1967 war – GA 5th emergency special session opening – Verbatim record

GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1525th Plenary Meeting
(Opening meeting)

Held at Headquarters, New York,

on Saturday, 17 June 1967, at 9.30 a.m.

CONTENTS

Agenda item 1:

Opening of the session by the President

Agenda item 2:

Minute of silent prayer or meditation

Statement by the President

Agenda item 3:

Credentials of representatives to the Fifth Emergency Special Session of the General Assembly:

(a) Appointment of the Credentials Committee

Agenda item 4:

Adoption of the agenda

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President: Mr. Abdul Rahman PAZHWAK

(Afghanistan)

AGENDA ITEM 1

Opening of the session by the President

1. The PRESIDENT: I declare open the fifth emergency special session of the General Assembly.

AGENDA ITEM 2

Minute of silent prayer or meditation

2. The PRESIDENT: I invite the representative to stand and observe one minute of silent prayer or meditation.

The representatives stood in silence.

Statement by the President

3. The PRESIDENT: With the permission of Members, I should like to draw the Assembly's attention to rule 65 of the rules of procedure, which states:

"Notwithstanding the provisions of any other rule and unless the General Assembly decides otherwise, the Assembly, in case of an emergency special session, shall convene in plenary session only and proceed directly to consider the item proposed for consideration in the request for the holding of the session, without previous reference to the General Committee or to any other committee; the President and Vice-Presidents for such emergency special sessions shall be, respectively, the Chairmen of those delegations from which were elected the President and Vice-President of the previous session."

4. I should like to repeat the first part of that rule:

"Notwithstanding the provisions of any other rule and unless the General Assembly decides otherwise …".

5. If there is no objection, I shall take it that the General Assembly, will proceed in accordance with that rule.

It was so decided.

6. The PRESIDENT: I must express my deep sense of appreciation for the trust and confidence you once again have placed in me. At the same time, I am certain that every Member must be as aware as I am myself of the very heavy burden of responsibility with which I have been entrusted. Only with the fullest co-operation and understanding shall I be able to discharge the duties of my office satisfactorily, and I should like at the outset to ask the membership for the same complete measure of co-operation which all Members have extended to me without fail in the past.

7. This meeting in emergency special session of the highest forum of the United Nations reflects the conviction of the membership that there exists a situation of very great and increasing gravity involving peace and war. I have had occasion in the past to state my conviction that all issues of peace and war anywhere in the world are matters of the gravest concern to this Organization. The convening of this session, with the concurrence of a large majority of the Members, demonstrates clearly their awareness of the implications of the present situation.

8. The situation in the Middle East, which is not confined to that area but represents a crisis of world proportions, must be of immediate concern to the United Nations because of the widely recognized and very direct and continuing responsibility of the United Nations in that area. I personally consider the conflict in the Middle East to be a matter solely for the United Nations to solve. For all parties directly involved are pledged to adhere to the principles of the same Charter, as are the major Powers which, as privileged Members of our Organization, have special responsibilities and are in a position to influence such situations in the interest of peace. Those States which are not directly involved, and therefore can act objectively to influence a just peace, are likewise Members of this Assembly. Thus it is natural and proper that because of their shared membership in this world body, all parties should turn to the United Nations and should consider that it has an obligation to them to take action.

9. We may draw some satisfaction from the fact that the Security Council, although it has not been able to achieve unanimity on all matters, has succeeded in bringing about a cease-fire in the Middle East. If we are to judge from the terrible toll of human lives and loss of property which resulted from just the short period of military operations, we must consider that the achievement of the cease-fire, which brought a halt to this destruction, represented a measure of success for the United Nations. In speaking of the cease-fire, tribute is due to our Secretary-General for his prompt and untiring efforts and to the efficiency and devotion shown by the United Nations personnel in the area, who performed their duties under the most difficult circumstances.

10. There is also cause for satisfaction that the Security Council has been able unanimously to adopt a humanitarian appeal in the form of a resolution intended to safeguard the civilian population in the war zones.

11. Under the Charter of our Organization, the General Assembly and the Security Council are and should be complementary and closely related bodies. Our deliberations in the General Assembly should seek to provide guidance to all parties in the search for. peace and show the way to a just, honourable and humanitarian solution of the issues. Our discussions here should also demonstrate clearly where the failures have occurred in maintaining peace and what steps are needed in order to remedy those failures of the past. It is necessary for the causes of failure in the responsible organs of the United Nations to be identified in order to succeed in the search for and the restoration and preservation of peace.

