indicative of the hopes and expectations in the strength of the United Nations that an overwhelming majority of the member nations continue to put their faith in United Nations action in order to renew the pressure on Israel and its less and less numerous friends to come to terms with the Palestinian people by recognizing their national rights. Indeed the United Nations is the only forum today which can stop the bloodshed in West Asia and uphold the principles of justice and equity and of human dignity. It was for this reason that the sixth non-aligned summit in Havana decided that an emergency special session of the General Assembly should be convened if the Security Council failed to remove the threat to international peace and security resulting from Israel's policies.
India's sympathy for the Palestinian people goes back to our pre-independence days when our national leaders, Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, spoke out against the injustice which was perpetrated against them. India's position on the question of Palestine, which is at the very root of the conflict in West Asia, has remained clear and consistent over the years. It is our conviction that a comprehensive solution of the problem entails the exercise by the Palestinian people of their inalienable national and human rights, including the right to establish an independent State in their own homeland, the total and unconditional withdrawal by Israel from all occupied territories, including the Holy City of Jerusalem, and finally the guarantee of the right of all States in the region, including Arab Palestine, to live within secure borders. An essential prerequisite for the attainment of a peaceful solution is the full and equal participation of the Palestine Liberation Organization in any peace negotiations.
Today practically the entire world recognizes the PLO as the only genuine representative of the Palestinian people. The PLO, with Mr. Arafat as its Chairman, has given the oppressed people of Palestine a distinct and forceful identity and renewed vigour to struggle against aggression, occupation and tyranny. It was in recognition of this pre-eminent role of the PLO that India accorded full diplomatic status to the office of the PLO in our capital. Further, Chairman Arafat was received in India as a welcome guest of Prime Minister Shrimati Indira Gandhi.
Recent events in West Asia, especially since the General Assembly considered the question of Palestine at its thirty-fourth session, have provided further proof, if that were necessary, of Israel's continued intransigence, expansionism and aggression. Some of these disturbing developments were brought to the attention of the world by the Security Council Commission when it presented its second report to the Council early this year. The Commission confirmed the well-known fact that Israel was continuing its policy of establishing settlements in occupied Arab territories and permitting its citizens to purchase land in the occupied West Bank and Gaza. More revealing was the finding of the Commission that Israel was systematically diverting the water resources of the West Bank by the use of modern drilling equipment which drained off water for use in the Israeli settlements. The Arab inhabitants on the West Bank were not only restricted in the use of water, but they were prohibited from drilling wells on the western side of the West Bank. The Commission came to the inevitable conclusion that the Israeli policy of settlement was incompatible with the pursuit of peace in the area and it recommended that the Security Council should adopt effective measures to pressurize Israel to cease the establishment of settlements. Even the unanimous adoption of a resolution in this regard has not deterred Israel from pursuing its goals. Israel ignored the resolution, and treated it with contempt as it has so many other resolutions of the United Nations.
The evidence in recent months of Israeli brutality in occupied Arab territories should not go unnoticed. The occupation authorities have been taking extreme measures to suppress the faintest voice of dissent on the part of the Palestinians. The elected Mayors of Hebron and Halhoul and the Sharia Judge of Hebron were deported. Assassination attempts were made on the lives of the Mayors of Nablus, Ramallah and Al Birch, but the Israeli authorities did not make any serious attempt to apprehend the criminals or to provide protection to the Arab population in occupied territories. The latest in the series of Israeli actions to perpetuate its occupation of Arab lands was the decision to declare Jerusalem the capital of Israel. This is another attempt to destroy the historic personality of the Holy City and to obliterate its sacred heritage.
All those developments were brought promptly and fully to the attention of the Security Council. At the meeting of the Council most speakers expressed their indignation indeed, outrage at Israel`s aggressive, inhuman and criminal activities. But, when it came to taking concrete action, the Council faltered for lack of political will. It took refuge in compromise resolutions.
Thus encouraged, Israel continued to perpetrate untold sufferings on the Palestinians and the other Arab peoples. When the cardinal question of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people itself came before the Council, the United States of America used its veto to prevent the Council from recognizing those rights. Thus the Security Council was rendered unable to tackle the root cause of the problems in West Asia.
Some delegations have repeatedly stated that any action by the United Nations would impede the progress of the peace process initiated with the signing of the Camp David accords. We, however, fail to see how those accords have achieved or can achieve any progress in relation to the realization of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people. The Camp David accords have not succeeded in solving the Palestinian question because they were not negotiated with the full participation of the Palestinian people as represented by the Palestine Liberation Organization. The Agreements therefore cannot presume to settle matters affecting those who are not contracting parties.
The time has come for decisive action by the United Nations. The problem of securing a homeland for the Palestinian people has been with us for several decades. With the lapse of time, the situation in this sensitive and vital region has been worsening. ]-notions have been aroused to such a pitch, and distrust has reached such dimensions, that even a small incident can set off reactions which none of us may be able to control. Any threat to peace and security in the region could have grave consequences for the whole world. Consequently a great responsibility rests on the international community to secure a just settlement and an enduring peace in West Asia without any further delay or prevarication. The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, of which India is a member, has already submitted a number of recommendations to this Assembly. India, having participated in the discussions on the subject both in the Palestine Committee as well as in the non-aligned forum, fully endorses those recommendations. I would urge the General Assembly to examine those recommendations with a view to adopting and implementing them.
The Arab people, including the Palestinians, have suffered long enough at the hands of Israel. The aggressive and expansionist policies of Israel pose a grave threat to the peace and security not only of the region but of the entire world. It is an illusion for Israel to hope that it can guarantee its own security in the midst of insecurity. It is futile for Israel to expect that its people can enjoy national and human rights and live with dignity while it denies those very rights to the Palestinian people and forces indignities on them. It is impossible for Israel to achieve recognition for itself from its neighbours while it refuses to recognize the Palestine Liberation Organization as the sole and authentic representative of the Palestinian people.
Israel was created by the United Nations in 1948. If it wishes to be secure and to prosper, it must give up its present policies and change its behaviour. The least that the international community can expect from Israel is a modicum of civilized behaviour which will conform with the United Nations Charter and international law. Its current policies may give an illusion of security for the time being owing to the support of powerful vested interests, but in the long run they are bound to prove self-defeating.
