Seventh emergency special session
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
PROVISIONAL VERBATIM RECORD OF THE FOURTEENTH MEETING
Held at Headquarters, New York,
on Wednesday, 23 July 1980, at 10.30 a.m.
President:
Mr. SALIM (United Republic of Tanzania)
later:
Vice-President
Mr. NAIK (Pakistan)
Mr. TOMASSON (Iceland)
– 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 3.30 p.m.
AGENDA ITEM 5 (continued)
QUESTION OF PALESTINE
Mr. NISBORI (Japan): Mr. President, I am very pleased to see you presiding over this emergency special session. I am sure that our deliberations will be conducted smoothly, as usual, under your able and skilful guidance.
At this time, as the seventh emergency special session of the General Assembly has been convened to take up the question of Palestine, I recall that the first special session of the General Assembly, in 1947, was devoted to the Palestine question and, further, that this is the third emergency special session to be seized of the question of the Middle East. Indeed, the question of the Middle East has been dealt with in a manner befitting its importance ever since this world body was established and it is certainly the most complex and serious issue confronting us today.
Because the situation in the Middle East poses a threat to world peace, it has in recent years become increasingly and urgently necessary that a solution be found. However, not only has such an important issue as the Middle East question, with the Palestine question at its core, not been solved, but it is becoming ever more complex and a just solution increasingly elusive. Japan is profoundly concerned about this situation. We strongly hope that in its deliberations on the question of Palestine this emergency special session of the General Assembly will play a positive role in achieving peace in the Middle East.
The basic position of the Government of Japan on the Middle East question, and in particular on the Palestine question, has been presented on various occasions and may be summarized as follows: first, the peace that is achieved in the Middle East should be just, lasting and comprehensive secondly„ such a peace should be achieved through the early and complete implementation of Security Council resolution 242 (1967) and 338 (1973) and through recognition of and respect for the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, including the right to self-determination under the United Nations Charter thirdly, each and every path towards the realization of such a peace must be explored, with careful consideration being given to the legitimate security requirements of the countries of the region and the aspirations of all the peoples of the region, including the Palestinian people.
In accordance with those fundamental principles, Japan is firmly convinced that it is first and foremost essential that Israel withdraw from all the occupied territories, including East Jerusalem.
Moreover, the Palestinian people must themselves decide what is to be the result of the exercise of their right to self-determination. Japan holds the view that the right of establishing an independent State is included in the concept of the right of self-determination.
From this standpoint, Japan supports principles contained in and the spirit of General Assembly resolution 3236 (XXIX) of 1974, which recognized; inter alia, the right of self-determination of the Palestinian people. In this connexion, in order to ensure that the General Assembly resolution will effectively constitute a firm basis for achieving a just peace in the Middle East, Japan believes that it has proved necessary to incorporate in it an important principle contained in Security Council resolution 242 (1967) and that is, respect for and acknowledgement of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every State in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force.
In accordance with the Government of Japan's basic position, as I have just outlined it, Japan considers that the Palestine Liberation Organization represents the Palestinian people. Thus, in order to advance the cause of peace in the Middle East, Japan believes it essential that Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) recognize each other's position and that the PLO participate in the peace process in the future.
In this connexion I should like to point out that Japan is acutely aware of the importance of the Palestine question and has consistently maintained its position of recognizing the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people. It has been making efforts to find how best to contribute to the achievement of peace in the Middle East. These have included efforts to make its fundamental position known to the parties involved and deepen mutual understanding through dialogues with the PLO.
Moreover, as a concrete means to an early solution of the Palestine question, Japan believes it is important that momentum be maintained and that the search for a just and lasting solution be continued. Thus it is of the utmost importance that both Israel and the Palestinian people make further efforts to dispel mutual distrust and to foster a genuine will to coexist.
Japan takes this occasion strongly to urge all parties directly concerned in the conflict, in the spirit of the United Nations Charter, to show courage and to follow the path of reason by refraining from the use of force. We hope that they will renew their determination to settle this problem in a just, wise and peaceable way.
Recognizing the necessity of creating an atmosphere conducive to solving the question of Palestine, Japan is profoundly concerned about the impasse in the Palestine autonomy talks and the recent examples of the deterioration of the situation in the West Bank. Japan considers that the recent move in the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, to use legal procedures to annex East Jerusalem and the expulsion of three West Bank leaders – the Mayors of Hebron and Halhoul and the Sharia Judge of Hebron – on 2 May 1980 are in total violation of the various United Nations resolutions and of widely accepted principles of international law.
Such violations should not be condoned. Furthermore, Japan takes this opportunity to express its indignation at the inhumanity of the terrorist attempts on 2 June 1980 to assassinate the three Mayors of the towns of the West Bank despite the extraordinary conditions of occupation.
The Government of Japan basically supports the four resolutions recently adopted by the Security Council on those incidents – namely, 468 (1980), 469 (1980), 471 (1980) and 476 (1980). In addition, in view of the long duration of the occupation, we strongly urge that the occupying authorities make special efforts to protect the human rights of the Palestinian inhabitants of the occupied areas, in accordance with relevant international law.
In our view, the worsening of the situation stems primarily from the occupation policies of Israel. We believe that such policies, including the establishment of settlements in the occupied areas, as well as the unilateral steps to change the status of Jerusalem, and indeed the annexation of East Jerusalem, are incompatible with Security Council resolution 242 (1967) and have no legal validity. Since such actions destroy the atmosphere that is conducive to a solution of the question through dialogue and jeopardize the entire peace process, we appeal to Israel to halt immediately its execution of those policies. As long as such policies are pursued, the avenue to peace in the Middle East will never be open. Furthermore, we are convinced that the best way for Israel to ensure its future security is by negotiating with all the parties concerned and by investigating all possible means of solving the problem peacefully.
I feel it is also important to point out the danger that violent acts in the occupied areas as well as in southern Lebanon may result in a vicious cycle of violence and hatred. In order to avoid such a danger, it is imperative that all parties involved in the conflict, including Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), exercise self-restraint. The Government of Japan has repeatedly urged that the utmost restraint be exercised by all the parties concerned.
The same may be said regarding recent developments throughout Lebanon. I should like to stress that the peace and security of Lebanon, as well as its territorial integrity, must be respected by all parties.
Japan supports all international endeavours towards the achievement of a comprehensive peace so that the results obtained so far will not be in vain but will be supplemented and promoted. In that regard, we highly appreciate the declaration on the Middle East issued at the conclusion of the meeting of the European Council on 13 June 1980, in which the Nine expressed their position of actively contributing to the realization of peace.
We also greatly appreciate the efforts made thus far by the United Nations towards the solution of the Palestine question. That question has been taken up not only in the General Assembly and the Security Council but also by the Economic and Social Council and various other organs of the United Nations, and has been dealt with from their respective vantage points. It should be noted that those efforts have been successful in contributing, in a steadfast way, to the creation of an environment that is conducive to resolving the question. I wish to mention here, for example, the role played by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. That Agency has been making an enormous contribution to the maintenance of peace and security in the region, mainly through relief and education programmes for 1.8 million Palestinian refugees. Responding to the Agency's important mission, Japan has been providing active support, and this year will contribute approximately $9.5 million, which represents an increase of more than 35 per cent over last year's contribution of $7 million.
I wish also to note the vital roles played by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon and the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force. Deployed in the most crucial zones in the Middle East, they are essential elements in containing the conflict and in maintaining and promoting peace.
All of us know that the United Nations is an Organization based on the principles of the non-use of force and the peaceful settlement of disputes. Indeed, the peace-loving spirit is the very foundation of the United Nations. However, if among the parties concerned the memory of the horrors of war is dim, and the preciousness of peace itself is not keenly appreciated in their hearts, then the various United Nations organs will not be effective in fulfilling their roles, no matter how exhaustive their efforts may be. I should like to emphasize that the spirit of the United Nations, which shuns war and seeks peace, must be fully brought to bear in the search for a solution to the extremely complex and difficult question of Palestine which, ever since the early days of the Organization, has continued to engage our attention. At this time, the Government of Japan affirms its intention of sparing no effort to attain our common goal: an early and fruitful solution of the question of Palestine.
Mr. HA VAN LAU (Viet Nam) (interpretation from French): Mr. President our delegation would like at the outset to express its happiness at seeing you presiding at the emergency special session of the General Assembly on the question of Palestine.
Our warm congratulations are also extended to the delegation of the Palestine Liberation Organization, headed by Mr. Farouk Kaddoumi, that tireless fighter for the independence and freedom of the Palestinian people.
Our delegation has a lively appreciation for the efforts exerted over the last five years by the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People in carrying out the noble task entrusted to it by the United Nations.
The question of Palestine is one of the vital issues of our times. For more than three decades, the General Assembly of the United Nations and the Security Council have been adopting numerous resolutions but the question remains unresolved. The inalienable rights of the Palestinian people continue to be grossly flouted.
The delegation of Viet Nam sincerely hopes that this emergency special session will lead to results which will permit concrete progress to be made towards the settlement of the Palestinian question, in conformity with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations and with the demands of world opinion. In our view, consideration of the question of Palestine must take into account two distinct aspects: firstly, the multifaceted struggle for the rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination, independence and national sovereignty, which are gathering increasingly strong support from the international community secondly, the Israeli policy., wholeheartedly encouraged and supported by the United States of America, a policy of repression, occupation, aggression and expansion with regard to the Palestinian and other Arab peoples, with the most serious consequences for peace and security throughout the world.
Everyone knows that the Palestinian people, which has an age-old history, has been obliged to live through tragic times without a home or a homeland. For more than 30 years it has been waging a heroic struggle for the existence of its nation on all fronts – political, military and diplomatic. The justice of the struggle of the Palestinian people for its inalienable and sacred rights has gained the deep sympathy and firm support of the international community.
Accordingly, the United Nations has decided on the establishment of specialized institutions with respect to the question of Palestine, a question which for many years has been regularly considered by the General Assembly and the Security Council. Moreover, at meetings of the League of Arab States, the Organization of African Unity, the Islamic Conference, the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries and the community of socialist countries, the just struggle of the Palestinian people has repeatedly met with increasingly strong support. Even at the recent meeting of the countries of the European Economic Community, the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people was reaffirmed. The prestige of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) on the international scene has been daily enhanced. The PLO, with observer status at the United Nations in New York and Geneva, has established diplomatic missions in several capitals and has been recognized for a long time by more than 100 countries as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.
At numerous sessions of the General Assembly the United Nations has reaffirmed the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including the right to self-determination without foreign interference, the right to independence and national sovereignty, the right to return to its homeland and the right to equality with other parties in the discussion held under United Nations auspices.
The international community has recognized that the question of Palestine constitutes the heart of the Middle East problem and has called for the participation of the PLO in all discussions on the question of Palestine. Peace cannot be achieved in the Middle East unless all the legitimate national rights of the Palestinian people are respected. Almost all the Arab countries lend the PLO their most firm support.
The solidarity of the Arab world, which has been most directly expressed in the formation of the Steadfastness Front, is a determining factor in the victorious struggle of the Palestinian people.
The Movement of the Ion-Aligned Countries, at its summit conference recently held in Havana, adopted resolutions firmly supporting the just cause of the Palestinian people. The Final Declaration at Havana stated:
At a time when the overwhelming majority of peoples and of world public opinion lend their full support to the struggle of the Palestinian people for its fundamental national rights, Israel, aided and abetted by the United States of America and revealing its true bellicose nature, has obstinately pursued its policy of aggression, expansion and repression, and has committed unspeakable crimes against the Palestinian people and other Arab peoples. Israel continues to occupy the West Bank of the Jordan and Gaza, concentrating thousands of troops there to implement its policy of repression and aggression, razing populated quarters with bulldozers and illegally detaining any persons suspected of patriotism in the occupied areas with a view to eliminating the resistance struggle of the people in those areas. The Israeli authorities recently expelled many Palestinian fighters, including such patriotic leaders of the occupied areas as the Mayors of Hebron and Halhoul.
In pursuit of its policy of expansion and invasion, Israel continues to carry out its policy of settlements and sending its inhabitants into illegally occupied areas in order to establish villages which already number more than 100.
With even greater arrogance, the Israeli authorities have decided to transfer the seat of their ministerial Cabinet to East Jerusalem and to transform Jerusalem into the capital of Israel. This arbitrary act, which elicited a strong reaction from the Arab peoples, in particular the countries of Islam, has been strongly condemned by the international community.
On the international scene, Israel has shown unprecedented obstinacy, refusing to comply with resolutions of the Security Council and the General Assembly. With a view to deceiving the Palestinian people and other Arab peoples by a so-called gradual solution, Israel, at the instigation of the United States and with the connivance of Egypt, has created the so-called Camp David agreement, in which not a word is said about the Israeli withdrawal from occupied territories in which the fundamental national rights of the Palestinian people and the role of the PLO have been completely rejected and in which, in fact, the very existence of Palestine has been eliminated.
The insolent acts perpetrated by the Zionist aggressors have led to the most serious consequences. Four million Palestinians have been stripped of their fundamental national rights; peace and security in the Middle East have been seriously endangered. Israel, encouraged and helped by its protectors on the other side of the Atlantic, has become an effective instrument in the American policy of aggression and expansion, thus gravely threatening the independence and sovereignty of the Arab peoples and the peace of the world.
Why has the question of Palestine failed to find a solution for so many decades? It is clear that this is due to two causes. One, a direct cause, is that the Zionist regime stubbornly and insolently persists in its policy of aggression, expansion and conquest against Palestine and other Arab countries. The other, an indirect cause but a decisive one, is related to the United States policy of instigation and assistance with respect to Israel, in order to transform that country into an instrument serving the war policy of American imperialism in the Middle East.
In fact, it is the leading circles in Washington that have given all kinds of support to Israel. In addition to its use of the veto in the Security Council, the United States continues to supply Israel with ultra-modern weaponry, transforming that country into a military base to serve as a springboard for aggression against other countries. The United States has supplied more than $10 billion under its programme of assistance to Israel during the term of the present Administration. The United States has intensified its military presence in the Gulf region and has introduced into it a large quantity of arms and modern equipment for the Israeli forces. It has trained rapid deployment forces and sought to establish bases with a view to invading and destabilizing neighbouring countries, seriously threatening the peace and security of the entire world. In reality, if American support and aid were not forthcoming, Israel could not by itself persist in its obstinate policy of aggression and expansion against Palestine and other Arab countries or in its arrogant attitude towards the international community.
The Government of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam is of the view that any just and lasting solution to the Middle East crisis must necessarily be based on the following guidelines: first, the effective achievement of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including its right to self-determination end national independence and sovereignty; secondly, Israel's obligation, totally and unconditionally, to evacuate all Arab territories it has illegally occupied since 1967 and scrupulously to respect the fundamental national rights of the Palestinian people; thirdly, the participation of the PLO as a full partner in all efforts and all negotiations on the Middle East undertaken under United Nations auspices; and, fourthly, the total. cessation of all assistance and support of any kind on the part of the Government of the United States of America for the Israeli regime.
The Vietnamese people is pleased to note that the PLO has continued to grow and gain strength in serving the just cause of the liberation of its long-suffering people. We reaffirm our militant and consistent solidarity with, and unswerving support for, the Palestinian revolution and the PLO, the sole, legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, which is waging a valiant struggle to recover its fundamental national rights, including the right of return to its homeland and the right to establish an independent and sovereign Palestinian State.
We reaffirm our steadfast support for the struggle of the Palestinian people against the Israeli policy of expansion, of implantation of Zionist settlements in the occupied areas and of expulsion of Palestinian patriots from their native land. The Socialist Republic of Viet Nam resolutely supports the just struggle of the Arab peoples for the recovery of all territories illegally occupied by the Israeli aggressors since 1967. Just as the Peking authorities were unable to sell South Viet Nam to the Nixon Administration through the Shanghai Joint Communiqué of 1972, the Camp David and Washington accords of 1978 were unable to deprive the Palestinian people of the right to live as an independent and sovereign people.
In his message of 11 July last on the question of Palestine, addressed to President Fidel Castro, Chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement, the Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, Pham Van Dong, stated the following:
In the resolution adopted on 18 July last at Vientiane at the Conference of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Laos, Kampuchea and Viet Nam, the three Ministers undertook:
We are convinced that with perseverance and determination in the struggle for its liberation, and with the firm support of the peoples and Governments of the world that love peace and justice, as well as the support of international organizations, the Palestinian people, under the leadership of the PLO, its sole, legitimate representative, will ultimately triumph.
Mr. DOYA (Benin) (interpretation from French): Sir, allow me once again to convey to you the wholehearted appreciation of the delegation of the People's Republic of Benin regarding the many and varied activities in which you have constantly been involved since assuming the presidency of the thirty-fourth session of the General Assembly. I wish to stress how pleased we are with the way in which you have been presiding over our work, and to assure you of our conviction that those same qualities will be displayed at this emergency session on the question of Palestine. The pertinent introductory comments which you made yesterday morning on this question show your wide knowledge of the various aspects of the problem.
