Seventh emergency special session
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
PROVISIONAL VERBATIM RECORD OF THE TWENTY-SIXTH MEETING
Held at Headquarters, New York,
on Tuesday, 17 August 1982, at 10.30 a.m.
President: Mr. KITTANI (Iraq)
later: Mr. KAM (Panama)
– Question of Palestine [5] (continued)
xxxxxThe meeting was called to order at 11 a.m.
AGENDA ITEM 5 (continued)
QUESTION OF PALESTINE
xxxxxThe PRESIDENT: Before giving the floor to the first speaker I should like to remind representatives that, in accordance with the decision adopted yesterday, the list of speakers will be closed today at noon.
xxxxxMr. RAJAIE KHORASSANI (Iran): In the name of God, those who have committed injustices shall realize their fate later on. In the name of God, the compassionate, the merciful, "Those who do wrong will come to know by what a (great) reverse they will be overturned." (The Holy Koran, Surah XXVI, verse 227)
xxxxxDuring the past two months of the invasion of Lebanon thousands of people, men, women and innocent children have been wounded, crippled, or cast into the jaws of death, and we can imagine the living conditions of those still alive.
xxxxxWhat we usually observe on our television screens are only shots of the carnage that has been going on incessantly in Lebanon for at least two months.
xxxxxAccording to the invader, the objective of these inhuman atrocities was to end the Palestinian resistance and struggle against the occupation of their homeland and to evacuate the PLO forces from Lebanon.
xxxxxThis invasion had the political backing or consent of several other countries, both from within and outside the region. This tragic scenario, however, has been prepared and directed by the Great Satan and carried out by the Zionist Petty Satan, ignorantly believing that these brutal massacres can ensure security for the Zionist base of imperialism.
xxxxxThe enemy has been devastating and murdering as obscenely as possible in order to ensure its speculative objective, while forgetting the fact that, if genocidal massacres could have led to any stability or security, the Nazi regime of Germany should have survived.
xxxxxThose puppet regimes that have consented or collaborated in this brutal plan have made an incorrigible mistake for which they and the Moslem world will have to pay a very heavy price.
xxxxxThese regimes should not have ignored their duties in regard to the occupation of the Moslem land of Palestine by the Zionist usurpers. They should not have remained indifferent to the occupation of the Moslem sanctuaries by the imperialist aggressors, and they should not have surrendered to humiliation and misery, for the sake of their worldly interests.
xxxxxThe lust for wealth and worldly comfort has made them blind. "Beautified for mankind is love of the joys from women and offspring, and stored-up heaps of gold and silver, and horses branded with their mark, and cattle and land. That is comfort of life of the world. Allah! With Him is a more excellent abode." (ibid., Surah III, verse 14)
xxxxxThe Koran also states:
xxxxxSome rulers of the Islamic countries are fascinated and blinded by their wealth in the Zionist banks and the illusionary comfort they are seeking in Western pleasures. They therefore could not mobilize their resources in an Islamic front against the common enemy and consequently sold the Palestinians and Palestine very cheaply and received humility in return. The history of the past four decades of the region ought to have convinced them that any negotiation or compromise with a usurping enemy is a setback and a defeat and will lead to another annexation of a piece of the occupied territory, as it seems this time that the Gaza Strip and the West Bank are to be annexed.
xxxxxThe Great Satan, too, has made another miscalculation on the short-sighted pragmatic assumption that, by a bloody peace imposed upon the PLO, the perennial problem of the Middle East can be solved in the interests of imperialism. The United States authorities, on the one hand, gave the green light to the Zionist agents to wage war against Lebanon and, on the other hand, they assumed the role of the middleman to convince the Palestinian victims that they must surrender to force, recognize a political forgery as a legal State, sit at the negotiation table with it and give in to its terms of the deal.
xxxxxSuch a solution definitely only creates a new problem, a complicated problem, added to the old ones, and is not a solution. That dream shall never come true.
xxxxxAmerica will soon be convinced that usurpation and aggression do not pay and good American people will not remain safe from the consequences of such treacherous plots which the American Administration is carrying out in the Middle East.
xxxxxThe Zionist enemy, too, has gained nothing but loathing and hatred. A group which is hated by the masses all over the world cannot enjoy happiness, cannot attain security and cannot survive the result of its brutal acts. The usurping Zionist regime is bound to die. It has dug its own Grave deep down with its own bloody hands. The Zionist usurpers think that they have only strengthened their position and postponed their final eradication, whereas they have only speeded it up. For the Moslem masses are now more aware and more awake, and therefore more ready to join the United Islamic front to achieve their final victory.
xxxxxMoreover, now the rest of the oppressed world, the people of Africa, Asia and Latin America know more about the nature of global imperialism and its mechanisms of intrusion, its brutal conspiracies and its objectives. It will not take too long for the American, Asian and Latin American peoples to escalate their struggles against all the Zionist imperialist forces. They shall soon be liberated and will commemorate today's events in Lebanon as an epoch of their own awakening and awareness.
xxxxxThe Islamic Republic of Iran is fully committed to its support for our Palestinian brothers and sisters and to the cause of Palestine. Our commitment is based on our ideology and we are always prepared zealously to join the Palestinian struggle for their legitimate rights to statehood. We are of the conviction that -the paramount solution to the Palestinian problem is Palestinian sovereignty over the state of Palestine.
xxxxxThe principle of our struggle is not miserable negotiations or humiliating compromises. We believe in justice and not in finding justifications for servility and sovereignty. To live under occupation or to surrender to force is not compatible with our revolutionary religious values. We are convinced that:
xxxxxWe also believe that, as the Koran says:
xxxxxIt is therefore our duty to fight the Zionist enemy and to drive them out of our land, whence we have been driven out. The international community must remember that, whatever the United States, some members of the Security Council, the United States mediators or others do, it will not help the Zionist regime at all. The conditions of the Zionist regime will grow worse and worse on a daily basis, even if it gives up the idea of now expelling the PLO from Beirut; for the Moslem masses are fully convinced of their rightful militant position and of their rightful struggle. The firmer the international community stands by justice, the better the role it can play in bringing an honorable solution to the conflict, with a minimum of losses and casualties. Therefore, the proper course for this General Assembly to follow is: first, strongly to condemn the Zionist usurping regime and its supporters for the Israeli acts of carnage perpetrated in the land of Lebanon; secondly, to decide that the Zionist regime be expelled from the United Nations; thirdly, to propose strong political and economic measures against the Zionist non-entity, should that regime reject immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all its murderous troops from Lebanon; fourthly, to force the Great Satan and the Zionist Petty Satan to compensate for all the losses and damages they have inflicted upon our Palestinian and Lebanese brothers and sisters; fifthly, to stand for the right of the Palestinian people to return to Palestine and to re-establish the State of Palestine.
xxxxxThese measures would surely restore the confidence of the oppressed nations of the world in the United Nations and save it from the paralysis it is now suffering because of the vicious super-Powers and the role of imperialism in it.
xxxxxFortunately, however, the Israeli horizon is dark and beclouded with doom, because the Moslem masses are now absolutely convinced that they have to resort to the commands of the Holy Koran:
xxxxxMr. HELSKOV (Denmark): I have the honor to speak on behalf of the 10 member States of the European Community.
xxxxxThe Ten reiterate their vigorous condemnation of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, which constitutes a flagrant violation of international law and of the most elementary humanitarian principles. The Ten remain deeply committed to the restoration of the independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and national unity of Lebanon, which are indispensable for peace in the region.
xxxxxAn urgent solution must be found to the tragic situation in Lebanon. At the same time, the problem of Lebanon cannot be seen in isolation, but must be viewed in the broader context of the Middle East. The events which we are witnessing show again the crucial need for a comprehensive, just and lasting peace settlement in the Middle East that will meet the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people. The necessity thereof, in the view of the Ten, is well reflected in the French-Egyptian draft resolution now before the Security Council.
xxxxxEager to initiate, over and above the settlement of the Lebanese problem, the lasting restoration of peace and security to the region, the Ten in their statement of 29 June 1982, in accordance with previous statements, notably the Venice Declaration, stressed once again their wish to see negotiations based on the principles of security for all States and justice for all peoples. All the parties concerned should be associated with those negotiations and thus should accept one another's existence. In the Ten's view, Israel will not obtain the security to which it has a right through the use of force and the creation of faits accomplis, but will find that security only by satisfying the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people, which should have the opportunity to exercise its right to self-determination, with all that this implies. The Ten believe that for negotiations to be possible the Palestinian people must be able to commit itself to them and thus to be represented at them. In this connection, the position of the Ten remains that the Palestine Liberation Organization should be associated with the negotiations. The Ten wish to see the Palestinian people in a position to pursue its demands by political means and wish that the achievement of these demands would take account of the need to recognize and respect the existence and security of all.
