Situation in the OPT – SecCo debate – Verbatim record

UNITED NATIONS

SECURITY COUNCIL

OFFICIAL RECORDS

THIRTY-SEVENTH YEAR

2344th MEETING: 1 APRIL 1982

NEW YORK

CONTENTS

S/PV.2344

2344th MEETING

Held in New York on Thursday, 1 April 1982, at 3.30 p.m.

President: Mr. KAMANDA wa KAMANDA (Zaire).

Present: The representatives of the following States: China, France, Guyana, Ireland, Japan, Jordan, Panama, Poland, Spain, Togo, Uganda, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States of America, Zaire.

Provisional agenda (S/Agenda/2344)

1. Adoption of the agenda

2. The situation in the occupied Arab territories:

Letter dated 22 March 1982 from the Permanent Representative of Jordan to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council (S/14917)

The meeting was called to order at 5.00 p.m.

Expression of thanks to the retiring President

1. The PRESIDENT (interpretation from French): Since this is the first meeting of the Council in April, I should like to begin by paying a tribute, on behalf of the Security Council, to Mrs. Jeane Kirkpatrick, representative of the United States of America, for the great diplomatic skill, the wisdom and the patience with which she guided the work of the Council last month and which have certainly won our admiration.

2. For my part, I should like to say that it is with feelings of deep humility, in view of the magnitude of problems assailing the international community and the United Nations, and the scope of the various threats to international peace and security, that

I assume the presidency of the Council for the month of April. I count on the co-operation of all members of the Council for the successful conclusion of our work.

Adoption of the agenda

The agenda was adopted.

The situation in the occupied Arab territories:

Letter dated 22 March 1982 from the Permanent Representative of Jordan to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council (S/14917)

3. The PRESIDENT (interpretation from French): In accordance with decisions taken at the previous meetings on this item [2334th, 2338th and 2340th meetings], I invite the representative of Israel to take a place at the Council table. I also invite the repre-sentative of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to take a place at the Council table. I invite the representatives of Egypt, the German Democratic Republic, India, Iran, Morocco, Pakistan, Senegal, the Syrian Arab Republic and Turkey to take the places reserved for them at the side of the Council chamber.

At the invitation of the President, Mr. Levin (Israel) took a place at the Council table; Mr. Terzi (Palestine Liberation Organization) took a place at the Council table, Mr. Abdel Meguid (Egypt), Mr. Ott (German Democratic Republic), Mr. Purushottain (India), Mr. Rajaie-Khorassani (Iran), Mr. Mrani Zentar (Morocco), Mr. Naik (Pakistan), Mr. Sarre (Senegal), Mr. El-Fattal (Syrian Arab Republic) and Mr. Kirca (Turkey) took the places reserved for them tit the side of the Council chamber.

4. The PRESIDENT (interpretation from French): I should like to inform the members of the Council that I have received letters from the representatives of Algeria, Bangladesh, Cuba, Iraq, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Viet Nam, Yemen and Yugoslavia in which they request to be invited to participate in the discussion of the item on the agenda. In conformity with the usual practice I propose, with the consent of the Coun-cil, to invite those representatives to participate in the discussion without the right to vote, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Charter and rule 37 of the provisional rules of procedure.

At the invitation, of the President, Mr. Ourabah (Algeria), Mr. Sobhan (Bangladesh), Mr. Lopez Del Amo (Cuba), Mr. Mohammad (Iraq), Mr. Burwin (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya), Mrs. Nguyen Ngoc Dung (Viet Nam), Mr. Sallam (Yemen) and Mr. Lazarevie (Yugoslavia) took the places reserved for them tit the side of the Council chamber.

5. The PRESIDENT (interpretation from French): Members of the Council have before them documents S/14938 and S/14939, which contain the text of two letters dated 31 March from the representative of Israel to the President of the Council.

6. Mr. NUSEIBEH (Jordan): As the first speaker in a formal meeting of the Council to be held this month, I have great pleasure in extending to our President and colleague, Mr. Kamanda wa Kamanda, my most sincere congratulations. Mr. Kamanda wa Kamanda has acted as chairman of the non-aligned caucus, and I know what an outstanding job he has done in his meticulous and incisive stewardship of the discussions of that group. I wish him every success.

7. I wish to take this opportunity to express our appreciation to the President for the month of March for the exemplary manner in which she conducted the Council's deliberations on its heavy workload.

8. I beg the indulgence of the members and non-members of the Council whose names are on the list of speakers for this afternoon's meeting for having asked to make the first statement of the meeting. I feel that the matter is so urgent that I must speak at the outset.

9. In today's edition of The New York Times there is what seems to be a very innocuous piece of news. The article in question says that: "Rabbi Kahane flew to New York on Tuesday ‘to do something that can't be discussed right now'". His assistant, a leader of his group, said: 'But once they happen, you'll know about them'

10. Today we received a memorandum in which Zionist terrorist organizations which call themselves "Trustees of the Temple Mount" and Rabbi Meir Kahane's group issued a warning to the Director of the Islamic Foundation and the Director-General of Religious Instruction and Guidance in the City of Jerusalem. They threaten to blow up the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Dome of the Rock and the surrounding area, with the attendant substantial number of Arab dead and wounded.

11. Council members might think that this is just another one of those threats emanating from terrorist organizations, but we know full well how blurred is the line between so-called unofficial terrorist organiza-tions and the Government.

12. What adds to our very, very great apprehen-sion is that this is not the first time an attempt-not merely a threat-has been made to blow up the Al–Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock on a Friday, when literally 80,000 to 100,000 civilians are saying their prayers in the holy sanctuary. The earlier bomb was discovered a mere two minutes before it was detonated. It is just sheer luck that the massacre of tens of thousands-let alone the destruction of one of the most magnificent, beautiful and holy places that are to be found anywhere in the world-was averted.

13. With the Council's permission, I shall read out the following text of the threats addressed to the Director of the Islamic Foundation and the Director-General of Religious Instruction and Guidance:

"We begin our message by giving you a warning of our impending attacks and the power that is in our hands, the authority, the green light, the jurisdiction which has been accorded us from the Government of Israel. Therefore we are duty warning you that if you do not heed our threat, these will be the steps that we intend to take:

"1. You should refrain from preventing religious Jews who wish to do so from saying their prayers in the Aqsa Mosque. Otherwise the consequences will be brutal: the blowing up of Aqsa totally and completely, as well as the of the Rock and all the surrounding area, ‘comprising schools, seminaries and so on,' at a moment when the maximum number of Arab civilian citizen are present.

“2. We warn you not to express indignation against the Village Leagues in Israel and the West Bank.

"3. We warn you not to encourage any action against us or against the State of Israel by the Committee for National Guidance"-

which they call a terrorist organization.

"In case you fail to heed this, you will expose yourselves to serious consequences-from which you can spare yourselves-including the blowing up of the Aqsa Mosque. We have given you our last warning."

It is signed by the Trustees of the Temple Mount, the Kahane Group and so on.

14. I need hardly state that that would be one of the most heinous crimes in history; it would be an act of aggression against humanity's legacies, holy places, and a challenge to the entire international community, which has adopted resolutions on this very question.

15. I suppose that every mission in this city has received threatening letters-heaven knows how- many. But we know that in the occupied territories a large number of the terrorist acts against the civilian population are carried out by so-called civilian settlers who go into villages and towns every night and fire into the air or at the houses of dwellers.

16. We are certain that the destruction of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock was a mere two minutes away. The bomb was discovered by a boy in the Old City of Jerusalem.

17. I hope that the President, on behalf of the Council, will issue a statement warning that the international community and the Security Council will not, in any circumstances, stand idly by and accept such a heinous crime.

18. The PRESIDENT (interpretation from French): The next speaker is the representative of Viet Nam. I invite her to take a place at the Council table and to make her statement.

19. Mrs. NGUYEN Ngoc Dung (Viet Nam) (inter-pretation from French): The delegation of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam would like to extend to you, Mr. President, its warm congratulations on your assumption of the presidency of the Council for this month. We should also like to express our gratitude to you and the members of the Council for permitting me to participate in this renewed debate on the situa-tion in the occupied Arab territories.