12. It is evident that if this crisis is not brought to an end through the use of all the peaceful methods at the disposal of the international community, we shall all-every one of us-be confronted with very grave consequences.

13. In our search for solutions, it is our duty to think not only of present circumstances but of future consequences. Our ultimate aim is peace, lasting peace, and we. should remember that genuine peace is based solely on justice, and therefore just solutions must be sought.

14. I have spoken of the obligation upon this Organization to act in the face of this crisis. Permit me to recall here that there are certain obligations which affect us all: there is the obligation assumed by each Member under the Charter to ensure that international peace, security and justice shall not be endangered; and there is the responsibility placed upon each of us to conduct our affairs keeping always in view the impact of our deliberations on the effectiveness of the United Nations, the good name of this forum and the satisfactory progress of its proceedings; there is also the obligation shared by all Members to respect the decisions of this Organization. It is my fervent hope that these obligations will be borne in mind.

15. For my part, I can assure you only that I will do now what I have always sought to do in the past in discharging my duties as President. With the indispensable assistance of all Members, I shall seek to serve this body with impartiality, keeping always in mind the repute and purpose of this, the principal and highest organ of the United Nations.

16. I should like, in my capacity as the President of the General Assembly at this emergency special session, to express a warm welcome on behalf of all Members to the leading personalities who have, in their wisdom and by their presence, chosen to give this Assembly the strong emphasis which it deserves.

17. Their decision to come long distances from the demanding duties of their high posts is a graphic expression of the high level of diplomacy which the United Nations-and the United Nations alone-is able to mobilize in such impressive numbers and on such short notice. It indicates a growing recognition on the highest level that a crisis of war and peace, such as the one in the Middle East which is now confronting the world, has implications and dimensions which inevitably extend far beyond the affected region itself. The presence here of these personalities gives added hope that the pressing problems involved in the issue at hand may be dealt with on the ultimate level of international consultation.

18. Indeed, the crisis in the Middle East is not the only one which today touches on the problem of security on a world scale. It is regrettable that such conflicts which have stubbornly resisted countless peace moves and peace proposals have evaded fruitful consultation. Because of the grave consequences resulting from lack of consultation in other situations, we should not allow ourselves to be deprived of such consultation in new situations which have arisen or may arise.

19. I hope it is therefore not unreasonable to expect that the world leaders who have convened in this forum to consider the specific item on our agenda, namely the Middle East, may not confine their deliberations to the public discussion of international problems, but may avail themselves of this unique opportunity to seek out all possibilities of consulting on the various aspects and problems of peace. Is it not reasonable to assume such a possibility when we recall that historic events have elevated to the level of a universal truism the cliché that "peace in our time is indivisible"? Have we not for too long tried to build peace by disconnected efforts with almost no attempt to put the elements together in a single rational structure representing our ultimate and imperative desire, that is to say, world peace?

20. Allow me, to say that we have to examine all problems with but the single thought in mind: that each one of the existing problems in its own way has interposed visible and invisible obstacles to the general détente which, for over, twenty years, this Organization has hoped and laboured for, and which, in fact, had achieved a measure of momentum. This momentum is now in danger of being reduced to a snail's pace. I think that if we look back to the roots of this détente and, for example, to its success to some extent in Europe, we shall find those roots extending to the historic session of 1960 when, as now, many Heads of States and Governments came and paved the way for new and more hopeful developments. That was a session of wide-ranging consultations from which we might take heart and encouragement in 1967.

21. Seven years have passed: we might call them the seven fat years of far greater progress in experiments in peace, than the seven lean years which preceded 1960, when the world leaders had not yet climbed down from their peaks of responsibility to labour in the valley of diplomatic cultivation.

22. Of course, by their very nature, these high-level gatherings cannot be frequent occurrences and, when they do break the static which walls off vital communication among nations, they might be regarded as the universal poet Shakespeare regarded them when he wrote:

"There is a tide in the affairs of men,

Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;

Omitted, all the voyage of their life

Is bound in shallows and in miseries." 1/

I hope that there will be no such lost opportunities here.

AGENDA ITEM 3

Credentials of representatives to the Fifth Emergency Special Session of the General Assembly:

(a) Appointment of the Credentials Committee

23. The PRESIDENT: We shall now proceed to appoint the Credentials Committee. Rule 28 of the rules of procedure provides that a Credentials Committee shall be appointed at the beginning of each session and that it shall consist of nine members, to be appointed by the General Assembly on the proposal of the President.