xxxxxThe Ten are deeply concerned-by-the situation in Lebanon following the Israeli invasion. They are horrified by the loss of human life, by the intense suffering of the civilian population, and by the massive destruction resulting from the conflict. In particular, the situation in Beirut is intolerable. In their common statement on 26 June 1982 in this Assembly the Ten urged that that city be spared any further fighting. Instead, hostilities escalated, with heavy bombing and shelling of the densely populated areas of west Beirut and the infliction of further terrible suffering on the Lebanese and Palestinian populations. The Ten condemn the heavy bombardment of civilian areas in Beirut from land, sea and air, even after the PLO had made clear its decision to leave Beirut. They express particular concern at reports of civilian casualties caused by the use of phosphorous shells by Israeli forces. While stressing the total unacceptability of further attacks on west Beirut, the Ten note with satisfaction that the most recent cease-fire is holding.
xxxxxThe Ten urge Israel to respect the authority of the Security Council. They deeply regret its failure to do so. In the first place, Israel failed to comply wit h Security Council resolutions 508 (1982) and 509 (1982), including the demand for the withdrawal of all Israeli military forces forthwith and unconditionally to the internationally recognized boundaries of Lebanon. Despite the repeated demands of the Security Council for the cessation of military activities, there have been numerous and massive violations of the cease-fires which had been arranged. Israel has to date refused to accept the deployment of United Nations observers to monitor the situation in and around Beirut in defiance of decisions of the Security Council. It has also failed to comply with a call by the Security Council for the prompt return of Israeli troops to the lines they occupied on 1 August 1982. The blockade of the city of Beirut has not yet been lifted, despite repeated demands by the Security Council.
xxxxxThe Ten are shocked by recent reports on the consequences of that blockade and urge the Government of Israel to recognize its humanitarian responsibilities and permit unhindered access for supplies to meet the urgent needs of the civilian population and allow the distribution of aid by United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations. The Ten are also concerned about the future of the thousands of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
xxxxxIn their common statement of 29 June 1982 the Ten expressed the view that it was essential that the establishment of a lasting cease-fire in Beirut should be accompanied, on the one hand, by an immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from their positions around the Lebanese capital as a first step towards their complete withdrawal and, on the other, by a simultaneous withdrawal of the Palestinian forces in west Beirut in accordance with procedures to be agreed upon between the parties. The Ten have followed closely the important efforts which have been under way for some time to bring about a peaceful outcome to the conflict in Beirut. They support such efforts and hope that they will lead to a solution which will spare the civilian population of the city further suffering.
xxxxxIn that common statement of 29 June 1982 the Ten also stressed that the establishment of a final peace in Lebanon requires the complete and prompt withdrawal of Israeli forces from that country, as well as the departure of all foreign forces, except those which may be authorized by a legitimate and broadly representative Government of Lebanon whose authority would be fully re-established over all its national territory.
xxxxxDeeply moved by the terrible suffering of the people of Lebanon and of the Palestinians living in that country, the members of the European Community have contributed, either directly or through the Community, to the urgent humanitarian relief operations being conducted in Lebanon. For the present, the Ten have decided to continue their activity to bring relief to the population in distress. They express their appreciation of the work being carried out by the different international agencies under the most difficult conditions. They call on all parties to act in accordance with the relevant Security Council resolutions, to permit the relief to reach all those in need of assistance without discrimination and to co-operate with the responsible international agencies, as well as with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). The Ten are also ready in due course to assist in the reconstruction of the country.
xxxxxThere must be an immediate end to the fighting in Lebanon. The Lebanese Government must be enabled to reassert fully its authority over all its national territory. All Israeli military forces, along with all other foreign forces, must leave Lebanon in accordance with the wish of the Lebanese Government. At the same time, a solution to the Lebanese problem should be accompanied by efforts towards establishing that dialogue between the parties which is so indispensable for achieving a solution to the Palestinian problem and a comprehensive peace in the Middle East.
xxxxxMr. NUSEIBEH (Jordan): We are meeting today, at this resumed emergency special session on the "question of Palestine", amidst the wreckage of one of the most heinous and unspeakable genocidal wars perpetrated by a perverse and hate-mongering Israel against the Palestinian people and their hosts for 34 years, the people of Lebanon. The holocaust inflicted by Israel will remain for generations embedded in the hearts and minds not only of the Palestinian and Lebanese peoples but also of all the other peoples of the world at large as one of the darkest chapters in the contemporary history of mankind. If the number of heroic Palestinian victims of Israeli-Zionist nazism is viewed proportionally, it is equivalent to its antecedent. All of southern Lebanon with its ancient and historic cities and all the camps sheltering Palestinian refugees from Galilee have been razed to the ground, with countless victims and, ironically, in a barbaric operation which Israeli tricksters have dubbed "Peace for Galilee".
xxxxxPeace in the Israeli vocabulary is the peace of the grave, in which their victims have been interred in a sprawling chain of mass graves. But for the bloodthirsty and socio-pathological Israeli leadership today, the peace of Galilee and its accompanying carnage did not satiate its destructive lust of propensity. Its mechanical and dehumanized robots continued their march northwards and have for over two months now been showering their deadly weapons of mass destruction upon the capital of Lebanon – the celebrated City of Beirut – which has by now been virtually destroyed and where countless Palestinian and Lebanese civilians are buried under the rubble caused by incessant fire-balls. Within an area no larger than 10 square miles, thousands of tons of destructive explosives have been relentlessly showered daily on the city and its people with rare exceptions. No hospital, no orphanage, no Red Cross or other relief agency has been spared. It was a murder spree by perverted and dehumanized beings who, by their performance, have forfeited any claim to being called human. Even water, medical supplies and loaves of bread have been cowardly and meanly denied that valiant and long-besieged city with its children, its wounded, its men and women, the young and the aged.
xxxxxIn spite of all the massive fire-power, internationally prohibited weapons such as the American-supplied cluster and phosphorus bombs whose burning effects penetrate the body for 24 hours and. many other instruments of destruction and mutilation, a few thousand valiant and heroic Palestinian and Lebanese defenders of the city have, with modest weapons and means, beaten back each and every attempt by the full weight of the invading Israeli army and navy and by 700 of most sophisticated aircraft in the world to storm. the city and massacre or torture its people as they did earlier in their concentration camps in the south.
xxxxxWhen the smoldering fire settles on this horrendous episode, objective historians will no doubt give their judgement as to who was the hero and who was the terrorist. On Sunday, 8 August 1982, almost 220,000 missiles, shells and rockets were let loose on this valiant city and its defenders and similarly last Thursday, 12 August, relentless shelling was unleashed and lasted for four days and nights without any let-up until the eleventh cease-fire came into being. The invaders were checked and martyrs fell where they stood, fighting and undaunted, while Israeli-organized terrorism vented its frustration on unarmed, innocent civilian inhabitants, many of whom were maimed, murdered or burnt to death in the inferno. Not even embassies were respected and scores received direct hits. Yet the Israeli nazis have the audacity to call the Palestinians – whose homes and homeland they have usurped and whose only sin is to seek redemption of their rights, the elemental rights of going to their homes – terrorists and they want the world to share their sub-human perversity.
xxxxxRegardless of how the present ordeal of Beirut and Lebanon is resolved and while the community of nations is determined that Lebanon must be free, independent and sovereign, a few salient facts have been established and can never again be glossed over or ignored, notwithstanding the declared Israeli campaign already in operation to brainwash an outraged world.
xxxxxFirst, the rights of the Palestinian people under the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization must be redeemed in full, in accordance with relevant United Nations resolutions and the norms of justice in their totality. This must be achieved as expeditiously as possible within the context of a comprehensive, just and lasting peace. The momentary possession of greater fire-power and more advanced technology largely provided by Israel's strategic ally, the United States, may give it a temporary and deceptive edge, but Israel can never prevail indefinitely over the spirit and the mind end the eternal scales of justice which are God's greatest endowment to the human race. The achievement of this belated goal has been set back by Israeli aggression. But we have long recognized that the enormity of the injustice inflicted upon the Palestinian people and the nature and the magnitude of Israeli-Zionist designs require a large amount of time in order to be checked and reversed. Rather then expediting any meaningful peace worth its name the Israelis have deliberately set the clock back as a result of their penchant for imposing a capitulation diktat and owing to their immediate goal of totally usurping-Arab Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and of trampling upon all Arab Palestinian rights, including the right to national self-determination on one's own territory.
xxxxxSecondly, we have always been convinced that the usurpation of Palestine is not the be-all and end-all of Israeli Zionist ambition. It is merely a first step, a stepping-stone to taking over or otherwise imposing their hegemony on adjacent States, their freedom and their resources.
xxxxxThirdly, the aggression against the independent sovereign State of Lebanon, carried out with impunity thanks to outside super-Power blanket support, has therefore been a stunning eye-opener for all the States and -peoples of the Middle East as regards what lies in store for all of them. This may well prove to be a turning-point in everyone's assessment of how to ward off mortal and imminent danger.