20. Only from the beginning of this year, various United Nations bodies-the Security Council, the General Assembly at its emergency special session- have held a number of working meetings on the over-whelmingly difficult situation in the Middle East which results from the systematic annexation of Arab territories that is being conducted with increasing cynicism by the Israeli authorities.

21   This new act of defiance began on 18 March, with the waves of repression in Al-Bireh Province, where the Municipal Council was forcibly dissolved, and in Nablus and Ramallah, whose elected mayors were dismissed from office and deported. Terror and brutality are virtually daily events; the racist occupying forces are once again using tanks, helicopters and fire-arms against defenseless men, women, young people and children in the western region of the Jordan.

22. Israel's criminal objective, which has been so often denounced by the Arab peoples and world public opinion, is to annex once and for all and method-ically the occupied Arab zones. These operations of illegal annexation of land on the West Bank of the Jordan followed the quite recent annexation of the Syrian territory of the Golan Heights, which occurred the annexation, in the midst of universal condem-nation, of the Palestinian holy capital of Jerusalem last year.

23. These criminal, lawless acts are clear evidence of the consequences of the strategic co-operation agreements between Tel Aviv and Washington, which cynically protects the aggressor-in defiance of all morality, all international jurisdiction and all the resolutions of the Security Council and the General Assembly.

24. This policy of terrorism is aimed at eliminating resistance, the freedom fighters of the PLO. There can be no denying that oppression has always called resistance into being. It is the immoral acts of brutality committed by the Zionist occupation forces which have ineluctably led to the valiant, self-sacrificing struggle of the PLO fighters.

25. The strikes and demonstrations of protest which have now broken out on the West Bank of the Jordan and which have been drowned in the blood of repression -are irrefutable evidence of this.

26. For two decades now, day after day, a self-sacrificing intransigent struggle inspired by the sub-lime spirit of patriotism has been waged by thousands upon thousands of combatants of the Palestinian Arab nation for the reconquest of their homeland. That struggle has won the admiration and respect of mankind.

27. Today the Palestinian cause has become sacred for all men of conscience and feeling in the world. The prestige and diplomatic position of the PLO have been constantly on the rise at the international level in spite of the efforts of imperialism, which seeks to contain it.

28. The PLO, universally recognized as the sole authentic representative of the Palestinian people, enjoys the right to participate on an equal footing with all other States in all regional and international bodies dealing with the Palestinian problem and with the situation in the Middle East.

29. We are pleased to note that the PLO has established diplomatic and other relations at various levels with many countries in the world and has contributed effectively to the work of conferences and debates on the problems of the Middle East, work aimed at bringing to fruition the exercise of the fundamental national rights of the Palestinian people.

30. In recent days the Council has been seized simul-taneously of urgent problems in Central America, where there rises the imminent danger of military aggression against Nicaragua by the same belligerent Power which backs the aggressors against the Arab lands. It is no coincidence, therefore, that those supplying the Fascist régimes of Latin America with arms should turn out to be the very people who have been supplying tanks and guns to the perpetrators of genocide against the Arabs now. The objectives of those sinister, thinly veiled adventures, whether it be in Asia or in Latin America, are one and the same -the taking over of the natural resources of those peoples and the search for strategic military positions.

31. With regard to this policy of international terrorism, I should like to refer to what has happened in my own country and in other countries of the South- East Asian region. Over the past few decades, the people of Viet Nam and the neighboring peoples of Laos and Kampuchea have seen more than a million of their sons and daughters mowed down by weapons stamped with the same label.

32. Now once again there is an influx of these devices of death and destruction, coming from the military-industrial complexes of the same Power, into countries neighboring Viet Nam, rendering the situa-tion there most alarming. But Viet Nam and the other peoples in the world have, in the period of contemporary history, learnt well the lesson that whatever the size of the forces committed against oppressed peoples, it is inevitably the forces of justice, peace and life that finally triumph over injustice and the forces of war and death.

33. The people and Government of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam are therefore fully confident of the victorious outcome of the struggle of the Arab peoples and consider the cause of those peoples to be their own. They wish to assure them of their whole-hearted solidarity until they have entirely recovered the occupied territories.

34. In the statement made by the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, on 30 March, it is said that the Government and people of Viet Nam condemn most vigorously the criminal acts committed by the Israeli occupying forces and demand their immediate cessation. Those forces must respect the fundamental, inalienable national rights of the Arab and Palestinian peoples. The delegation of Viet Nam firmly supports all the proposals put forward in the Council by the PLO and the Arab countries. We wish to associate ourselves with the speakers in this debate who have called upon the Council to adopt all appropriate measures to ensure compliance with the relevant resolutions of the General Assembly, the principles of the Charter of the United Nations and international instruments, and to put an end to this very urgent situation in the Middle East. Let us hope that the lives of innocent people in the occupied Arab regions can be saved in time and that the Council will truly prove to be an effective instrument in the service of international peace and security.

35. The PRESIDENT (interpretation from French): The next speaker is the representative of India. I invite him to take a place at the Council table and to make his statement.

36. Mr. PURUSHOTTAM (India): Sir, I should like at the very outset to felicitate you on your assump-tion today of the office of President of the Council for the month of April. Your diplomatic skill and intellectual incisiveness are well known to all in the United Nations and do credit to the great country you represent, a country with which my own enjoys cordial and abiding relations of friendship and co-operation.

37. I am grateful to you and to the members of the Council for affording my delegation an opportunity to present its views in the current debate on the situa-tion in the occupied Arab territories. It is the gravity of the recent developments on the West Bank and Gaza that has prompted us to add our voice to the appeal being made to the Council to take prompt and effective action to stop the bloodshed and to prevent the exacerbation of tension in West Asia.

38. The recent events on the West Bank, in Gaza and the Syrian Golan Heights which have necessitated these meetings of the Council have a disturbing familiarity about them. Their repeated occurrence, event routineness, should in no way detract from their" sinister significance. The implications and potential of these events far exceed their actual dimensions as they are the manifestations of a malady that is deeply embedded in the region. Indeed, it is in recognition o the underlying complexity and significance of these events that the Council is currently considering the entire situation in the occupied Arab territories.

39. The recent eruption of violent turmoil on the West Bank was the direct consequence of the intensi-fication of Israel's annexationist measures aimed at colonizing Palestinian land and terrorizing the Palestinian people into submission and worse. The Israeli military authorities on the West Bank had never been tolerant of the slightest voice of dissent among the Palestinians there. Whenever there was a protest against the brutalities of the military occupation, even in the form of peaceful demonstrations, a reign of' terror was unleashed and repression and destruction became the order of the day. Time and again the sov-ereignty and territorial integrity of neighboring States, particularly Lebanon, were threatened. Expul-sion of duly elected mayors and attempts at assassi-nating them had also been part of the known Israeli. strategy to terrorize the rightful owners of the occupied territories. The occupation of the municipality of Al-Bireh, the ejection of the duly elected mayor and the councilors from their premises, the dismissal of the elected Palestinian mayors of the towns of Nablus and Ramallah and the repression of Palestinian demon-strators-all these senseless acts follow a pattern long established by Israel and contain no element of surprise. Like the expropriation of land, the establishment of colonial settlements, the closing of educational institutions and the disbanding of unions, these acts, perpetrated deliberately by Israel, are in flagrant contravention of the Charter of the United Nations, the fourth Geneva Convention of 1949; and numerous Council resolutions, including resolutions 465 (1980), 476 (1980), 478 (1980) and 497 (1981). These acts of Israel deserve universal condemnation and censure

40. The solution to the problems on the West Bank and in the other occupied territories cannot be found by the mere reinstatement of a city council or by the reappointment of the mayor of one city or the other. The rights of the Palestinian people who inhabit the occupied territories to their own State in their homeland has long been recognized by the international community. Their oppression and subjugation must end.

41. It is the firm policy of my Government that the occupation and annexation of their land should cease and that Israel should unconditionally withdraw from all the Arab territories occupied since 1967, which- would pave the way for the establishment of the Palestinian State. Instead of seeking security itself through aggressive and expansionist policies, Israel should pursue a policy of peaceful coexistence with its neighbors, including Palestine. There is no dearth of concrete proposals formulated with a view to securing these objectives; the most of those pro-posals is the nine-point recommendation made by the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People,2/ of which India is a member. But since Israel has treated these proposals and recommendations with contempt and persisted in its defiance of world opinion, the only option available to the Council is to take punitive action as provided for in the Charter. The longer such action is delayed the greater will be the suffering of the peoples of West Asia and the greater the threat to international peace and security.