After more than 60 years of debate, frustrated hopes, broken promises and general frustration on this question of Palestine, the question that comes to mind at this time when eminent representatives of the international community are gathered here is: What brought about the convening of this emergency special session on this issue which weighs so heavily on the consciences of everyone involved? On both sides of the River Jordan, irrespective of the religion, political opinion or ideology of the various parties, there is one thing that everyone agrees on: a solution must be found to this problem, and the conflict must cease in that part of the world. But what then can the solution be? It cannot be just any solution, because only a Just, equitable and lasting solution – namely, a solution that takes account of the fundamental interests of the parties involved – can be the key to this problem.
The presence of the Ministers and representatives of the international community at this emergency special session of the General Assembly of the United Nations, which so nobly presided at the birth of Israel more than 30 years ago, bears witness to the importance of this issue and the urgency of finding a just and equitable solution that would do credit to our Organization by rendering justice to this new wandering people, the Palestinian people. It is ironic that yesterday's victim should be today's hangman. Wearied of war, should we simply wait until history runs full circle before the martyrdom of this people comes to an end?
This emergency special session has been convened at a time when everywhere in Palestine and in the occupied Arab territories the situation is dangerously deteriorating, becoming fraught with very serious threats to international peace and security. These grave times mean that the present emergency special session must be a milestone and take realistic, honest and just decisions that will reflect creditably on mankind which is capable of doing more good than evil, because these decisions will have covered every aspect of the problem.
Through the United Kingdom and the Balfour Declaration, the West expressed its understanding for the Jewish people, thus supporting the creation of the State of Israel; and today the Palestinian people are asking for nothing less than justice from the West, where, fortunately, voices of sanity are now at last beginning to be heard.
The cross borne by the Palestinian people became heavier with the creation of the State of Israel and the occupation of the Arab territories, including the West Bank and Gaza, the East Bank and Jerusalem, after the wars of 1967 and 1973. Having emerged victorious from those wars, Israel then imposed its law, the law of material destruction, of oppression, of exile imposed on the Palestinian people, all the lands of Palestine being occupied by Israel with the support of international imperialism.
Basically annexationist and expansionist, the Zionist policy in Palestine consists of denying the Palestinian people their right to independence and self-determination. The essentials of that policy are: in 1967 illegal annexation of east Jerusalem through war; political, administrative, economic and cultural measures decided upon by the new occupying Power, thereby attacking the very geography and architecture of the area; mass expropriations and callous and cruel deportations of Palestinians; establishment of illegal settlements in Jerusalem and all over occupied Palestine; detentions, tortures and massacres – all making up the ugly picture of the horrors of arbitrary action and odious authoritarianism which mark this unjust occupation that has been condemned by history.
Today in Jerusalem the results of Zionist occupation and settlement have led to the desecration of the Holy Places, the destruction of historic buildings and the establishment of more than 50,000 Israeli settlers in the Arab part of Jerusalem, which has been emptied of its Arab inhabitants. The same system of expropriation and hurried occupation can be observed in the other occupied Arab territories. At the present time more than 90 settlements have been established, thousands and thousands of houses have been destroyed and hundreds and hundreds of Arab inhabitants have been displaced and driven out without compensation.
This settlement policy is obviously intended to make the West Bank of the Jordan an integral part of Israel, the evil aim of preventing the birth of an independent Palestinian State in that area. This policy is contrary to the principles of law and of the Charter and has repeatedly been condemned by the United Nations and the international community.
In occupied Palestine, the Israeli authorities have been deporting and practising torture in a manner that it is difficult to understand and which ironically recalls the horrors of the nazi period. The evidence presented in Felicia Langer's book De mes yeux propres, or I saw it myself, and two other documents of international scope, the report of the Times of London and the report of the Swiss Committee for Human Rights provide irrefutable evidence of the inhuman and degrading treatment meted out by Israel to the Palestinian people.
In Lebanon, we are witnessing the application of an identical plan for the systematic destruction of that country where 1,001 reasons are put forward to support the repeated aggressions and for proceeding to large-scale massacres of the population. Wars, devastation, massacres which bring great tragedy to the peoples concerned, in particular here to the Palestinian people, are rife and for the time being there seems to be no hope at all. The problem remains unsolved, and that is not all.
The recent attempt to bring Jerusalem under the authority of the Tel Aviv Government, the attacks against the mayors of Nablus, Ramallah and Al Bireh, and the arbitrary actions taken in the field of education and health all present a terrible picture of the wretched fate reserved for the Palestinians. All this is contrary to the United Nations Charter and the Declaration of Human Rights as well as to the 1949 Geneva Convention on the protection of civilians in territories occupied as a result of war. All these international legal instruments were the basis for the creation of Israel, and yet they are being systematically violated by that very State.
Can we remain aloof and not feel absolutely disgusted at this most serious infringement of the most elementary human rights – the right to self-determination, the right to a State or a homeland, the right to sovereignty, the right to freedom?
It is our historical duty to find a just, equitable and lasting solution for this tragic problem, which has been created by international imperialism to carry out its designs of economic exploitation and political domination in the Middle East. Several attempts have been made to settle the problem, but they have all fallen short of the goal because of the total support given by international imperialists to Israel, which has thus become more intransigent and more than ever determined to continue its piratical policy of aggression so fraught with consequences.
We believe that Security Council resolution 237 (1967) and the other relevant decisions taken by the General Assembly provide a suitable framework within which to find a solution of the problem of Palestine. Any other approach, such as the Camp David accords, can only be a mad attempt to rush forward in search of a solution, abandoning the substance for the shadow.
Two essential elements, in fact, are the linchpin of the problem: self-determination for the Palestinian people and the Palestine Liberation Organization's character as representative of and the authentic spokesman for the Palestinian people in all negotiations involving this problem. Any attempt whatsoever at a solution which does not take account of these two essential elements is irrevocably doomed to failure. The Camp David accords fall into that category because they paid scant attention to those two essential points, leaving room for only greater frustration and bitterness.
The recent history of independent Zimbabwe once again demonstrates that the people alone can make its own history. We have seen the crushing defeat of the many misbegotten solutions which were attempted by some in that country, rent by mere than 10 years of war, and how they finally heeded reason, acknowledged their error and turned to the people of Zimbabwe and its authentic representatives joined together in the Patriotic Front. The lesson of Lancaster House deserves to be seriously studied by Israel and its protectors, for it is not too late for them to follow that example. The State of Israel cannot continue to ignore the PLO and hope to find a just, equitable and lasting solution to the problem of its fate in the Middle East right in the middle of Palestine.
The actors in this drama must take off their masks and enter into direct dialogue without fear of the facts. It is good to note the full availability and complete openness of the PLO.
Further, the new trend we now see in Western Europe – if it is sincere and hides no ulterior motives – is a trend towards reason which sets in motion the dynamics of political courage and which is consonant with history. We make bold to hope that this dynamics will inspire the Israeli leaders, opening the way to a policy of the outstretched hand, that of dialogue, of brotherhood and of humanity.
But if, by mischance, we do not seize the opportunity, either by miscalculation or design, then we will be allowing the continuation of war with its cortege of woe – the woe of a people who experience unending suffering and death, but who still continue to fight. The inalienable rights of the Palestinian people can no longer be trampled under foot and it is essential today – now – that the actors in this drama accept their responsibilities and fully shoulder them so as to arrive at an equitable, just and lasting solution. Such a solution involves: first, the reaffirmation and recognition of the imprescriptible rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination, national independence and the creation of an independent and sovereign State in Palestine; secondly, the full implementation of their right to return to their homes, from which they were driven out; thirdly, withdrawal from all occupied Arab territories, including Jerusalem, with no preconditions and under the auspices of the United Nations; and, fourthly, the recognition of all States in the region and the reaffirmation of their right to secure and guaranteed borders.
Those are the four major premises which can be expected to open the way to dialogue and negotiation.
My country, the People's Republic of Benin, its Government, its people and its spearhead party, the Party of the People's Revolution of Benin, reaffirm their unwavering solidarity with the necessarily victorious struggle waged by the Palestinian people under the far-sighted leadership of the PLO.
The delegation of the People's Republic of Benin is convinced that the debate at this emergency special session will bring forth new ideas with new bases for taking up again and re-evaluating the Palestinian problem. Only combined good will will help us to find a negotiated solution to this problem, on which peace and security in the world so completely depend. It is the sacred duty of the Members of this universal Organization to help the Palestinians to achieve self-determination in the land of their ancestors. The United Nations must work to guarantee the national identity, the national independence and the security of all the States of the region, but the supreme goal of our common work must be the concrete realization of all the inalienable rights of the Palestinians. Any attempt to settle the question of Palestine outside the framework of the United Nations is a defiance of our Organization and a gesture of contempt for the international community.
Let us ensure that the symbolism of the Holy City of Jerusalem is not empty and devoid of content, so that tomorrow Christians, Moslems and Jews will be able to go there once again and to commune in the unity of their respective faiths. It must be said that the responsibility of certain among the most powerful of Western States is directly Involved in achieving this. My brother from Senegal, Ambassador Falilou Kane, Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, has sufficiently emphasized this fact by demonstrating the responsibility of those countries in the continuing deterioration of the situation in the Middle East.
It is now up to the Western allies of Israel to make the Government of Tel Aviv effect a complete reversal of its policies and make the concessions which are indispensable if further years of insecurity, massacres, wars of aggression and destruction are to be avoided. The allies and friends of Israel must not hesitate to take any measures of coercion or pressure to make Israel change: international peace and security depend on it.
Mr. KADDOUR (Syrian Arab Republic) (interpretation from Arabic): Mr. President, on behalf of my delegation, I should like to convey to you our satisfaction at seeing you presiding over this emergency special session on Palestine. Thanks to your wisdom and long experience, not to mention your thorough knowledge of the course that this issue has taken in recent years in the United Nations, you are well qualified to guide the work of this session to the hoped-for result.
If today the question of Palestine is being debated in an emergency special session in all its dimensions and all its aspects with the wars and tragedies that have piled up since the Balfour Declaration of 1917, it is because the international community is fully aware of the responsibility of the United Nations, in particular of the General Assembly, vis-a-vis the Palestinian people and the tragedy of its existence and its fate.
By returning the question of Palestine to the United Nations we are bringing it back to its home where it originated 33 years ago and where it lived a hard life and was subjected to the greatest injustice because of the conspiracy of zionism, colonialism, imperialism and Israel. They thought that they had erased it from the history of the United Nations and had washed their hands clean of the blood of the crime and its victim.
The United Nations has played a fundamental role in the creation, the worsening and the persistence of the situation in which the Palestinian people has been living since 1947, a situation characterized by the violation of the most sacred principles of the Charter, for the United Nations debated the question of Palestine in 1947 when the Organization had been in existence for only two years, and for more than a third of a century this question has constituted one of the aspects of the drama of the United Nations itself.
Therefore, it is the duty of this Assembly, to which the Charter and the principles of justice and international law have been entrusted, radically to resolve the question of Palestine. For this it must learn the lessons of more than 60 years, in the course of which the land of Palestine has been the centre of conflicts, tragedy, suffering and wars. This is all the more true, since the United Nations has never dealt with an issue in the same way as it has dealt with the question of Palestine from the standpoint of its duration, the gravity of the problems arising therefrom, the crises and the tragedies that have accompanied it as well as their effect on international peace and security.
We have attempted to calculate the number of resolutions concerned with this question and related issues, that is, the resolutions adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, the Security Council, the Commission on Human Rights, the Economic and Social Council, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) from 1947 to the end of 1979, a period of 33 years. Those resolutions total 459. However useless it be, this calculation nevertheless is proof of the interest of the United Nations in the question of Palestine and also demonstrates to what extent Israel has rejected' those resolutions and has treated the international Organization and its Charter with contempt.
It is clear that from its inception the United Nations has devoted more attention to the question of Palestine than to any other, so much so that certain resolutions on this question are now considered as the equivalent of international law,because of the insistence of the General Assembly on these resolutions and on the need for their implementation.
The crux of the Palestine question is the fate of a people and of its homeland. It was quite natural that world zionism, Israel and imperialism should scheme against the Palestinian people with a view to denying it all its rights, because otherwise zionism could not have established Israel as a first stage in its expansionist plan aimed at colonizing the entire to ion of the Middle East. We all know that the Zionists, covetous plans for expansion by stages can no loner be doubted, and our present dialogue about the fete of the Palestinian people and the liberation of occupied Palestinian end Arab territories is nothing more than a struggle to thwart those designs.
Like all peoples of the world, the Palestinian people has clearly established rights under the United Nations Charter, various conventions, declarations, international communiques and commitments, as well as under resolutions emanating from the United Nations.
These rights are fundamental rights that cannot be alienated, surrendered to others or usurped. They are the following: the right to return, the right to equal rights as enjoyed by all other peoples, the right to self-determination in a Palestinian homeland, the right to freedom, the right to national liberation, the right to sovereignty over the Palestinian homeland, the right to national independence, the right to struggle by every means to recover their homeland, human rights and fundamental freedoms, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, the right to a Palestinian nationality, the right to individual property, the right to compensation for all property confiscated and taken by force, the right of Palestinians over Palestine, and the right to seek and obtain all manner of material and moral assistance.
These inalienable rights and the total and unconditional withdrawal of Israel from all occupied Palestinian and Arab territories constitute the crux of the question of Palestine. That is what we must stress and what all the efforts of the international Organization must be directed towards. The history of the question of Palestine in the United Nations as well as on the battlefield has amply demonstrated that any solution not taking these premises into consideration can but be doomed to failure, whatever the efforts and the means used to implement it. The failure of the Camp David accords, which were foredoomed, is living proof of this, for those accords, in spite of the total support of the United States and adherence to them by the Egyptian regime, have not been able to provide any solution and also have not enjoyed the least support. Quite the contrary, these accords have been categorically rejected by the Palestinian people in the occupied homeland and outside that homeland, as well as by the Arab States and peoples which continue to strive to thwart them and to eliminate any of their effect and results.
The Camp David accords are at present in a vicious circle. The three parties to the accords are attempting to execute the scheme of self-government in order to be able to do away with the question of Palestine and to maintain the Palestinian people under occupation while awaiting the moment when Israel will definitively annex the occupied Palestinian and Arab territories, including Jerusalem. Then, once they have settled the rest of the Palestinian people abroad, the question of Palestine will become one of the dead-letters of history.
The rights of the Palestinians have been under attack on a number of occasions: the first time was on the occasion of the Balfour Declaration in 1917, by which Great Britain committed itself to the Zionist movement; they have again come under attack recently in the Camp David accords, which were orchestrated, planned and even drafted by the United States. Despite this long series of attacks and plots against them, and despite the fact that the forces of imperialism, in particular the United States, controlled the General Assembly because of the special circumstances prevailing at the time, the United Nations, after having opened the door to the Palestinian people following its dispersal and the loss of its homeland, began towards the end of the 1960s to realize the gravity of the tragedy of the Palestinian people, which had been deprived of its inalienable rights, including the right to exist.
In 1969, at the twenty-fourth session of the General Assembly, the United, Nations broke the first link in the chain of imperialist-Zionist plots by adopting resolution 2535 B (XXIV), which stipulates that
The other links in this conspiratorial chain were gradually broken until the General Assembly adopted resolution 3236 (XXIX) of 22 November 1974, which determined the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and emphasized the necessity of the Palestinians' exercising them. For greater clarity and in order to outline the steps that were to lead to the realization of those rights, a committee was created under resolution 3376 (XXX) of 10 November 1975. It was entrusted with the task of laying down a programme of action that would enable the Palestinian people to exercise its rights as recognized by resolution 3236 (XXIX).
At the request of the General Assembly, the Committee in question has each year submitted a report to the Assembly containing the proposed programme of action. After adopting that programme the Assembly has referred it to the Security Council for implementation, but the Security Council, each time it considered the recommendations of the General Assembly with a view to implementing them, had to face the veto of the United States and thus all the efforts exerted for the establishment of a just peace and all the hopes placed in them by the international community were dashed. The United States, which together with the other permanent members of the Security Council, is responsible for safeguarding international peace and security, has thus been challenging the will of the international community, by protecting aggression, defending occupation, participating in imposing injustice, exile, persecution and colonization on the Palestinian people and contributing, with Israel, to perpetuating the occupation of Arab and Palestinian territories as a first stage towards their final annexation to the Zionist entity.
The United States has thus placed the Security Council in a position where it is unable to carry out its responsibilities for the safeguarding of international peace and security. This is a very dangerous situation, equalled only by the desire of the United States to persist in its defiance of the will of the international community to conspire with Israel and the Egyptian regime to liquidate the Palestinian issue and fulfil Israel's ambitions for expansion and occupation.
In the face of this exceptionally grave situation, it is necessary for the General Assembly to assume its responsibilities in accordance with resolution 377 (V), entitled "Uniting for Peace".