This emergency special session of the General Assembly must compel Israel to take concrete steps to, first, recognize the inalienable national and human rights of the Palestinian people and put an end to its aggressive and barbarous behaviour against them; secondly, immediately stop and reverse its policy of establishing settlements in occupied territory thirdly, recognize the right of the Palestinian people to organize themselves in an independent and sovereign State of their own under the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization; and, fourthly, withdraw from all the Arab territories occupied since 1967, including the Holy City of Jerusalem.
Mr. IBRAHIM (Ethiopia): The past decade can without fear of contradiction be characterized as the decade for Palestinian rights. While the 1950s and the 1960s witnessed an unfortunate eclipse of the Palestinian cause, the decade of the 1970s has been marked by reaffirmation and wider recognition of the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and a national homeland within Palestine. Moreover, the question of Palestinian national rights, instead of being considered merely one aspect of the general Middle East problem, has now been acknowledged to be its core.
All this has undoubtedly come about as a result of both the valiant struggle of the Palestinian people and the intrinsic justice of their cause. In this connexion it must be pointed out that the non-aligned countries, at whose initiative this emergency special session of the General Assembly has been convened, have contributed in no small measure to the present almost universal recognition of the rights of the people of Palestine.
It is therefore with a sense of satisfaction that the Ethiopian delegation is participating in this general debate. That this session is being presided over by you, Mr. President, a distinguished representative of non-aligned Tanzania, augurs well for the successful outcome of our deliberations.
Since the inception of the idea of an exclusively Jewish State in Palestine, the international community has sadly witnessed the gradual conversion of that part of the world into a hotbed of tension and strife.
Some nations, in order to atone for their crimes against the Jews and as a way of compensating the Jewish people for the inhuman persecution they have suffered over the centuries, have promoted and supported the creation of an exclusively Jewish State in Palestine. But inasmuch as the creation of such a State was predicated on the denial to the Palestinian people of their right to a homeland, many other nations have, on the other hand, questioned both the propriety and the wisdom of the establishment of such an exclusive State.
Be that as it may, today we have Israel, an exclusively Jewish State with all the rights and prerogatives due a State under international law. At the same time we have the Palestinian people, possessing inalienable rights to self-determination and to a national homeland in Palestine, with the Palestine Liberation Organization acknowledged as its sole and legitimate representative. We in Ethiopia are convinced that the wrongs done over the centuries to the Jewish people elsewhere in the world cannot and should not be redressed by the commission of another wrong in Palestine with regard to the Palestinian people, a people which has no share in that wrongdoing in the first instance. We are also convinced that the path to a lasting peace and common prosperity in the region lies only in the mutual and reciprocal accommodation of the legitimate rights of all the peoples of the region.
However, we acknowledge that at the present time the peoples of the region are far from such a state of mutual recognition and accommodation. In fact, with the active support of international imperialism, Israel is consolidating its hold over the occupied Arab and Palestinian lands by pursuing its policy of greater Israel. The condemnation and rejection by the international community of this policy of expansionism and territorial aggrandizement on the part of Israel notwithstanding, we feel that very little has so far been done to compel Israel to desist from such a dangerous course.
Israel, through insidious manoeuvres, and again in collusion with international imperialist and capitulationist circles, is adamant in its denial to the Palestinian people of its national identity and its inherent right to self-determination and sovereignty.
This Israeli intransigence has clearly increased and intensified the spiral of violence in the area, thereby threatening the peace and security of the States in the region. Furthermore, the question of Palestine has now acquired an increasingly ominous international dimension.
As an African delegation deeply disturbed by the explosive situation obtaining in southern Africa, we cannot but underline the unholy alliance forged between the apartheid regime of South Africa and Israel. We submit that the collusion between the two, especially in the military and nuclear fields, is increasingly impeding the early liberation of the subjugated masses of South Africa and Namibia, while at the same time it is enabling the Pretoria regime continually to violate the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the front-line African States. The Tel Aviv-Pretoria axis, in conjunction with the strategy of international imperialism on the Middle East, Africa and the Indian Ocean, is posing a very serious threat to international peace and security. The Ethiopian delegation therefore hopes that this session of the General Assembly will help to underscore the seriousness of that threat.
Even though Ethiopia's position of principle with regard to the problem of the Middle East and Palestine is well known, I feel that its reaffirmation here is quite in order. Therefore, Mr. President, with your permission I should like to quote from the statement of my Foreign Minister, delivered from this very rostrum during the general debate last year, at the thirty-fourth session of the General Assembly:
Needless to say, this is the position of principle of the Ethiopian revolution. The Ethiopian delegation wishes to express its hope, based on that position, that the decade of the 1980s will see the conclusion of comprehensive agreements in place of separate and partial deals and the active and full participation of all concerned, in particular the PLO instead of its exclusion. Above all, we hope to witness the establishment of a Palestinian homeland within Palestine and the return of all the occupied Arab lands to their rightful owners. We also wish peace in unity to the suffering people of Lebanon.
The heroic land of Palestine deserves its long-lost peace and tranquility. The responsibility for that lies with all, including the United Nations, but much will depend on whether Israel and its allies choose the path of reason and justice.
Much is expected of this emergency special session of the General Assembly. We should therefore not only reaffirm the principles of a comprehensive and lasting solution to the question of Palestine, but also recommend more concrete action for the realization of the national rights of the Palestinian people. The Ethiopian delegation, for its part, is ready to lend its support to all proposals to that end.
Mr. SHAHI (Pakistan): Mr. President, it is a matter of gratification to me to see you presiding over this emergency special session of the General Assembly. I am confident that your outstanding qualities of leadership, experience and wisdom will guide the deliberations of this important session to a fruitful outcome.
I also wish to associate myself, Sir, with your glowing tribute to the memory of the late President of Botswana, Sir Seretse Khama, whose untimely death has deprived the third-world countries, especially the African nations, of an eminent leader and a great statesman.
The General Assembly is meeting today in an emergency special session under the Uniting for Peace resolution, 377 (V), to consider the grave situation in occupied Palestine, a question which is at the heart of the Middle East conflict. The Palestinian problem has now entered a threatening phase and is casting a long and ominous shadow on the international scene, for this conflict has religious, economic, geopolitical and strategic aspects far beyond the interests and preoccupations of the contending parties. The failure of the Security Council to act to secure respect for the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people in the face of persistent violations of these rights by Israel has placed on the General Assembly the inescapable responsibility for the maintenance of peace and security in the Middle East.