42. My delegation has noted with attention the case presented by the PLO during the current debate, particularly the contents of the letter addressed to the 'Security Council by Chairman Yasser Arafat. India has consistently supported the Palestinians and the rest of the Arab world in their legitimate demand for a comprehensive and just peace in West Asia. We have no doubt that the just cause of the Palestinians will triumph eventually, however intense their persecution may be and however great the sacrifice demanded of them. But it will not bring credit to the Council if it continues to remain incapacitated in the face of Israeli defiance of the Council's own resolutions.

43. The current conflict on the West Bank is a reminder to the Council that immediate attention to the problems of West Asia is imperative. A wider conflict and tragedy can be avoided only if the Council responds to the challenge promptly and effectively. We hope that the Council will be able to generate sufficient political will, and take immediate and effective action to discharge its responsibility to safeguard international peace and security.

44. The PRESIDENT (interpretation from French): The next speaker is the representative of Yugoslavia. I invite him to take a place at the Council table and to make a statement.

45. Mr. LAZAREVIC (Yugoslavia): I should like at the outset to express my gratitude to the Council for giving me the opportunity to explain the position of my country regarding this urgent matter in connection with the violation of the basic rights of the Palestinian people.

46. I take particular pleasure in congratulating you, Sir,

on your assumption of the high post of President of the Council for the month of April and in wishing you success in this responsible task. We are convinced that your well-known skill and experience will contribute to the Council's responding fully to its role in dealing with this particularly complex problem.

47. At the same time, I should like to pay a tribute and express our appreciation to your predecessor, Mrs. Jeane Kirkpatrick, whose presidency, of the Council in the month of March constituted a significant contribution to the work of this body.

48. We have recently in this body, and in the General Assembly as well, considered the consequences of one of the gravest acts of Israeli expansionist policy-the annexation of the Syrian Golan Heights. After less than two months, we are again witnessing manifestations of this same policy. That is why we attach great importance to this debate, since the further development of events not only in the Middle East but also elsewhere depends to a great extent on the way the Council reacts at this time in order to prevent protracted deterioration of the situation.

49. The Council is considering this issue in conditions of the continuous negative development of the situation in the Middle East, the causes of which are embedded in the unchanged Israeli policy of flagrant violation of the norms of international law and non-recognition of the inalienable rights of the population in the occupied territories

50. In the most recent reprisals, particularly evident in the occupied West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem, a further step has been taken. This has led not only to the worsening of the already exacerbated situation in the Middle East but also to the arising of new dangers which threaten to result in a wider conflict.

51. On the other hand, this debate is taking place at a time when the international situation has deteriorated because of ever more frequent use of force, military interventions and interference in the internal affairs of small and militarily weak countries, and also because of the denial of the right of peoples to self-determination and independence, the concentration of military forces, the build-up of arms and so on, particularly in the Middle East region and other regions of blocrivalry. Such a development of the situation places even greater responsibility on the Council for the solution of the Middle East crisis-that is, its duty to compel Israel to respect and implement the principles which represent the foundation of contemporary international relations and the basis of international law.

52. As can be seen in numerous 'United Nations documents, the actions of the Israeli occupying authorities testify to that country's persistent attempts to strengthen its occupation in the Middle East and to legalize the policy of faits accomplis through the systematic alteration of the geographical, demographic, economic, religious and historical characteristics of the occupied territories and their population to obliterate completely and permanently the features of its national identity.

53. This has been clearly confirmed by the latest examples: the dissolution of the Municipal Council in Al-Bireh and the removal and arrest of the mayors of Al-Bireh, Nablus and Ramallah, as well as other elected officials. Such measures are contrary to the norms of international law, particularly, the 1949 Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War,1/ norms with which Israel agreed to comply when it became a Member of the United Nations or when it signed or accepted these documents. The Council has on several occasions reaffirmed that these norms also apply to the occupied Palestinian and Arab territories. Hence it is redundant to stress that these acts, measures and conduct of the Israeli occupying authorities are null and void.

54. The non-aligned countries have always paid particular attention to all aspects of the Middle East crisis, especially the Palestinian question and the development of the situation in the occupied Arab territories, They have proceeded from the original principles of non-alignment which oppose any aggression, colonial and foreign domination, the use of force, the denial of the right of peoples freely to decide on their own destiny and so on. Therefore, the non-aligned countries have always supported the Palestinian people, the PLO and other Arab peoples and countries in their struggle for the exercise of their inalienable rights and a peaceful solution to the Middle East crisis on a comprehensive, just and lasting basis.

55. The position of Yugoslavia concerning this issue, as well as the substance of the Middle East crisis, is well known and constitutes an integral part of the increasingly held view that Israel must withdraw from all territories occupied since 5 June 1967, including Jerusalem; that the Palestinian people must exercise its right to self-determination and the creation of an independent State, under the leadership of the PLO as its sole legitimate representative; and that the right of all peoples and countries of the region to a secure national life and independent social development must be recognized.

56. The Council is at this time facing two basic tasks: first, to undertake all necessary and urgent measures for the suppression and elimination of Israel's policy of violence, denationalization and national obliteration of the occupied territories, including Jerusalem, and reprisals against their populations; and, secondly, to embark most energetically upon the creation of conditions favorable for the solution of the whole Middle East problem.

57. We shall fully support the efforts to be under-taken in that direction, for we have always advocated peaceful political solutions which provide for the recognition of the right of every country and people independently to decide on its destiny and which support the active role of the United Nations in the maintenance of peace and stability in all regions and in the world in general.

58. The PRESIDENT (interpretation from French): The next speaker is the representative of Iraq. I invite him to take a place at the Council table and to make his statement.

59. Mr. MOHAMMAD (Iraq): First, Sir, I should like to take this opportunity to congratulate you on your assumption of the presidency of the Council for this month. We are sure that under your wise leadership the Council will discharge its duties in respect of the issue under discussion and the maintenance of peace and security. Secondly, I should like to thank you and the members of the Council for giving me the opportunity to speak today, on behalf of the Iraqi delegation, on the question of the situation in the occupied Arab territories.

60. The Council was requested to convene urgently to consider a serious situation affecting the life and property of the Palestinian people in the occupied Arab territories, where innocent people are being subjected to acts of State terrorism through the barbarous conduct of the Zionist army. Today the turmoil in the West Bank has entered its third week. The Zionist authorities have, since 18 March of this year, been carrying out reckless and lawless acts in which the military and so-called civilian Israeli authorities first forced their way into, the municipality of the township of Al-Birch and then forcibly ejected the duly elected mayor of the town and the councilors from their premises, replacing them by an Israeli military officer. This action of provocation against the Arab Palestinian people in Al-Bireh, followed by the expulsion of the mayors of the towns of Nablus and Ramallah, caused a wave of protest among the Palestinian people in the occupied Arab territories and a general strike was declared as a natural peaceful response to the Zionist act of brutality and illegality. The terrorists in Tel Aviv and their forces of occupation applied repressive and criminal measures and opened fire against civilian and unarmed Palestinian demonstrators, causing bloodshed in various parts of the occupied Palestinian territories.

61. What is happening now in the occupied Arab territories is not a coincidence. The international community is confronted with Israeli defiance which, with brutal consistency, pursues a policy of annexation of the occupied Arab Palestinian territories together with a policy of aggression against the Arab States and peoples. The annexation of Al-Quds and the decision to annex the Arab Syrian Golan Heights by applying Israeli law, jurisdiction and administration to that territory; the savage Israeli aggression against the peaceful Iraqi nuclear installation; the continuous acts of aggression against Lebanon; and the violation

of the airspace of Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Iraq, all these actions clearly prove the aggressive and terrorist nature of Israel. Furthermore, the implanting of the Zionist entity in the midst of the Arab nation has been utilized to encourage aggression against the Arab States. This is demonstrated by the volume of

military and armed support and co-operation which that entity has given to the Iranian r6gime, therefore encouraging it to continue its aggression Ana to refuse to heed the calls of the international community for a just peace.