A dispassionate and in-depth consideration of the history of Palestine since the First World War to date, particularly since 1947, taking into account the tragedy of a people exiled from its homeland and subjected to occupation, the four wars that have taken place, the colonialist racist entity based on the usurpation, aggression and occupation of Palestinian and Arab territories, a revolution which will not halt short of final victory and the unshakable will to liberate the occupied territories at any price or sacrifice – a dispassionate consideration, I say, of all of these factors and of the possible evolution of the situation in the near future towards total disaster should compel us to view things wisely and calmly and to assume our responsibilities for the establishment of a just peace which, in accordance with the history of Palestine and the facts prevailing in this region, should be based on two inseparable conditions: the complete and unconditional withdrawal of Israel from all Palestinian and Arab territories that it has occupied, and the guarantee of the exercise by the Palestinian people of its inalienable national rights.
The United Nations with its Charter and its various organs, today at this session is living through a difficult trial that could affect its future and credibility in the eyes of the peoples of the world. To prevent this we must ensure the triumph of the Charter and of its objectives – that of the principles of international law, right and justice, and that of human dignity and rights, particularly of the right to self-determination and the principles of the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by force and the inadmissibility of rewarding the aggressor for his aggression. If all this does not become first a conviction and then a practice, an idea which then is implemented, the destruction which Israel has practised since the very first day of its membership of the United Nations and the support which that racist, colonialist and aggressive entity has gained from certain imperialist Powers, in particular the United States, these destructive tools and the forces using them will leave their mark and have their effect on the international organization. That would perhaps be the greatest disappointment to the hopes all peoples and all mankind place in the United Nations Organization to free it from the calamities of war and the evils of aggression as well as from the plagues of racism and zionism.
The situation in the Middle East is a grave threat to international peace and security. Possibilities for armed conflict are growing. That conflict would not be limited to our region and could possibly expand to include or involve other large world forces. We may also expect that this struggle – even if geographically limited which no force in the world can guarantee – will affect the well-being and progress of peoples, and produce economic, financial and social crises of a very complex character, which could shake the world economic system at its foundations and lead to troubles the consequences of which are unforeseeable.
All these dangers are the result of the obstinacy of Israel and its policy of aggression, its colonialist expansion, its refusal to recognize the inalienable national rights of the Palestinian people and its refusal to withdraw completely from all the Arab and Palestinian territories it has occupied. These dangers have become still more explosive as a result of the events which took place in September 1978, events which are represented and embodied in the Camp David accords, which give the aggressor the fruits of its aggression, accord it what it usurped by force of arms and by sacrifice the Palestinian people, its destiny and its rights.
What is more serious about these developments is that the United States has planned, organized, drafted and ratified with its signature these Camp David accords. This great Power will thus have made a principal contribution to the creation of elements of a new explosive situation in the region, and have brought it to the brink of conflagration and disaster.
With regard to the Middle East, the United States has abandoned its task and responsibility as a permanent member of the Security Council by adopting a policy which endangers international peace and security. This is an extremely serious development from which we must learn our lesson for the future. The unreserved support of the United States for Israel and the implementation of the Camp David accords have encouraged Israel to pursue its racist policy and practices, its expansionism, terrorism and its official practices against the Palestinian people in its occupied homeland.
They have also encouraged Israel to implement its programmes of population and settlement building, Judaizing the occupied Palestinian and Arab territories, especially Jerusalem, distorting the character of these territories and trying to eliminate the natural identity of the Palestinian people, to destroy its unity and its national movement by the most cruel methods of repression, terrorism, murder and imprisonment. All these practices, carried out deliberately by Israel with the support of the United States under cover of the Camp David accords are designed to strip the Palestinian people of its homeland, to force it to emigrate and thus to usurp its homeland. All this explains the Israeli policies and practices, both vis-a-vis the Palestinian people and as regards the establishment of settlements and their expansion until they cover all the occupied territories.
We continue to place our hopes in the United Nations and to abide by its Charter, and we respect its principles and objectives. For all these reasons, for the sake of establishing a just peace in the Middle East and to prevent the world's being brought to the brink of a war whose extent and consequences are unforeseeable, we have once again come to the General Assembly to place the question of Palestine before it, in the same place where it was born 33 years ago. We have come to ask that justice be done, that right be done under the Charter and under international law. We shall pursue our struggle on all fronts without exception, as we are doing today within the United Nations, and we shall continue to pursue that struggle until the international community gives effect to its will and its resolutions and puts an end to the Israeli aggression. Thus the flag of just peace will fly over the Middle East only when Israeli forces are withdrawn from all occupied Palestinian and Arab territories and when the Palestinian people exercises its inalienable national rights over its homeland, Palestine.
The objective of this emergency special session is not to obtain new resolutions that will only be added to the hundreds of resolutions that have been adopted already, but to put an end to the phase of issuing resolutions and to move on to the phase of the actual implementation of those resolutions, to translate them into facts and reality and to take the concrete steps provided for in the Charter for the implementation of resolutions relating to the principles of the Charter and its objectives, and to the safeguarding of international peace and security.
We are working for a just peace that will guarantee the recovery of all our occupied territories and, for the Palestinian people, the recovery of its national rights. It has become certain in the international and regional context today, that any delay in the establishment of such a peace will inevitably lead to an aggravation of the situation in the region, which can only greatly threaten peace and security in the Middle East and the whole world. The long-sought peace depends on the United Nations' concern to implement the resolutions it has issued and which are based on the Charter. The experience and the lessons of a third of a century show that peace is possible only if the United Nations determines the steps and timetable for implementing its resolutions, and takes the practical steps which would ensure substantively such an implementation and oblige the aggressor to comply with resolutions of the international community.
Mr. RAMPHUL (Mauritius): This morning the representative of Israel said that this seventh emergency special session of the General Assembly had been convened illegally, and yet he went on to speak on the substance of the issue under consideration for over one hour. Am I to understand that the representative of Israel actively participated in an illegality? Does not his remark constitute an insult to our beloved President, to the Secretariat and to all of us who out of duty, and as directed by our respective Heads of State or Government, are participating in this session?
It is not my intention to embark on a futile exercise in polemics with my colleague from Israel. It is the right of all of us to express our views or those of the respective countries we represent. However, since the very legality of this session has been brought into question, I invite this Assembly categorically to reject the unwarranted remarks of the representative of Israel, especially in the light of what I am about to say.
Why is this special session convened as an emergency session? It is truly an emergency only if it is spelled out in its broadest implications: that the Arab-Israeli issue, especially the Palestinian issue, is rapidly approaching a high climax in a final showdown; that this climax now encompasses the entire Middle East; that, beyond conventional Middle East geography, it is spreading further to the region of West Asia, and, as it does so, it is extending its ugly tentacles to more and more nations, with increasingly serious consequences, and has already exacerbated big-Power rivalry, both qualitatively and quantitatively; that this climax is erupting in the wider context of what is universally described as an endangered world; that in this crisis, often seen as the precipice leading to a world conflict, the United Nations, frequently described as the last hope of avoiding such a catastrophe, is not being ignored but arrogantly defied to the peril of its very existence.
Those, in our opinion, are the longitude and the latitude which give the size and scope of the emergency aspect of this emergency special session.
Events are moving so fast daily before our very eyes that even the words we use to label the issues fall short of the expanding substance and magnitude of the original premises. Thus we designate the session as one dealing with some 3 million Palestinian people, when actually there are involved tens, perhaps hundreds, of millions of other people whose fate is indirectly affected by this tragically scattered population. We speak of peace in the Middle East when the persistent pathology of that area has now infected the vast area to the west and its strategic waters, the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean.*
We speak of the big Powers in the issue as if they were still the rival fishermen of 1948, 1955, 1967 and 1973 one trying to catch an Israel, the other, a Syria or an Egypt, when their more dangerous confrontation is developing on the periphery.
This is a psychological problem that intrudes on the measures' steps of diplomacy and statesmanship whenever the racing future outpaces the jogging present and the decisions we make at dawn are dated by the hour of sunset.
Such a situation may come as a surprise but it is not without precedent. We need only recall the time when, with the shot at Sarajevo, Europe spoke of the Serbian question – only to discover in a matter of weeks that the infection had spread from that small country to alliances throughout Europe.
I might note in passing that the analogy is more perfect when we recall that the relationship between Austria and Serbia was, as with the issue before us, that of an occupying Power, armed by a big Power, and the dispossessed people of an occupied territory fighting for their self-determination and independence. In a sense, the Palestinian people are now the Serbia in a region riddled by the rivalry of major military alliances.
It is a melancholy prospect for the diplomacy of peace when it is the warmongers and warmongers and the worshippers of the sect of militarism who, with their sharper geopolitical instinct; are already marshalling their forces, their bases and their navies, quick to recognize the more realistic dimensions of a regional crisis.
And so, from Serbia came the First World War, which was followed by the Second World War. In the same way;, from the Middle Eastern Serbia can coarse the third world war.
Lest I appear a prophet of doom, I would remind you of something that you all know: that from the very beginning in 1948, it has been set down universally and. unanimously as an iron-clad axiom that a war of a certain magnitude in the Middle East must, by its tricontinental geopolitical location, ignite a conflagration of global dimensions.
Then it was laid down as a theory. Today we see the theory crystallizing into z fact. If that theory has not been put to the test despite five wars, it is because the two big Powers were themselves still bearing the wounds of war, because they were partners in dealing with the issue, and, more significantly, because in that partnership they had resorted to the United Nations.
Today their old partnership is virtually gone; recovered from the Second World War, those two big Powers have become the most major military Powers of the world and they have frittered away every noble effort of the United Nations to get the Middle East peace on a straight and forward course.
They have all but exhausted the valiant efforts of our esteemed Secretary-General in the context of a Geneva conference. They have exhausted the Camp David approach – which, it would appear, is exhausting itself as a result of the intransigence of Prime Minister Begin hopelessly bidding for the top peace-making role when the parties directly concerned cannot find peace with each other.
By weakening compromises, so-called vetoes and the non-implementation of resolutions, they have exhausted the ultimate powers of the Security Council. By petty abstentions, negative votes, all manner of reservations, they have squandered away the unprecedented historical universality of the General Assembly.
It would seem that they have exhausted every United Nations option.
Dangerously, they have come to the end of the United Nations road to peace and exhausted every United Nations option for peace-making that is, all but one – this emergency special session in which we are now convened, with a new resolve, a new purpose and a new opportunity under the United Nations "united for peace" procedure or concept, whatever it is called. And I say this knowing that it is unpalatable to a few of my colleagues, for whom I have the greatest respect.
Permit me to point out that this "united for peace" concept is unfamiliar to many, even to those who have followed closely the history of the United Nations as a peace organization. It is an excellent procedure to invoke in a peace-war crisis, precisely when every major procedure has been exhausted and when the positions of the contending parties have become polarized.
The key word is "united". When the procedure was conceived, it did not mean that the parties were already united and needed only an effective procedure by which they could implement their unity in an agreed course of action. Quite the contrary; it meant that there was no unity and that there was a procedure by which they could become united. And the thrust of that procedure was to give the General Assembly special powers beyond those of mere recommendation.
As reported in the annual report of the then Secretary-General on the work of the Organization for 1950 to 1951, the procedure was first introduced on 20 Sept ember 1950 by the United States delegation under an item entitled "United action for peace". In an explanatory memorandum, the United States delegation outlined a series of proposed steps which, in its view, would enable the General Assembly to perform more effectively the important functions entrusted to it by the Charter in the field of international peace and security. It explained further that those steps involved the establishment of new procedures and machinery through which the General Assembly could act in connexion with breaches of the peace or acts of aggression when the Security Council had failed to exercise its primary responsibility in such matters.
The three component decisions that made up the general resolution were adopted overwhelmingly by the then membership by 52 votes in favour, 5 against and 2 abstentions.
In the long and comprehensive debate on the United States proposal in the Political and Security Committee and in the plenary meetings of the Assembly the proponents of the majority view, led by the United States, held: first, that the procedure would ensure to all Member States, great or small, a voice in decisions involving collective action to safeguard peace; secondly, that the responsibility for maintaining peace was not the monopoly of the great Powers, , and thirdly, that in the event of the Security Council's failing to perform its duty it was not only the right but the duty of the General Assembly to consider the situation without delay.
That initiative was taken by the United States during the Korean war, when the United States envisaged a situation in which a Soviet negative vote in the Security Council might prevent the Council from acting in regard to the war. In other words, the United Nations was confronted with a war and with uncertainty that the Council could act effectively in the restoration of peace – precisely the two conditions we have today. Does anyone doubt that there exists today a situation of war in the region under consideration, inside Lebanon, on the borders of Israel and Lebanon, in the West Bank resistance, with a threat of the war`s expanding such as that which preceded the full outbreak on the 30th parallel?
Does anyone doubt that after 30 years of sessions the Security Council has proved nothing except its effectiveness in setting up a peace-keeping force which has not stopped five wars and, in the growing opinion of many, in establishing what might have become a continuing truce as an excuse for avoiding a final peace?
It is now said – and I hope it is only a rumour – that the United States, which was the author of that resolution, is inclined to be sceptical of this session. The same statement is made with respect to the other Western Powers which so enthusiastically beat the drums for its birth in 1950. Or, it is said, if they do participate they will sit in their seats with the same negative vote, the same reservations and the same abstentions that would in effect recycle their "united for peace Assembly" into a regular Assembly, again in standard fashion, utilizing the inflated powers of their minority against the impotence of the majority. I sincerely hope that such reports are untrue and that the Western Powers will enter into the objectives of this emergency session in the spirit in which they gave it birth.
In pursuing this theme, I should point out again that the key word in "United for peace" is "United". The danger that looms now in the area is not that nations will deliberately move to war. The danger is that they will drift into a general conflict through the bewildering confusion of endless fragmentation. We have recently watched with dismay this crumbling process with the astonishment that must have hypnotized so many of our American friends under the recent eruption of Mr. St. Helens, which erupted again yesterday. Nature, it is said, is blind, but man is not, and he is even endowed with the powers of superior vision by the philosophers. How many times in history must man erupt with the eyeless force of a Mt. St. Helens?
Calling the role the "process of fragmentation" is appalling. A new cold war has sharpened the division between the United States and the Soviet Union. On the periphery, China, a permanent Member, is getting caught up in the general melee. Camp David seems to have introduced a division in the Arab camp, and it is now divided within itself. In the Arab camps there seem to be other divisions, although on the whole a certain unity has been developing. In the Israeli camp, the past weeks have seen at least two major dissenting elements – in Israel and in the American Jewish community. Recently we have seen signs of division in the Western camp, chiefly with the United States. The Declaration of the Nine members of the European Economic Community manifested a detour from the extreme United States position.
States will glory in one fragmentation or another in the light of the tactical advantage accruing to them. Collectively, they signal that if the Middle East problem is left unresolved, of which the inalienable right of self-determination of the Palestinian people is the very core, it will be a divider and a trouble-maker and its continuing erosion will only add to the kind of confusion that leads to war. That is why I would repeat for the third time that the key word of this session is "united" – united in a common front as the antidote to fragmentation, good or evil.
Here at this special session we have a unique forum in which all parties – those divided on ideology, those divided on power aspirations, those divided on diplomatic tactics and, indeed, every other kind of cause of division – can unite in a single effort at long last to give birth to a common plan for peace, a plan, I might add, in which even Israel can join, provided it accepts the basic premises of the United Nations, international law and the law of nations. Such a plan is now under consultation and is expected to become the basic proposal of the third world.
I do not, at this stage, propose to embark on an analysis of the expected draft resolution. I should note, however, from the original working paper which I had had the privilege of receiving, that its aim is a blueprint for action, a plan for an orderly transition from occupation to liberation, from a preparation of the Nest Bank for the return of the refugees to the establishment of an independent Palestinian State. The whole project would be carried out under the supervision of the United Nations and under the implementation and authority of the Secretary-General. As I understand it, in spirit it will not result in a draft resolution which chides, deplores or condemns, but one which has a business-like outline of a truly comprehensive peace plan based on the withdrawal of Israel from the territory it now holds under occupation.
For Israel, as I understand it, the implication is the assumption of an enduring Israeli State. Israel accepted that statehood when it assumed its responsibility as a Member State of the United Nations, and it should have no difficulty in reverting to that international status. However, since that time Israel has invoked the doctrine of Zionism against international law to an extent that it has now virtually declared a kind of cold war of its own against the very prestige of the United Nations, and indeed against its own prestige. It is my understanding that, in case of continued Israeli defiance, the initial text provides for a course of action which I would rather not mention at this stage of our deliberations. My delegation has not seen any final draft and will study its provisions as they are submitted. Meanwhile, we reserve our right to speak again in this Assembly.
I have dealt with the opportunity afforded us in this United for Peace session to throw back the forces of division and to promote a unanimous and comprehensive decision, to abandon the resolutions of delay and deferment and to promote a programme of decision and action. However, the greatest division that has obstructed action in the past is the division between the Western Powers and the third world. That division now threatens to spread like a lengthening shadow across this session. As we have learned, in the final returns of Members in the polling for this session, the necessary two-thirds majority has come mostly, if not entirely, from the third-world nations. I sincerely hope that this does not imply that this session begins with a "divided" instead of a "united" for peace resolution.
I call the attention of our Western friends to the resolution adopted by the Islamic Foreign Ministers on the issue under consideration, as well as to the resolution of the League of Arab States and the resolution of the African States. The same position was taken by the Non-Aligned Group of States. Even at the recent World Conference on the Status of Women, the voice of the Palestinians had been raised.