In pursuit of its policy of creeping annexation of occupied Palestine, Israel has adopted systematic measures of repression against its Palestinian inhabitants. In defiance of repeated condemnations of such actions by the Security Council and the General Assembly, the occupying Power is embarked upon a policy of changing the physical character, demographic composition, institutional structures and status of the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967, including the Holy City of Jerusalem. To keep peace out of reach, Israel keeps demanding more territory. As the Arabs move towards its position, Israel moves away. And in contravention of the rules of international lair binding an occupying power, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, Israel is establishing settlements for part of its population and new immigrants in those territories. Palestinian leaders have been forced into exile and even made targets for assassination.
The Israeli authorities have revived with increased vigour the obsessive zionist scheme to Judaize the Holy City of Jerusalem by systematically mutilating its historic personality and turning it into the capital of Israel. Outside the occupied territories, Israeli armed attacks on Lebanon continue unabated. These acts of aggression and expansion by Israel pose a grave threat to peace in the Middle East and in the world.
Responding to this explosive situation, the Foreign Ministers of the Islamic countries met in an extraordinary session of the Islamic Conference in Amman 10 days ago. The Foreign Ministers reiterated the complete solidarity of the Islamic world with the Palestinian people in their just and heroic struggle under the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. They repeated the demand for the immediate withdrawal of Israel from all the occupied Arab territories and reaffirmed the inalienable national rights of the Palestinian people – in particular: their right to the territory of their homeland, Palestine; their right to return to their homeland and recover their property as stipulated by United Nations resolutions; their right to self-determination, without foreign interference; their right to exercise freely their sovereignty over the territory of their homeland, Palestine, and to establish their independent national State on their national soil.
Constrained by Israel's persistent violations of the fundamental principles of the Charter of the United Nations and its adamant refusal to abide by the resolutions of the Security Council and the General Assembly calling for its withdrawal from the occupied Arab territories and for observance of respect for the inalienable national and human rights of the Palestinian people, the Islamic Foreign Ministers expressed their conviction that the time had come to invoke the measures envisaged in Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter against Israel.
Over the years the United Nations has adopted numerous resolutions outlining the elements of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East. These are: complete withdrawal of Israel from the occupied Arab territories, including Al-Duds Al-Sharif, and the full restoration of the inalienable national and human rights of the Palestinians,including their right to establish a sovereign State of their own in Palestine and the right to return to their homes. Al-Quds Al-Sharif, a unique symbol of the confluence of Islam with the sacred divine religions, cannot be annexed by right of conquest. United Nations resolutions have categorically ruled out the acquisition of territory by force. Therefore, the international community cannot acquiesce in the annexation of the Holy City of Jerusalem as the spoils of var. It must be restored to Arab sovereignty.
A primary factor responsible for Israeli intransigence and its refusal to comply with United Nations resolutions is the failure of the Security Council to act on account of the repeated exercise of the veto on Israel's behalf by a permanent member of the Security Council. Under the protection of the veto and the continued flow of massive United States military and economic assistance, Israel has been emboldened to embark on a course directed towards the absorption and assimilation of the occupied Arab territories into a Greater Israel on the basis of an ill-founded biblical argument ignoring contemporary international law, which acknowledges the paramountcy of the right of self-determination over historic claims.
It is universally recognized that a search for peace which ignores the inalienable national and human rights of the Palestinian people is doomed to failure. One such approach, embodied in the Camp David accords, is being fully exploited by Israel to create "facts on the ground" in the form of Jewish settlements and other illegal and arbitrary measures of annexation, appropriation and sequestration of properties, which would effectively foreclose the exercise of the right of self-determination by the Palestinian people.
Those countries, especially the United States, whose support has thus far enabled Israel to remain intransigent with impunity cannot be absolved from their obligation to compel Israel to cease and desist from its acts of violence and repression against the Palestinian people and to withdraw from the occupied territories, including Al-Quds Al-Sharif.
It is encouraging that there is growing awareness among the Western countries of the dictates of the Palestine situation. The Venice Summit last June acknowledged the imperative need for the exercise of the right of self-determination by the Palestinian people within a framework of a comprehensive peace settlement and for associating the Palestine Liberation Organization with future peace negotiations. This recognition, though welcome, cannot suffice to arrest the gravely deteriorating situation in the occupied Arab territories, nor can it bring about the vacation of Israeli aggression, or ensure the realization of the inalienable national rights of the Palestinian people. Without' coercive pressures, Israel is unlikely to desist from its present course.
The General Assembly must therefore act – and act effectively – by virtue of its power and responsibility under its resolution 377 (V), Uniting for Peace – the more so, as it cannot be absolved of its share of responsibilities for the Palestinian tragedy.
The Assembly must fulfil its inescapable obligation to uphold the inalienable national rights of the Palestinian people, including the right to self-determination, the right to establish their own independent, sovereign State in Palestine and the right of the Palestinian people to return to their homes. The General Assembly must firmly demand that Israel withdraw from all the occupied Palestinian and other Arab territories, including the Holy City of Jerusalem, and the General Assembly must establish an appropriate machinery to give effect to this demand and place the Palestinian people, led by the Palestine Liberation Organization in possession of the evacuated territories, including Al-Quds.
The tragedy of Palestine remains a constant source of tension and turmoil in the world. Palestine epitomizes the travail of third world countries which for centuries have been the victims of imperialist and colonial exploitation and still remain a focus of great Power rivalry and contention for supremacy in the present era. A just and comprehensive settlement of the Middle East conflict has assumed added urgency in the wake of the exacerbation of super-Power relations resulting from recent developments in our region.
Ever since the infamous Balfour Declaration, which revealed the conspiracy between imperialism and zionism to implant an alien population in Palestine and dispossess the Palestinian people of their ancient homeland, the Palestine question has stirred deep emotions and anguish, in particular among the Islamic nations. We in the Islamic world are deeply committed to the just struggle of the Palestinian people to self-determination and to the sacred cause of liberation of Al Quds-Al Sharif. Our countries are not without the means to bring to bear their collective political, moral and material resources in the struggle of an oppressed people for freedom and dignity.