xxxxxIt is incredible that Israel's total arsenal should have been mobilized to wage war against a few hundred thousand civilian refugees defended by a few thousand freedom-fighters. The valiant people of Lebanon have already started to express deep concern as to whether or not the Israeli forces will withdraw from the whole territory of Lebanon or whether they will keep large areas precious territory and water as they have been scheming and planning to do since zionism came into being at the start of this century.
xxxxxI am sure that the General Assembly and the Security Council will be seized of this ominous question for months to come.
xxxxxOne Israeli leader and many knowledgeable observers on the scene have already disclosed that winter attire will be needed because winter as the Israeli leader declared, comes early in Lebanon, even though most of the towns and villages in Lebanon are coastal or in the plains and it is only snowy on Mount Lebanon.
xxxxxFourthly, the genocidal war in Lebanon has at long last destroyed the laboriously fabricated image of Israel as being at the apex of humanity – a shining example of human and democratic values in the midst of a sea of darkness. If democratic values are what we have seen then no decent people in the World would want such values.
xxxxxFrom this forum many speakers in the know have been telling an incredulous world that this image is not compatible with the ruthless Israeli value-systems, norms, racist doctrines or unspeakable crimes which for decades have been inflicted upon the Palestinians.
xxxxxOur human expression of outrage and of protest has fallen on many a deaf ear, even after 1967 when the magnitude of the brutality against the Palestinian inhabitants of the occupied territories could no longer be hushed up or censored. Which country in the world has, on its own admission, allowed itself to imprison a quarter of a million people out of a total population of one and a quarter million over the past 14 years of occupation, not to speak of the tens of thousands who have fallen victim to the most sadistic torture in Israeli cells?
xxxxxThe Israelis countered by accusing their accusers of anti-Semitism, bigotry and hate-mongering. Many even despaired of making complaints or of expressing their protest because they found that to be an exercise in futility.
xxxxxIn its issue of Wednesday, 11 August 1982, the respected Christian Science Monitor published a dispatch from its correspondent in Israel in which he analyses the inner feelings of the majority of Israelis regarding the genocide in Lebanon and the ruthlessness against the Arabs in general and the Palestinians in particular. It is a shameful picture indeed. The article quotes former Foreign Minister Abba Eban's comment on the language being used by Government officials to describe the PLO – always prefixed by "terrorist" – as follows:
xxxxxIs that not what genocide is all about?
xxxxxOne advertising agency in Rehovot printed a postcard for a client to donate for soldiers to write home which says: "Firm X exterminates insects; Israeli defense forces destroy terrorists." – meaning, of course, the Palestinian people, the refugees.
xxxxxThe United Nations was created in the aftermath of the Second World War to promote a just and peaceful international order which is meticulously set forth in the Charter. All Member States are obligated to abide by United Nations resolutions, and in particular mandatory Security Council resolutions. Yet, since the invasion of Lebanon two and a half months ago, a reckless Israel has persistently and openly defied the numerous Security Council resolutions, even on such humanitarian issues as permitting water, medical supplies, food and electricity to be provided to the besieged city through non-political bodies such as the Red Cross, United Nations relief agencies, humanitarian groups, and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). An oft-quoted resolution to allow a few scores of unarmed United Nations observers – and I can vouch for their scrupulous integrity – to monitor the cease-fire has been repeatedly disregarded on grounds that are calculated to wreck the entire United Nations system.
xxxxxIf Israel openly and persistently refuses to recognize the United Nations, then the United Nations should tell Israel that it has no place in its midst and let it operate outside the framework of law and moral imperatives, the recognition of which is a prerequisite for membership in this lofty Organization. Israel has proved once more that, it is a non-peace-loving nation and, therefore, should not continue to enjoy the respectability which United Nations membership confers.
xxxxxThis crucial issue has become more pressing with the passage of years and the vast accumulation of acts of defiance. It should be one of the first orders of business when the General Assembly convenes at its forthcoming thirty-seventh session next month. The countless victims of aggression, the maimed, the amputees and the tens of thousands buried under the rubble of Israeli devastation implore us, even from their graves, not to shirk our responsibilities under the Charter or be daunted by a super-Power veto. South Africa was brought to account for its racist and oppressive policies – and such should be the case with racist Israel, which refuses to abide by any United Nations injunctions and has hijacked international law and peace.
xxxxxThe immediate problem for which we are convened is the question of Palestine and the national, as well as individual, rights of the Palestinian people. Notwithstanding all the efforts of the Palestinian people and the Arab States for a just and lasting peace, Israel is determined by deeds and words to abort all efforts for a peaceful and meaningful solution. There are four and a half million Palestinians who cannot and will not fade away, no matter how many acts of carnage the Israelis commit. And so we find ourselves at square one: an uprooted and dispossessed people determined to regain its universally recognized rights, and a defiant Israel striving to obliterate that people. I need not reiterate those rights, because they are as old as recorded history. They were not created nor can they be destroyed and are universally recognized by the community of nations.
xxxxxIn the meantime, the Palestinian people will work and wait for the day of their redemption, no matter how long the time or how arduous the journey. The Israelis can destroy cities and innumerable people, but they can never destroy the spirit and soul of people with a just cause which is both self-evident and inalienable.
xxxxxMr. BLUM (Israel): Here we go again. This time we have been summoned for the fourth installment of what may now rightly be termed the seventh permanent emergency special session of the General Assembly. Needless to say, the seventh emergency special session has been tainted in its entirety with illegality ab initio, from its very inception in July 1980. It was a contrived exercise from the beginning and contrived it remains. How else does one account for the bizarre fact that this alleged emergency and its precise timing were all decided and predetermined many weeks ago? This blatant and unbridled abuse of the emergency machinery of the United Nations can only further discredit that machinery itself and can only make a mockery of the Organization as a whole.
xxxxxHowever, beyond the procedural irregularities surrounding this exercise which flaw in advance any resolutions that may emanate from it, there arise also some, other very serious and pertinent questions relating to these deliberations.
xxxxxOne may well ask just why it is that the tragedy of Lebanon is being discussed in an emergency special session on Palestine? Is it not indicative of the true motivations of the sponsors of this marathon exercise? The Lebanese tragedy, after all, has been with us for the last eight years. Why, one may legitimately ask, was there no emergency special session on Lebanon during the eight years of the ongoing slaughter of Lebanese of all faiths and creeds by the PLO and the Syrian army of occupation?
xxxxxThe Syrian army remains till this very day on more than half of the Lebanese territory despite the fact that it can no longer rely on the fig leaf that covered its nakedness all these years – the so-called mandate of the Arab League. Even that pretext is gone now since the expiry of that mandate last month and the unwillingness of the Lebanese Government to seek its renewal. Nor does one recall an emergency special session to discuss the trampling underfoot of the sovereignty and independence of Lebanon by the PLO, which established a "State within a, State" in almost two thirds of that country's territory. There has never been an emergency special session to discuss the PLO regime of terror inflicted on the civilian population in the areas which fell victim to its tyranny, a. tyranny that lasted for a decade and more. It is only now, with the indisputable evidence of the facts on the ground, that the full dimensions of the PLO's unchecked raging in the midst of a captive civilian population is being revealed. And with it comes also the revelation of the true attitude of the various Arab countries vis-a-vis the terrorist PLO.
xxxxxWas it not the truest reflection of the Arab leaders, policy towards that terrorist organization when one of them, in one of his rare lapses into lucidity loudly advocated collective suicide as the best possible course of action for the PLO? Colonel Qaddafi is a trifle naive in assuming that the idea of suicide might find favor with the PLO, an organization whose business after all is the killing of others. To do him justice, Colonel Qaddafi has never sought to disguise the attitude towards Israel of those Arab regimes which still seek my country's destruction. He has said aloud what other Arab rulers for tactical reasons have deemed preferable to conceal. Once again Colonel Qaddafi said what his fellow Arab leaders really think. In suggesting suicide to the PLO, Colonel Qaddafi remained faithful to the real precepts of collective Arab thinking on the subject of the PLO. Colonel Qaddafi's pronouncements were, superficially at least, in sharp contradistinction to those of the PLO's patrons in this body who have sought to camouflage their genuine motives behind R flurry of continued activity and the reckless rhetoric of hastily resumed emergency special sessions, sessions which characterize the Arab leaders' predilection for hypocrisy and deceitfulness, even towards their own Arab "brethren".
xxxxxTherein lies the real reason for the reconvening of this session. The rhetorical barrage here is intended to deaden the sounds of reality and truth so clearly perceived by the entire world with regard to the Arab world's true position towards the PLO.
xxxxxThe other day in the Security Council the observer of the Arab League, treated us to a vivid display of fireworks. He was pleading for a cessation of hostilities in Beirut, and one could not but be moved by his apparent sincerity on that occasion. Yet there was the nagging thought that, had all that fervor been directed at the PLO before the Israel Defense Forces were forced to dislodge it from its hideaways in south Lebanon and in Beirut, the calls of the observer of the Arab League would not have been flawed by the hollow ring of insincerity. The terrorists had, after all, hijacked the Lebanese capital and taken its civilian population hostage, true to their well-known dastardly tactic as recorded in the ignoble annals of the PLO.