These and more make up what we call the third world — though first in their numbers as Member States, first in the population they represent – first, I may note, in support of a world without war and without armaments. How long do European statesmen think they can keep up this division without bringing down the planetary roof on their heads? Yours is the power of the gun and the overwhelming power of armaments. You have the missiles.
But where have we fallen into the delusion that the third world is without power? We do not have the power of missiles. But gradually, from out of the ground, is rising our superior power the power of our people in open revolt that threatens to shake the world: in Asia, in Latin America, in Central America, in the Caribbean, in Africa, in Western Asia. All in all, it is a revolt against domination of every kind, but mainly it is a universal movement of liberation.
People will no longer be held in subjection. Not even their own Governments can hold them back. And that is what this session is all about. In taking positions here, let us ask ourselves this question: will our position allay the wrath or will it further enrage the rebelling peoples across the globe? That is what I meant by the greater emergency beyond the emergency of the Palestinian people.
Too long has there been a cold war between the West and the third world – which, as I hinted earlier – might better be called a third force.
Here in this "United for Peace" session – a Western-conceived idea – a good idea, an excellent idea – is the opportunity to halt this cold war in a spirit that could bring peace, not only between Israel and the Arabs – especially the Palestinians, but peace between the West and the third world.
Mr. BARROS (Sao Tome and Principe) : It is an honour and privilege for me to address this seventh emergency special session. Permit me, first of all, to renew to President Salim the greetings and kind words expressed by the Head of the Sao Tome and Principe delegation during the general debate at the thirty-fourth session of the General Assembly. The statesmanship and the excellent manner in which President Salim conducted the work of the thirty-fourth session allow me to foresee a successful conclusion to this session.
This emergency special session is convened today as a result of the difficulties encountered by the Security Council during its recent deliberations on the Question of Palestine, pursuant to operative paragraph 8 of General Assembly resolution 34/65A. That recommendation was made by the General Assembly in view of the deteriorating situation which has prevailed in that territory for more than three decades, along with its repercussions in the whole Middle East region. The fact that the Palestinian Arabs and the Arab States, as parties to the conflict, were not receptive to the Partition Plan then proposed by the United Nations Special Commission on Palestine (UNSCOP) suggested, to some extent; the worsening of the situation in the years ahead in that melting-pot of ancient civilization which is the Near East.
At all events, on 29 November 1947, after an intensive debate, the international community decided by a relative majority to adopt resolution 181 (II), which laid the basis for the creation of two States – namely, Arab Palestine and Israel. While the State of Israel was established six months later, the people of Palestine have thus far been prevented from creating their own State. In addition, more than half of the native people of Palestine, estimated by the United Nations at 726,000 in 1949, have been forced to leave their country owing to the fact that their homeland has since been under foreign occupation.
The military occupation of Palestinian lands started, in fact, in the first few months of 1948 and included towns of religious significance like Jerusalem. It also included some of the land reserved for the Palestinian Arabs in the 1947 Partition Plan – that is to say, over three-quarters of all the land in Palestine. In view of that explosive situation, in December of the same year, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 194 (III), the operative part of which, inter alia, called upon the Provisional Government of Israel to facilitate the return of the Palestinians to their homes, their land and their property. By the same resolution, the General Assembly established a Conciliation Commission, one of whose main tasks was to assist in securing its implementation.
The Commission made efforts to mediate over a period of years, the last of these efforts being made in 1951, but it was not successful in reaching a solution, mainly because the Provisional Government of Israel opposed the return of the so-called Palestinian refugees to their homes and property, thus forcing 100,000 Palestinian Arabs to live away from their homeland, the only exception being a few thousand Arabs who succeeded in rejoining their families. However, restrictive measures amounting to dispossession were taken against them.
It seems clear that the Palestinians were dispossessed of their land and other assets in stages, the most important of which being that of 1953, when the so-called laws on the acquisition of land and other property were adopted. That legislation, which authorized the State of Israel to take over the ownership of land and other assets owned by the Palestinians, gave the State and State bodies preference over any other institution, as far as the acquisition and exploitation of Palestinian-owned land and property are concerned. Since the adoption of the so-called Land Acquisition Law in 1953, the State has become the owner of most of the land and property belonging to the Palestinian Arabs. Prior to the adoption of this law, what might be called temporary measures for coping with the situation were taken, in the form of ordinances, immediately after the cessation of hostilities in 1948.
While the ordinances were being issued by the military authorities, negotiations under United Nations auspices were under way or had just been started with the purpose of conciliating the different parties to the conflict. This points out the absence of any appropriate legislation relating to the property of Palestinians in the years immediately after 1948. Hence, by the beginning of 1952 it was already clear that the Conciliation Commission's efforts at negotiation had been unsuccessful and that there had been great changes in the land and other property owned by the Palestinians; population changes were to dominate the situation in Palestine up to 1967.
As was to be expected, the Israeli authorities were determined to pursue their occupation policy. After the military operations of 1967, Israel not only occupied all the Palestinian territory within the boundaries laid down in the partition resolution 181 A (II), Part II, but also Syrian and Egyptian territories, namely, the Golan Heights and Sinai. In addition, part of the Holy City of Jerusalem then under Jordanian administration, was also occupied in 1967. I do not need to say that the annexation of the Old City of Jerusalem was followed by the expulsion and dispossession of Palestinians. Through what can be described as the reaction of the international community, the General Assembly adopted resolution 2253 (ES-V), in which it declared those measures "invalid" and called upon Israel "to rescind all measures already taken and to desist forthwith from taking any action which would alter the status of Jerusalem". A few weeks later, the Assembly deplored "the failure of Israel to implement General Assembly resolution 2253 (ES-V)" (General Assembly resolution 2254 (ES-V)).
Since 1967 the future of Palestine and its people was bound up with the question of the Middle East, where the situation has been a source of constant threat to international peace and security. In this respect, in November 1967 the Security Council passed resolution 242 (1967), in which the Council affirmed
Despite the fact that the implementation of that resolution depended upon its interpretation by the parties involved in the conflict, it must be said that resolution 242 (1967) did not mention the plight of the Palestinians, nor their rights. General Assembly resolution 2535 B (XXIV) of December 1969 however states:
Even though the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people consist of their right to return to their homes and property and their right to self-determination, the well-being of the population of the occupied territories has been a subject of constant concern to the United Nations, as has, similarly, been the issue of Jewish settlement in occupied territories, a settlement that on many occasions the world body declared null and void.
The right to self-determination of the Palestinian people has at last been officially recognized by this great Organization and other bodies. In October 1974, the Arab Heads of State or Government declared "the right of the Palestinian people to return to their homeland and their right of self-determination" and recognized the Palestine Liberation Organization as the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people".
This is an undeniable fact since the PLO has been granted observer status by the United Nations and is a fully-fledged member of the Non-Aligned Movement, let alone being diplomatically represented in a number of countries the world over. Now comes the international consensus that no effort conducive to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East can be successful without the participation on an equal footing of the Palestine Liberation Organization. What better supports the international consensus than the failure of the Camp David agreements? In this regard, the Sixth Summit of Heads of State or Government of Non-Aligned Countries held in Havana in September 1979 decided to condemn the Camp David agreements, basically because of their partial nature. In the opinion of my delegation, the United Nations continues to provide the appropriate framework within which this issue should be dealt with.
The struggle of the peoples of Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East is waged against the same enemy, that is to say, against imperialism, racism, apartheid and zionism. The close collaboration between Israel and the South African regime in all areas, including the nuclear area, reminds us of the similarity as regards collaboration in the struggle that is aimed against self-determination and independence.
In conclusion, I wish to reaffirm my delegation's support to the heroic people of Palestine, through their sole and legitimate representative, the PLO, in their just struggle to return to their homeland, to attain self-determination and to establish an independent State in Palestine.
The Israeli obstinate policy of the annexation of territory, the establishment of settlements, the expropriation of property, the carry out of mass arrests, expulsions and deportations of Palestinians and denial of their right of return is inadmissible and deserves the vehement condemnation of all nations that love freedom and peace. Therefore, my nation condemns this Israeli policy.
This emergency special session is being held at a critical point in the history of international relations. The international community should not miss this unique opportunity to lay the foundations for an early solution of the question of Palestine, for it might be too late tomorrow.
Mr. ABDUL-BARMAN (Democratic Yemen) (interpretation from Arabic): This special emergency session of the General Assembly of the United Nations on the question of Palestine is a turning point in the history of both the Palestinian people and the United Nations. In 1947, at a time when most of the peoples of Africa, Asia and Latin America were either languishing under the yoke of colonialism or enjoying a pseudo-independence devoid of genuine sovereignty and free will; when the imperialist Powers could bully the General Assembly and marshal enough votes to pass any resolution, Palestine was brutally partitioned and a Zionist settler-State was established in the heart of the Palestinian homeland.
Having manipulated the United Nations to legitimize the Zionist entity, the imperialist Powers sustained the Zionist usurpers economically and militarily. Not only did they consolidate the Zionist State, but they provided it with all the means to wage a war of aggression, which brought the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights, in addition to the whole of Palestine, under Israeli control.
Having been subjected to the occupation of their homeland, the expropriation of their property, the displacement of their people and even the denial of their national identity, the Palestinians could do nothing but organize themselves and resist the Zionist enemy. Since their heroic revolt in 1936, when the whole world was oblivious to their plight, the Palestinians have never ceased to struggle. In addition to the Zionist terrorist gangs, they had to reckon with the British Mandatory Power, whose policies facilitated the mass influx of Jewish settlers in a calculated conspiracy to establish a Zionist State in Palestine. Most of the Arab peoples, who were under colonialist rule, had little to offer to their struggling brethren in Palestine.
The political map of the world has changed significantly since then. Colonialism is now a thing of the past. The Arab nation is awakening, imperialism is retreating and the Palestinian people is once more forging its own destiny. The United Nations – which is now universal, representing virtually all the peoples of the world – reflects the contemporary political facts of our era. And it was here in the United Nations in 1960 where the right of peoples to self-determination was sanctified. But the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and statehood was not unequivocally recognized by the General Assembly until 1974, when resolution 3236 (XXIX) was passed. The Palestinian people had to wage an unrelenting struggle in order to retrieve its inalienable right to independence and statehood, a right which was for a long time suppressed by the Zionist-imperialist alliance.
The United Nations did not only redeem itself by acknowledging the national rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination and statehood, but it recognized the Palestine Liberation Organization as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. The PLO now has more diplomatic representation in the various capitals of the world than the Zionist State of Israel. It is not without significance that the PLO is now recognized by the Arab League, the Islamic Conference, the Organization of African Unity and the Non-Aligned Movement.
In order to enable the Palestinian people to exercise its right to self-determination and establish their own independent State, the General Assembly established a committee for that purpose in 1975. By 1976 the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People had presented to the General Assembly its recommendations reaffirming the right of the Palestinians to self-determination, national independence and sovereignty in Palestine, including their right to create their own independent State and the right to recover their property and homes.
The reaction of Israel to the international recognition of the national rights of the Palestinian people, as well as of its leadership, the PLO, was characteristic of its contempt for the United Nations and its Charter. Far from heeding the international consensus on Palestine, Israel has stepped up its atrocious policies, confiscating more Palestinian property, systematically endeavouring to effect demographic changes in Arab Jerusalem, forcibly establishing new Zionist settlements, deporting elected Palestinian mayors and attempting their physical liquidation, condoning and continuing Zionist terrorism against Palestinians and cruelly suppressing them, and routinely attacking and bombarding southern Lebanon and encroaching on Lebanon's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Every time the international community reaffirms the inalienable national rights of the Palestinian people., Israel becomes more adamant in its lawlessness and its disrespect for the United Nations.
Israel could not have challenged the international community and world public opinion had it not been for the overwhelming support of the United States. It is reported that, in the first 19 years of Israel's existence, official American assistance amounted to $..5 billion. Even then, this level represented the highest rate of assistance on a per capita basis that the United States had ever provided to any State. From an annual level of less than $100 million between 1948 and 1962, grants and loans from the United States leaped to around $500 million a year after the 1967 war. Following the 1973 war, American assistance jumped again to more than $2.5 billion in economic and military support in 1974. Under the second Sinai agreement, the United States committed itself to continuing aid levels of about $2 billion a year. In the five years after the 1973 war, the United States transferred more than $10 billion to the Zionist State, more than half of it in outright grants, and the list goes on. By 1978, fully one fourth of American economic assistance was going to Israel. And now, during this election year, American politicians seeking to woo the Zionist lobby are outstripping each other in generous financial and military promises to Israel.
Not only that, but American political identification with, and all-round support for Israel is even more significant. Having lost its ground in the General Assembly, the United States is using its veto power in the Security Council to block any resolution that calls for the self-determination of the Palestinian people or the establishment of its independent State on its homeland The United States repeatedly vetoed the recommendations of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, thus precipitating the convening of this emergency special session of the General Assembly.**
Further, the United States resorted to initiatives outside the international context by sponsoring the ill-fated Camp David agreements, which purported to solve the Palestine question. It was a clear attempt to subvert the international consensus manifested by General Assembly resolution 3236 (XXIX).
The floundering so-called autonomy talks are to be a substitute for Palestinian independence and the, establishment of an independent State. Camp David has admittedly served American imperialist interests. Having seen the Iranian throne tumbling, the United States had to find another surrogate to serve its interests in the region. It needed a starting point enabling it to contain the revolutionary tide in the Middle East .ana Africa. The Carp David accords and the Washington treaty provided a political substitute for the loss of Iran.
The atrocious imperialist onslaught led by the United States with the participation of the Zionist entity and the Sadat regime, which is directed primarily against the Palestinian people and all the Arab peoples, constitutes a hopeless attempt to sanctify the Camp David conspiratorial designs. It aims at creating an aggressive alliance that would subject the whole area to American domination, consolidate the Zionist entity and implement its expansionist policies and ambitions. This is clearly evidenced by the strengthening of the United States imperialist military bases and naval fleet in the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Gulf, the Arabian Sea and the Red Sea, the creation of the rapid deployment force as well as the threats to occupy the oil sources in the region and the consistent endeavours to strain international relations, obstruct detente and create cold-war hotbeds.
The international community should condemn the racist and expansionist Israeli policies and practices as well as the policies of the imperialist Powers, particularly United States imperialism, which supports the continued occupation of Arab territories by the Zionist entity. The international community should also condemn all measures of the Israeli occupation authorities to get rid of the Palestinian nationalist leaders in an attempt to implement the "autonomy" conspiracy. It should also firmly confront the Israeli attempts to annex Jerusalem and make it the capital of the Zionist entity and consider all measures taken to bring about any demographic changes in the occupied Palestinian and other Arab territories, including Jerusalem, null and void. We should lend our unreserved support to and solidarity with the struggle of the Lebanese and Syrian peoples and extend all possible assistance to them and the Palestinian people to confront and foil the Zionist dangers and the Camp David conspiracies.
As long as the Palestinian people is denied its national rights, the Middle East will be in crisis and international peace and security will be endangered. Israel must be forced to withdraw from the occupied Arab territories and the Palestinian people should be enabled to exercise its inalienable right to self-determination and statehood in Palestine, in accordance with resolution 3236 (XXIX). The onward sweep of history is irreversible. Imperialism is waning and so is its offshoot, Zionism. Sooner or later the Palestinian people will have a State of its own in Palestine. Its cause is espoused and supported by the international community. Its dedication to freedom and independence is irrevocable. The commitment of the Arab nations to its cause is firm and steadfast. It enjoys the unqualified support of the Non-Aligned Movement as well as the socialist countries, notably the Soviet Union. It will eventually be victorious; then and only then will peace reign in the Middle East.
Mr. TROYANOVSKY (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) (interpretation from Russian): Mr. President, I should like once again to welcome you, as the representative of a country with which the Soviet Union has and is developing friendly relations, to your responsible position as President of the General Assembly. I wish you every success in carrying out the responsible tasks entrusted to you and those facing this seventh emergency special session of the General Assembly.
On behalf of the Soviet Union, I should like to address a warm welcome to those who have come to participate in the work of this session of the Assembly in the delegation of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Head of the Political Department of the PLO, Farouk Kaddoumi. In his clear and profound statement, we could hear the voice of the suffering and heroic people of Palestine, which is hoping that the international community will take rapid and effective measures to restore its legitimate national rights.
The delegation of the Soviet Union considers that the convening of this emergency special session of the General Assembly to discuss the question of Palestine is an extremely timely and important step. A rapid and just settlement of this question is of very great importance for the Arab people of Palestine themselves and also for the fate of peace and security in the Middle East and throughout the world.
As a result of the aggressive policy of Israel and the imperialist circles that support it, the Middle East has earned itself ill renown as a powder keg, just as the Balkans did in their time. So many explosives have been accumulated there that any local conflict – and there have been quite a few of them in that region – creates a serious threat to general peace and has an effect on the security and prosperity of the peoples of entire continents.