Mr. LINDENBERG (Brazil): Mr. President, it is with great pleasure that on behalf of the Brazilian delegation I address to you these words of salutation. The representatives know you and trust you, Sir. Under your leadership, both firm and fair, energetic and wise, this Assembly should be well placed in its search for positive results.
We meet under the pressure of unresolved issues, more serious now than on previous occasions, and we know that all those issues were already serious enough. Recent statements by Israeli authorities on their policy of settlements and on the status of east Jerusalem do not offer encouragement for the solution of problems that already were extremely difficult.
We meet because the Security Council has not been able to respond to the call of the General Assembly embodied in resolution 34/65 A. But let us recall, however, briefly and incompletely, occasions when the Council did take decisions on the matter before us. We can only view with some degree of perplexity the fact that a series of Security Council resolutions can be disregarded while the international community remains powerless to ensure their implementation. I refer, for example, to resolution 237 (1967), or to resolution 242 (1967) which, although it made no reference to the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, did lay down other essential conditions for the achievement of a just and lasting peace in the area. Almost 12 years after the adoption of those resolutions, we find the Council approving resolutions 446 (1979) and 452 (1979) – again to no avail. During the current year, a stream of resolutions on this matter has flowed from the Security Council, and I mention among them resolutions 465 (1980) and 471 (1980). None had effect or provoked a response that offered a small prospect of hope.
Now I will belabour the obvious and repeat facts known to each representative in this hall. The General Assembly has been the object of many accusations, most of them unfair and some quite irresponsible when made by people who should know better. It was for these reasons that I confined my references to measures adopted by the Security Council: first, because of their origin; secondly, because they are disregarded despite their origin, and, thirdly, because such resolutions cannot be attributed to any “automatic majority”. In fact, as we are frequently shown by events. One isolated vote unsupported by any other, can by a majority for precluding action if it comes from one of the permanent member s of that body.
Security Council resolution 237 (1967), of which my Government was one of the sponsors, called for the return of those inhabitants who had fled the areas since the outbreak of hostilities; and, reading in full, it is clear that the areas mentioned in the text include the areas which are our concern at this session. It is also clear that the inhabitants mentioned in the text include the persons who are our concern at this session, that is to say, the Palestinians. The contents of resolution 242 (1967) are too well known and need no quoting. Resolution 446 (1979) dealt with, inter alia, the illegality of the settlements policy and established a commission to examine the situation relating to the settlements in the Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem. That measure was followed by resolution 452 (1979), which once more called upon Israel to cease the establishment, construction and planning of settlements. Resolution 465 (1980), which followed, reaffirmed in clearer and more comprehensive terms the views of the Council on the question and again called for the end of the settlements policy and the dismantling of existing settlements. Finally, resolution 471 (1980) reiterated the Council's policy on the occupied territories, including Jerusalem, and took up again the question of respect for the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, which had been mentioned in several of the preceding texts.
As I indicated at the beginning of this statement, my list is not exhaustive nor did I give more than a brief description resolutions, which are well known. But it may serve as of the Council and of its precepts throughout nearly 13 of the contents of those a reminder of the will years. All these efforts have not led to the desired result. At the end of April of the current year and in connexion with the Assembly's decision contained in resolution 34/65 A, the Council once more returned to the problem, but the text proposed for its consideration was not approved.
For its part, the General Assembly has a long record of dealing with this matter, and many among the representatives here today, looking back along the years, will have a personal recollection of the innumerable meetings, the arguments, the attempts at persuasion and the negotiations that each year led to our resolutions on Palestine. In trying to count and read all the resolutions we have dedicated to this question, one might get the impression that the Assembly has been engaged in one of those mythical labours that always remain undone. In this instance, however, impression is not reality; progress has been made, not only in conceptual terms, but also in terms of hard political fact.
As the Assembly proposed solutions which, keeping to the spirit of previous decisions, became more comprehensive and better defined, a parallel movement occurred among peoples and Governments, leading to continuously growing support for those proposals. During this session we have before us the difficult task of improving on our past work and, it is to be hoped, reaching conclusions which will lead to the first concrete steps on the way to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East. It is appropriate to state what, in the view of my delegation, should be the basic elements of such a peace: first, the rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination, independence and sovereignty in Palestine, under the Charter of the United Nations, must be recognized and fulfilled secondly, peace negotiations must include the participation of the Palestine Liberation Organization; and, finally, all States in the region have the right to exist within recognized borders.
To these basic elements there must be attached, to avoid any misunderstanding, the ideas contained in operative paragraph 5 of Security Council resolution 465 (1980) concerning the legal validity of measures taken in relation to Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem. Negotiations can certainly increase the number of factors included in a final agreement, but the elements I mentioned are the essential foundation of any instrument destined to bring peace to that long-suffering region.
Mr. BARI (Bangladesh) : It is a privilege for me and my delegation to participate in the deliberations of this emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly on the question of Palestine. I am particularly happy, Mr. President to see you presiding over these crucial deliberations as you are the representative of a country, Tanzania, with which Bangladesh has the closest ties of friendship. Your personal qualities and wide-ranging experience lend special significance to this meeting, which is being held under the shadow of a grave international crisis.
The delegation of Bangladesh wholeheartedly supported the convening of this session in consonance with the decision of the sixth Summit of Heads of State or Government of the Non-Aligned Movement held in Havana last year. The relevant portion of the Summit's declaration advocates the convening of an emergency session on the question of Palestine should the Security Council fail to act because of a lack of unanimity among the permanent members of the Council. We assure you, Mr. President, of our fullest co-operation in your endeavour to fulfil the task set before this emergency special session of the General Assembly.
This meeting is being held at a crucial moment in world history. The fundamental values which underpin the very existence of our civilized world are being challenged. We cannot be oblivious to the fragile peace built upon the debris of the destruction caused by the First World War; that peace was achieved without the element of justice to the parties concerned. Peace, to be durable, must be conceived in the context of justice and fair play. The vision that was demonstrated by the leaders at the Yalta Conference in their efforts to maintain peace in the post-Second-World–War era, which lend credibility to the principles and purposes enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, is not lost on us.
