A/31/PV.71 General Assembly

Our delegation would like to take this opportunity to reaffirm the position of principle of the Government of the Mongolian People's Republic on the question of Palestine, at this stage of its development. As the Assembly knows, the question of Palestine is one of the main elements of the Middle East problem. Hence, it is only natural that the international community is very concerned at the lengthy delay in solving that question, for it is the solution of the question of Palestine that will to a large extent determine whether a comprehensive political settlement can be reached in the Middle East crisis, which is creating an explosive situation in that part of the world. 2. It must be recognized that in discharging its main responsibility-that is, the responsibility for the main- tenance of international peace and the security of the peoples-the United Nations has exerted great efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East. Since it was established, the United Nations has adopted more than 180 decisions and resolutions on the question of Palestine alone. 3. Among those decisions and resolutions, of special importance are the four resolutions adopted by the General Assembly at its twenty-ninth and thirtieth sessions. I am referring to resolutions 3236 (XXIX), 3237 (XXIX), 3375 (XXX) and 3376 (XXX). TIlose resolutions confirm with the utmost clarity the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, national indepen- dence and sovereignty. They also confirm the official international legal recognition of the Palestine Liberation Organization {PLOj as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. 4. I agree with the Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, Thursday, 18 November 1976, . at 3.35 p.m, NEW YORK the representative of Senegal, who has quite rightly noted in his statement at the 66th meeting that with the adoption of the resolutions to which I have referred the United Nations chose a qualitatively new approach in the search for a positive solution to the Palestinian problem. Any attempts to consider only the humanitarian aspects of the question of Palestine-in other words, to consider it as a refugee problem-have clearly proved unfounded. 5. No less importance attaches to the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, which was established last year. That Committee was empowered to consider and recommend to the General Assembly a programme of action designed to enable the Palestinian people to exercise the rights recognized in the relevant General Assembly resolution and to take into account, in the formulation of its recommendations, all the powers which the Charter accords to the principal United Nations organs. 6. It can be said that the Committee has successfully begun its work. 7. On the whole, our delegation supports the report of the Committee containing its recommendations, its funda- mental considerations and guiding principles. We are de- lighted to note that the international authority of the PLO is growing daily. The PLO has joined a number of international organizations and is taking an active part in the work of various United Nations organs as well as in the work of many international conferences. 8. As it expresses the will of its people, the PLO is worthily representing that people in international affairs. Despite the serious efforts of the United Nations and peace-loving forces to bring about a speedy solution of the Palestinian question, it remains unresolved. Hence the legitimate question as to why a just solution to the problem of Palestine has not yet been found. 9. We believe that the main reason lies in Israel's aggressive policy, which is supported by certain imperialist· States. Israel continues to flout United Nations decisions and world public opinion. Israel's refusal to co-operate with the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People is new evidence of the fact that Israel is still working against the joint efforts of States and Members of the United Nations and the will of the international community and is thus trying to prevent the Palestinian people from exercising their inalienable rights to self- determination and national independence. 10. Our approach to the question of Palestine is deter- mined by the fundamental principles of the foreign policy of my country, in particular the principle of respect for the 11. Summing up the position of the Government of the MongolianPeople's Republic on the Middle East problem at this session, our Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Duger- suren, has stated: '''The Mongolian People's Republic continues to hold the view that the key to the solution of the Middle East problem lies in the unconditional withdrawal of Israeli troops from all the Arab territories occupied in 1967, the satisfaction of the legitimate national rights of the Arab people of Palestine, including their right to establish their own State, and respect for the right of all the States of the region to an independent existence." f 16th meeting, para. 213./ 12. Our delegation considers that all the questions relating to the Middle East problem must be settled within the framework of the special international machinery. I am referring to the Geneva Peace Conference on the Middle East. All parties directly involved in the conflict, including the PLO, must participate in that Conference on an equal footing. 13. And here I should like to note the significance of the new Soviet proposal concerning a Middle East settlement and the Geneva Peace Conference fAI311257/, which is most timely and will undoubtedly have a positive effect on the solution of this intricate problem. 14r In conclusion I should like to express the hope that the United Nations will take the most effective measures for the implementation of its resolutions in order to ensure the exercise of the inalienable right of the Arab people of Palestine to an independent existence.