Although at this particular moment the Middle East is not afire, nevertheless the flames fanned by Israel sporadically do leap up in the occupied Arab territories, sometimes in southern Lebanon – and thereby threaten once again to light a full-scale conflict.
The region indeed needs peace. The peoples living there are extremely interested in attaining peace. They are tired of chronic instability, war and bloodshed. Other peoples in the world also need a firm peace in the Middle East, so that a healthier situation can develop internationally as a whole. That, of course, is axiomatic.
Something else that is axiomatic is that the crux of the problem of a Middle East settlement is indeed the question of Palestine and, in particular, the question of restoring the full inalienable national rights of the 4 million Arab people of Palestine, a people which has been exiled but one which is still fighting.
The present situation, in which the Palestinian people are forced to wander through other people's countries or else to languish and suffer at home under the yoke of occupation, is absolutely intolerable. Just like any other people the Palestinians are entitled to self-determination and to establish their own State. The Palestinian people have already proved that, for the sake of implementing this – their right – they are willing to make any sacrifice.
Under the leadership of their political avant-garde, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), they have for many years been waging a very courageous and just struggle which is being increasingly widely understood and supported throughout the world. Thanks to their determination, courage and principles in this difficult struggle – as Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev stressed in his telegram of congratulation to the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the PLO, Yasser Arafat – the PLO has won general Arab and international recognition as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, and has become one of the vanguards of the national liberation movement of the Arabs.
A strong and eloquent confirmation of this ever broadening international support for the struggle of the Palestinian people is the convening of this emergency special session of the General Assembly of the United Nations. The overwhelming majority of the international community, as has been confirmed by the statements made by representatives at this session, has become increasingly clearly aware of the fact that a solution to the Palestinian problem is the key issue in this whole matter of finding a just and lasting peace in the Middle East. There is a growing realization that if the inalienable national rights of the Arab people of Palestine are not ensured, then no justice can be done the Palestinian people and the situation of conflict in the region may become extremely acute-with unprecedented consequences. Accordingly, the General Assembly, at its regular sessions, has adopted a number of important resolutions stressing the need for a rapid and just solution to the question of Palestine on the basis of the implementation of the inalienable national rights of the Palestinian people, including their right to return and their right to national independence and sovereignty in Palestine, in accordance with the United Nations Charter.
The General Assembly has come out in favour of equal participation by the PLO, as the representative of the Palestinian people, in all efforts, deliberations and conferences dealing with the Middle East.
Since 1976 the Security Council has held four series of meetings devoted to the question of Palestine as a whole. The representatives of the PLO participated actively in all those meetings. Thereby, the Security Council in fact recognized the PLO as one of the principal parties to the Middle East settlement. Discussions in the Security Council have confirmed that the overwhelming majority of members of the Council and of the other Members of the United Nations recognize the central place held by the question of Palestine in this whole complex of issues relating to a Middle East settlement. However, as the Assembly knows, as a result of the veto by the United States, the Security Council was unable to adopt a decision aimed at putting an end to this tragedy and to the suffering of the Palestinian Arabs or to implement the legitimate national rights of the people of Palestine. Three times in recent years a Security Council draft resolution; aimed at a just settlement of the question of Palestine, has been blocked by the United States, which thereby once again demonstrated to the whole world that Washington has assumed the invidious role of a cover-up for a State whose ruling circles' highest purpose in life is territorial expansion by means of permanent aggression.
It is true that Israel has existed on the political map of the world for just a little over 30 years, but throughout that period, from year to year, methodically and carefully they have been nibbling away at the lands of their Arab neighbours. They have been gulping down more and more chunks of Arab territory. With every decade, with every new war the frontiers of Israeli expansionism have moved further and further and Tel Aviv's appetite has become increasingly insatiable. The first victims of this aggressive policy of Israel have been the Palestinian people, most of whom have been driven out of their lands, deprived of their most elementary right to a homeland, while the rest of them have been suffering, trampled under the heel of foreign occupation. But Israel is infringing on the lands of other Arab peoples also. For how many years has there been a continuing' occupation of the Golan Heights? Israel is committing acts of aggression against Lebanon, brazenly acting as master of the southern part of that country.
Moreover, Jordan and other Middle Eastern States do not feel at all secure, they are worried by these bellicose and chauvinist impulses of Tel Aviv, and there are more than sufficient grounds for such concern.
In the territories Israel occupied in 1967 it has with increased intensity been carrying out expropriation and settlement of the Arab land, and it has been creating a broad network of armed settlements. The expansionist activities, indeed, go on and on and on. Just last may, Prime Minister Begin declared his intention to create another 10 settlements in the occupied territories, in addition to the more than 100 already existing, and just recently, another fact became public, namely the very far-reaching plans of the Israeli leaders to establish over the next five years 85 new settlements, on the West Bank alone. As can be expected, the implementation of those plans will lead to an increase in the Israeli population on the West Bank, making it rise from 14,000 to 150,000. As these Israeli settlements are established the Arabs are driven from their own lands by force. The strategic objectives of Israeli policy in establishing these settlements are well known: the intention is to strengthen the result of Israeli aggression, to annex the Palestinian and other Arab lands and certainly not to permit the establishment of an Arab land in Palestine.
As was announced by the Israeli Minister of Agriculture, Ariel Sharon, as long as the settlements are being built and exist, there will be no Palestinian State established.
A matter of great concern, particularly to the Arab and other Moslem countries, is the situation in East Jerusalem. There, as in the other occupied Arab lands, the Israeli authorities are carrying out a policy of forcing out the indigenous Arab population and changing the Arab and Moslem character of the city. Moreover, the Israeli authorities are crudely disregarding the religious feelings of believers. In Israel they are speeding up the process of legally proclaiming Jerusalem the eternal and inseparable capital of Israel, and Prime Minister Begin has announced that he will move his headquarters to the Arab section of the city.
It is quite evident that Israel could not pursue such a policy without the support and encouragement of the United States of America. The link is direct and quite obvious. The United States is putting the most modern weaponry into the hands of the Israeli aggressors. It is giving multi-million dollar injections to the Israeli war machine. It is trying to paralyse the will of the international community whenever the question arises of discussing in the United Nations the acts of provocation by Israel against the Arabs.
Because of the aggressive policy of Israel and because of the connivance of Washington, the international community has for many, many years been unable to resolve the Palestinian issue or any other cardinal problem connected with the situation in the Middle East. On the contrary, thanks to the efforts of the United States of America,. Israel and the Egyptian regime which has simply capitulated to them — the Middle East. knot is being tied tighter and tighter.
For more than a year now, the United States, Israel and Egypt have been carrying on negotiations among themselves about some so-called administrative autonomy for the Palestinian population of the West Bank of the Jordan and the Gaza Strip. People who like to talk rather loudly about humanitarianism and human rights are in fact interfering in the affairs of a whole people, trying to determine their fate and simply not taking account of their wishes at all. That does not seem to be of much concern to those who are participating in the negotiations. However, if they were to peel off the outer shell of words, they would see that they are giving themselves the task of working out an agreement only for the purpose of legalizing. Israeli domination over the occupied Palestinian lands, preventing self-determination for the Palestinian people and completely removing from any participation in settlement of the Palestinian problem the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people – that is, the Palestine Liberation Organization. But trying to settle the Palestinian issue Camp David style means failing to take account of the lessons of the past; it means going against the irreversible course of history, The anti-Arab, anti-Palestinian line in Middle East affairs holds out absolutely no hope for the future. As was stressed by the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and Chairman of the Presidium. of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev:
And, indeed, attempts to impose upon the Arabs this peace that is basically a form of plunder have failed.
Not a single Arab country has supported Camp David. There has been no solution, and indeed there can be no solution through separate means of the crux of the Arab.-Israeli conflict, which is the Palestinian issue. In a word, Camp David has simply led the Middle East settlement into a dead end. Since the signing of the invidious Camp David agreement, two years have elapsed. And today what can we say about the situation in the Middle East? What, in fact, has the separatist Camp David deal brought to-the peoples of the region? Tension in the Diddle East has certainly not relaxed; on the contrary, Israel has been following its policy of expansionism and aggression against the Palestinian people and the neighbouring Arab countries in even cruder and more brazen ways. Repression by the occupying authorities in the Palestinian territories has intensified. There has been even greater use of the practice of driving the Arab population out of their own lands and establishing new Israeli settlements. Blood is flowing freely in southern Lebanon, where barbaric attacks by Israel on Lebanese cities and villages and the Palestine refugee camps have become one of the most tragic consequences of the Camp David deal.
Camp David has indefinitely disrupted the specially established machinery set up under United Nations auspices for settlement of the Middle East problem on the basis of collective efforts with the participation of all interested parties. Camp David has as and this is I would say, the most insidious aspect of the Camp David deal served as a basis for the tightening of the tripartite anti-Arab alliance of the United States, Israel and Egypt. The United States is obviously moved by its desire to establish control over that economically and strategically important part of the world; having declared the Middle East region a sphere of vital interest to it, the United States has tried to tie around it a chain of military bases and advanced positions. It has speeded up the establishment of its rapid deployment force, that imperialist attempt to deal with the Arab States – and not only the Arab States – and it has built up its military presence in the Indian Ocean. No, it is not peace, it is not stability, it is not prosperity that Camp David has brought to the Middle East.
The past two years have not only been a waste of time. They have, in fact, made peace – and I mean a true and just peace – a more distant prospect. If one does not hide behind hypocritical utterances but instead looks truth in the eyes, one cannot fail to recognize that since Camp David the problems of the Middle East have become even more acute. The mountains of weapons are being built even higher, and the future looks even more gloomy.
Responsibility for all this can be placed fairly and squarely on those who put their signatures to the Camp David agreement and the separate Egyptian-Israeli deal based on it.
In connexion with the situation that has developed in the Middle East, Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev has emphasized that
The Soviet Union has emphasized more than once that the problem of the Middle East and the crux of that problem – the restoration of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people – can be settled only by the concerted efforts of all interested parties, including, naturally, the Palestine Liberation Organization. The basis for such a cardinal and comprehensive settlement in the Middle East cannot be other than the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from all the Arab territories that Israel occupied in 1967, including East Jerusalem, the implementation of the inalienable right of the Arab people of Palestine to self-determination, including the establishment of an independent State, and ensuring the right of all States in the region to a secure and independent existence and development. Those principles were reflected in the Declaration of States Parties to the Warsaw Treaty, adopted in Hay of this year, which stressed once again that the best and the only certain path to the establishment of a lasting peace in the Middle East was the path of a comprehensive political settlement in the Riddle East, with the direct participation of all interested parties, including the Arab Palestinian people through their representatives, the Palestine Liberation Organization, on the basis of respect for the legitimate interests of all States and peoples of the Middle East, including Israel.
The Soviet State has consistently advocated peace and justice. For us, those are inseparable. In the Middle East, as in other parts of the world, we do not seek selfish advantage; we do not covet the natural resources of other countries; we believe in a firm peace, and we staunchly stand side by side with the Arab peoples seeking their legitimate rights. We support those peoples in their struggle to eliminate the consequences of Israeli aggression. We oppose imperialist diktat, capitulationist deals and any trading in the vital interests of the Arabs. We believe that peace in the Middle East can become truly lasting; it must not be merely a precarious truce.
That is our position; it is an honest one, an objective one and one of principle. We do not believe that territory can be seized by force, as a reward for the aggressor. In stating that, we proceed from the principle of the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by force and the inadmissibility of aggression from the viewpoint of international law and the Charter of the United Nations. In supporting the legitimate and just cause and struggle of the Palestinian people, we are also proceeding from our devotion to the Charter of the United Nations and the resolutions of this international Organization which recognize that the Arab people of Palestine have an inalienable right to national liberation, sovereignty and an independent existence.
The Soviet delegation believes that the General Assembly should take such decisions as would demonstrate firm support for the just cause of the Palestinian people on the part of all peace-loving States, such decisions as would stress the need immediately to implement the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and such decisions as would demonstrate the determination and resolve of countries Members of the United Nations to apply to Israel the strictest coercive measures provided,for in Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations in the event of the continued refusal by Israel to implement the decisions of our Organization on the question of Palestine.
Mr. FRANCIS (New Zealand): Mr. President, it is good to have you guiding our deliberations again. We have all learned to respect and to welcome the firm and fair leadership you give us.
New Zealand is not a principal party to the Middle East question. We certainly do not claim any special insights that might contribute to a solution of the difficult and complex problems that make up that question. We are a small country far from the region. Nevertheless, the situation there is a threat to world peace and actions taken by countries in the area can affect the economic stability of us all. It is therefore of concern to every Member of the United Nations.
It is nearly 13 years since the Security Council adopted resolution 242 (1967). That resolution set out the principles for a just and lasting peace in the Middle East. Those principles remain as valid today as they were then. That resolution emphasized that it was not admissible to acquire territory by war. It also emphasized the need to work for a just and enduring peace in which every State in the area could live in security. The New Zealand Government continues to support the just implementation of that resolution and the need to achieve a peaceful settlement embodying the principles which it set forth.
It follows that we believe that Israel must withdraw from the territory it occupied in 1967. In that connexion the 1978 treaty between Israel and Egypt providing for Israeli withdrawal from some of that territory,was a welcome development. But that agreement did not extend to the West Dank and Gaza. The continued presence of Israeli settlements there and Israel's current policy of establishing new settlements are in clear and direct contravention of resolution 242 (1967). They seem to indicate that Israel has no intention of giving up those occupied territories. Israel's attitudes and actions on the settlements call into serious question its willingness to negotiate on the basis of principles that the international community has long accepted as central to any settlement of the Palestine issue.
Equally, New Zealand does not recognize Israel's proposed annexation of Jerusalem. Neither do we recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. We cannot condone policies that would seek unilaterally, and in total disregard of international law and of resolutions of the Security Council and of the General Assembly, to chance the laws or the physical and demographic status of Jerusalem. That city has a special importance to Christians and Moslems as well as to Jews. We have therefore consistently supported the principle of internationalization. That was the status envisaged for Jerusalem in the General Assembly resolution of November 1947 on the partition of Palestine. We believe it to be essential that there should be at the least some form of special administrative regime for Jerusalem which would guarantee unhindered access to the Holy Places for people of all faiths. Israel's claims in relation to Jerusalem are inconsistent with any such solution and constitute, in our view, a serious obstacle to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.
No less central to any settlement of the Palestine question is a recognition of the rights and aspirations of the Arab people of Palestine. The dispute has had tragic consequences for their lives and welfare. We believe, as this Organization has so often insisted, that the refugees must be repatriated or compensated. But Palestine is not simply a refugee problem. It is also a political problem for which a political solution must be found. The search for a solution must involve the participation of the Palestinian people, including the Palestine Liberation Organization, along with all the other parties directly concerned. The rights of the Palestinian people include the right of self-determination. That is not the same thing as limited local autonomy. It means that the Palestinians must have the right to set up an independent Arab State of Palestine, as was envisaged in the partition resolution, if that is their wish. Whether they wish to set up a separate State, or to become part of a larger Arab State with that State's agreement, should also be a matter for their free choice and decision, in the light of what they see as being their interests. It would be wrong to deny the Palestinians the elementary rights enjoyed by people elsewhere as citizens of independent States.
Just as recognition of the rights of the Palestinian people is essential to a just solution, so must any settlement recognize the sovereignty and independence of the State of Israel. That is an essential element of resolution 242 (1967). That resolution also affirms the right of every State in the area to live in peace within secure and recognized borders, free from threats or acts of force. It is implicit, too, in much earlier resolutions of the General Assembly. Those resolutions also affirmed, in essence, that if a settlement was to be reached there was no alternative to negotiations among the parties principally involved. Clearly, if there is to be a settlement, the negotiations cannot call for total capitulation by one side or the other. A special and heavy responsibility rests upon Israel to make itself an acceptable neighbour, and not to disregard the rights and interests of others, or the clearly expressed will of the world community. But by the same token there is little prospect of realistic negotiations unless all parties to the negotiations are prepared formally to recognize Israel's right to exist. Only then can we realistically expect Israel to cease claiming that its survival is at stake and that it must take extreme measures to secure its boundaries.
Although the main responsibility for negotiating and implementing a settlement must rest with the parties concerned, there are undoubtedly ways in which the United Nations could play a useful role. It should not seek to prescribe solutions or to impose a settlement. There will be no lasting peace unless, through direct negotiations, all the parties are satisfied that their reasonable political, security and humanitarian concerns have been met. But the United Nations could, we believe, contribute to and facilitate the successful outcome of negotiations. The world body could assure all parties of its commitment to a comprehensive, just and lasting settlement. It could offer its good offices – in particular by seeking in any way it can to resolve difficulties that may arise in negotiations. It could provide the necessary guarantees for a comprehensive peace settlement and it could, if requested, supervise the implementation of agreements reached.
The Palestine issue, as the Assembly has several times affirmed, is at the core of the instability in the Middle East. There are few issues that potentially so gravely endanger peace and security; there are few issues that call for more urgent efforts to be made to achieve a settlement. The road to a negotiated, just and lasting settlement will not be easy. It is critical, therefore, that all parties should exercise patience and restraint. It is essential that they should refrain from actions that could increase tension and threaten lives. With goodwill on all sides, we are confident that a settlement can be reached, a settlement that will preserve the security and essential interests of all parties and assure to the Palestinian people the rights to which they have so long aspired.