xxxxxThe rude awakening of the observer of the Arab League is unfortunately very much in character in respect of the behavioral patterns of Arab leaders. First they set up and organized the terrorists for the purpose of harassing and eventually destroying my country. Then they dumped them on Jordan. When that scheme backfired, they unloaded the PLO onto the back of Lebanon, which was the weakest link in the Arab chain. The Arab leaders saw in Lebanon an appropriate host for the PLO. Since the PLO larva had metamorphosed into a voracious monster, keeping it in Lebanon was the sensible thing to do. Not only was it kept out of the Arab leaders' hair, but it also afforded excellent opportunities: Syria used the PLO presence as a pretext for its military intrusion into Lebanon, an exercise that was willingly bankrolled by the Saudis and other assorted Arab oil millionaires; and the Iraqis, the Libyans, the Iranians indulged their appetite for subversion, counter-subversion, mutual bombings and assassinations, as well as their hyperactive political schemes – all with the help and operational assistance of the various factions of the PLO. Lebanon, the country that was long touted as the only democracy in the Arab world, became a living symbol-of what the Arab leaders' intrigues could really do to a democratic country with no muscle to resist them. And the world slowly but surely grew accustomed, to it and highhandedly ignored it. Lebanon was expendable, and not only in the eyes of the Arab leaders. In the higher echelons of world Governments it was not considered good form to talk of the goings on in that hapless country. Certainly it was impolite to mention the tired resignation of the European Powers to the ongoing rape of Lebanon; the 11 years of the PLO presence, the nibbling away of Lebanese sovereignty, the civil war, the Syrian invasion and the subsequent bombardments, the killings and the rampage were, all relegated to the inner pages of the frostily sanctimonious newspapers in the West; the frightful casualty figures in the hundreds of thousands were hardly ever mentioned by the media. After all, as the Jordanian representative said in the Security Council a few days ago, it was all an "internal Arab affair".
xxxxxYet, who would deny that the sordid details of this "family affair" were an open secret, well-known in a passive sort of way abroad. The world knew, in fact, that the Arab leaders, for their own often diametrically opposed reasons, guided and orchestrated the pernicious activity of the PLO in Lebanon – inside and outside the vast enclaves given over to the domination of the multifarious PLO factions and splinter groups.
xxxxxThe Syrian army that entered Lebanon uninvited in 1976 did but little to control the excesses of the PLO. By establishing a seemingly "hands-off policy", Syria was conniving at and acquiescing in an activity whose eventual outcome would be Syria's de facto annexation of the Lebanon. President Hafez al-Assad never made any secret of his doctrine: Lebanon was part of Greater Syria.
xxxxxDid the other Arab leaders protest the cannibalization of Lebanon? Quite the contrary! The PLO presence in Lebanon was ostensibly sanctioned by a whole series of agreements – the Cairo agreement of November 1969, the Melcart agreement of 1973, and so on. The Syrian invasion was equally sanctioned by the Arab States, post factum, and the bills for the exercise of this "brotherly love" were paid out of the OAPEC till.
xxxxxI referred earlier to the fervor of the Arab League observer, accompanied by most impressive gesticulations, before the Security Council. Where was that voice all these years, where was this righteous indignation, where were these eloquent hands? Did the Arab League plead with the terrorists to abandon the shameful tactic of hiding behind the skirts of women in Beirut? Did the Arab representatives beseech the terrorists not to place mortars and rocket-launchers on top of hospitals, to abandon the ammunition dumps dug under sports stadiums, not to detonate the high explosives stocked in the basements of houses and in the vaults of the national museum; in short, to leave Beirut and spare its population the ravages of a war they had engendered? Did the Arab leaders think of the population of Beirut, of Sidon, of Tyre, of Nabatiyeh, when they were so eminently supportive of the terrorists, "heroic" in the sense only of callously engulfing the civilian population with them? Did the Arab League – new or old – attempt to persuade the PLO or Syria not to trespass on Lebanese sovereignty? Did the Arab League attempt to prevail upon the PLO leaders to desist from their harassment of Israel – through a series of operations emanating from Lebanese territory? Was any effort made by them to modify the PLO dogma of murder of innocent women and children in Israel and Jews world-wide? Did the Arab League attempt to check the sterile and relentless war against Israel, the economic boycott, the blackmailing and blacklisting of those who traded with or visited Israel?
xxxxxNo, the hands that so expressively portrayed Arab confusion in the Security Council applauded the child-murderers of Ma'alot, of Misgav Am, of Nahariya, of the coastal road; yes, they applauded the killers of the Israel athletes at the Olympic Games in Munich, of the Jewish worshippers in Antwerp, in Paris, in Vienna; of the innocent travelers of El-Al and God knows how many more. Those hands were counting the money that bought the weapons all these long years. And since we are on the subject of Lebanon, where was all that hand-wringing when the PLO massacred the Lebanese villagers, raped their women and extorted their money? Where was that plaintive voice when a thousand armed terrorists attacked the little mountain village of Ayshiyeh in the sub-district of Jezzin, locked 65 men, women and children in the village church and massacred them all in cold blood – that night of 19 October 1976? And when they perpetrated thousands of other similar atrocities? The hands were congratulating the Arafats, the Hawatmehs and the Nabashes – all those shady characters in the terrorist hall, of shame.
xxxxxYes, Lebanon was expendable in the eyes of Arab end some other non-Arab leaders because it was weak. Jordan too would have been expendable. The Arab leaders laughed up their sleeves at the discomfiture of the Hashemite King in 1970. If King Hussein had not acted, not bombed the refugee camps and laid siege to the PLO strongholds, shelled the areas where the PLO was resisting, then Jordan too would have been victimized, much like Lebanon. But in the final count, it is the PLO itself which is being used by the rapacious, self-seeking and feuding leaders of the Arab world. That truth, so self-evident today, can hardly be denied any longer.
xxxxxThe Arab leaders did everything in their power to perpetuate the Lebanese role of the prostrate host to the PLO – for the simple reason that no one in the Arab world wants any part of the PLO, and for good reason. After all, it is they who created this Frankenstein Monster and they know its true character. Who would surrender his sovereignty to the grand masters of international terrorism? Maintaining them in Lebanon was cheaper, safer, it kept them and their shady connections at arms length. That is why the Arab Governments refused for many weeks to accept the PLO stragglers of Beirut. The terrorists were finally given asylum only after it was proved beyond any shadow of doubt that they were beaten and grossly deflated – and then separated into relatively harmless groups.
xxxxxSyria long refused to accept them in spite of the interesting fact that the so-called Palestine National Council has its headquarters in Damascus. The Syrians wanted the PLO with its fangs pulled. President Assad knows how to handle this type of PLO. The same is true of the others – all the irrelevant shammed demurrals notwithstanding. But in a fashion characteristic of the Syrian regime President Assad will now bill himself in the Arab arena as the savior of the PLO and generous financial honoraria will be very much in order. And there was the compelling final argument, of course, that delaying any longer the decision to accept the terrorists would simply add to the other internal embarrassments of the Alawite leader of Syria.
xxxxxAll these years, then, the Arab chieftains rained encouragement and succor on the terrorists acting from Lebanese territory. They knew Israel could not and would not tolerate for ever this dangerous course and would have to excise this malignant growth.
xxxxxThe Arab leaders also knew perfectly well that the terrorists had been using the eleven months of cease-fire after July 1981 to build up an unprecedented and extraordinary arsenal. They could hardly doubt the purpose. However, knowing also of the Soviet involvement in that feverish arms procurement effort and imagining the Soviets to be the guarantors of PLO ambitions backed or tolerated by the Syrian gauleiters in Lebanon Arab leaders were confident that no great harm would result from the eventual serious blood-letting of the Israelis. They were wrong.
xxxxxThe Arab leaders were certainly not ignorant of Israel's concern for its citizens, for its diplomats abroad and for the Jewish victims of terror world-wide. They knew perfectly well they were sowing the wind. They should not now be surprised at the whirlwind. Israel kept back, remonstrated, warned, but was eventually compelled to act in exercise of its right of self-defense with vigour and with decisiveness reaching for the permanent effect of a more solid peace on its northern border. The threat to Israel's security, the operations from Lebanese soil of international terrorism had to be eliminated at its source.
xxxxxAlthough we have repeatedly stated both in the Security Council and in this Assembly Israel's position with regard to the situation in Lebanon, it is only proper that I do so again briefly today.
xxxxxIsrael stands for the full restoration of Lebanese sovereignty of Lebanese independence, of Lebanese territorial integrity, of the unity of Lebanon within its internationally recognized boundaries and for the restoration of the lawful authority of the Government of Lebanon throughout the length and breadth of that country.