62. The recent events in the occupied West Bank, Gaza Strip and Golan Heights are not isolated incidents of repression but constitute another link in the long chain of the Zionist policy of expansion, illegal settlements and annexation. These actions follow the Israeli actions, condemned in the past, aimed at changing the status of the Holy City of Al-Quds and of the Arab Syrian Golan Heights. The Israeli aggressors, not satisfied with their criminal behavior, have now turned their attention to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. There is no need to remind members of the Council that the Israeli acts of aggression against Al-Quds and the Syrian Golan Heights have been condemned by the international community and the Security Council. Furthermore, Israel's decision has been declared null and void. The racist Israeli policy not only is aimed at annexation of the occupied Arab territories but is determined to liquidate the Palestinian people and their legitimate national rights and aspirations. The recent deliberate provocations, including the abduction and torturing to death of Palestinians, were not carried out for security reasons, as the Zionists allege. Such allegations are used as an excuse for the continued occupation when it is deemed necessary to commit more wide-scale atrocities in order "to induce expulsion. These acts of inhuman repression, which are entirely unjustified, violate all international norms and ethics and should be stopped.

63. In conclusion, it is clear that Israel has once again, in complete disregard for international law, the fourth Geneva Convention of 19491/ and the relevant United Nations resolutions, created a very serious and explosive situation in the area. We believe that the United States of America bears full responsibility for the criminal acts continually committed by the Zionists in Tel Aviv since without the United States military political and financial support Israel would not have dared commit its aggressive and expansionist acts and practices.

64. The Council should bear due responsibility for protecting the Palestinian people who are under occupation, and should maintain peace and security in the area. It should also take the necessary measures to stop this Israeli madness before the whole region explodes, thus endangering world peace. We call on the

Security Council to shoulder its responsibility and live up to its obligations towards international peace security.

65. The PRESIDENT (interpretation from French): The next speaker is the representative of Yemen. I invite him to take a place at the Council table and to make his statement.

66. Mr. SALLAM (Yemen): Sir, as this is the first time I have addressed the Council, I should like at the outset to congratulate you on your assumption of the presidency. I am confident that the deliberations of the Council will come to a satisfactory conclusion under your guidance and leadership.

67. I should also like to express my deep appreciation to your predecessor, Mrs. Jeane Kirkpatrick, for her success in conducting the proceedings of the Council for the month of March.

68. The world community has entrusted the Council with the primary responsi6ility for the maintenance of international peace and security. It is therefore high time for it to fulfil its duties in a faithful manner, in accordance with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.

69. The Council has recently been meeting very often to discuss the deteriorating situation in the West Bank, Gaza and the Syrian Golan Heights, but no success has been seen. Previous speakers have put before the Council the ominous details of the sup-pressive Israeli measures against the civilian population of the occupied Arab territories. The lack of good-will on the part of the Council to solve the Palestinian problem has led to the humiliation, indignation and suffering of a proud and dignified people. Super-Power rivalry has played a big role in delaying the solution of world problems and has almost completely prevented the Council from taking appropriate measures against aggression, in accordance with the Charter.

70. Speaking as a representative of a country which adheres most solemnly to the principles of non-alignment, coexistence and mutual co-operation among States, I should like to say that the veto power of the permanent members, and particularly of the superPowers in the Council, has often undermined the democratic ideals which stand behind the United Nations as an institution for democracy.

71. It is high time, therefore, that the Council solemnly assumed its responsibility and restored faith in this great institution in the eyes of the world community.

72. The question is, where do we go from here? This applies especially to those small nations which have no alternative but to resort to this forum to seek a solution of their problems. Shall we leave it to the natural law of big fish eating small fish? Shall we let the law of the jungle prevail?

73. Taking into account the fact that the United States has failed to recognize the PLO as the sole legitimate representative, of the Palestinian people and has even refused to talk with it, taking into account the fact that the Council has failed to find a comprehensive settlement of the Palestinian question for the past three decades and taking into account the fact that what are called the Camp David accords have proved a failure even for those who have put their signature to that agreement, I would propose that the Council try to solve this question through negotiations among the parties concerned before an international peace forum.

74. The bases for negotiations are found in the relevant Security Council and General Assembly resolutions. However, my delegation wishes to affirm that Council resolution 242 (1967) does not contain all the elements necessary to solve the Middle East's problems since it does not explicitly provide for the national inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including their rights to selfdetermination and independence, nor does it provide a basis for a comprehensive and just peace. The text of the Soviet-American statement on the Middle East of 1 October 1977, which states, inter alia, that ensuring the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people is a key element for settling the Middle East problem, could furnish us with a more solid basis to be drawn upon in concluding a peaceful, comprehensive and lasting peace agreement between the parties concerned, foremost among which is the PLO, the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.

75. The PRESIDENT (interpretation from French): The next speaker is the representative of Cuba. I invite him to take a place at the Council table and to make his statement.

76. Mr. LOPEZ DEL AMO (Cuba) (interpretation from Spanish): Permit me, first of all, Mr. President, to thank you and the members of the Council for allowing our delegation to take part in this debate.

77. At the same time, I should like personally to congratulate you on your assumption of the presidency of the Council for the month of April. It is no secret to anyone that your are a man of high qualifications and are responsive to the most difficult problems, such as those that are now before the Council. We are confident that under your presidency, as you are the son of a developing country, of a non-aligned country, well able to understand the essence of the problems brought here in relation to Nicaragua or the Palestinian people, you will make an important contribution to the final result of the Council's deliberations, results that will uphold universally accepted principles which are claimed by the Palestinian people and the people of Nicaragua.

78. On many occasi6ns, and in a short period of time, the Security Council and the General Assembly have had to meet to consider various actions of the Zionist Government in violation of the norms governing international coexistence that endanger peace and security in the region of the Middle East and of the world.

79. The attack on the Osirak nuclear plant, the attempts at annexation of the Syrian territory of the Golan Heights, the continuous acts of interference in Lebanon and acts of aggression against that country have now been followed by the situation in the occupied territory of the West Bank of the Jordan.

80. All these actions are manifestations of a singe policy of force, occupation and aggression which does not respect the will or the inalienable rights of peoples and which is a mockery of the expressed opinion of the international community-a policy which, furthermore, is openly encouraged by the Government of the United States of America, the main economic and  military supporter of the Zionist régime, without whose co-operation it would be impossible for Israel to disregard the decisions of the Organization as well as to develop its aggressive, annexationist and predatory policy.

81. Conflicts, tension and the likelihood of war, with all its extremely serious consequences, cannot be removed unless the inalienable fights of the Palestinian people are restored and the Arab occupied territories are returned.

82. Policies based on racism, oppression, terror and the violation of international law can only lead to a growing exacerbation of conflict.

83. A few weeks ago it was said in the Organization that the inscription from Isaiah on the wall of the small park across the street from this building should be changed. If those who promoted that idea dislike the present quotation, to which only they have voiced objections, we would suggest that they think of these other words from Isaiah, which seem to have been written today and to be addressed to the Zionist Government:

"And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.

“Wash ye, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do, evil;

"Learn to do well; seek judgement, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow."

84. As the Council meets, the people of Hebron are facing, unarmed, the armored cars and the guns of the Zionist occupiers. A general strike has closed down shops and schools in the cities and towns of the West Bank of the Jordan under Zionist occupation.

85. Flags of the PLO were flown in the north of Galilee. There is a wave of indignation and a call for justice from Jerusalem to Nazareth. They are the signs- of new times; they are the response to occupation and repression; they are a call for the restoration of legitimate, unrenounceable rights.

86. We call upon the Council, in exercise of the authority vested in it by the Charter of the United Nations, to adopt the measures necessary to put an end to the cause of the conflict. We hope that Zionist occupation and annexation of the territories of others will cease, that the Palestinian people will be enabled unconditionally to exercise its inalienable rights, that justice will be restored and the way opened to a comprehensive, just and lasting solution in the Middle East.

87. The PRESIDENT (interpretation from French): The next speaker is the representative of Bangladesh. I invite him to take a place at the Council table and to make his statement.

88. Mr. SOBHAN (Bangladesh): First of all, Sir, I should like, on behalf of the delegation of Bangladesh, to express our warm felicitations to you on your assumption of the presidency of the Council for the current month. We are confident that the deliberations of the Council will benefit immensely from your experience and proven diplomatic skill.