Mr. AL-SABAH (Kuwait) (interpretation from Arabic): Mr. President, it rives me great pleasure to express to you, on behalf of the Government and people of Kuwait, our great satisfaction at seeing you preside over this emergency special session of the General Assembly. The prominent place you occupy in international circles as a man of wide experience and the major role your country plays in international relations, especially in Africa, make you particularly qualified to preside over a session dedicated to dealing with the question of a wretched people whose rights have been usurped and who have been deprived of all the fundamentals of a dignified life.
Some may ask why it is necessary to hold a special session to deal with a question that has been pending before the General Assembly and its subordinate bodies since 1947. Others may wish to know why the special session should be held at this particular time. The answer is very simple. Since its establishment, Israel has wilfully sought to disturb international security. It has consistently sought to deprive the people of Palestine of all its rights and to ignore the wishes of the international community. The Security Council was the organ selected to ensure prompt and effective action by the United Nations, and its Members conferred on the Security Council primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. The Security Council can also take all effective measures to maintain international peace and security in accordance with the enforcement measures provided for in Chapter VII of the Charter. The Security Council would have discharged the trust and fulfilled its duties in an exemplary manner had it not been for the veto which was exercised time and again to prevent the Council from fulfilling its obligations and deprive it of all strength and efficacy. Hence, it was. inevitable at this juncture that a special session should be held to come to grips with the situation after the Council had proved it was incapable of dealing with the problem.
Since its establishment, Israel has pursued a policy of occupation. It imposed on the defenceless people of Palestine and other Arab countries, part of whose territory it occupied in 1967, e policy of coercion and oppression. Not content with imposing terrorism and brute force, Israel sought to establish Israeli settlements in the heart of the occupied Arab territories. It seized the land of Arab farmers and landowners and allowed its own citizens to replace them as a preliminary to usurping those lands and eventually annexing them.
The Prime Minister of Israel has made a habit of referring to the occupied Arab territories in the West Bank and Gaza as territories liberated from Arab sovereignty and of giving them new names derived from Zionist expansionist plans – namely, Judea and Samaria. In this manner, the Arabs who were subjected to the yoke of Israeli occupation have become "usurpers" and the Israelis who occupied these territories have become "advocates of liberation and the guardians of an historical trust".
The press abounds with reports of Israeli domination and oppression, which include the stealing of Arab water resources, mayhem, terrorism, assassination and all means of killing and destruction used by Israel to expel the Arab population from their homes and replace them with Jewish immigrants in fulfilment of the Israeli dream based on territorial aggrandizement and the forcible annexation of Arab territory.
Israeli terrorism was seen in its most naked and brutal form in the terrorist plot against the Arab mayors in the West Bank, which reflected Israel's opposition to the principle of self-determination in those territories. Israel wants the mayors to be tools for the fulfilment of its designs; otherwise they will be subjected to the most heinous atrocities as retribution for their lack of co-operation in fulfilling Israel's plans and for their support for the rights of the Palestinian people. That incident evoked dismay and outrage all over the world because it exposed the policy of Israel aimed at destroying the intellectual and political leadership of the people of Palestine.
Israel has flouted all United Nations resolutions adopted by the General Assembly and the Security Council. Israel thus not only defies the wishes of the Palestinian people as represented by the Palestine Liberation Organization, but Israel's defiance is directed also against the whole international community, the United Nations and the norms of international law. 'It is therefore incumbent upon the international community to deprive Israel of the fruits of this defiance and make it realize that this recklessness cannot go unpunished and that it is not possible for any State, no matter how powerful and influential it may be – and even though its strength stems from the nature of the world Zionist movement, with all its wide scope and ramifications in many of the Western countries and its control over the organs of government in those countries – it is not possible, I say, for any State, and in spite of the support of the World Zionist Organization, to persist in violating the norms of international law, disregarding basic human rights and destroying the national identity of the Palestinian people.
It is unbecoming to show leniency towards any State which denies the rights of others, which implements a plan for destroying a whole nation, not only by denying its right to self-determination and annexing its territory, but by practising a campaign of genocide against it. 'We cannot accept within the family of nations a State which defies and flouts the resolutions of the United Nations, which violates the Charter and which at the same time expects to be pampered by the international community. To say the least, we cannot allow any State to ignore the law and at the same time to enjoy its fruits and benefits. The international community must strongly oppose the policy of Israel which jeopardizes international peace
and security.
International political and economic relations are in danger because Israel pursues an aggressive policy – an expansionist policy – which is more suited to the Middle Ages. 'There is no doubt that the world cannot allow economic relations to be destroyed as a result of the evil policy practised by the Zionist regime in Tel Aviv, which is not mindful of the appeals of world public opinion and its need for stability and peace.
Hence, the world is now called upon to come to grips with the situation by coercing Israel, which constitutes a threat to world interests, to comply with United Nations resolutions and respect the Charter of our Organization.
The imposition of sanctions on Israel, in the event of its not complying with the resolutions to be adopted by this special session, will restore confidence in our Organization, give the Charter practical meaning, and remind us all of our duty to implement the resolutions of our Organization and respect its Charter. It will also give the resolutions of our Organization the power to regulate relations between States.
The separate agreement between Egypt and Israel, known as the Camp David accords, is directed against the people of Palestine and the interests of the Arab States. That treaty is designed to prevent the Palestinian people from attaining their national rights and deprives them of the right to establish an independent State and of its right to self-determination. The treaty also aggravates tension in the region of the Middle East and constitutes a major obstacle on the road leading to a just peace in that region.
The world is keenly aware of the fact that peace will not prevail in the Middle East unless the following conditions are fully met:
First, the withdrawal of Israel from all occupied Arab and Palestinian territories. Let it be clearly understood that the principle of the annexation of territory by force is completely rejected by the Charter and is not accepted by the norms of international law. At the same time, the argument of using security needs as a pretext for territorial aggrandizement and the annexation of Arab territories will not make peace easier to attain, but can only guarantee a continuation of the war. When we speak of withdrawal, we mean complete Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories, including the Israeli colonies built in them.
Secondly, Israeli withdrawal from the Holy City of Jerusalem. The world will not accept Israel's annexation of the City of Jerusalem or recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Islamic Conferences have affirmed time and again that peace must start with Jerusalem, the city of peace. This much-coveted peace will not become a reality so long as Jerusalem is crushed under the yoke of Israeli occupation. The recent debate in the Security Council on Jerusalem reaffirmed that the world is fully aware of the religious and spiritual importance of Jerusalem for Moslems and Christians alike, and of its unique position in a decision on the future of the region as a whole. This recognition took concrete form in Security Council resolution 476 (1980), which was adopted without a single objection.
Thirdly, the right of the people of Palestine to self-determination, as an inalienable right of every nation, consecrated by the Charter and embodied in the norms of international law, and also reaffirmed by all resolutions adopted by the General Assembly on Palestine, especially resolution 3236 (XXIX). Unless the people of Palestine exercises its inalienable right to self-determination, including the right to establish its independent State in Palestine, the much-desired peace will not be attained.
It is unreasonable that all peoples in the world should enjoy this right and that the right of all peoples to self-determination should be recognized by the world while the people of Palestine, who enjoy an ancient history and civilization, are deprived of exercising this right in their country where they have lived for thousands of years.
Fourthly, recognition of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as the sole lawful representative of the people of Palestine. That recognition has already been clearly established as a fact, as attested to by the absolute loyalty of the Palestinian people to their organization, especially the population of the West Bank and Gaza Strip which suffers from the evils of occupation and its harshness and which have resisted attempts aimed at undermining their loyalty to the organization.
The non-aligned group has recognized this fact and has not only extended its support to the organization, but has accepted it as one of its members.
One is tempted to ask to what extent the United States has an independent policy in the Middle East, in the midst of its confusion, its incapacity to take decisions and its vacillation between a certain stand and its retreat from it – all of which is a regrettable matter. It must inevitably be said that there are restrictions on its foreign policy in the Middle East and on its relations with the Palestinians in particular. The United States should recognize the importance of its interests with the Arab countries and realize that for the first time the Palestinian people have a political organization that truly represents them, namely, the Palestine Liberation Organization. That organization, with its popular basis in all Palestinian circles, has compelled the world to recognize the question of Palestine. One is tempted to ask again: Why does the United States oppose the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and refuse to recognize the Palestine Liberation Organization as the only legitimate representative of that people? The United States should realize that it is completely isolated from the international community on account of its refusal to recognize the PLO and its own total alignment with Israel. The United States should also realize that its policy does not promote stability nor help to establish a peace based on justice.
We still hope that the United States will heed this appeal and that it will uphold the principles on which its revolution was based and the ideals in which President Wilson believed.
In this respect, we have noted that the communiqué issued by the nine European countries, following their meeting in Venice, constitutes a major step forward. Although it does not fulfil all our expectations, it is a step in the right direction.
Fifthly, the right of the Palestinian refugees to return, in accordance with General Assembly resolution 194 (II). We cannot envisage a restoration of peace unless the Palestinian refugees, who were expelled from their homes before 1967, exercise their right, in accordance with that General Assembly resolution, to return or to receive compensation in case they do not wish to return.
It is pertinent to note that that resolution is universally recognized and has not been affected by the events that have taken place since its adoption or by the passage of time, because it is a right based on international law and on the spirit of the Charter.
This emergency special session of the General Assembly is a turning point in the political struggle of the Palestinian people. The representatives of the people of Palestine have spoken in a responsible manner. Injustice has not clouded their vision nor has the injustice suffered by the Palestinian people affected their yearning for justice in the near future. However, we must realize that the patience e of that people will have its bounds, if injustice, aggression and occupation continue unabated. In this spirit, we should like the United Nations to establish some presence in the occupied Palestinian territories to help the Palestinian people to get rid of the occupation and injustice and to exercise their right to self-determination.. The world cannot yield to the wishes of Israel and condone its conduct without weighing the effect this would have on international peace and security.
For this reason, we call upon the Member States to support the steps that would guarantee a place for the international Organization in the occupied territories as a contribution to the cause of peace and as a major step towards achieving justice in a tragedy that is unprecedented in world history.
Mr. BILINSKI (Poland): The seventh emergency special session of the General Assembly has been convened at the initiative of the non-aligned countries to discuss the important and increasingly pressing problem of Palestine, which, while it remains unresolved, contributes greatly to the maintenance of one of the most dangerous hotbeds of tension in the world. The session also reflects the growing concern of the international community over the tragic situation in which 4 million Palestinian Arabs are being exposed to enormous human suffering and continue to be deprived of their lawful national rights.
The problem of Palestine, whose solution is long overdue, is part and parcel of the grave and unfortunately still deteriorating situation in the Middle East and thus poses a serious threat to international peace and security. It is therefore highly relevant and timely that special attention is being paid to the question of Palestine which, as has already been widely recognized, lies at the very heart of the Middle East problem.
It has been proved many times that the lack of a solution of this urgent international problem continues to aggravate the situation in the Middle East. ***
The continued tension in the Middle East deriving from the unsettled Arab-Israeli conflict constitutes a permanent threat to the maintenance of peace, poisons the international atmosphere and constitutes a destabilizing factor having great impact on the general political situation on both the regional and the global scale. The roots of this tension are to be found in the continued occupation of Arab territories by Israel and the refusal to recognize the inalienable rights of the Arab people of Palestine to self-determination and to the establishment of its own independent State. The development of events has definitively pointed out that the Palestinian problem is a matter of key importance in the complex of the Middle East issues. Therefore, its solution constitutes one of the necessary and basic conditions for the establishment of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.
This solution requires the recognition and guaranteeing of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination, sovereignty and national independence as well as respect for those rights and their implementation through the establishment by the Palestinian people of its own independent Palestinian State in its homeland. The constant and stubborn refusal of the Israeli authorities to comply with United Nations resolutions, including those concerning the Palestinian problem, and Israel's persistence in its aggressive line on the Palestinian question and its provocative actions of establishing Israeli settlements in the occupied Arab territories, the expulsion of Palestinians and the illegal steps leading towards the annexation of the eastern part of Jerusalem are all obviously contrary to political realism. These activities, which violate the provisions of international law and which have been strongly condemned by the United Nations, will not, however, break dawn the Palestinian people's determined will for resistance against Israeli occupation, expansion and aggression. They will not stop its legitimate striving to carry out its national aspirations.
These Israeli deeds can only deepen the isolation of Israel among the nations of the world. Current events also confirm that the policy of separate solutions bypassing the essence of the Palestinian problem has proved to be ineffective and testifies to the impossibility of reaching in this way a just and lasting peace which would be in the real interests of the States and nations of the region. This strengthens our conviction that renewal of a comprehensive process of negotiation is necessary, as this would be the only proper approach that would open the road to real peace in the Middle East.
It is also more evident than ever before that all interested parties, including the. Palestine Liberation Organization, the only legitimate representative of the Palestinian people and its national aspirations should take part in the peaceful efforts leading in that direction. We take note with great satisfaction of the recent strengthening of the PLO's position – and international authority, as well as of the growing conviction among the nations of the world that the PLO, as the only representative of the Palestinian people, should participate in all international efforts related to the Palestinian problem and the Arab-Israeli conflict and aimed at the implementation of the inalienable national rights of the Palestinian people.
The foreign policy consistently pursued by Poland has been constantly oriented towards improving the climate of-international relations through the promotion of detente and the elimination of all sources of tension and conflict in the world, as well as through the development of peaceful co-operation among nations. It goes without saying that a just solution to the problem of the Middle East and Palestine would be of paramount importance in this regard.
We have stressed time and time again that a just and lasting peace in the Middle East cannot be established without the achievement of a just solution of the problem of Palestine on the basis of the attainment of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including the right to self-determination and the establishment of its own independent State. We are glad that this obvious political truth is understood by the overwhelming majority of the international community, as has been confirmed by numerous resolutions adopted in recent years by the United Nations.
Constantly deepening relations of friendship and co-operation link the Polish nation – which snows the price of freedom and independence .. with the struggling Palestinian nation and its legitimate representative, the PLO. The Polish nation's full understanding of support for and solidarity with the legitimate and just national aspirations of the Palestinian people is the factor stimulating and strengthening the development of mutual contacts.
The solution to the problem of Palestine cannot be: reached without a political settlement in the Middle East. However, a lasting peace in the Middle East can be established only through a comprehensive implementation of the provisions of the well-known resolutions of the General Assembly and the Security Council, Now we steps for their implementation.
We consider that the unconditional withdrawal of Israeli troops from all since 1967, as well as guarantees of the rights of the restore just and lasting peace to the Middle East region. It would permit the secure and peaceful existence of all the States and nations of the Middle East and would have a favourable influence on the strengthening of peace and security in the-world and on the development of international co-operation.
Those principles were also stressed in the declaration adopted last may in Warsaw by the Warsaw Treaty Political Consultative Committee, which stated, inter alia, that
The question of Palestine has been discussed at the United Nations for over 30 years now. Thanks to the determination of the Palestinian people to defend their just cause and to the support received from the socialist and non-aligned countries, much progress has been achieved in the field of awakening the conscience of the international community to the significance and the true nature of this problem. There is a growing awareness now of the fact that any solution of the Middle East problem must fully take into account the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people, including their sacred right to national independence and sovereignty. We hope that this basic truth will be realized also by those whose persistent refusal to recognize the realities of the situation stands in the way of establishing a just and durable peace in the Middle East.
In conclusion, the Polish delegation wishes to express its appreciation to the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People for its persistent efforts in favour of the speedy attainment of those rights by the Palestinian People. Indeed, its recommendations, repeatedly endorsed by the General Assembly since its thirty-first session, continue to retain their full validity.
It is our considered opinion that only resolute and decisive action by the international community can break the present stalemate and bring about a genuine peace in the Middle East. We rest assured that this emergency special session of the General Assembly will make a significant contribution in this regard by enhancing further the just cause of the struggle for the rights of the Palestinian people. We stand ready to continue our consistent support for this cause.
Mr. PIZA-ESCALANTE (Costa Rica) (interpretation from Spanish): Costa Rica considers that the question of Palestine, the subject of this special session of the Assembly, is the crux of the whole problem of the Middle East, that is to say, the most serious international situation of the entire second half of this century. It is as if the fascination exercised for centuries by the Holy Land and its epicentre, the Holy City of Jerusalem, which Dante had already placed at the heart of the world when he wrote the Divine Comedy, has time and time again made this small piece of land the pivot of the destiny of mankind.
Thus, for our country and for the entire United Nations, the question of Palestine is not merely an additional item but, rather, the crucial item testing the principles and norms of international law and the effectiveness of the world Organization for that reason also, clearly to express one's views on this question, at the risk of appearing repetitive, is, in our view, the responsibility of all States, which we neither can nor wish to elude.