We meet at a time when the attention of the whole world is focused on our deliberations in this emergency special session. The heart of the matter is simple. A people deprived of its birthright, dispossessed of its lands, forcibly uprooted by aliens, demands correction of a grave injustice. It is a political problem: the struggle of a people for their inalienable national rights and to deal with its own destiny. This reality has been deliberately obscured by treating the problem not on a political but on a humanitarian plane. After a quarter of a century of dismal deliberations on the problem of Palestine, the General Assembly in 1974 finally dealt with the question in its totality, encompassing all its aspects: historical, political and juridical. Thus, the Assembly in its resolution 3236 (XXIX) unambiguously spelled out the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including the right to self-determination, national independence and sovereignty and return to their homes and property, from which they had been forcibly evicted. The resolution overwhelmingly endorsed the right of the Palestinian people to present their own cause and participate in any peace negotiations through their own legitimate representatives, the Palestine Liberation. Organization: representatives who had already secured full membership in such bodies as the 96-member Non-Aligned Conference, the 40-member conference of the Organization of Islamic States, the Arab League and, through General Assembly resolution 3237 (XXIX), had been granted the status of permanent observer to the United Nations. Such representatives can be ignored only at the risk of aggravating the situation further.
In 1975, the General Assembly established the 23-member Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People – the Palestine Committee – in its resolution 3376 (XXX). In subsequent years, through its resolutions 31/20, 32/40 and 33/28, the General Assembly repeatedly extended the Committee's mandate to promote implementation of these recommendations.
The Bangladesh position on what constitutes a just, equitable and durable solution of the Middle East problem has been consistently enunciated in the Security Council, the General Assembly, the Non-Aligned Summits and the Islamic Conference. Bangladesh is firmly convinced that a fair and lasting solution demands the complete immediate withdrawal of Israel from all occupied territories, including the Holy City of Al Quds-Al Sharif, the restoration of the inalienable national rights of the Palestinian people, including the right to their own independent State, and the acceptance of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as the sole, legitimate and authentic representative of the Palestinian people.
As President Ziaur Rahman stated at the Sixth Conference of Heads of State or Government of Non-Aligned Countries in Havana,
We have stated before, and it is a matter of record known to everyone, that a long list of resolutions has been adopted by the Security Council and the General Assembly of the United Nations on the question of Palestine in general, as well as on the status of Al Quds-Al Sharif and the Arab territories occupied by force by Israel in particular. The people of the world, whose opinion is reflected in the pronouncements of this Organization and the General Assembly have been unanimous in upholding the very just and fundamental principle of not allowing the aggressor to swallow the land and territories he occupies. This has been the recurring theme in all the relevant resolutions.
A series of meetings of the Security Council was held in response to a request of the Eleventh Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers to examine the dangerous situation arising from the latest decision by the Israeli authorities to annex Al Quds-Al Sharif and declare it the capital of Israel. The 39 States members of the Islamic Conference called for the meetings of the Security Council to consider the serious and dangerous implications of the Israeli moves and their consequences for the endeavours for achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the United Nations. As everyone knows, a resolution was adopted unanimously.
The introduction of the bill in the Knesset declaring Al Quds-Al Sharif the eternal capital of Israel and the announcement of Prime Minister Begin added a new dimension to the existing crisis. That act is not only provocative: it is by all canons of international law totally unacceptable and untenable. In complete solidarity with our Arab and Palestinian brethren, we are firmly of the view that the Israeli action is not only illegal and ultra vires but also further proof of the contemptuous disregard with which the Israeli rulers look upon world opinion.
The Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers at its last meeting in Islamabad rightly focused on the concern of the Islamic countries over the question of Palestine in general and Al Quds-Al Sharif in particular. There is no gainsaying the fact that this is the latest effort of the Islamic community in the quest for justice and peace in the Middle East. Since the Rabat Summit in 1969, the Heads of State or Government of the Islamic countries who assembled to consider the dangerous situation arising from the desecration of the Al-Aqsa mosque declared that the status of Al Quds-Al Sharif should be restored without any further delay. The Lahore Summit of the Islamic Conference in 1974 also underscored in no unmistakable terms the paramount importance of the immediate cessation of Israeli aggression in Palestine and Al Quds-Al Sharif as a sine qua non for a lasting peace in the Middle East. As a member of the Jerusalem Committee from its very inception, Bangladesh has time and again reiterated that under no circumstances can the Islamic Ummat and the civilized world accept the creeping annexation of the occupied territories by the forces of Israel. Bangladesh has spoken in various international forums for the realization of the national rights of our Palestinian brethren. The injustice that has been wrought on our Palestinian brethren must be righted. Having ourselves paid such a heavy price for our own national independence, we can well appreciate their suffering and anguish. Our involvement in the freedom struggle of the Palestinian people is total. During the course of this year Bangladesh, as a member of the Security Council, voted in favour of resolutions condemning Israel for its settlements policy, for the expulsion of the Mayor of Hebron and, most recently, for the acts of terrorism against West Bank Mayors and its attempts to alter the status of Al Quds-Al Sharif.
Those recent developments have led to a greater degree of international awareness. In recognition of the grave threat to international peace and security, Pope John Paul II stated that the resolution of the question of Jerusalem is pivotal to a just settlement in the Middle East. It is interesting to note what a large segment of the people in this country thinks about this crisis. Mr. Lilianthal, the editor of Middle East Perspective, in an impassioned appeal published in The Wall Street Journal of 21 July, said:
He further underlined that
The recent declaration of the European Community Summit — however unsatisfactory it may be-has underscored its concern over the latest situation prevailing in the Middle East, We welcomed some of the decisions taken at the Venice Summit, although we maintain that they provide only a partial solution to the Middle East problem, since they are silent on three vital points, that is, withdrawal of Israeli forces from all Arab territories, including Jerusalem, the creation of a Palestinian State and the recognition of the PLO as the sole and authentic representative of the Palestinian people.
It is a sad commentary that, notwithstanding all the relevant numerous resolutions of the Security Council and the General Assembly and of the Non-Aligned Movement and the Islamic Conference, the situation in Jerusalem and other occupied territories of Palestine is rapidly deteriorating. The Israeli policy with regard to the building of new settlements, the expropriation of lands, the demolition of houses, the expulsion of inhabitants and the loosing of a reign of terror in an area which they are duty bound to protect and to vacate under the terms of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 and all the provisions of the universal code of human conduct is in total defiance of collective world opinion and has created a grave situation. Israel has been systematically taking measures in pursuit of a policy totally incompatible with its obligations under the United Nations Charter and the Fourth Geneva Convention of 12 August 1949.