89. I should like also to take this opportunity to convey our deep appreciation to your predecessor, Mrs. Jeane Kirkpatrick, the representative of the United States, for her leadership in guiding the work of the Council during the month of March. We have all noted with what skill, ability and energy she conducted the work of the Council.

90. The Council is again seized of a crisis threatening international peace and security that arises out of the Israeli aggression in the occupied Arab and Palestinian territories. The recent events in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip are not isolated incidents of repression, but constitute another link in the long chain of the Israeli policy of aggression, illegal settlements and annexation. After making its moves to change the status of the Holy City of Jerusalem and the Syrian Golan Heights, moves which were condemned un-equivocally by the international community, Israel has now turned its attention again to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. On 18 March Israel carried out the highly provocative action against the population of the West Bank of dissolving, quite illegally and contrary to all canons of justice, the Municipal Council of the town of Al-Bireh. The democratically elected Mayor, Mr. Ibrahim Al-Tawil, was removed by force. Subsequently, they took similar action against Mayor Bassam Shaka'a of Nablus and Mayor Karim Khalaf of-Ramallah. Members of the Council will recall that Mr. Shaka'a earlier lost both of his legs and Mr. Khalaf one of his feet, due to Israeli bombs. The international press and news media coverage, particularly the series of articles published recently in The New York Times, have given a graphic description of the continuing coercive methods applied by Israel against the unarmed civilians who have protested against the illegal actions of the Israeli occupying forces. It is Also evident from the international press coverage that the Israeli annexationist policy has been challenged by the determined opposition of the Palestinian people and that the continuing brutal oppression and indiscriminate killing in the occupied territories have only intensified their determination to resist such acts of oppression and State terrorism.

91. The United Nations, through the Security Council and the General Assembly, has tried repeatedly to bring justice to the suffering Palestinian people, The Council, in several resolutions-namely, resolution 465 (1980) relating to all the occupied Arab and Palestinian territories including the Holy City of Jerusalem, resolutions 476 (1980) and 478 (1990) relating to the status of the Holy City, and the most recent of the resolutions, resolution 497 (1981) on the Syrian Golan Heights-has censured the measures taken by Israel to change the character and status of the occupied, territories, declaring them to be without any legal validity. The Israeli moves are in flagrant contravention of the Charter of the United Nations, the fourth Geneva Convention of 1949,1 the supplementary Hague Convention of 1969 and Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973), which clearly underline the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by the use of force.

92. The recent Israeli move to disband the elected Municipal Council and to replace it by direct Israeli rule also demonstrated Israel's reluctance to accept the very limited autonomy which exists at present in the occupied territories. There is another, equally serious dimension to the recent events in the West Bank and Gaza. Israel, it seems, is aiming not only at annexing the occupied territories, but also at liquidating the legitimate national aspirations of the Arab Palestinian people, aspirations which have crystallized into a desire for a separate independent State where their basic human rights would be accepted and where they could live as free people with a sense of dignity.

93. Despite the brutal repression, heroic Palestinian youth has once again demonstrated that it cannot and will not be subjugated through acts of violence. The elected leaders in the occupied Palestinian territories have stood firm in defense of the rights of their people. The New York Times, in a dispatch of 31 March, reported that for the first time the forbidden flag of the PLO, the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, is to be found flying in the occupied territories.

94. The will to freedom of the Palestinian people cannot be crushed. The oppression in the occupied territories has reached such a stage that two members of the Israeli Parliament, according to the same dispatch, have denounced the Government of Menachem Begin and demanded the formation of a Palestinian State in the occupied, territories and an end to the current discrimination against the Arab population-a demand which has been clearly upheld by the United Nations and the international community.

95. These recent developments in the occupied territories have made it apparent that Israel, in complete disregard of international law and in particular the fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 and the relevant United Nations resolutions, has created a highly explosive situation not only in the occupied territories but also in the entire region.

96. Bangladesh's stand on the Middle East question is unequivocal and consistent; it is not based on political expediency. Our consistent position stems from our firm belief in the principles and purposes of the Charter of the United Nations. It is founded on our enduring commitment to the cause of oppressed peoples all over the world struggling to free themselves from the bondage of colonialism, aggression and exploitation-peoples engaged in establishing their inalienable right to self-determination, national freedom and political independence. It is rooted in the ideals of tolerance and the conviction that men and women of all religions and all races can live together in an environment of peace, justice and equality. It is geared to upholding the right of every people freely to determine and build its own social, economic and political system by ways and means of its own free choice.

97. To this end, Bangladesh views the essentials of any meaningful peace plan in the Middle East as a composite whole, as a comprehensive settlement, every part thereof being integrally related to the other. We firmly believe that no solution in the Middle East which does not fully take into account the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people can be envisaged and that any examination of the question of Palestine must be based on the following fundamental principles. First, the question of Palestine is at the core of the problem of the Middle East and, consequently, it is not possible to envisage a solution to the problem of the Middle East unless one takes into account the rights of the Palestinian people. Secondly, the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to return to their homes and to achieve self-determination, independence and national sovereignty must be implemented. Thirdly, the participation of the PLO, the sole representative of the Palestinian people, on an equal footing with all the other parties on the basis of the relevant General Assembly resolutions is indispensable. Fourthly, the acquisition of territory by force is inadmissible and Israel must totally withdraw from all the occupied Arab and Palestinian territories, including the Holy City of Jerusalem. And, fifthly, there must be greater understanding of the just cause of the Palestinian people.

98. As I mentioned earlier, the United Nations, through the Security Council and the General Assembly, has repeatedly tried to bring justice to the suffering Palestinian people. The Government of Israel, unfortunately, on each occasion has taken measures, in violation of the Assembly and Council resolutions, to frustrate all, efforts of the international community to resolve this explosive issue.

99. During the month of December, the Council adopted a unanimous decision [resolution 497 (1981)] to condemn the Israeli action to annex the Golan Heights and called on Israel to rescind the measures taken by it. Instead, Israel confronted us with stubborn non-compliance, with words of belligerence and an arrogant attitude which constitute the very antithesis of what this body represents. Recent developments in the occupied territories have once again proved that lack of firm and expeditious action on the part of the Council only contributes to an aggravation of the situation. A particularly heavy responsibility therefore lies with its permanent members to enable the Council to carry out its primary responsibility to bring peace to the afflicted region.

100. In conclusion, Bangladesh, in conformity with the Charter, would like to reaffirm the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by force and to reaffirm once again that only the fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 can apply to the occupied Arab and Palestinian territories. We urge the Council to demand of Israel, the occupying Power, that it rescind forthwith its decision to dissolve the Al-Bireh elected Municipal Council. The duly elected Municipal Council of Al-Bireh must be immediately reinstated. The Security Council must also ask Israel, in firm and clear terms, to put an end to its brutal repressive measures against the unarmed civilian population of the occupied Arab and Palestinian territories.

101. The PRESIDENT (interpretation from French): The next speaker is the representative of Algeria. I invite him to take a place at the Council table and to make his statement.

102. Mr. OURABAH (Algeria) (interpretation from French): First of all, on behalf of the Algerian delegation, I should like to convey to you, Mr. President, my warm congratulations on your election to their presidency of the Council for this month. I am sure that, thanks to your experience, this debate will prove successful.

103. May I also congratulate your predecessor, Mrs. Kirkpatrick, for having conducted with talent the proceedings of the Council for last month.

104. Three times in less than four months the Council has met to consider the situation in the occupied Arab territories, where a whole people has fallen victim to an attempt at systematic liquidation. The frequency of the Council's meetings with an agenda which has become almost constant is evidence of the continuous concern of the international community -at an implacable endeavor to perpetuate the of aggression and to continue to negate the Palestinian national fact.

105. Today the Council has to deal with an explosive situation. With the Palestinian citizens clamoring for their right to existence and refusing to bow to bullying and brutalities of the occupation forces, the Zionist entity has developed fierce repression and is in motion its infernal war machine against unarmed persons.

106. The situation created by the decisions of the Zionist entity to remove the elected representatives of the Arab citizens of the occupied territories is nothing more than a further manifestation of the provocative use of force and aggression on the part of the Zionist entity. This new outrage is by no means an isolated one. For more than three decades that entity has been constantly extending its occupation through aggression and illegal annexation.