xxxxxWhen we speak of the restoration of Lebanese sovereignty we have in mind the restoration of genuine sovereignty over Lebanon to its own people and not a mere ritualistic lip-service to such sovereignty, used as a facade behind which alien interests seek to perpetuate their stranglehold over Lebanon and its people. The experience of recent years has clearly demonstrated that the sovereignty of Lebanon has become a sham and has ceased to exist in anything but name, having been abused by those who have converted Lebanon into a base for aggression and international terrorism. This must not be repeated. It is therefore essential that all non-Lebanese elements without exception remove themselves from Lebanese soil and that the Lebanese people be enabled to take their destiny into their own hands. Israel, for its part, will oppose the repetition of the mistakes of recent years and any initiative that would perpetuate any non-Lebanese presence on Lebanese soil. Lebanon, rightly and properly, belongs to its own people and to them alone.
xxxxxIsrael has no territorial ambitions whatsoever in Lebanon. We do not covet even one single square inch of Lebanese territory. We do not want to stay in Lebanon, or in any part thereof. But we are entitled to demand that proper arrangements be made so that Lebanon should not serve again as a staging ground for terrorist attacks against Israel's civilian population. We are entitled to demand that concrete arrangements be made that would permanently and reliably preclude hostile action against Israel and its citizens from Lebanese soil.
xxxxxNo one in the Middle East is more eager than Israel to see Lebanese sovereignty restored, its internal strife resolved, the Syrian occupiers removed, the PLO subdued and freedom and tranquillity returned to that war-torn land. Israel will do everything in its power to maintain good-neighborly relations with Lebanon. Israel wan-us peace in and with Lebanon. Israel has no quarrel with Lebanon, only with those who have subjugated it.
xxxxxI should like also to restate our well-known position on the question of the Palestinian Arabs. Israel is not and has never been oblivious to this question. But it must be understood and emphasized that there exists a clear distinction between tile Palestinian Arabs and the terrorist PLO which claims to speak on their behalf. Israel is not fighting the Palestinian Arabs, nor have we ignored their plight. We seek to live with them in peace, mutual respect and dignity. It was with this in mind that Israel was the first to indicate concrete proposals to lay the ground-work for a solution of this problem. Those who care for the facts will recall that it was Israel which first drafted a fair, reasonable and constructive plan that not only takes into account Israel's vital security interests but also provides for a comprehensive and full autonomy for the Palestinian Arabs in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza District as an interim step towards an ultimate solution for an intricate and multi-faceted question. Israel has committed itself, together with Egypt and the United States, to the Camp David Framework Accords for Peace in the Middle East. Israel remains committed to those Accords. But the implementation of such provisions requires partners.
…
xxxxx … all previous wars, not only because the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of Lebanon are being violated, but, above all, because the very survival of the Palestinian people is threatened. Israel is trying again to suppress the Palestinian people's aspirations for independence by means of force, extermination and displacement and by attempting to break the backbone of its liberation struggle, the Palestine Liberation Organization. Worst of all, Israel, following the logic of all oppressors, arrogates the right to decide the development of an independent country, a Member of the United Nations, as well as the destiny of a people that has, through its high national consciousness, provided an example of responsibility towards the international community, responding to terrorism with a dignified struggle for its national identity. Finally, this is a case of brutal endangerment of the lives of tens and hundreds of thousands of innocent people, who, finding themselves in the way of Israel's invasion, are daily being exposed to bombardment and the denial of their most fundamental needs.
xxxxxIn the long run, the final goal is, without any doubt, a rearrangement of the political, geographic and national map of the whole region, in conformity with the expansionist policy of Israel. In fact, the well-known truth that the final Goal to Israel is not security but conquest – not the recognition of the right to existence, but domination – has been reconfirmed once more. What is happening in Lebanon is the result of a premeditated strategy directed towards preventing the social and national development of Arab countries and peoples.
xxxxxThis blatant use of force which, if not checked, could lead to genocide may yield temporary victories, but it is certain that they will prove fragile and treacherous, since so-called peace imposed by force, based on suppression of freedom – peace in which all countries of the region do not participate on an equal footing – can be neither lasting nor just. The military siege of the Palestinian fighters in west Beirut has brought about the complete political siege of the aggressor. Palestinians, who are heroically resisting one of the most sophisticated war machines, will be able to keep the torch of freedom continuously burning, and every attempt to extinguish it by bombs not only will be futile but will turn against those trying to put it out.
xxxxxWhat gives rise to our gravest concern is the fact that in this tragic situation Israel continues, as always, to ignore all warnings of the international community, as well as all its appeals and demands for the cessation of military activities, withdrawal, respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lebanon, protection of civilians and recognition of the Palestinian people's right to self-determination in accordance with decisions adopted by United Nations bodies, and with international law and the principles of the Charter. The international community is accustomed to such behavior, but in the present situation it has become a fuse liable to ignite far more dangerous fires than can be predicted especially since, in view of the growing, tendency to legalize the use of force as a legitimate aspect of behavior, any attempt to impose solutions and to subjugate peoples will be negatively reflected in all spheres of international relations.
xxxxxThe qualification of Israeli acts has been given in a number of instances by the international community, which strongly condemned them. In fact, there has seldom existed such a common stand towards aggression, and both Israel and those supporting it must take this into account.
xxxxxIt is indispensable at this moment urgently to take resolute measures which would compel Israel to implement Security Council decisions calling for Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories, re-establishment of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of Lebanon, and prevention of the massacring of innocent populations.
xxxxxHowever, a lasting way out of this and future dead-ends will be possible only if the Middle East problem is substantively treated in its totality and if action to find a just peace as the only basis for the security and independence of all peoples and countries in the region is initiated. Illusions that aggression can create wider scope for solving the Middle East question are very dangerous. On the contrary, any tolerance of such a Policy would encourage Israel to commit further aggressive acts, as in the past. Unless the international community stops such a policy, it will eventually be confronted with the unforeseeable consequences of a deepened conflict in the region and beyond.
xxxxxThose very two tasks – holding back the arm of aggression and the treatment of the totality of the Middle East problem – were the subject of the recent, ministerial meeting of the Co-ordinating Bureau of Non-Aligned Countries held in Nicosia, Cyprus. The non-aligned countries, which have always given the most consistent and the widest support to the struggle of the Palestinian and other Arab peoples and countries for their legitimate rights, this time acted again in favor of moral condemnation of the aggressive policy of Israel; active engagement of the United Nations in this crisis; stressing of the urgent need to seek a comprehensive solution of the crisis in parallel with the halting of aggression- and the conducting of political action by establishment of the Committee of Nine for assistance in seeking such a solution. The non-aligned countries have been acting continuously, constructively and indefatigably towards the halting of the aggression, which is of utmost importance in this race between weapons and diplomacy.
xxxxxThat there can be no solution of the Middle East crisis without the exercise of the national rights of the Palestinian people and the recognition of the Palestine Liberation Organization as its sole legitimate representative has never been clearer. Therefore, it is indispensable that all international sectors – and, above all, those which support Israel – rid themselves of self-imposed taboos: ignoring the PLO and refusing to accept the establishment of a Palestinian national State and to deal with the Middle East problem as an inseparable whole. It is high time that all obstacles in the way of the liberation of the Palestinian people be eliminated – a people whose existence is threatened by Israel's expansion. No one can tolerate, in any circumstances, the denial to this people of the right enjoyed by all other peoples, at a time when the ideals of self-determination, independence, free development and human rights have become inalienable values of mankind.
xxxxxTherefore, verbal condemnations are no longer sufficient, since we cannot reconcile ourselves to remaining impotent to prevent a holocaust rarely precedented in the past. Everyone has to face the realities we are witnessing as a result of one of those dramatic struggles for the survival — both political and national – of a people whose self-determination and independence have become obligations of our Organization. Hence the only way out of this vicious circle is recognition of the national right of the Palestinian people to its own State and not unrestrained aggression by force, regardless of the weapons used. In the circumstances, the responsibility of those fewer and fewer countries which, directly or indirectly and willingly or unwillingly, enable the Israeli policy of war, annexation and domination to be perpetuated is all the greater.
xxxxxIt would be redundant to stress that at this moment the United Nations should show resolve in carrying out its role of peace-keeper and defender of the rights of peoples and countries to freedom and independence. We cannot accept the blocking of action by the world Organization for carrying out these goals. Therefore, we expect and demand the taking of energetic steps aimed at implementing decisions adopted by United Nations bodies. As we have always done, we shall continue to support all actions in that direction.
xxxxxSuch actions are not only indispensable but also possible, since there is general agreement that only a comprehensive and just solution of this crisis can ensure conditions in which the peoples and countries of the Middle East can enjoy permanently their legitimate right to live in peace, security and independence. Furthermore, the national entity of the Palestinian people and its right to self-determination are widely accepted today and the PLO has long since been recognized as its representative and as an active member of the international community, an observer at the United Nations and a full member of the Non-Aligned Movement and of a host of other international agencies and organizations.
xxxxxThe Palestinian people is not asking to be given those rights as a gift. It has won them by its sacrifices, and the international community is under obligation to help it in realizing them.