It was not long ago that the Security Council heard the poignant cry and baleful wail against Israeli tyranny and oppression from the Mayor of Halhul – a son of the soil who has been denied entry to his own home. The Bangladesh delegation condemned the Israeli action in no uncertain terms and it will do so again until the wrongs are righted and will keep on demanding that Israel be compelled by this world body to obey its mandate. This Assembly must call upon Israel to rescind all measures it has taken to change the special character of Jerusalem and of the other occupied areas by refraining from taking any further action in that regard. The time has come when we should all collectively persuade all concerned, particularly those friends of Israel who are in a position to bring influence to bear on it, to join hands with us in the realization of the inalienable rights of our Palestinian brothers. This Assembly should call upon Israel to withdraw completely from all the Palestinian and other territories, including Jerusalem, and urge that such withdrawal from all the occupied territories should start before 15 November 1980.
As I mentioned earlier, this emergency special session is taking place in consonance with the decision of the Sixth Conference of Heads of State or Government of Non-Aligned Countries in Havana; in retrospect the foresight demonstrated by the Heads of State or Government has proved to be correct. Israel has defied world opinion, Israel has ignored the moral thrust of the Security Council resolutions and Israel has ridden roughshod over the opinion of the civilized world. The tragedy of Palestine is the creation of Israel and, as Professor Arnold Toynbee has said: "The tragedy of Palestine is not just a local one; it is a tragedy for the world, because it is an injustice that is a menace to the world's peace." The time has come therefore when this Assembly must rise to the occasion and address itself to the ultimate question; shall we allow Israel to continue with its unjust and unlawful activities with impunity? Shall this world and this world body in particular stand by helplessly while Israel continues to defy world opinion? Can the world allow Israel to perpetuate an injustice and bring the world to the brink of a precipice? The answer is very Clear. The history of the world is replete with many examples; let us not repeat them. Let us not cross the Rubicon, let us retreat from the brink. In the history of human civilization nemesis has always followed injustice and intolerance. The Israeli intolerance and intransigence must be stopped. We should not let the Israeli genie engulf both the guilty and the innocent.
Mr. ALBORNOZ (Ecuador) (interpretation from Spanish): Mr. President, I congratulate you on behalf of my delegation on your assumption of the presidency of this emergency special session. Its success is guaranteed as we have your amply demonstrated efficiency and capacity to guide us as well as your experience of the last session of the General Assembly.
When this emergency special session of the General Assembly was proposed Ecuador immediately supported the initiative of the Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the. Palestinian People. It did so out of loyalty to the. principle that any question proposed by a country or group of countries belonging to this Organization should be dealt with within the Organization in the most appropriate forum.
My country believes that the subject of this emergency special session is of international significance, not only because of the latent and growing danger that the situation in Palestine and therefore in the entire Middle East represents for the maintenance of international peace and security, but because it concerns countries and regions directly interested both in the modalities involved that affect international law and in the questions of principle which this issue entails and which for legal, political and historical reasons have become the responsibility and concern of the. entire international community.
Thus as far as the question of Palestine is concerned, the United Nations has the duty to act to reaffirm respect for the principles of law and for the ideals and systems which inspire and guide its Charter, its great significance for the hopes of peoples and its destiny as a body to promote peace and international co-existence.
As far as the legal aspects at stake here are concerned, Ecuador finds that the principle according to which occupation by force does not confer rights is unshakable; occupied territories should be, returned to their legitimate owners, A people has the right to have a homeland with full territorial integrity and no one can impose conditions, decide on settlements, grant land concessions or concessions for exploitation of resources and in general assign sections of territories,while there exists a problem with which that people is not in agreement, whatever may be the conditions or arguments put forward by an occupying country for ignoring the problem.
It was not long ago that the Security Council heard the poignant cry and baleful wail against Israeli tyranny and oppression from the Mayor of Halhul – a son of the soil who has been denied entry to his own home. The Bangladesh delegation condemned the Israeli action in no uncertain terms and it will do so again until the wrongs are righted and will keep on demanding that Israel be compelled by this world body to obey its mandate. This Assembly must call upon Israel to rescind all measures it has taken to change the special character of Jerusalem and of the other occupied areas by refraining from taking any further action in that regard. The time has come when we should all collectively persuade all concerned, particularly those friends of Israel who are in a position to bring influence to bear on it, to join hands with us in the realization of the inalienable rights of our Palestinian brothers. This Assembly should call upon Israel to withdraw completely from all the Palestinian and other territories, including Jerusalem, and urge that such withdrawal from all the occupied territories should start before 15 November 1980.
As I mentioned earlier, this emergency special session is taking place in consonance with the decision of the Sixth Conference of Heads of State or Government of Non-Aligned Countries in Havana; in retrospect the foresight demonstrated by the Heads of State or Government has proved to be correct. Israel has defied world opinion, Israel has ignored the moral thrust of the Security Council resolutions and Israel has ridden roughshod over the opinion of the civilized world. The tragedy of Palestine is the creation of Israel and, as Professor Arnold Toynbee has said: "The tragedy of Palestine is not just a local one; it is a tragedy for the world, because it is an injustice that is a menace to the. world's peace." The time has come therefore when this Assembly must rise to the occasion and address itself to the ultimate question; shall we allow Israel to continue with its unjust and unlawful activities with impunity? Shall this world and this world body in particular stand by helplessly while Israel continues to defy world opinion? Can the world allow Israel to perpetuate an injustice and bring the world to the brink of a precipice? The answer is very clear. The history of the world is replete with many examples; let us not repeat them. Let us not cross the Rubicon, let us retreat from the brink. In the history of human civilization nemesis has always followed injustice and intolerance. The Israeli intolerance and intransigence must be stopped. We should not let the Israeli genie engulf both the guilty and the innocent.
However, any reasoning based on the force of occupation and plunder cannot be accepted, nor can a policy of consolidating a de facto situation over the years. Such reasoning will never contribute to solving a problem on any lasting basis nor create rights for the occupying Power. That is why Ecuador has supported all solutions relating to the Palestinian people and their right to national independence and sovereignty free of external influence. It should be pointed out that the Palestinian people is a people with its own characteristics and should have, its own homeland and territory. The rights of a people do not disappear in imposed situations; thus it is logical and equitable to seek just solutions, sovereignly accepted by the parties concerned, solutions that are lasting and useful, in order to contribute to the well-being, co-existence and security of those countries and to the harmony of the international community.