107. What is happening now in the occupied territories is part of a vast endeavor of methodical and rational exploitation and plunder. It is by means of this oppressive violence that we see emerging most clearly the ultimate goal of the Zionist entity-that of removing the Arabs once and for all from their homes and taking possession of their goods and their lands to establish new settlements in that land.

108. The Palestinian people has come out once again in the streets of their towns and villages to demonstrate to the occupiers and those that support them its wholehearted opposition to the pseudo-civil administration in the West Bank and Gaza, a prelude to the annexation of those territories by the Zionist entity. Everywhere it has risen against the institutionalized terror which has been unleashed against it and which has been increasing for several years. The Zionist colonization of Arab territories conducted in the fashion of colonial expeditions has now extended to almost half the occupied territories in the West Bank, including the Holy City of Al-Quds.

109. In order to drive the Palestinians out of their territory, the occupation army has resorted to means both illegal and inhuman-intimidation, expropriation for so-called strategic reasons, arbitrary measures and internment on a massive scale.

110. Those practices have extended to the plundering of the resources of the occupied territories. Thus the Zionist authorities have taken measures to divert the waters of the Jordan for the benefit of their settlements, thereby condemning to drought the pieces of land still in possession of the Arab inhabitants. Furthermore,- Arab farmers are being dispossessed of their wells and prevented from digging new ones. In addition, powerful means have been used to dry up the traditional sources of water, thus forcing hundreds of Palestinian families to emigrate. A large number of villages which subsisted on agriculture have thus become veritable dormitory villages which in effect are reservoirs of cheap labor for Zionist industry.

111. Control of the sources of water together with innumerable obstacles to the creation and development of Arab industrial units in the West Bank constitute a significant link in the chain of the gigantic endeavor to uproot an entire people.

112. The exploitation of Arab labor that has affected hundreds of thousands of workers, including tens of thousands of adolescents, living and working in conditions of humiliation and poverty, motivated the General Assembly at its thirty-sixth session to adopt resolution 36/73 of 4 December 1981 in which it

"Condemns Israel for the deteriorating living conditions of the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territories

"Affirms that the elimination of the Israeli occupation is a prerequisite for the social and economic development of the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territories"

113. However, deaf to the repeated condemnations by the international community, the Zionist leaders have been intensifying their takeover of land on the West Bank, continuing to maintain the outflow of Arab inhabitants through impoverishing and repressing them. Yesterday, the non-renewal of the identity papers of Palestinians was used at will to drive them out of the country; today, we witness the promulgation of ever more repressive new laws in an attempt to obliterate the Palestinian national identity and to prevent any crystallization of Arab resistance to oppression.

114. Palestinian cultural expression has also been hindered by the "law on education" which permits the Zionists occupiers to exercise control over schools, to issue guidelines for Arab curricula, to ban hundreds of books and to interfere with the functioning of higher education by the losing of universities. This suppression of Palestinian culture has not spared historic and religious sites, such as the Al-Aqsa and As-Sakhra mosques of Al-Quds, which are subject to arbitrary searches.

115. The Palestinian people is being oppressed, tortured, deported, stripped of its goods and driven out of its ho eland in the name of a chauvinistic and exclusivist Zionist ideology.

116. There are many examples in the report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the Occupied Territories. These examples amply illustrate the concentration camp universe in which the Zionist occupiers have enclosed the Palestinian people. That people today is exercising its legitimate right to resist foreign occupation and is demanding control over its own conditions of existence.

117. Recourse to individual and collective reprisals whenever there is demonstration of resistance to the occupier serves only to maintain the drive towards liberation in the occupied territories. In the face of the vitality of Palestinian national sentiment, the Zionist war machine is sowing death among defenseless civilians in defiance of the most elementary human rights. The present situation in the occupied territories is not an isolated phenomenon. It compels us to deal with the very roots of that phenomenon.

118. The resistance of the Palestinian people reflects its rejection of the status to which it has been reduced in its own homeland. It also demonstrates the magnitude of its hostility to the Camp David accords and the Washington treaty. It reminds us once again that the intensification of the policy of settlement of the occupied territories stems from the same accords which deny the Palestinian people the right to self-determination.

119. In 1980, Al-Quds was annexed and proclaimed the capital of the Zionist entity. In December 1981, the occupied Syrian Golan Heights was the subject of the same annexation measure. The goal of the Zionist leaders is clear. They are attempting to perpetuate the occupation of the Arab territories by a policy of annexation that is sometimes creeping and sometimes galloping.

120. In this very chamber, on 8 January 1982, the Algerian delegation stated:

"Unless the Council draws the necessary conclusions from the obstinacy of the Zionist entity in defying the United Nations, and unless it brings all its influence to bear to impose justice and the restoration of law, its reactions will have no dissuasive influence, now or in the future. We could then expect further annexation measures by the Zionists. They are easy to foresee." [2324th meeting, para. 76]

121. The West Bank and Gaza were part of the plan, and the process of annexation is today already under way.

122. Because of the previous positions it has taken on the status of the occupied Arab Palestinian territories, in its repeated injunctions addressed to the Zionist entity, the Council has developed a coherent doctrine. Thus more than once the Council has stated that all measures taken to modify the physical character, the demographic composition, the institutional structure or status of all the occupied Arab territories are null and void.

123. The gravity of the present situation and the transparency of the intentions of the Zionist leaders should permit no hesitation on the part of the Council.

124. It is within the natural context of its responsibilities that the Council should once again commit its authority on the side of right and justice. In determining the intensity of its reaction to the tragic events that have been occurring in the occupied Palestinian territories, the Council should not lose sight of the lessons of the immediate past. Restrained condemnations and appeals to goodwill are quite obviously inadequate to block the Zionist designs which have clearly proved to be those of domination and conquest.

125. We trust that the Council will be able to ensure that right prevails and that it will do everything in its power to put an end to the tragic violations of the human rights of the Palestinians in their homeland.

126. The PRESIDENT (interpretation from French): The next speaker is the representative of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. I invite him to take a place at the Council table and to make his statement.

127. Mr. BURWIN (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya): Sir, on behalf of the Libyan delegation I wish to extend to you congratulations on your assumption of the presidency of the Council for this month. I should like also to thank your predecessor, Mrs. Kirkpatrick, who presided over the Council last month. I thank the members of the Council for giving me this opportunity to address them.

128. The Council has been convened to discuss the grave situation in the occupied Arab territories, particularly in the West Bank and Gaza. The situation in the West Bank and Gaza has always been tense owing to the occupation and the brutal racist and terrorist practices pursued by the Zionist authorities. Recently, however, this situation has been seriously aggravated primarily by the removal of Mayor Ibrahim Al-Tawil and the dismissal of the Municipal Council of the town of Al-Bireh and their replacement by an Israeli officer. Moreover, the Israeli soldiers, who seem to adopt Nazi practices, broke into the houses of civilian officials of the Council and forced them to report to work. Those officials had decided not to go to work in response to the general strike called for by the Palestinian people to protest the continuation of the occupation and the brutal and repressive policies pursued by Israel.

129. However, instead of complying with international conventions, Israel has maintained its intransigent attitude and dismissed the mayors of the towns of Nablus and Ramallah, Mr. Bassam Shaka'a and Mr. Karim Khalaf. Thus ends the last vestige of democracy so flaunted by Israel and the United States, in order to make room for the military, authoritarian and racist mentality to make its full odious appearance.

130. Zionism is essentially a racist movement aiming' at forming a racist society solely on the basis of religion and race. Therefore, a Palestinian Arab is not permitted to return to Palestine to live in his own house with his relatives. Each kibbutz is nothing more than, an apartheid institution and not a socialist institution as the Zionists claim. From these kibbutzim the launch their aggressive attacks on the Palestinian people.

131. It is indeed strange that a Jew who was born and brought up in the United States should be given the right to live in Palestine and to enjoy all the rights of a native thereof whereas a Palestinian who was born there and whose ancestors were there even before the birth of Christ should be reduced to the status of a refugee and be deprived of his citizenship and his right to self-determination.

132. The painful events which are currently taking place in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Syrian Golan Heights and which have been the subject of disinformation by the media are a result of the Zionist invasion of Palestine and the setting up of a racist nation at the expense of its original Arab and Jewish inhabitants. This atrocious terrorism has continued and can be seen in the ousting of the Arabs from their lands, in the seizure of their lands and water, in the harsh treatment meted out to them and in the constant interference in the affairs of their daily lives. We also witness mass punishment, demolition of houses, desecration of Holy Places, closure of schools and universities, tampering with the systems of education, economic subversion and aggression against neighboring Arab countries.