xxxxxThis special session is being held at a turning-point when it should not only reaffirm the right to self-determination and independence but also adopt decisions which will effectively contribute to such a solution. Hence the need to launch the negotiating process by actively engaging the United Nations, with equal participation by all parties, thus paving the way to a complete solution of this most complex focal point of crisis.
xxxxxYugoslavia has always approached the Middle East crisis from its position of support for countries and peoples resisting force and aggression, taking into account the indispensability of negotiated settlements to all international disputes on the basis of the recognition of the right of all States and peoples to a peaceful, independent and secure life, that is, freely to decide on their own destiny.
xxxxxProceeding from these principles, which are enshrined in the policy of non-alignment, we consider that the solution of the Palestinian question and the Middle East; crisis as a whole cannot be achieved without the following: firstly, the withdrawal of Israel from all Arab and Palestinian territories occupied after 5 June 1967, including Jerusalem; secondly, the exercise of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination, independence and sovereignty, including the establishment of its own State; thirdly, the recognition of the Palestine Liberation Organization as the sole representative of the Palestinian people and as the bearer of its rights to sovereignty and independence, fourthly, the recognition of the right of all States in the Middle East to security and independence; fifthly, the securing of the right of the Palestinian refugees to return to their homes, based on Security Council resolution 237 (1967), adopted unanimously:, and sixthly, a comprehensive approach to the solution based on United Nations decisions, including the search for more effective ways, on the basis of the Charter of the United Nations, of compelling Israel to comply with these decisions.*
xxxxxTo conclude, we are convinced that the solution of the Palestinian question – that is, the Middle East crisis as a whole – is one of the priority tasks of the United Nations. Therefore, this session should turn to substantial problems, that is, reject the policy of faits accomplis and pave the way to a political settlement based on the legitimate interests of all peoples and countries of this region.
xxxxxMr. KUEN (Austria): We have gathered here at this resumed seventh emergency special session of the General Assembly because of very sad and very tragic events – the invasion of Lebanon and the blockade of Beirut by Israel – sad, because once again the resort to arms prevailed over efforts to seek a peaceful solution to the Palestinian question; tragic, because tens of thousands of people have lost their lives or been wounded and hundreds of thousands have lost their homes or have had to flee. We were told that that had to be done for the sake of Israel's security. But we have to ask whether those who have chosen the use of force can really expect that it can create anything else but hate and further violence.
xxxxxOn 26 June the Assembly adopted resolution ES-7/5, condemning Israel for its non-compliance with Security Council resolutions 508 (1982) and 509 (1982). In the meantime, the Security Council has adopted resolutions 513 (1982), 515 (1982), 516 (1982), 517 (1982) and 518 (1982). These resolutions called upon all parties to the conflict to cease immediately and simultaneously all military activities within Lebanon and across the Lebanese-Israeli border and further called upon Israel to withdraw all its military forces forthwith and unconditionally to the internationally recognized boundaries of Lebanon. They also called upon all parties to the conflict to respect the rights of the civilian populations and to refrain from all acts of violence against those populations and to alleviate the suffering caused by the conflict. They demanded that the Government of Israel lift immediately the blockade of the city of Beirut and authorized the Secretary-General of the United Nations to deploy immediately United Nations observers to monitor the situation in and around Beirut.
xxxxxSo far Israel has not complied with any of these resolutions. On the contrary, at the moment when the Palestinian Liberation organization had already made known its decision to move the Palestinian armed forces from Beirut, the military pressure was still being kept up by Israel through bombing and shelling Beirut, even after a basic agreement had been reached by envoy Philip Habib with Israel and when only a few points seemed to remain open.
xxxxxThereby and by the refusal to admit United Nations observers in and around Beirut, the Israeli Government has shown total disregard for the resolutions of the Security Council and yet Israel owes its own existence to a resolution of the United Nations.
xxxxxLet me today repeat an urgent appeal which was made by the Austrian Foreign Minister, Mr. Willibald Pahr, in a statement on 7 August and let me again urge the Government of Israel to abide by the resolutions of the Security Council and withdraw its military forces accordingly.
xxxxxThe Secretary-General of the United Nations expressed his readiness for talks in Israel and in Lebanon with all parties concerned. This was not accepted by Israel. We regret that the good offices of the Secretary-General have not been used.
xxxxxWe should like to thank Secretary-General Perez de Cuellar for the efforts he is undertaking in pursuance of Security Council resolution 512 (1982), especially through the deployment of an inter-agency mission to Lebanon, headed by Ambassador Thunborg of Sweden.
xxxxxWe remain seriously concerned about the human consequences of this armed conflict both for the prisoners of war and the civilian population. In accordance with the appeals of the Secretary-General and of the Security Council we urgently ash all concerned to abide by the provisions of the Geneva Conventions of 1949.
xxxxxWe welcome recent reports that progress is apparently being made to prevent further bloodshed and destruction in Beirut. We should like to express our gratitude to Ambassador Philip Habib for his tireless efforts in negotiating an agreement among all parties concerned.
xxxxxMy Government continues to believe that a just and lasting settlement of the problems in the Middle East can best be achieved by a comprehensive political approach starting with the mutual recognition of the rights of Israel and of the Palestinians. We are encouraged in this conviction by the recent initiative of Egypt and France in the Security Council which aims at combining a solution for Lebanon With a comprehensive political approach to the Palestinian question. My Government further believes that a. settlement cannot be found but in a dialogue between the parties involved, including the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people.
xxxxxBut there must also be a solution to the problems of Lebanon as a whole. Such a solution requires the termination of Israel's military intervention in all parts of the country, the withdrawal of all foreign troops and the restoration of Lebanon's full sovereignty and territorial integrity. We all hope for a period of national reconciliation in Lebanon in order to ensure the reconstruction of this country which has had to suffer so much in recent history and particularly in the past weeks.
xxxxxAustria will help as much as it can in this process.
xxxxxMr. KRISHNAN (India): A little over a month and a half ago we met in emergency special session to consider the grave situation that had arisen in Lebanon. It is indeed a sad and ironic commentary on our times and indeed on the very efficacy of the United Nations that several weeks later we are meeting again now to consider the same crisis which during this interval has become even more serious. The very survival of the ancient and historic city off Beirut is now threatened and the two-month-old massive invasion of Lebanon by Israel persists and is becoming a permanent occupation. It is our hope that this resumed emergency special session will be able to deal effectively with these grave dangers which, if not averted, will have grave consequences for regional as well as for world peace.
xxxxxThe aggression launched by Israel against Lebanon, the brutal killing of thousands of Lebanese and Palestinians, the grave threat posed to the Palestinian people led by the Palestine Liberation Organization, its sole and legitimate representative, as well as the continuing violation of the independence, sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of Lebanon have all been universally condemned. Nevertheless, for several weeks the Security Council has been paralyzed and the situation in Lebanon, more particularly in Beirut, has been deteriorating daily, by the hour. The resolutions of the Security Council as well as of the General Assembly were contemptuously ignored and the indignant call of the international community was cynically disregarded by Israel. As Israel deliberately tightened its stranglehold on Beirut in what is clearly an effort at exterminating all PLO presence in that city no matter what this might cost in terms of human loss and material destruction, the Security Council has, since the beginning of this month, been making renewed and urgent calls for an immediate halt to the fighting, for the withdrawal of Israeli forces to the positions held by them on I August, as well as for the deployment of United Nations forces to monitor the situation. Contrary to our hopes, these calls have also gone unheeded. While Lebanon and the PLO have signified repeatedly their acceptance of and compliance with the action proposed by the Security Council, Israel has refused to do so and has instead intensified its barbaric bombardment of west Beirut. The efforts of the Security Council to implement resolution 516 (1982) and subsequent resolutions have remained thwarted. The Secretary-General's attempts to deploy United Nations observers have time and again been frustrated. Even the offer of the Secretary-General to visit the areas has been rejected.
xxxxxIn the face of such defiant refusal by Israel one would have thought that the Security Council would by now have been able to invoke the measures provided for in Chapter VII of the Charter. However, it is a matter for deep concern and regret that the constant threat of a veto by one permanent member has so far prevented any such meaningful action by the Council. Even the call by the Council on all States to suspend arms supplies to Israel -While this aggression in Beirut continues could not be adopted by the Council because of the veto by the United States of America. And while the members of the Council meet and disperse in despair, wringing their hands helplessly, Israel is tightening its noose around Beirut.
xxxxxThe argument that has been repeatedly advanced during the debates in the Council – and which will no doubt be heard here again – is that delicate and protracted negotiations are still under way in Beirut and should not be compromised in any way by our action. However, even the most naive among us will no longer be persuaded that the United Nations should stand immobilized on the sidelines when Israel has made it abundantly clear that, all these negotiations notwithstanding, it seeks to arrogate to itself the right to arbitrate not only the fate of Beirut and of the whole of Lebanon but also the future of the people of Palestine and of the PLO.