But there is another aspect inherent inhuman rights, that fertile and respected source of international law. The Government of Ecuador, elected in free democratic elections, is intransigent in its absolute respect for human rights and cannot remain silent in the face of situations where such rights are violated, especially when, as in the case of Palestine, it is a question of plundering the ancestral homes of inhabitants and whole peoples who are denied the right to return home and the exercise of their sovereignty in territories that were their homeland. Thus these people cannot express their opinion or decide on their destiny in a democratic way through the ballot box, both because of the situation imposed on them by their material absence,as well as the conditions they are forced to bear and that have even affected the municipal authorities, the popular nucleus of a real national existence.
Ecuador, in its policy of expanding its international relations, of respect for ideological pluralism and for economic development and social justice, a policy which has guided the Government of its constitutional President, Jaime Roldo's, believes in the peaceful coexistence of all peoples and maintains cordial relations with the Arab countries and with the State of Israel. We believe that it is indispensable and feasible for these countries to understand one another. They should co-operate fully for their security and for the prosperity of their peoples, banishing the spectre and the anguish of war and violence which threaten innocent lives.
Ecuador, a founding Member of the United Nations and a fervent supporter of the continued strengthening of the world Organization, voted for the establishment of the State of Israel, which was decided upon in this forum. That country therefore has a moral obligation to comply with the decisions and recommendations of United Nations organs. My country admires all that the people of Israel have accomplished in their struggle against racial persecution and the tyranny of nazism and fascism, as well as their scientific and technological achievements and their overcoming of adverse circumstances and man-made or natural situations throughout their hard and difficult history. My country supports Israelis right to a recognized existence as part of the recognition and respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of all the States of the region and for their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries, free from the threat or acts of force.
For this reason also we applaud the Camp David accords as the decision of sovereign countries, not only because they have the full support of the Governments parties to the agreements but also because they have the full support of the respective peoples concerned, which gives strength to permanent solutions between countries. Thus, the Camp David accords, in the view of Ecuador, have been strengthened by the welcome return of territory occupied by force, a restitution which is the only true solution which will restore international rights and ensure peaceful coexistence and lasting harmony among the countries of the same region. Therefore those accords, which have been a first step, should continue along the lines of justice and respect for the rights of the Palestinian people. We express the hope that there will be definite progress along these lines, with the action of the countries directly responsible for the process begun – that is, Egypt and Israel – and with the responsibility of the Power which is promoting and guaranteeing them, the United States, as well as with the full participation of all the other interested parties, so as to bring about a global solution which would not otherwise be viable.
Settlements whether voluntary or imposed in the face of United Nations resolutions, such as Security Council resolution 237 (1967) of 14 June 1967, cannot be acceptable to the international community. The time has come to reject them once and for all and to make an appeal for a change of policy.
There are also methods which arise over the course of history. The importance of Palestine as the cradle of civilization and the birthplace of the three great monotheistic religions of the world is such that for my country, Ecuador, a Christian country, that region and those places are not remote geographical entities for which some occupying Power is responsible. Places such as Bethlehem, Nazareth, Hebron, Jericho and others on the West Bank of the Jordan, which are mentioned in United Nations documents, are for us well-known names from Biblical times. There we find the paths where many cultures and empires met and crossed. That is the region of our Holy Scripture and of the prophets that we admire, who described the history of the earth from Genesis onwards. It is a region of the poets and kings who have enriched universal literature, of philosophy, of the centuries of Christianity, of the blood shed in the fervent popular movements of the crusades, of the Christian pilgrims that have visited the sacred places over the years, places which we regard as being as much ours as belonging to the peoples of the other great religions we respect. This has been stated by the most august mouthpiece of Christianity, His Holiness Pope John Paul II, from this very rostrum. – where he expressed the hope that the special status of Jerusalem would be maintained, a status which, under international guarantees, would ensure respect for the special character of the Holy City. Such a status should give full guarantees to all religions. Jerusalem is not an exclusive political centre for any specific nationality. It is much more than that. It is a city that is as sacred to the Christian faith as it is to other religions and beliefs.
The historic resolution 194 (III) of 11 December 1948 established that status in an effort to protect the holy places of Jerusalem and to grant free access to then through arrangements made under the aegis of the United Nations. Ecuador fully supports that status and calls for an end to the occupation of the eastern part of Jerusalem, which has been occupied since 1967.
In view of the foregoing, the delegation of Ecuador would favour a resolution which would have the political and juridical strength of this great Assembly behind it, and would call for the return of the Palestinians to their homes, the return of their property, the withdrawal of the occupation forces, and the nullifying of the settlements and the annexations, as well as the territorial concessions granted without consultation with the Palestinian people. The search for a final solution should include the Palestinian people, with full recognition of their inalienable rights. The negotiation of such an agreement should include all the States of the area and the Palestine Liberation Organization, on an equal footing, as called for in all the relevant United Nations resolutions, within the framework of our world Organization.
Mr. KOROMA (Sierra Leone): Mr. President, it is salutary that this emergency special session on the question of Palestine should be convened under your aegis, for, as a distinguished son of Africa and a representative of that continent, you have known the pangs of alien domination, which continues to persist in parts of our continent today. Indeed, as an indomitable fighter for human freedom, your commitment to and promotive effort in the liberation struggle is too well known to warrant further commentary.
There can be no dispute that this august body is properly convened to consider this all-important question of Palestine. During the months of March and April of this year, and in accordance with General Assembly resolution 34/65 of 29 November 1979, the Security Council engaged in a lengthy debate on this long-standing issue, but, owing to a negative vote cast by one of its permanent members, the Council failed to come up with a decision on this important issue, which has jeopardized and continues to jeopardize the peace and security of the Middle East.
It is a principle grounded in United Nations jurisprudence and experience that this body, the General Assembly, asserts its residual authority under the Charter when the Security Council is unable to discharge its responsibilities because of the negative vote of a permanent member. Hence the decision to convene this important special session. In his capacity as Chairman of the Committee on the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian people, the representative of Senegal, in his important and comprehensive statement to this Assembly this morning, established beyond all doubt that a threat to international peace and security exists in the region of the Middle Last because of Israel°s intransigence in not letting the people of Palestine achieve its right to self-determination. Hence the assumption by the General Assembly of its residual responsibility under the Charter for the maintenance of international peace and security.