The question of Palestine is almost always dealt with either by using criteria tinted with the political interests at stake, which, unfortunately, are not only those of the parties directly involved but also the broader and more dangerous ones of blocs and Powers vying for world hegemony, or by using the romantic criteria of a kind of political poetry that frequently bypass the discussion of fundamental points, which is so important to find practical solutions, above all, with the impartiality and the respect for principles that should be shown by all in this Organization.
Costa Rica, a small country which has made and wishes to make principles its only standard in political conduct, both domestically and internationally, as we have frequently indicated, has assumed its share of responsibility as a Member of the United Nations in attempting to adopt a consonant and consistent position, at once both constructive and impartial, which will at least help to shed light on the tangle of millions of words and many solutions before us. And, in our view, here lies the entire secret of the solution that has yet to be found: we need merely remember, understand and abide by this system of the United Nations, which all Member States profess to have accepted.
It is precisely on the principles of the United Nations Charter directly applicable and the relevant resolutions of the General Assembly and the Security Council which, by virtue of this Charter, bind us all, that my delegation would like to reiterate and elaborate its position on the question of Palestine, which has already been expressed in previous occasions, particularly in the statement I had the honour to make in the debate on this item at the thirty-fourth session of the General Assembly, on 28 November 1979, in the following terms:
First, we defend the existence of the State of Israel and its right to security within the borders stipulated in the partition resolution of the General Assembly, resolution 181 (II) of 29 November 1947.
Costa Rica has always supported, precisely for reasons of humanity and justice, the are-old struggle of the people of Israel to have its own national homeland, in the land of its ancestors, in particular when that people had just been the victim of the worst massacre in history simply because it was Jewish. The fact that Palestine was a Mandate of the League of Nations, inherited as such by the United Nations, made it easier for the United Nations, without breaching any established sovereignty, to give the people of Israel its own sovereign homeland, like the homeland of a people must be, in a part of the Palestine Mandate.
Whether that solution was the most just or not, or whether another might have been better, is not a matter for discussion 32 years later. What is certain is that partition, as stipulated by the United Nations General Assembly, was the only viable way to accomplish this purpose, taking into account that another people existed in Palestine with equal rights and merits. Costa Rica has consistently defended the legitimate rights of the people of Israel to an existence in dignity and respect, as reaffirmed by the fact that the State of Israel is the first State in history which was born not of conquest nor war, nor a peace imposed by the victors, but from a juridical act of the international community, by which all the Member States swore to abide.
Second, we defend the right of the Palestinian people to its own sovereign State and to security within the borders laid down in the same partition resolution, a right which belongs to the Palestinian people without any sham integration or representation on the part of any other Arab or Jewish State or any other State.
The same reasons and the same respect for justice and rights that I have mentioned in the case of Israel lead us to affirm equally strongly that the Palestinian people has the sacred right to self-determination in its own sovereign national homeland, as must be the homeland of any people, in part of the old Palestine Mandate, which the General Assembly itself provided for. In this connexion I should like to repeat what the Foreign Minister of my country said in the general debate of the thirty-fourth session of the Assembly:
In view of this juridical reality, there can be no subterfuge or pretexts there can be no alleged non-compliance on the part of any of the parties with regard to resolutions which were adopted by the United Nations. Nor can there be any right of conquest which, in earlier eras, served as a legitimate means of territorial acquisition but which today, because of our international community, is inadmissible. Is is something which has been reaffirmed by the United Nations countless times by overwhelming majorities in an impressive number of General Assembly and Security Council resolutions.
In this connexion we wish to reiterate that we plan to support any concrete resolution aimed at establishing a Palestinian State, under the sponsorship of the international community, just as we said when the State of Israel was established.
Third, we call for Israel's withdrawal from the territories occupied during or since the 1967 war, as the first step towards a definitive solution which would enable both States, that of Israel and that of Palestine, to live in peace within their legitimate borders, secured and guaranteed for both by the international community itself.
It would be excessive for me to list all the provisions of the United Nations Charter and other international instruments, as well as the countless General Assembly and Security Council resolutions condemning the use of force in international relations and declaring null and void any such acquisition of territories; or also the innumerable resolutions condemning the settlements and other unilateral measures confirming the clear intention of Israel to annex these territories, irrespective of the case or of any justification for it, for the violation of a right cannot be subject to conditions of any kind or create a right.
If there is to be true peace and if that peace is to be guaranteed by the international community, then international community, leading the United Nations, should legally accept those territories in order to hand them over in turn to their legitimate owner, the Palestinian people, also indicated by the international community. We say this because in our view it would help to reaffirm the jurisdiction of the international community over territories which were a part of the Palestine Mandate and are a part of the territories that the United Nations itself has said should be the national homeland of the Palestinian people. It is the responsibility of the United Nations to transfer them to their legitimate owner, under conditions that will guarantee international peace and security.
Fourth, we defend the right to the Palestinians to return to their homeland and to receive compensation and to live in peace and equality, free from discrimination, inside or outside the territories that are meant to be their national homeland and inside or outside the territory of the State of Israel. We claim this same right for the Jews, and for any other human being, because in the final analysis this is a fundamental and thus universal human right.
We are of course aware of the fact that the practical exercise of these rights of return and residence and the ensuing rights of full citizenship require delicate machinery for settlement and negotiation, such as that provided for in the partition resolution, but we feel that that could easily be set up provided that all parties accept in good faith and abide by the relevant norms and resolutions and, above all, that the jurisdiction of the international community is respected.
Fifth, as far as the Holy City of Jerusalem is concerned, it is, echoing the words of His Holiness John Paul II that still resound in this hall,
We agree once again with the appeal of the Holy Father, with what is stated in the partition resolutions of the General Assembly, resolutions 181 (II), and of the Security Council, resolution 298 (1971), and with the spirit of another long series of United Nations provisions in requesting and defending its status as an international city or, to be more exact, its status as a
"… corpus separatum under a special international régime …. administered by the United Nations" (General Assembly resolution 181 (II), A, Part III, A) which both the World Zionist Organization and the State of Israel accepted originally.
We should like to reiterate that as far as we are concerned Jerusalem is neither Arab nor Jewish, Palestinian nor Israeli, but universal and, even more, holy and the terms of reference that should be applied with regard to its special legal status are eminently of a religious character, not national or racial. That does not mean of course that the communities in Jerusalem should not participate, on the contrary, in the organization and government of the city, as we see them as sort of guardians of the city for mankind.
In that connexion we consider that a return to the situation that prevailed in Jerusalem before the 1967 war is necessary immediately for the sake of peace and must be considered provisional in the interests of justice and of a final solution capable of satisfying the international community. Of course, we also consider illegal and running counter to peace and justice the unilateral measures that Israel has been progressively adopting and which are aimed at incorporating Jerusalem in its territory and making the Holy City its capital. These are measures that have recently reached explosive levels with the attempt to incorporate the so-called Arab sector of the city and to declare the city, unified under Israeli domination once and for ever, and to establish important Government offices such as that of the Prime Minister and his Cabinet in the eastern sector of the city.
Sixth, we recognize the right of the Palestinian people to be represented as such in international negotiations and forums and that its legitimate representative is the Palestine Liberation Organization, That is recognized by a whole series of resolutions approved by an overwhelming majority of States Members of the United Nations. The PLO should serve as its representative until the Palestinian people can fully exercise its sovereignty and democratically decide the composition of its national government.
We consider that it is not important for each delegation or State to decide who is the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people on the basis of political or romantic criteria which are subjective and changeable and thus invalid, but to abide by the majority decision of the international community recognizing the PLO as its legitimate representative.
I should like to conclude with what I said on 28 November 1979, as it seems valid and constructive to me.
Mr. SULAIMAN (Oman) (interpretation from Arabic): The delegation of Oman would like to express its satisfaction at the fact that Ambassador Salim is presiding over our work and to renew our confidence that under his guidance, and thanks to his experience and abilities, our efforts at this emergency special session will be fruitful.
It is a clear and well-known fact that the establishment of peace and justice and of security and stability in the Middle East is closely linked to a just and equitable solution to the problem of the Palestinian issue. Needless to say, a just and equitable solution would reaffirm the legitimate rights and national aspirations of the Palestinian people, their rights to return and to self-determination. Those rights and aspirations are expressed by the Palestine Liberation Organization.
Day after day the flow of events in the Middle East proves that the Palestinian issue is the very crux of the conflict in the Middle East and the international community cannot ignore that truth if we want peace to reign not only in that region but throughout the world.
In this connexion my delegation would like to reconfirm the conviction of the world community that respect of international legality and the United Nations Charter, the rejection for the annexation of other people's territories by force and the recognition of the right to self-determination are principles binding all members of our Organization. Those principles are to be found in the United Nations Charter and in all the resolutions that have been adopted by this Organization on the Palestinian question since it was first considered in 1947. This special session is being held because of the inability of the Security Council to take appropriate measures and to apply resolutions that have been adopted by this Organization. Those resolutions have been persistently defied and flouted by Israel.
The United Nations has repeatedly declared that it repudiates the policies of Israel in the occupied Arab territories and the violations of human rights and of all international conventions which govern the situation in the Arab territories occupied since 1967, including the Arab city of Jerusalem, to which all resolutions adopted by our Organization on this subject apply. Other organizations have adopted similar resolutions at different meetings and on several occasions. Among those organizations I could mention the Organization of African Unity, the Group of the Non-Aligned Countries and the Islamic Conference. But to date none of those resolutions has been implemented, because of the refusal of Israel and its defiance of international legality, as it pursues its challenge to all these resolutions.
We all know that Israeli practices in the occupied territories are a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Those practices include collective punishment, tearing down of houses, expulsion, imposition of the curfew for long periods and giving a free hand to assassins of Kahane, head of the Jewish Defence League. All such activities are clearly prohibited by the Fourth Geneva Convention, but nevertheless Israel continues to practise them overtly, every day in the Arab territories.
The goal of the Israeli Government is as clear as daylight. It is trying to annex more Arab territories and to expel their populations and expropriate Palestinian property and to bring in new immigrants so that they may settle in the place of Arabs. Furthermore, Israel continues to plunder water resources and to engage in barbarous practices against the Palestinian people, as reported daily by the Press, in implementation of a criminal plan aiming at liquidating the Palestinian question and Judaizing Palestine in order that the zionist dream may come true.
This Israeli plan is clear, though the Israeli Government tries to hide behind the slogan of negotiations. All people know that the only objective of Israel is to gain more time and to acquire more territories. While it claims to be negotiating, it declares that an Arab Jerusalem is not negotiable, that the right of Palestinians to self-determination is not negotiable, that the removal of settlements is not negotiable and that the return of refugees to their territories is not negotiable.
Are we not entitled in this case to wonder what Israel wants to negotiate? Is there any greater provocation or defiance of international law and practice?
There can no longer be any doubt that the intransigent positions of Israel, and its practice of policies of expansion and aggression impede all efforts at peace in the Middle East.
In this connexion I should like to quote a passage from the declaration made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Oman on 7 June 1980 following the adoption by the Knesset of a resolution to take further legislative measures to annex Jerusalem and to make it the capital of Israel.
"The resolution of the Israeli Knesset to annex Arab Jerusalem and to consider it the capital of Israel is a flagrant provocation to the feelings of Moslems and Arabs, which increases tension in the Middle East and makes peace a difficult issue. This Israeli action is a blow to the Camp David accords and the Sultanate of Oman considers that if the United States and the Arab Republic of Egypt do not see to it that that measure fails, autonomy negotiations will become pointless and must be discontinued, while a substitute for them is sought, in order to terminate once and for all to the perpetuation of the Israeli occupation of Arab territories and find a solution to the problem of Palestine. The policy of the Sultanate of Oman, concerning the support of peaceful attempts to reach a comprehensive and just solution to the Fiddle East issue is based on fundamental principles which are: first, the withdrawal of Israel from all Arab territories occupied since 1967; secondly; the exercise by the Palestinian people of its right to self-determination; thirdly, the return of Arab Jerusalem to Arab sovereignty."
A just and lasting peace in the area can be achieved only by complying with-these principles, which requires, first and foremost, that Israel be compelled to respect international legality and the Charter of this Organization. My delegation feels that there is no alternative to the application to the Charter's provisions in Chapter VII against the Israeli challenge of international unanimity. My delegation would like here to mention the duties incumbent upon permanent members of the Security Council and the responsibility bath within and outside the Security Council to put pressure on Israel and to cease supplying it with more immigrants, funds, arms and political support so that it becomes aware of the sterility of its defiance of the international will.
Any material, military or political support to Israel leads to more defiance of international law, which increases tension in the Middle East and threatens international peace and security. It is time for our Organization to promote the confidence of the peoples of the world in its capacity to make peace. It is also time for Member States to prove their seriousness in establishing a just and lasting peace in the Middle East in accordance with resolutions 3236 (XXIX) and 3237 (XXIX) as well as the recommendations of the Committee on the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. I would avail myself of this opportunity to thank its Chairman and its members and to express our appreciation to them.
In conclusion, I should like to hail the efforts of the Secretary-General and those of his civilian and military associates and the dedication they have shown in striving to overcome the obstacles that Israel has put in the way of peace and security in the Middle East. I should also like to thank them for their attempts to find a peaceful solution in conformity with United Nations resolutions.
Mr. DOST (Afghanistan): It is indeed difficult, if not impossible, to exaggerate the importance of the issue that this Assembly is summoned to discuss. The Palestinian question is the key to the problem of the settlement of the situation in the Middle East. The tragedy of the Palestinian people, already more than three decades old, cannot leave indifferent anybody who cherishes human dignity and freedom and the right of peoples to live in peace in their homelands and to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination.
The tragedy of the Palestinian Arabs is of imperialist and Zionist making. It was the Zionist entity that deprived the Palestinians of their ancestral land from 1947 to 1949 and in 1967, drove them away from their homes, deprived them of their national homeland and turned a whole nation, proud of its history, into a mass of refugees. One can hardly find elsewhere an example of such brutality, of such inhumane treatment of a whole nation. There could not and cannot be any justification for this mass murder of an entire nation.
We may say that whenever one people deprives another people of its homeland and at the expense of the latter tries to establish itself as a nation, then it has no right to and no justification whatsoever for a statehood of its own and for its existence as a nation. Whatever rationale, if any, existed for the creation of Israel as a State, it was destroyed by the Israelis themselves when they deprived the Palestinian Arabs of their homeland. That rationale no longer exists; it was destroyed by the Zionist clique.
Depriving other nations and peoples of their lands and homes for the sake of acquiring living space for one's own nation is one of the basic characteristics of Fascist ideology, policy and practice. And that is exactly the policy and ideology of zionism: to seek living space at the expense of other peoples. The Palestinian Arabs have fallen victims to that Zionist Fascist policy.
If justice and human dignity are to prevail, if the right of the people to live on their land is to be maintained, then the Zionist Fascist ideology and practice has to be done away with.
The question of Palestine and the realization of the national rights of the Palestinian people who have been uprooted from their homeland, with their national rights usurped as a result of a joint imperialist, colonialist and Zionist conspiracy, has been on the agenda of this Assembly for more than three decades.
This Assembly has until now failed to implement its own resolution on the establishment of a Palestinian Arab State in Palestine as a result of a situation of war and politics created by the violent coming into being of the State of Israel and the subsequent violation by Israel of the United Nations Charter and of the relevant resolutions calling for the restoration of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.
For two decades, thanks to imperialist-Zionist intrigues, the Palestinian issue has been treated essentially as a refugee problem. That unjust and unrealistic treatment is contrary to the provisions of resolutions 3236 (XXIX) and 3237 (XXIX) of the General Assembly, which explicitly recognized that the Palestinian people was entitled to self-determination, in accordance with the United [rations Charter, and to reaffirm its inalienable right to return to its homeland in that context.
It is that recognition that the United Nations General Assembly, the Conferences of the Non-Aligned Movement and of the Islamic Conference and other international gatherings have always reaffirmed in their resolutions, as they have reflected this conviction of the international community.
Despite that conviction and the prerequisite of restoring the usurped national rights of the Palestinian people in the framework of a just and comprehensive Middle East settlement, world imperialism headed by the United States, in collusion with zionism and Arab reaction, has resorted to separate deals against the Palestinian and Arab interests, aimed at liquidating the Palestinian liberation movement.
Under the cover of balks on the so-called autonomy of the West Bank, Tel Aviv, backed by United States imperialism, more and more brazenly appropriates the seize? Arab territories. Not only are Israeli settlements being established there one after another, but Arab Palestinian loaders are being deported and assassinated. Jewish religious schools are being opened there, while the Arab college in East Jerusalem has been closed.
Speaking in the Knesset on 20 March this year, Begin reaffirmed that
The new Israeli Minister for Foreign Affairs, Itzhak Shamir, has recently stated that the foreign policy of Israel is based on three nos:
Following that expansionist policy, Israel continues on an ever-increasing scale to absorb and appropriate the occupied territories, confiscate Arab lands and establish military settlements on those lands. More than 27 per cent of the land on the Jest Bank of the River Jordan has already been appropriated and is controlled by Jewish settlers. In February this year Israel for the first time allowed the Jews to acquire plots of land in the Arab cities on the [Jest Bank. That means that the Zionists are now trying to evict the Arabs not only from the villages in the countryside but also from the towns. The Arabs are being pushed out of the cities by the outright confiscation of their land and property. The Israeli authorities took a decision to confiscate 400 hectares of land in the Arab part of Jerusalem in addition to the 1,200 hectares already confiscated in 1970.