xxxxxWe have been witness to the ghastly drama of so-called cease-fires – of which there have been 11 to date – declared and broken at will by Israel. It is obvious that these temporary lulls in fighting are intended only as a pause for increasing psychological warfare and escalating the next act of bombardment and penetration of Beirut. In the same manner the siege of Beirut is also being prolonged, with temporary and partial lifting and renewed clamp-downs unabashedly directed at intensifying the pressure on the innocent civilians trapped in that unfortunate city. All in all, these tactics of Israel amount to one of the grossest violations of civilized conduct that we have seen in recent times.
xxxxxRepeated reference has been made in our debates to the presence of the PLO in Lebanon. The PLO has already stated, and several tines reiterated, its readiness to move its armed forces from Beirut within the framework of the understandings reached at the Arab Ministerial Conference in Jhidda. Notwithstanding this assurance, a deliberate and distorted emphasis is continually being sought to be put on this point by Israel and its supporters. The explanation for this is not far to find Israel is using this argument, the ongoing parleys and other devices all as part of a diabolical plan to wipe the PLO out of existence, even if it means razing the whole of Beirut to the ground and devastating half of Lebanon. It is worth recalling – as has been done so often by other speakers during these debates – that if the PLO and the Palestinians find themselves today in Lebanon, it is because they have been driven out from their own land, which is Palestine. The expulsion of the Palestinians from their homeland is the root cause of the conflict in West Asia which has been raging for the last several decades and the grave situation that we face today in Lebanon.
xxxxxThe efforts of the Security Council during the last couple of weeks have been concentrated, and rightly so, on preventing the imminent holocaust in Beirut. This must necessarily be also our highest priority in this emergency special session. However, the saving of Beirut and the transfer of the PLO forces, in safety, with dignity and honor from Beirut, is not and cannot be the end of the matter. Israel cannot be permitted to remain any longer on the territory of Lebanon, under any pretext whatsoever. It must be compelled to withdraw without any delay to its own international border with Lebanon.
xxxxxHaving secured that objective, the United Nations must go further to tackle the root cause. The inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to life, liberty and their own State in Palestine under the leadership of the PLO should be ensured, as defined in General Assembly resolutions ES-7/2 and 31/20 of 2 November 1976. Lebanon's independence. sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity should be respected and preserved at all costs. Peace and stability in West Asia can be restored only through a comprehensive, just and lasting settlement in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the resolutions adopted by the General Assembly and the Security Council. Such a settlement alone can provide a guarantee for all the States in the region, including Palestine, to live at peace within secure and recognized borders. The Extraordinary Ministerial Conference of the Co-ordinating Bureau of' Non-Aligned Countries which met in Nicosia, Cyprus, four weeks ago reaffirmed those principles. The Ministerial Committee of nine set up by the Conference – of which India is also privileged to be a member – is currently engaged in efforts to urge early action by the Security Council in this direction.
xxxxxIndia's own commitment to the cause of Palestine needs no reiteration. Long before we ourselves attained our independence we had identified ourselves with the aspirations of the people of Palestine for their own homeland and independent State. It is the denial of those inalienable rights to the people of Palestine and the inability of the United Nations from the very beginning to safeguard and to ensure the realization of those rights against Israeli aggression and occupation that have resulted in the situation that we are now facing. Speaking in the Indian Parliament a few days ago, the Foreign Minister of India, Mr. P.V. Narasimha Rao, declared that:
xxxxxThe two-month-old war in Lebanon unleashed by Israel has added a new and awesome dimension of misery to the already great sufferings of the civilian population, including the refugees. The information presented by the Co-ordinating Mission set up by the Secretary-General under the chairmanship of Ambassador Thunborg of Sweden is a grime reminder that, while diplomatic negotiations are dragging on, the problems which have been visited upon hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians are growing more and more oppressive and call for urgent relief measures by the international community.
xxxxxFor its part, India has rushed such assistance as lies within its power to those beleaguered people. A six-man medical team was sent at PLO's request and rendered humanitarian assistance to all concerned. The team was the first to reach the region on 12 June and the last to leave on 5 August. Medicines and medical equipment worth 500,000 rupees have been dispatched on PLO's request. One million rupees in convertible currency has been given for relief work to the Government of Lebanon. One million rupees worth of food-stuffs are being provided to the World Food Program. An amount of 200,000 rupees has been contributed to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). In addition to those, Indo-Arab friendship societies in India have collected and donated consignments of medicine and blankets and the Indian Red Cross has air-freighted medical ambulance kits.
xxxxxIsrael's unbridled aggression against Lebanon and the Palestinians is against every principle for which the Organization stands. The continued massacre of innocent civilians by Israel is an affront to the conscience of mankind. If the United Nations does not act decisively to discipline the conduct of Israel in conformity with the Charter, our credibility, which is already low, will be further eroded. A broadening of the conflict, with dangerous implications for peace and stability not only in the region but also in the whole world, might well become impossible to prevent.
xxxxxThe time has therefore come for immediate and effective action. This emergency special session should, as a very minimum, demand the following: first, the immediate end to the current crisis in Beirut and the withdrawal of Israeli forces to the positions held on 1 August 1982, secondly, the cessation of all further hostilities on the territory of Lebanon; thirdly, the unconditional withdrawal of Israeli forces back into their own territory; fourthly, the assignment of a United Nations peace-keeping force to Lebanon; fifthly, urgent and effective action, including measures under Chapter VII of the Charter by the Security Council to ensure compliance by Israel. No permanent member of the Security Council should shirk its responsibility; and, lastly, a comprehensive solution of the problem of West Asia should be found without further delay through the realization of the inalienable rights of the people of Palestine and the withdrawal of Israel from all the Arab and Palestinian territories it has occupied since June 1967.
xxxxxMr. ABDULHASSAN (Kuwait) (interpretation from Arabic): For the second time since the start of Israel's aggression against Lebanon on 2 June the United Nations General Assembly has been called upon to resume this seventh emergency special session to consider the question of Palestine. It is thus responding to a recommendation by the Ministerial Meeting of the Co-ordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned Countries, which met in Nicosia, Cyprus, on 11 July to examine the tragic and dangerous situation in Lebanon. There would have been no reason to resume this session had Israel not violated international law and if it had implemented resolution A/ES-7/5, adopted on 20 June 1982 by all Members of the United Nations with the exception of Israel and its ally the United States. There would have been no reason to resume this session had Israel, the aggressor, implemented the resolutions adopted in succession by the Security Council, namely, resolutions 508 (1982), 509 (1982), 513 (1982), 515 (1982), 516 (1982), 517 (1982) and 518 (1982), the last of which was adopted unanimously.
xxxxxIsrael customarily defies the international will, which has never been so united and unanimous in condemning Israel's inhuman acts. But Israel has chosen to drop its mask before the world in order to carry out its expansionist aims.
xxxxxThousands of lives and entire cities have been destroyed. Food, water and medical supplies have been prevented from reaching innocent people. Israel has also prevented children from leaving Lebanon for care and refuge.
xxxxxWhen the Security Council was discussing these heinous Israeli crimes, the international community wondered what the reasons were which prompted Israel to commit these crimes, what induced them to send phosphorous bombs to kill more innocent people when peace-making efforts were close to bearing fruit throughout the world. Mother Theresa, a Nobel Prize winner, was sent to Lebanon by the Pope to help the victims and was astounded at the tragedy, "I wonder what they feel when doing this. I do not understand", Mother Theresa said, "They are all children of God. Why do they act like this?"
xxxxxIt is very clear what the Israeli leaders want. They want to silence forever Palestinian voices which are hostile to their expansionist aims. The Lebanese operation is not a military operation to ensure the security of Israel's northern colonies, as Israel claimed at the start, but rather a mass extermination operation aimed at the Palestinian presence in Lebanon.
xxxxxGolda Meir, the Prime Minister of Israel, once said that there was no such thing as Palestine or the Palestinian people. It seems that the wish to exterminate the Palestinian people still haunts the Israeli leaders and will haunt them in the future. The Palestinian presence has become a nightmare for those leaders who hope to find out one day that the Palestinian people have disappeared from the face of the earth. Douglas Crow, a Professor of Religion at Columbia University, wrote in a letter to The New York Times that: (spoke in English)
xxxxxThis awareness of the Middle East crisis is something that Israel does not wish just to underestimate but also to eliminate through armed force by a massacre which would finish off Palestine once and for all. Maybe we could find a parallel between what was done by Menachem Begin when he was the head of the terrorist Irgun gang and what he is doing today as the Prime Minister of Israel, Begin, who planned the massacre of Deir Yassin during the Palestine war preceding the creation of Israel, profited from atrocities committed during that massacre in order to terrify the Palestinians and force them to give up their place to Jews who were migrating from all over the world. Recently, Menachem Begin followed that same procedure, carrying out massacres on the model of Deir Yassin, but this time his goal is not merely to incite the Palestinians living in Palestine to leave their homes but rather to draw the attention of Palestinians living on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to what will happen to them if they do not accede to Israeli wishes. Ironically, the terrorist Begin is repeating that he is doing this because he wants to eliminate international terrorism. Begin and his bloodthirsty agents think that the Palestinians are terrorists and should be exterminated. A Western diplomat who left Lebanon said that Israel claiming to launch strikes against the Palestinian positions, took that to mean every building where there is a Palestinian man, woman or child. The conscience of the world has been shaken not only by Israel's barbaric acts but also by its attempts to justify its aggression and its claim to having a divine mandate, according to Begin.