But, even more important, even more crucial, is that the item under consideration, the question of Palestine, has for too long affected and continues to affect the life and destiny of a whole people – the Palestinians. This unresolved question has continued to aggravate tension in that region and poses a serious threat to international peace and security. Thus the question of Palestine involves, inter alia, two of the most salient and fundamental principles on which this Organization is based.
For almost 33 years now, since this august Assembly adopted its resolution 181 (II), which partitioned Palestine into a Jewish State, a Palestinian Arab State, and a corpus separatum for the City of Jerusalem, the international community has been able to witness only the partial implementation of that resolution with the creation of Israel in 1948. And since its creation Israel has embarked on a policy of deliberate usurpation of the Palestinian inalienable right to self-determination and independence. Coupled with that denial of the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people, in the course of the last 32 years Israel has occupied the entire territory that was mandatory Palestine, and in addition it has also embarked on a policy of territorial aggrandizement affecting both Egypt and Syria.
As a consequence, Israel stands charged with stubbornly refusing fully to implement the resolution which gave it birth and on which it has itself based its claim to statehood and legitimacy. Israel also stands accused not only of usurping and denying the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and independence but also of annexing their national territory and individual lands. Israel is also criminally charged with waging war against the Palestinian people and having unleashed a reign of terror against them. For the past 13 years Israel has compounded these international felonies by occupying territories of Egypt and Syria.
This deliberate policy of Israel has led to four major wars in the Middle East. Its perpetration violates the principles of this Organization and undermines its authority and effectiveness. It also condemns the Palestinian people to a further cycle of wretched and miserable existence. and it continues to endanger international peace and security in that region.
Through the convening of this emergency special session, the United Nations, and indeed the international community as a whole, is once again alerted to the danger which the persistence of the question of Palestine poses to international peace and security and the need for action to be taken to achieve peace in that troubled region. In addition, this session should uphold, reaffirm and implement the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, national independence and sovereignty, for there can be no peace without the establishment of an independent Palestinian State and unless and until Israel evacuates all the occupied territories.
The vast majority of Members of this Organization, and indeed of the international community as a whole, has called for exercise of the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people, which in effect means the right to establish a sovereign Palestinian State on the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and in East Jerusalem.
The Heads of State of the Organization of African Unity, at its recently concluded Summit Meeting in Freetown, Sierra Leone, reaffirmed that a just and lasting peace in the Middle East can be achieved only through exercise by the Palestinian people of its inalienable rights, especially its right to return to its motherland and to recover its national sovereignty and establish an independent State on its territory.
Consequently, and in the view of my Government, the talk about autonomy for the Palestinians a in any case, as conceived by Mr. Begin – is incomprehensible and insupportable, for nothing short of an independent Palestinian State in fulfilment of the Palestinians' imprescriptible right to self-determination will put an end to the agony and the destruction of life and property among the Palestinian people and to the danger to international peace and security that the continuation of the problem poses. Furthermore, my delegation submits that such autonomy bypasses the central issue of the Middle East problem a that is, the question of the national State of the Palestinian people. My Government also finds incomprehensible and insupportable – in law, in logic and in morality, and given the paramount interests of peace – the purported annexation of Jerusalem by Israel and the transfer thereto of the capital of the State of Israel.
For its part, my Government reaffirms its support for the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including their right to self-determination, national independence and sovereignty, and to return to their homes and property, from which they have been displaced and uprooted. My Government also reaffirms its recognition of the Palestinian people as a principal party in the establishment of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, and of the Palestine Liberation Organization as the representative of the Palestinian.
Finally, my Government once more calls on Israel to have the courage, the determination and indeed the basic humanity to let the Palestinians have what was granted to them some 30-odd years ago – namely, the right to self-determination, to a State of their own within which they would be able to mould and shape their own destinies. My Government is firm in its belief that implementation of resolution 181 (II) in all its various facets will enable the conflicting national aspirations involved to find substantial expression and will qualify both peoples to take their places as independent nations in the international community and in the United Nations.
The PRESIDENT: One representative has asked to be allowed to speak in exercise of his right of reply.
May I recall that the General Assembly has decided that statements in exercise of the right of reply should be limited to 10 minutes and should be made by representatives from their seats.
Mr. GHALI (Egypt) (interpretation from French): I should like to reply very briefly to the allegations and untruths contained in the statement made by the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Cuba. I am sorry that he is not now here, while I am making my statement in right of reply, and I hope that his delegation will report to him the substance of my remarks.
At the outset, I should like to raise a first question: did the representative of Cuba speak on behalf of his country or on behalf of the non-aligned countries? If he spoke on behalf of the non-aligned countries, had he received a mandate from those countries to make such a series of untrue statements about my country?
Secondly, the representative of Cuba allotted himself to describe our territory – that is the Sinai, for which thousands and thousands of Egyptian soldiers shed their blood – as an arid desert with a few oil wells. I should like to remind the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Cuba that the territorial integrity of our homeland is sacred and brooks neither fruitless criticism nor superficial analysis which takes no account of the real facts about the Egyptian nation.
Finally, I should like to remind him as well of a sacred principle within the Non-Aligned Movement, that is, the principle of non-intervention in the internal affairs of States.
The digressions of the representative of Cuba remind us of the sorry story of Havana a year ago, where non-alignment, the philosophy of dialogue, goodwill and reconciliation were transformed and manipulated to become a strategy of confrontation and hatred, incompatible with coexistence and the great principles of peace and co-operation envisaged by our Movement.
I am sorry to have to say that in his discourse the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Cuba continued to espouse a policy which has nothing in common with the non-alignment that we defined in 1961 in Belgrade and for which we will continue to fight, in order to maintain its integrity and its purity.
In conclusion, I should like to say that it is only by a collective struggle for justice and conciliation that peace can be brought about, not by the adoption of slogans or unfounded allegations.
The meeting rose at 6.35 p.m.
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Document Type: Meeting record
Document Sources: Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP), General Assembly, General Assembly 7th Emergency Special Session
Subject: Agenda Item, Palestine question
Publication Date: 22/07/1980