The United Nations has been discussing, year in and year out, the situation of Palestine and the Middle East. But the question has thus far remained unsolved, and to date the .situationthere remains turbulent. 16. The Palestine question is an integral part of the whole Middle East question. We have repeatedly pointed out that the essence of the Palestine and the whole Middle East question lies in Israeli Zionist aggression and the rivalry etween the two super-Powers, the Soviet Union and the nited States, for hegemony in the Middle East versus the struggle of the Palestinian and other Arab peoples against ggression and hegemonism. 17. The root-cause of the non-settlement of this question ver a long period lies in the super-Power expansion and ivalry there. This has been borne out even more clearly by e developments in recent years. The emergence of Israeli ionism in the Middle East is in itself a result of the perialist policies of aggression and expansion. Over a long riod, rampant Israeli zionism has been committing all inds of evils in the Middle East and in carrying out 18. The "step-by-step solution" put forward by one super-Power is in effect a standstill, an indefinite procras- tination and a sustained stalemate. The convening of the Geneva Conference for "a comprehensive solution'? as advertised by the other super-Power is an even more demagogic step designed to pull the wool over the eyes of the public as a smoke-screen for its own further meddling. Far from seeking a genuine solution of the Middle East and Palestinian question, each of the super-Powers tries to use the stalemate and turbulence to expand its own sphere of influence and overwhelm the other so as to become the sole dominating Power in the Middle East. 19. What merits particular attention is that the super- Power which styles itself the "natural ally" of the Arab people has over the past year brazenly stepped up its infiltration and expansion in the Middle East so as to retrieve its position of decline by taking advantage of the busy involvement of the other super-Power in its internal affairs. On the one hand, it sends a steady flow of manpower to Israel, which Israel needs badly for its expansion and aggression, and it has been stepping up its flirtation with Israel, expanding the contacts and "dia- logue" between the two parties from non-governmental to official level in a brazen effort to help Israeli zionism extricate itself from its predicament. On the other hand, it has been desperately sowing discord and creating division among the Arab countries and between Palestine and the Arab countries in an attempt to muddy the waters. 20. At one time it served as a munitions dealer by supplying others with a few weapons in the name of "support"; at another, it used other pretexts to stop the supply of arms and carry out blackmail by taking advantage of others' difficulties. It woos party A against party Bone day and woos party B against party A the next day, and even spares no effort to meddle brazenly in the internal affairs of Arab countries, inciting the Arabs to fight against each other so as to exploit the situation for its own purpose of control. 21. Furthermore, it repeatedly plotted open schemes of armed subversion in an attempt to overthrow the lawful Governments of Arab States which adhered to the stand of opposing colonialism, imperialism and hegemonism. This super-Power has made most revealing performances of manoeuvring in a thousand and one ways, and its crimes are 22. Super-Power aggression, expansion and rivalry in the Middle East have increasingly aroused the Palestinian and other Arab peoples to more vigorous struggles against aggression and hegemonism. Breaking through the control, obstruction and sabotage by the super-Powers, the coura- geous Palestinian and other Arab peoples won a great victory in the October Middle East war against Israeli aggression. 23. Early this year, driven beyond their forbearance, the Egyptian Government and people determinedly abrogated the so-called Treaty of Friendship and Co-operation they had concluded with a auper-Power to defend their national sovereignty and dignity and free themselves from the yoke of this super-Power, thus setting a brilliant example for the people of the third world in their struggle against hege- monism. 24. The above historic events reflected the trend of the Arab world linking up its struggle against Israeli zionism ever more closely with that against super-Power hege- monism. This is an important hallmark of the steady deepening of the struggle of the Palestinian and other Arab peoples against aggression and hegemonism as well as the daily awakening of the great Arab people. 25. The experience of the struggle of the Palestinian and other Arab peoples shows ever more clearly that the struggle to regain the Palestinian people's national rights and recover the lost Arab territories is closely linked with the struggle against super-Power aggression and inter- vention, and that without the struggle against super-Power hegemonism it will be difficult to recoverthe lost territories and regain the national rights, there will be no guarantees for the Arab national liberation, and there can be no settlement of the question of Palestine and the Middle East. 26. Over the years, as a result of manipulation and obstruction by the super-Powers, many resolutions adopted r" the United Nations on the question of Palestine and the l\1iddle East, including the well-known Security Council resolution 242 (1967), have described the question of the restoration of the Palestinian people's national rights as a question