24. With a view to expediting the work of the emergency special session, and in accordance with pre­cedents, it might be appropriate if the Credentials Committee were to consist of the same members who served during the twenty-first regular session and the fifth special session, namely, Austria, El Salvador, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Japan, Nepal, Nicaragua, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United States. If there is no objection, I shall consider the Credentials Committee constituted accordingly.

It was so decided.

AGENDA ITEM 4

Adoption of the agenda

25. The PRESIDENT: I invite representatives to turn now to item 4, adoption of the agenda. I call on the representative of the United States of America.

26. Mr. GOLDBERG (United States of America): The United States has already stated, in its letter of 15 June to the Secretary-General [A/6718], its reservations as to the propriety, in light of the "Uniting for Peace" resolution of the General Assembly, of convening an emergency special session under the prevailing circumstances. A majority of the Member States have none the less indicated their consent to the convening of such a session. In view of this fact, we of the United States, without further labouring the point and without yielding the principle, will do all within our power to the end that this session may yield constructive results.

27. Yesterday the distinguished Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union, Mr. Kosygin -whom we welcome in this Assembly today, along with other distinguished leaders of Government-said, according to the French Press:

"I am going to New York with the sole aim of finding a peaceful solution."

If that is indeed his sole aim, and it is shared by others, he will find the United States prepared, as I expressly stated in the Security Council, to consider all proposals with an open mind and a fervent desire for peace in that troubled area, for just and equitable solutions to the grave problems which confront us.

28. On behalf of my Government, I wish to make it perfectly clear that the United States is participating in this session on the explicit understanding that everything, every problem and every proposal that was before the Security Council in its proceedings on the crisis in the Near East is now before the General Assembly. The only legitimate, conceivable purpose for this session is to search for reasonable, just and peaceful solutions to the situation in the Near East. The United States will devote its own participation solely to that purpose.

29. It is worth noting in this connexion that the Soviet Union, which based its request for this session on the theory that the Security Council was unable to deal with any of the proposals before it, went to the extreme of trying to prove its theory true by threatening in advance to veto draft resolutions in the Council which were not yet even in final form and thus could not even be evaluated. The plain import of this assertion is that all questions before the Council were to be transferred to this Assembly.

30. To the end of seeking a reasonable, just and peaceful solution to the situation in the Near East, on behalf of my Government I appeal to all delegations to spare the General Assembly from the hot words, destructive propaganda, diatribes and disrespect for facts which, unfortunately, characterized so many of the recent meetings of the Security Council. Peace is at stake in the Middle East. So, as the President of the General Assembly, Ambassador Pazhwak, has just reminded us, is the good name and reputation of the United Nations itself sorely put into question during the past several days.

31. My delegation-and, I earnestly hope, all Member States which jointly share with us the power and responsibility for peace under the Charter-will seek to use this session only for the pursuit of what the Secretary-General in his recent report has called "reasonable, peaceful and just solutions". 2/ to the problems of the Near East. This is the proper business, the only proper business, of the present session of the General Assembly.

32. Mr. EL-FARRA (Jordan): We have just witnessed a clear attempt to divert the attention of this body from the real and only issue before the Assembly. What is before the Assembly is an item to be inscribed on the agenda and already accepted by approximately ninety two Member States. It is not true to say here, to quote Mr. Goldberg's words, that "everything… is now before the General Assembly". What is before the Assembly is the question of the condemnation of Israel and the immediate withdrawal of its forces which invaded our area. What is before the Assembly is the liquidation of the consequences of the act of aggression, at is before the Assembly is putting an end to this act of aggression. What is before the Assembly is this question. I am sure that no attempt to divert the attention, of this body, from the real issue will be accepted by the great majority of the United Nations: We cannot accommodate aggression. We cannot think in terms of other problems, other phases, other items, other issues, until we have got rid of the aggressor.

33. The PRESIDENT: The representative of the United States made a statement in which he gave his understanding of the matters that could be discussed by the General Assembly. The representative of Jordan, in turn, made a statement giving his understanding on that point.

34. If there is no objection, I shall now take it that the Assembly adopts the provisional agenda [A/67201]

The agenda was adopted.

35. The PRESIDENT: Decisions have now been taken by the General Assembly with respect to the organization of the fifth emergency special session and its agenda.