xxxxxWe recently recalled that a question was raised during the Security Council's meeting as to what forced Israel to commit such an inhuman crime against the Lebanese and Palestinian peoples, and I should here like to add that, in its deliberations, the Security Council asked itself what were the intentions of the international community vis-à-vis this Member of the United Nations which is and continues to be an abnormal member of the international community because of its racist nature, its outworn ideology, its refusal to fulfil its international responsibilities, its repeated crimes against mankind and its indifference to human tragedies, of which the Jews have had previous experience.
xxxxxThe current President of the Security Council, speaking for his country, Ireland, was right in saying that the ineffectiveness of the Security Council was not due to the efforts exerted there. In fact, the Security Council has made continuous efforts to contain the tragic situation in Lebanon. However, those efforts always ran up against attempts by the United States in the Security Council to place a protective shield around Israel and to protect Israel against any attempt to condemn its inhuman crimes or to impose sanctions against that country, on the pretext that the draft resolutions submitted were partial, or that any attempt to exert pressure on the Israeli ruling clique might lead to intransigence. But the American shield only encourages Israel to carry out further colonization and massacre. It also reinforces its challenge to the world's conscience and the world community.
xxxxxRelative calm has prevailed in Lebanon for a few days, but our bitter experience with Israel leads us to be less optimistic with regard to Israel's return to reason and logic.
xxxxxFirst of all, Israel was founded on usurpation. That is still its main characteristic, and for this reason it will not shrink from the worst crimes.
xxxxxSecondly, the Israeli leaders who are now imitating the Nazi and Fascist leaders, are incapable of learning from history; otherwise they would have understood that brute force cannot solve problems between States, that those who practice the law of the jungle are well-known and that such law is not part of the United Nations Charter.
xxxxxThirdly, Israel cannot continue insolently to pursue this course in defiance of the international community relying, on the one hand, on the protection of the United States in the Security Council and, on the other, on the flow of financial and military assistance from that country although the whole world is aware that American weapons are used to kill innocent children and civilians and to implement the inhuman and barbarous plans of the Israeli imperialists.
xxxxxFourthly, the effectiveness of the Security Council has clearly been curtailed, as is apparent from the statements made by its members, and this is due to the conduct of the United States. It is high time to restore the prestige and peace-keeping capability of the United Nations.
xxxxxFifthly, the main obstacle to restoring peace and security in the Middle East is the effort made to evade the crux of the problem, namely, the question of Palestine, and to emphasize, instead, marginal questions in order to divert the international community's attention from the main question.
xxxxxKuwait believes that it is high time to tackle the fundamental question: that of enabling the Palestinian people, which has suffered more than any other people in modern history, to exercise its legitimate and inalienable rights, especially its right to self-determination and the establishment of an independent State, and to enable the Palestine Liberation Organization, as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, to participate in all efforts made to solve the Middle East crisis.
xxxxxIn our opinion, the Palestine Liberation Organization has emerged from this crisis stronger and more influential than ever, because it has given proof on the battlefield and in negotiations of the fact that it is the effective, consummate and legitimate representative of the will of Palestinians everywhere and has established the legitimacy of its just cause.
xxxxxInternational understanding of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the support given to it has increased since the Israeli aggression against Lebanon and must not be followed up by a realistic effort in the form of practical action to solve the Palestinian crisis in the light of its essential aspects and on the basis of the withdrawal of Israel from all the occupied Arab territories and the establishment of the Palestinian State.
xxxxxKuwait considers it high time for the United States to draw the necessary lessons from the crisis in the Middle East and to play its role with fairness and justice and a proper balance in order to re-establish law and safeguard, together with the other international Powers, peace and security in the world. It also believes that Israel's immediate withdrawal from the entire Lebanese territory is the logical approach which would enable peace to be restored in Lebanon and in the region. We therefore categorically reject all preconditions proposed by Israel. as the price of its withdrawal from Lebanon. We also draw the attention of the international community to Israel's attempts to extend its domination over the rest of the Lebanese territory and to its constant efforts to interfere in the internal affairs of this independent country in order to sow the seeds of dissension among the united people of that country. The independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lebanon must not be the subject of discussion.
xxxxxOn behalf of the State of Kuwait, I pay a tribute to the noble resistance of the Palestinian and Lebanese peoples. It is ray hope that the resolutions adopted by our emergency special session will help to heal the wounds inflicted by the Israeli aggression. Let us work together for a just peace in the Middle East and the whole world.
xxxxxMr. ZACHMANN (German Democratic Republic): My delegation is deeply concerned about the situation in the Middle East which has been seriously aggravated by Israel's barbarous aggression against the Palestinian people and against Lebanon.
xxxxxIsrael's fifth war in the Middle East has the character of an extermination campaign against the Palestinian and Lebanese peoples and has highly dangerous implications for international peace and security. For this reason, the demand by the non-aligned States for the resumption of the seventh emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly was a pressing and topical issue. It was fully supported by my country. It is urgently necessary to curb the Israeli aggressor by effective measures, to force him forthwith to respect the decisions both of the General Assembly and of the Security Council. This war, a direct consequence of the imperialist policy of confrontation which causes smoldering conflicts to flare up and new ones to break out, must be ended once and for all and without delay by the unconditional and immediate withdrawal of the aggressor.
xxxxxWhat many representatives of States have repeatedly warned against in the last few weeks and months has proved true, namely, that the physical annihilation of the Palestinian people is an established component part of Israel's policy and that the Palestinian people under the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is to be deprived of its legitimate and inalienable rights. The Begin Government therefore rejects the decisions of the United Nations and the realistic proposals of the PLO which can form the basis for ending the genocide and for the political settlement of the conflict.
xxxxxIn order to achieve their imperialist aim, Israel's ruling circles do not shrink from any crime, however horrid it may be. As a result of the brutal operations of the Israeli armed forces and the use of means of mass destruction, such as cluster and fragmentation bombs, napalm shells and phosphorous bombs, tens of thousands of people have been killed or wounded, whole towns and villages have been destroyed, west Beirut has been systematically laid in ruins and immense suffering has been inflicted on its population.
xxxxxIt has become ever clearer to world public opinion that Israel is able to carry out its criminal aggression only because the rulers in Tel Aviv have been and are sure of the unrestricted political, economic and military support of the ruling circles of the United States. Thus Israel has been encouraged in its aggression and abetted in its increasing impudence and arrogance vis-à-vis the demands of world public opinion for the immediate cessation of its murderous campaign. The decisions of the United Nations have been ignored by Israel. The attitude taken during the voting in the United Nations on draft resolutions which have consistently demanded the immediate cessation of the aggression testifies to the agreement that exists between the United States and Israel and unmasks the cynicism of the statements by Washington concerning its alleged dissatisfaction with the actions of Israel.
xxxxxThe war against Lebanon under the slogan of the "struggle against the Palestinians" is an expression of Israel's policy of great-power chauvinism. That policy threatens all Arab States. Their unanimous stand against the Israeli aggression and its support by the United States is therefore more imperative than ever before. Experience shows that Israel and its principal ally have always stepped up their adventurous policy when the Arab front against Israel's expansionism has not been solid and unanimous.
xxxxxThe German Democratic Republic highly appreciates the heroic and just struggle of the Palestinian people under the leadership of its only legitimate representative, the Palestine Liberation Organization, and of the Lebanese patriots. In future it will also maintain its consistent solidarity with and support for the PLO and the Lebanese patriots in their profoundly just cause and will encourage the further strengthening of the international authority of the PLO. In a message to the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the PLO and Commander-in-Chief of the Forces of the Palestine Revolution, Yasser Arafat, the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany and Chairman of the Council of State of the German Democratic Republic, Erich Honecker, declared on 6 August 1982:
xxxxxThe delegation of the German Democratic Republic expresses its full support for the proposal made by a number of States to hold the United Nations international conference on the question of Palestine as early as 1983. We deem it necessary to take a decision on this matter at this session and to speed up the organizational and substantive preparations for the conference. This conference should decide on measures which will help the Palestinian people in the struggle for its inalienable rights and relieve the sufferings of the people of Palestine caused by Israel's policy of aggression. The German Democratic Republic declares itself ready to play a constructive part in the preparations for and holding of the conference.
The meeting rose at 1.40 p.m.
__________
* Mr. Kam (Panama), Vice-President, took the Chair.
Document Type: Meeting record, Multimedia
Document Sources: General Assembly, General Assembly 7th Emergency Special Session
Subject: Agenda Item, Inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, Jerusalem
Publication Date: 17/08/1982