133. Israel has persisted in its aggression and expansionism, its flouting of the resolutions adopted by the Council and other United Nations organs and its disregard of world opinion. For its part, the Council has occasionally failed to adopt deterrent resolutions 4ainst Israel because of the United States veto. Everything considered, Israel would never have perpetrated and continued to perpetrate its actions without the encouragement and economic, political and military support of the United States. To cite only a few examples, in the January 1982 edition of Reader's Digest, Rowland Evans and Robert Novak wrote that during the period June 1967 to June 1980 American aid to Israel amounted to $19 billion.

134. In its issue of 28 March, The New York Times reported that the amount allocated for aid to Israel in the 1983 budget will be $2.5 billion, which is tantamount to giving each Israeli $630, whereas the average income of the individual in some countries of Central America whose regimes are protected by the United States does not exceed $120. Moreover, Israel receives additional aid indirectly through donations to Zionist organizations, tax deductions and so on. On the whole, American officials come under concentrated Zionist pressure and are therefore unable to do anything except buckle under so that they can preserve their personal gains and benefits. The ultimate losers are the American taxpayers and Arab-American relations.

135. Furthermore, the United States seeks to impose its hegemony over the Arab world and -intimidate it by using Israel as a threat. It also uses pressure on some Arab régimes and it has escalated such pressure since the signing of the Camp David accords took place. Moreover, it seeks to set up military bases in

the Arab world and Africa by means of which it could destabilize the Government of any country which should refuse to become a satellite of the United States.

136. Each time an act of aggression by Israel or racial South Africa occurs, the United States claims that it is taking a neutral stance and asks both parties to use restraint. This means that to the United States the aggressor and the victim are the same and receive equal treatment. This is obviously immoral, for one cannot be neutral towards right and wrong alike.

137. All peace-loving States and organizations condemn Israel for its acts of aggression against the Palestinian people-the last condemnation being that of the European Economic Community, issued yesterday, which condemns Israel for its policies in the occupied Palestinian territory.

138. The Council is now requested to act in accordance with the authority entrusted to it by the Charter of the United Nations. We call upon the: Council to condemn Israel and to put an end to the acts of aggression and terrorism which are being continuously perpetrated in the occupied Arab lands. The Council should adopt all necessary measures to uphold the human rights and dignity of the Palestinian people in all the occupied Arab lands by fully applying the Articles under Chapter VII of the Charter to the current occupying authority in view of its continued violations of the Charter and pertinent international conventions.

139. The Council should also ask Israel to put an immediate halt to its repressive measures in the occupied Palestinian and Syrian territories and to revoke its decisions concerning the municipalities of the West Bank.

140. The PRESIDENT (interpretation from French): The next speaker is the representative of Israel, on whom I now call.

141. Mr. LEVIN (Israel): Sir, I should like at the outset to take this opportunity to convey to you our felicitations on your assumption of the presidency of the Council for this month. We have every confidence that you will handle the business of the Council with wisdom and expertise. I should also like to take this opportunity to express to Mrs. Kirkpatrick, the representative of the United States" our appreciation for her great skill and for the exemplary fashion in which she carried out her duties as President of the Council last month.

142. Some time ago the representative of Jordan was warning all and sundry, through the Special Political Committee, on the impending collapse of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. I should like to quote from his letter that appeared in a General Assembly and Security Council document in which he said, inter alia:

"The latest clandestine Israeli desecrations have reached a stage where the: Al-Aqsa Mosque, is, presently in danger of total collapse." [See S/14684]

143. The mosque in question having survived, we are now hearing news of another imaginary doomsday-and in what dramatic terms. Let the Jordanian representative test assured. The Government of Israel will discharge its responsibilities in safeguarding and protecting all religious sites in Jerusalem and else-where, be they Muslim or other. This my Government will do contrary to and in spite of the sordid record of the Jordanian Government, which willfully destroyed some 57 synagogues within the precincts of the Old City of Jerusalem over the 19 years of its unlawful occupation there and made latrines for the Arab Legion out of Jewish tombstones of the ancient Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives. These are acts that have been committed by official organs of the Jordanian régime.

144. Contrary to the preposterous claims of the Jordanian representative, the lines between the Government of Israel and terrorist organizations are very firmly drawn. One would hope that this example were followed by the Government of Jordan, which is now at some pains to prove its close ties with the terrorists of the PLO, whose ranks they decimated in 1970 and 1971 and whom they later inflicted on Lebanon.

145. Today the representative of Jordan, in spite of his visible discomfort, often speaks in the name of PLO boss Arafat-and we know what King Hussein thinks of him.

146. We had occasion to suggest at the opening of these Council meetings several days ago that the United Nations should proclaim the day of the opening, of this debate as an international day of hypocrisy [2334th meeting, para. 98]. The statements we have been hearing over these last several days introduce a note of urgency to that proposal.

147. We have witnessed here a curious procession of self-proclaimed "peace-loving" countries willfully misrepresenting the issues and even admonishing Israel on its desire to work towards an era of understanding between Israelis and Palestinian Arabs. Some of these "peace-loving" countries are actively engaged in brutal acts of massive repression on several con-tinents, while they parade before the Council in perfect step with their self-assumed role as a foreign legion of their Arab allies. All this shedding of crocodile tears is undertaken in a valiant effort to divert attention from their own acts elsewhere.

148. Is it any wonder that the Soviet representatives maintain a stony silence about the on-going genocide in the mountains and valleys of Afghanistan, while the heavy hand of Moscow is felt just across its border in Europe? Viet Nam, Yemen, Libya and non-aligned Cuba have also spoken here, the last one quoting Isaiah, who could not have had but Cuba's bloodied hands in mind, although obviously he could not have foreseen to what end any Government could go in the service of an alien master.

149. I refrain from commenting on the sinister role played by the German "Democratic" Republic in many countries around the world. However, there is no doubt in our minds regarding the genuine solidarity that exists between the German Democratic Republic and its new handmaiden, the terrorist PLO, which has now been graced by the recognition of both Moscow and East Berlin.

150. We have been edified here regarding the I called "Simple ideology" of PLO chief Yasser Arafat, the "non-vicious, living-together" formula, the meaning of which has been made amply clear in the PLO Covenant. Invaluable insight into the plans formulated by the PLO for the Jews of Israel can gained from a look at article 6 of the PLO Covenant. Article 6 explains with disarming frankness that only the "Jews who were living permanently in Palestine until the beginning of the Zionist invasion will be considered Palestinians" [S/11932, annex]. The Zionist "invasion" is, of course, a euphemism for the Balfour Declaration of 2 November 1917.3/

151. That is the essence of the "non-vicious" ideology of Yasser Arafat, represented at the Council the other day by the representative of Jordan.

152. We have in the meantime also witnessed the contrapuntal incitement to hatred and violence in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza District as well as a call to arms in Galilee, in Um El-Fahm and in the Negev, -broadcast nightly over the radio networks of the PL and Syria. That is the primary reason for the violence that has spread in Judea and Samaria during the past few days. The PLO and Jordan have been engaged in strenuous efforts at subversion. Lives of people are to them expendable. But full responsibility for what has been happening lies squarely on the shoulders of the PLO and of Jordan.

153. This effort at pitting Arab against Jew is true to the well-known al-Husseini tradition. It evokes the infamous anti-Jewish pogroms committed by the Hajj Amms in the 1920s and 1930s and will leave only bitterness and confusion in its wake.

154. Beyond the dismal hypocrisy vented at the Council lies a very real danger. Continued hatred, enmity, terrorism and rejection have become the hallmark of many Arab leaders. If this attitude is allowed to persist, if it is encouraged and condoned it will only perpetuate the abundant difficulties and obstruct the peace process.

155. As we had occasion to point out to the Council on 24 March [2334th meeting], the constant provocations to subvert any movement towards peaceful coexistence in the region have never been more apparent than in the recent developments in Judea and Samaria.