More and more resources are being allocated by the Israeli aggressors for the appropriation of Arab lands. The money allocated comes not only from the budget but from the international Zionist organizations. The World Zionist Organization, for example, has already allocated 05 million for the so-called development of more than 100 Jewish settlements set up on the seized Arab territories. In the very near future $25 million more will be allocated for the establishment of 11 new settlements.
The most outrageous, unacceptable and anti-peace action by the Zionist State is the annexation of Jerusalem and its declaration as the capital of Israel, contrary to all resolutions of the General Assembly and the Security Council on Jerusalem, which call on the occupying State of Israel not to tale any measures whatsoever intended to change the Arab character of Jerusalem – a city most sacred to all Moslems, and to adherents of other faiths.
Israel should realize that by annexing Jerusalem and declaring it the capital of Israel it has not only flouted all the relevant resolutions of this Organization but has deeply hurt the feelings and sentiments of 800 million Moslems throughout the world, who will not remain idle or indifferent to this deliberate and outrageous act of defiance committed by Israel. Israel did this in full awareness of the international community's conclusion that the restoration of the Holy City of Jerusalem to Arab sovereignty was an indispensable condition for a durable peace. All countries which recognize that illegal act of Israel, namely, the declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in fact join Israel in violating the relevant resolutions of this Organization and in totally disregarding, world public opinion and the feelings of the world's Moslems.
The delegation of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan supports the decisions of the recently concluded meetings of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Arab States in Arman regarding Jerusalem. We support the call of the Amman conference that effective sanctions be taken in order to prevent Israel from moving its capital to Jerusalem.
Racial exploitation and oppression and all forms of political, social and economic discrimination are practiced by the Zionists in the occupied territories. The Israeli occupation authorities have lately intensified a campaign of terror and hostility against the Palestinian people inside the occupied territories. They have imposed curfews in those territories which have led to shortages in food supplies and medical services and to a threat of famine and epidemics. A campaign of murder and torture has been more systematically organized by fanatical settlers and the Zionist army in the occupied territories.
The aim of this fascistic campaign and the armed attacks on the entire Palestinian population of the West Bank is to spread confusion and terror among the Palestinian citizens as a step towards deporting them and confiscating their property. The Zionist authorities try to impose a total news blackout in the occupied territories to cover up their extremist acts of repression against the Palestinian Arabs. But the whole word is aware of these fascistic atrocities and resolutely condemns them.
Only the United States condones and encourages the Zionist terrorist leaders and supplies them with weapons of destruction which are used against the defenceless population of occupied Palestine. Moreover, the United States Administration encourages Israel to ignore United Nations resolutions on the situation in the occupied territories by using its political and diplomatic influence and its power of veto in the Security Council.
Despite the fascistic-Zionist terror and brutal repressions, the Palestinians under the leadership of the PLO are stepping up their heroic struggle against the Zionist occupation for the realization of their inalienable national rights. The occupied West Bank remains in a state of general uprising marked by daily incidents of military resistance to the Zionist occupation forces. A general strike was observed in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to mark the thirty-second anniversary of the usurpation of Palestine and to protest against the Israeli Knesset's decision providing for the annexation of Jerusalem in the State's law.
The Afghan people, like all progressive forces all over the world, stand beside the heroic Palestinian people in their just struggle against the Israeli occupation and forces of fascism and racism. The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan resolutely demands an end to Zionist terrorism
against the Palestinian people both inside the occupied territories and outside.
One of the main obstacles in the way of the just struggle of the Palestinian people against the Israeli occupation and for the establishment of that people's own national State is the separate capitulation course of Egypt's President Sadat, Afghanistan resolutely condemns the separate behind-the-scenes deal aimed at trading Arab interests with the Israeli Zionist clique which has blocked the way to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East. That deal has inflicted great damage to the cause national independence of Arab and African peoples and, first of all, to the just struggle of the Arab people of Palestine for its freedom and the restoration of its inalienable rights.
The Camp David accords and the Sadat-Begin separate deal are not aimed only against the Palestinian cause but also against the Arab cause as a whole. They make difficult if not impossible a just and lasting – Middle East settlement; they lead to a further deterioration of the situation in that area.
We know that imperialists have always tried to split national liberation movements and the ranks of Arabs, in particular. They have always tried to find conciliators, capitulators and traitors. Their scheme is absolutely clear: to split the Arabs, to set them at loggerheads and to impose conditions of settlement that suit the Israeli aggressor and American imperialism on one Arab country after the other. These deals camouflage the capitulation of one side and perpetuate the results of Israeli Zionist aggression.
By embarking on the road of separate deals with the Zionist clique, the Egyptian regime has begun unilaterally to surrender one common Arab position after the other. It is high time to put an end to the unprincipled political manoeuvres in the Middle East, manoeuvres which threaten the vital interests of Arabs and tend to undermine the course of the resolute struggle with Zionist aggression for a just settlement in the Middle East. It is high time to come back to the road leading to a, just, comprehensive settlement of the Middle East problem by collective efforts of all the parties concerned, including the PLO, the sole representative of the Palestinians, in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the United Nations.
The history of the last decade prove beyond any doubt that a just and lasting peace in the Middle East can be established only on the following foundations: complete and unconditional withdrawal of all Israeli troops from all territories occupied by Israel, including Jerusalem, and, the elimination of all vestiges of the Israeli aggression; realization of the inalienable legitimate national rights of the Arab people of Palestine, and first of all their right to self-determination, including the establishment of their own national sovereign State without foreign interference; recognition of the PLO as a sole legitimate representative of the Arab people of Palestine and participation by the PLO in all stages of the Middle East settlement; and cessation of Israeli aggression in the south of Lebanon, whose victims are the civilian population and Palestinian refugees, The long-suffering south of Lebanon should be protected from Israeli aggressors. The continued interference of Zionists in the internal affairs of Lebanon and their attempts to split the country should be resolutely condemned.
There is no more vital task than that of rallying together and activating all forces that are opposed to the capitulatory anti-Arab course of conduct in Middle East affairs and that are in favour of action that will permit the Arab people of the Middle East, particularly the Palestinians, to find faith in the morrow. The clearly expressed will of all those who cherish the interests of all Arab people and the cause of a lasting and just peace in the Middle East must help to bring to their senses those who seek to resolve the problem by the roundabout and dishonourable way of making separate deals.
The just cause of the Palestinian people is getting the ever-increasing support of all progressive and revolutionary forces of the world, particularly the world socialist community, the international working class movement and the national liberation movements. Major international forums such as conferences of the Heads of States and Governments of the Non-Aligned Movement, meetings of leaders of African and Moslem countries and others have voiced their solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Of particular significance were the decisions of the Sixth Conference of Heads of States or Government of Non-Aligned countries in Havana, which resolutely condemned the policy of Israel and the separate deals, reaffirmed the recognition of the inalienable national rights of Palestinian people, including the rights of Palestinians to return to their homeland, to self-determination and to the establishment of an independent Palestinian State in Palestine. The Conference also reaffirmed that the City of Jerusalem is an integral part of occupied Palestine and demanded that the City be evacuated in its entirety and restored unconditionally to Arab sovereignty.
The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan wholeheartedly supports these recommendations of the Conference of Non-Aligned States and is of the opinion that they should be taken into account when the resolution of this General Assembly is being drafted.
We express appreciation for the work of the United Nations Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and its positive contribution to the search for a just solution to the Palestinian problem. The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan will continue actively to participate in the work of the Committee.
The delegation of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan would like to express its regret that the Security Council, owing to misuse of the right of veto by the United States, has not yet taken any decision concerning the Committee's recommendations providing for the free exercise by the Palestinian people of its inalienable national rights. We condemn this policy of the United States which obstructs Security Council action on the Palestinian problem and on the Middle East settlement as a whole, because the Palestinian question, as we know, is the crux of the problem of the Middle East.
Those are the considerations of the Afghan delegation on the issue under discussion. This Assembly should try to formulate effective ways and means and to work out common strategy for the ongoing struggle against imperialist intrigues, Zionist aggression, as well as capitulatory deals in the Middle East. We are confident that such strategy can be designed, for there is a great degree of unanimity among all the peace-loving countries present here about the implementation of the inalienable rights of Palestinian people.
In conformity with the firm support and revolutionary solidarity of the people and Government of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan with the fraternal Palestinian people and their legitimate struggle, I should like to assure you that the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan would be prepared fully to support any effective ;measures worked out by this Assembly aimed at ensuring the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including its right to establish an independent national State in Palestine.
We are sure that, given the determined resolution and unity of the Members of the United Nations, the just cause of the Palestinian people will triumph. All the progressive end peace-loving people of the world are on our side and the dark forces of imperialism, zionism, oppression and reaction are doomed to failure and defeat.
The PRESIDENT: We have heard the last speaker for this afternoon and evening.
I call on the Observer of the Palestine Liberation Organization, who has requested to be allowed to make a statement in reply.
Mr. AQL (Palestine Liberation Organization): Although this special emergency session is being held under the title "Uniting for Peace", the Israeli representative this morning was apparently under the misconception that this session is being held tinder the title "uniting for lies".
Within the time-limit allowed, it is impassible to refute the lies, fabrications and vilifications that have characterized the Israeli representative's statement this morning. May we remind him, in order to refresh his memory, that it was his former Foreign Minister of Israel, Moshe Dayan, who declared, immediately after the 1957 war:
May we remind him of the statement made by the late Golda Meir in June 1970 to The Sunday Times of London, when she declared as follows: "Who are the Palestinians? They never existed" – although we total some 4 million!
May we remind him that his present Prime Minister, as can be seen from his book, The Revolt, takes pride in the fact that he perpetrated the Deir Yassin massacre, in which 250 Arab men, Women and children were slaughtered in cold blood. May we also remind him that his present Foreign Minister is a terrorist par excellence, which is why he is very close to Mr, Menachem Begin, because birds of a feather flock together.
There is no end to this list if we go into the polemics of the history of terrorism as practised by Zionists and as introduced into our area by Zionist leaders.
However, despite his professional poise and pretentious academic approach, the Israeli representative not only tried to east doubt on the legality of this emergency session unanimously approved by the Member representatives, but went on to wonder why this emergency session had been convened at all.
In enumerating briefly the reasons why this emergency session is being held, I beg the indulgence of this august body, but facts have sometimes to be reiterated,, lest they be lost amid the hallucinations and fabrications of the Israeli propaganda machinery which we have witnessed in action this morning at the hands of one of its adroit manipulators.
Reason number one: Israel is determined to perpetuate its occupation of the whole of Palestine, in addition to other Arab territories, in violation of repeated United Nations resolutions.
Reason number two: Israel is determined to keep the whole of Jerusalem as its eternal capital, despite Security Council resolutions calling on it to rescind all measures it has taken that are related to that Holy City.
Reason number three: Israel is systematically destroying the Arab character of occupied Arab territories, expropriating the land, desecrating the Holy Places, expelling the indigenous population and establishing further settlements, despite Security Council resolutions condemning their establishment.
Reason number four: Israel refuses to recognize the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, already recognized and reaffirmed by this body.
Reason number five: Israel refuses to recognize the Palestine Liberation Organization, the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, already recognized by this body and granted observer status the first time in the history of this international Organization that a liberation movement has been so recognized.
Reason number six: Israel is waging a war of elimination against the Palestinian people in the occupied territories and in Lebanon, with all the suffering, tension and bloodshed that result from that war.
Reason number seven: Menachem Begin is arrogantly and unashamedly declaring that occupied Palestinian territories are the lands of his fathers and forefathers and that on no account will he give up those territories, which are referred to in Hebrew terms and given Hebrew names.
Reason number eight. For years Israel has been ignoring United Nations resolutions and flouting the will of the international community. This Organization, in Israel's eyes, is simply a forum for the Israeli "underdog°T to express its grievances against the overwhelming majority who are being led astray by Arab propaganda over Palestine.
In a nutshell, Israel, which was supposed, in Western eyes and minds, to solve the Jewish problem,has become a problem to the world. Therefore, it became imperative that an emergency special session be held in order to put on trial the Israeli culprits who have become a menace to the cause of peace and a threat to human welfare. That is why this emergency special session is being held.
The PRESIDENT: I shall now call on those representatives who wish to speak in exercise of their right of reply.
Mr. ZAHAWIE (Iraq): The statement delivered this morning by the Zionist speaker was allegedly a presentation of "indisputable facts". In the few minutes allowed speakers to exercise their right of reply, I shall refute some of the blatant distortions and outright fabrications contained in that statement.
The speaker sought to portray the Arabs, for the thousandth time, as the aggressors and the Zionists as the victims of aggression. The chronology of events in Palestine during the six months preceding the end of the Mandate shows that Zionist forces seized and occupied most of the Arab cities, towns and villages of Palestine before 15 May 1948. Tiberias was occupied on 19 April 1948; Haifa on 22 April, Jaffa on 28 April, the Arab quarters in the New City of Jerusalem on 30 April, Beisan on 8 May, Safad on 10 May and Acre on 14 May 1948.
That Zionist aggression and the massacres and terror it unleashed against the Palestinian Arabs were the force that drove the Palestinians out of their ancestral land. The problem of the refugees was not the outcome of the so-called Arab aggression against Israel. The truth is that there were 300,000 Palestinian refugees before the British left Mandated Palestine and before a single Arab soldier set foot on Palestinian soil – an Arab soldier, that is, from any Arab State. This fact was confirmed by Ben-Gurion himself when he boasted in his book Rebirth and Destiny of Israel of the exploits of the Zionist terrorist forces. He stated:
Another Zionist allegation repeated this morning, which is a truly ludicrous one, is that the Arabs, as a result of their hostility towards Jews and of their alleged aggression in 1948, were in effect responsible for an exchange of population between the Arab States and Israel. Now we all know that Jewish immigration to Palestine is the raison d'être of zionism and of Zionist occupation and colonization of Palestine. There is no tactic, no device, no sacrifice – even if it engulfed Jewish lives – that the Zionists would not resort to in order to uproot Jewish communities all over the world and transplant them to Palestine. The Zionists have even utilized anti-Semitism as a device to achieve their ends. In an article published in July 1952 in Davar, the official organ of the Mapai, which was then the governing party in Israel, its editor, Mr. Sharun, wrote:
The British Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Ian Gilmore, put it very succinctly when he wrote in the Spectator of 24 June 1960:
The expulsion of the Palestinian Arabs from Palestine was planned by the Zionists since the days of Herzl. The Zionist aim was authoritatively expounded by R. Weitz, for many years the head of the Jewish Agency's colonization department, when he wrote, again in the Zionist Labour Party daily, Davar, on 29 September 1967 the following:
Finally, the Zionist speaker painted an ominous picture of what he termed an enormous war machine .- a colossal array of Arab force surpassing the forces of NATO and the Warsaw Pact. If, indeed, such is the degree of armed power achieved by a number of Arab States, one wonders at the vastness of the arsenal made available to the Zionists in view of the officially declared policy of the United States of maintaining a so-called balance in the area by supplying the Zionists with enough arms to ensure their military superiority over the combined forces of all the Arab States. Are such inflated numbers of Arab arms an attempt to move the Americans to supply the aggressors with yet more sophisticated arms and in greater quantities?
The Zionist speaker's reference to what he called "the undisguised attempts of Iraq to produce nuclear weapons "(A/ES-7/PV.3, p.43-45), is but a display of Zionist impudence. Iraq is a signatory to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of nuclear Weapons; Israel is not. Iraq abides by the rules and the controls imposed. by the Treaty; Israel does not. There are more than 30 countries which have research reactors operating on enriched uranium. The Zionist-orchestrated campaign against Iraq may indeed only indicate that they are paving the way to announce, at an appropriate time, that Israel itself has produced a nuclear weapon from ghat it had stolen from different parts of the world and from co-operation and collaboration with the racist regime in South Africa.
Mr. BLUM (Israel): My delegation has noted with profound satisfaction the statement made by the representative of the Soviet Union in which he pledged his country to the principle of the inadmissibility of acquisition of territory by war. In compliance with this principle, the Soviet Union will no doubt wish to announce the time-table for its withdrawal from, inter alia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, the Kuril Islands and, last but not least, Afghanistan.
Such a commitment by the Soviet Union to a time-table of withdrawals would to some extent offset the grave irregularities inherent in the convening of the present session. It would also partially make up – although somewhat belatedly – for Moscow's lack of compliance with the resolution adopted last January at the sixth emergency special session.
The meeting rose at 8.20 p.m.
* Mr. Naik (Pakistan) took the Chair.
** The President returned to the Chair.
*** Mr. Tomasson (Iceland), Vice-President, took the Chair.
Download Document Files: https://unispal.un.org/pdfs/AES-7PV4.pdf
Document Type: Meeting record
Document Sources: General Assembly, General Assembly 7th Emergency Special Session
Subject: Agenda Item, Palestine question
Publication Date: 23/07/1980