36. As regards agenda item 5, I have been advised by a number of delegations, that they would consider it desirable, in the, interest of the discussion itself, to allow a day or so to elapse before entering into the substance of the item. Therefore, with the consent of the Assembly, this meeting will be adjourned and, if it is the desire of the Assembly, a plenary meeting will be scheduled for Monday, 19 June, at 10.30 a.m.

37. Mr. BAROODY (Saudi Arabia): I have no objection-and I believe that is true of the rest of us here-to the debate on this question being postponed to Monday. However, I must endorse the statement just made by my colleague, the representative of Jordan, for no other reason than that twenty-four hours have elapsed since the majority opted for this emergency special session. The Security Council sometimes saw fit to meet on Sunday and to meet at midnight.

38. Having been here for the last twenty years, since the inception of the United Nations, I beg to draw your attention to certain matters from my humble experience. You, Mr. President, in your speech, rightly said that this Organization, as you put it, is the highest forum, and that due to the crisis which may involve the world in a world war, it should concern itself directly and without delay with this problem.

39. We have no assurance-and I speak from my experience – that behind-the-scenes arrangements may not be made so as to dissipate the essence of the item on the agenda-namely, the letter dated 13 June 1967 [A/6717], which, as my colleague from Jordan has mentioned, is the subject-matter of this emergency special session of the General Assembly.

40. I have a great deal of respect for my colleague and friend, Ambassador Goldberg, but I think he has broadened the horizon of the discussion before we have had a chance to address ourselves to the particular aggression involved.

41. I am speaking technically and will not go into the substance of the matter, since my delegation will have ample time to speak on the substance. However, it should be declared that the core of the item before us is the letter dated 13 June 1967 from the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. No arrangements made behind the scenes during the week-end should divert our attention from the core of the agenda's substance. I would have preferred to keep silent, but some believe-and I am not going to name them-that the aggression of the Zionists is like throwing rose petals at the Arabs.

42. The PRESIDENT: May I draw the speaker's attention to the fact that the agenda has been adopted.

43. Since that is the case, the first business before the Assembly will be a general debate on the item which is before the emergency special session. Some representatives have already inscribed their names on the list to speak in that general debate.

If the representative of Saudi Arabia wishes to enter into the substance of the question, he will have to put his name on the list and speak after those representatives whose names are already inscribed. Otherwise, I would appeal to him to allow the Assembly to follow the suggestion which has been made to me by a number of delegations-that is, to start the substantive debate on Monday.

44. It is, of course, true that the Security Council has been meeting days, nights and week-ends. As I understand it, the principle is that meetings must be held as necessary and desirable. It was necessary and desirable that the Security Council should meet when it did. But I understand that it is the feeling of Members that it would be desirable for the Assembly to meet again on Monday.

45. I would also point out to the representative of Saudi Arabia that everything done in this Assembly must be done in accordance with the rules of procedure. No arrangements made anywhere else can affect those rules, and I shall observe them and adhere to them strictly.

46. I again repeat my appeal to the representative of Saudi Arabia.

47. Mr. BAROODY (Saudi Arabia): Have you finished, Sir? May I wind up my statement?

48. The PRESIDENT: The speaker may proceed.

49. Mr. BAROODY (Saudi Arabia): You could have saved yourself the trouble, Mr. President, of all that explanation if you had heeded what I was saying, namely, that I did not intend to enter into the substance of the debate. I believe I know the rules of procedure as well as anyone in this Assembly-with all due respect to you also, Sir, because we grew up together on this Organization. What I mentioned was that I did not wish to enter into the substance of the item. But the statement of my colleague Ambassador Goldberg calls for these remarks. I am not going to challenge anyone here at this stage, but if you only read the statement of my colleague Ambassador Goldberg, then you will see that it dealt with the substance of the matter.

50. I stand on my right to support my colleague from Jordan for having focused the attention of this Assembly on the fact that our item here is the aggression of Israel, and I am not entering into the substance.

51. I know the rules, Mr. President, and with all due respect to you, I must say that if you had only waited thirty seconds, I would have said this: that we cannot consider the aggression in my part of the world-and remember that this is in my part of the world, Mr. President-as a figure of speech, as only rose petals being thrown at the Arab world.

The meeting rose at 10.55 a.m.

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1/ Julius Caesar, Act. IV, Sc.3.

2/ Official Records of the Security Council, Twenty-second Year, Supplement for April, May and June 1967, document S/7906, para.19.

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