156. The Council is being used as an international forum to engender additional tensions and to echo the provocations inside those areas. Lengthy meetings of the Council and their recurrent spillover elsewhere in the Organization cannot change the basic fact that hatred and negative thinking towards Israel will not resolve the issues. It is high time to negotiate, to understand one another and to put peace as the final objective.

157. Arab leaders have in the past committed many errors of judgement, the so-called moderates among them too easily acquiescing to those who preached violence and hatred. This has set back peace and understanding between Israelis and Palestinian Arabs for many years. The Council must allow reason to assert itself. Israel, in any case, will not be deterred from striving for the greater promise of Israeli-Arab understanding and co-operation within the framework of peaceful coexistence.

158. The PRESIDENT (interpretation from French). The representative of the Palestine Liberation Organization has requested to make a statement in reply and I call upon him.

159. Mr. TERZI (Palestine Liberation Organization): Mr. President, at the outset I should like to congratulate you on your assumption of this, may I say, burden of leading the Council through such turbulent moments. We do count on your skill, your sense of justice, your dedication to the principles and moral values of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries. After all, you are a son of liberated Africa and we are proud to see you guiding the deliberations of the Council during the month of April. In addition, I only wish to say that our personal relationship is something that I value very highly

160. In 1948 there were massacres and bloodshed. I should like to read what was quoted in Davar on 9 June 1979 as the testimony of an Israeli soldier who had participated in the occupation of the Palestinian village of Duheima in 1948. He said:

"We killed between 80 and 100 Arabs, women and children. To kill the children they fractured their heads with sticks. There was not one house Without corpses. The men and women of the villages were pushed into houses without food or water. Then the saboteurs came to dynamite the houses. One commander ordered a soldier to bring two women into a house he was about to blow up. Another soldier prided himself upon having raped an Arab woman before shooting her to death. Another Arab woman with her new-born baby was made to clean the place for a couple of days and then they shot her and the baby. Educated and well-mannered Commanders who were considered good guys became base murderers, and this not in the storm battle, but as a method of expulsion and extermination. The fewer the Arabs who remained the better."

161. This was the genesisterror and crime-of the State of Israel. But to go further-was this accidental? Here I shall quote what Dayan said:

"The acts of terror are our vital lymph. They help us maintain a high tension among our population and in the army. In order to have young men go to the Negev, we have to cry out that it is endangered.”

And this was said in the 1950s. This was all reported in the diaries of Israel's Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Moshe Sharett. Mr. Sharett also had some fears and I shall quote what he thought of these criminals acts.

162. On 29 March 1955, Mr. Sharett recorded the following in his diary: "What we succeeded in achieving in 1949 cannot be repeated whenever we desire it" And this was written in 1955:

"Today we must accept our existing frontiers and try to relax the tension with our neighbors to prepare the ground for peace and strengthen our relations with the Powers. Finally, I proved that the occupation of the Gaza Strip will not resolve any security problem, as the refugees will continue to constitute the same trouble and even more so as their hate will be rekindled by the atrocities we shall cause them to suffer during the occupation.

163. Thus, representatives can see that even a Prime Minister of Israel, who was leading the foreign policy of the Zionist movement from 1933 to 1948, and who was then Minister for Foreign Affairs for many years thought in this way about Zionist practices and terrorist acts.

164. It is based on terrorism. Dayan says very explicitly that terrorism was a sine qua non for the projection and implementation of the Zionist plan.

165. We are told that the line is being drawn between the Government and the terrorist organizations [para. 144]. What line? When Meir Kahane himself, a few weeks ago, was dressed in an Israeli army uniform, walked around the streets of Ramallah, picked up young students, took off their pants and left them in their underwear, saying "Go back home", in the cold-it was some five or six degrees centigrade- where is the line being drawn?

166. But let us face the truth as to what Israel is really afraid of- First, it is afraid of Christian, Muslim and Jew living together in a good and friendly fashion. Chairman Arafat made that very clear in his statement before the General Assembly4/-no discrimination whatsoever, there is plenty of ground, we can all live together in peace, he said. Of course, some reference was made to an article of the Covenant of the PLO. But there is one thing that people seem to forget: that Covenant was written by men in 1964, so it is a result of the terrorist acts, not a cause of the struggle that is now continuing. By dealing with the result in isolation from the cause, people seem to miss the message being conveyed.

167. Ariel Sharon, in a conference held at the Institute of Strategic Studies in Tel Aviv on 14 December 1981, summed up what he called the threats to Israeli security. He cited three factors comprising those threats. The first factor, he said, was the national ideology of radical Arab r6gimes. That is a threat to Israel. How he deals with it, I do not know. But coming to the point, the second threat is the PLO. And he says:

"On the challenge presented by the Palestine Liberation Organization, I will say only this: the PLO poses a political threat to the very existence of the State of Israel and remains one of the main obstacles to the resolution of the Palestinian problem on the basis of the Camp David accords."

168. Yes, we are a political threat. We have the support of the world. We have the support of our people. And that is why the Security Council and the General Assembly have supported the PLO. It is a political threat; it finds its constituency, it finds its roots, among the people-the Palestinian people. Thus, we are a political threat. No one can deny that fact-that the PLO draws its power from the Palestinian people and the rest of the world; it is not isolated, as are the Israelis and their friends.

169. Anthony Lewis, today, 1 April, in The New York Times, comes out with certain revelations. He tells us that Professor Milson-this professor-general-is using a device that might have been expected of a Roman proconsul. The Zionists in Tel Aviv are taking us back 2,000 years, and they are playing the role of the Roman proconsul, not of the people. Some reference was made to those who collaborate-the quislings, the collaborators, the village leaguers. Even the Jerusalem Post, which is published in Jerusalem, describes those who are collaborating with the Israeli authorities as follows:

"The leaders chosen for the village leagues were some of the most discredited persons in the West Bank community, even before they agreed to collaborate with Israel, and their adjutants regular ruffians who commanded … plain loathing."

170. If the representative of Tel Aviv, sitting to the extreme right here, thinks that these are the cream of the nation, even the Jerusalem Post does not agree with him. But of course, there is a mentality at work here-the Zionist mentality. And as Anthony Lewis tells us, this is also the true Commentary mind–Commentary is the magazine that circulates throughout the United States forming the opinion of certain enlightened people. But I must state very clearly: Anthony Lewis ends his article with a very important, statement. The Council will recall that Shaka'a had his legs blown off by terrorists-God knows who they were-who have not yet been apprehended or brought to trial. An Israeli soldier went to him and said, "You are only half a man,"-because he lost his legs as a result of one of those criminal acts by the occupying

Power. And Shaka'a said-and I think this is a motto that we must respect, and  I honor it-"I may have lost my legs, but you have lost your mind."

171. We are dealing with maniacs heremegalomaniacs. And they are wreaking havoc in the area What did I get in the mail today? I got a letter addressed to the PLO from someone called the National Membership Chairman, Zionist Organization of America. Now all that he says is of some relevance here, but what is much more relevant for me is that this Zionist Organization of America is bringing the complex-the psychology-of Masada to the Jewish youth of America. I only hope that American Jewish youth will not be driven into a Masada complex, or a Bar Kochba complex, because that would be disastrous for the United States as well as for the Middle East. These things are 2,000 years old. To live in a state of siege, commit crimes against oneself-suicide-that is the Masada complex, that is the Bar Kochba complex. Please, we are about to be liberated from those complexes.

172. But a word to the Council: we have been sitting here for a long, long time, while people are being killed. What is the Council about to do to bring to an end these crimes committed against the civilian population? That should be our concern; we are not here to deal with ideologies. We are not here to defend what was done in the past or to condemn what was done. The Council is faced here with an immediate responsibility and, because of the position of some particular permanent members, the work the Council should be carrying out is being obstructed.

173. I shall have the opportunity at a later stage to show that the 57 so-called synagogues in the Old City of Jerusalem were not destroyed by any Arab: they were destroyed by a clear order from the Zionist occupation forces, since June 1967, in order to make room for a parking lot outside the area.

The meeting rose at 7.20 p.m.

____________________

NOTES

1/ United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 75, No. 973, p. 287.

2/ Official Records of the General Assembly, Thirty-sixth Session, Supplement No. 35 (A/36/35), sect. V.

3/ Ibid., Second Session, Supplement No. 11, vol. II, annex 19.

4/ Ibid., Twenty-ninth Session, Plenary Meetings, 2282nd meeting.