of refugees. This is most unfair. We have always been opposed to it and will continue to oppose it. Urged by the numerous third-world countries, the United Nations General Assembly finally adopted by an overwhelming majority at its twenty-ninth and thirtieth sessions, resolu- tions reaffirming the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, national independence and sovereignty without external interference and recognizing their right to regain their national rightsby all means.This was the result of the Palestinian and other Arab peoples' persevering in protracted valiant struggles in close unity. This shows that the Palestinian national liberation movement is a just cause 27. In the fmal analysis, the settlement of the question of Palestine and the whole Middle East question cannot rely on a part of a United Nations resolution; it can be realized only by relying on the Palestinian and other Arab peoples' firmly removing super-Power meddling and intervention and persevering in unity and unremitting struggles with the support of the people throughout the world. What Israeli zionism and the super-Powers fear' most is the awakening and unity of the people. We are glad to see the constant rising of the political consciousness of the Arab countries and peoples and the Palestinian people in their struggle against Israeli zionism and super-Power hegemonism, Taking the over-all interests to heart, they are making all efforts to eliminate gradually the temporary di'ferences among them and further to enhance militant Arab unity. This also represents the general trend and popular feeling of the Arab world. 28. Under the leadership of Chairman Hua Kuo-feng, the Chinese Government and people are carrying out Chairman Mao's behests and are determined to implement unswerv- ingly Chairman Mao's revolutionary line and policy in foreign affairs. We will, as always, firmly support the Palestinian and other Arab peoples in their just struggle against Israeli zionismand super-Power hegemonism and for the recovery of the lost territories and the restoration of their national rights. We sternly condemn the Israeli zionist aggression and expansion and resolutely oppose the super- Powers' rivalry for hegemony in the Middle East and all their scheming activities of aggression, control, intervention and subversion. We have always held that Israel must withdraw from all the occupied Arab territories, and that the national rights of the Palestinian people must be regained. Based on the above position, the Chinese delega- tion voted in favour of General Assembly resolutions 3236 (XXIX) and 3376 (XXX). Accordingly, we are also in favour of the contents of the report of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People [A/31/35/ that reaffirm or conform to the above two resolutions. We are firmly convinced that whatever conspiratorial schemes and perverse acts the super-Powers and the Israeli aggressors may resort to, the Palestinian and all other Arab peoples, bearing in mind the lofty goal of opposing zionism and hegemonism, will heighten their vigilance, strengthen their unity, persevere in their struggle, ceaselessly surmount all the hardships and obstacles on their road of advance and finally accomplish their sacred cause of natlonal Hberatlon.

While Mexico, for geographical reasons, is removed from the Middle East tragedy-and in particular, from the Palestinian problem-we deem it our duty to state our views on this question since it is one that gravely jeopardizes world peace. 36. We should like to take this opportunity to place on record our views on the report of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian people, since we consider that this is an effort worthy of being analysed in detail. Mexico has serious reservations in regard to some of the measures recommended in that document, although, with some limitations, we support the recom- mendations contained in part two, sectionIll, paragraphs 71 and 72, regarding the right to self-determination, national independence and sovereignty, particularly as we recognize what is stated in that document, namely that: 31..~ Accordingly the solution to the problem we are deaUng with must have as its aim not only the maintenance of peace in the area but the maintenance of peace with justice, as this concept has been defined in various resolutions oh the item which have been adopted both by the SecurityCouncil and by the General Assembly. 32. We seek here means to apply the principle of the equality of rights and the self-determmation of peoples enshrined in Article 1, paragraph 2, of the Charter and in innumerable United Nations pronouncements. Among those a prominent place is held by resolution 2625 (XXV), entitled "Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation among States in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations". That hasalways beenfor Mexico the corner-stone of its foreign policy and, in our opinion, It contains the principle of greatest and most direct application for the item under consideration, that is, the question of Palestine. 37. Another situation which aggravates and complicates the problem is the violation of human rights in the territories occupied in the 1967 war. Therefore we consider it to be not only important but timely to mention expressly the relevance of the consensus statement of 11 November last, read out by the President of the Security Council 33. Nevertheless, just as one cannot argue the obligation to recognize the nationalidentity of the Palestinian people, whose interests are represented by the PLO in accordance with resolution3210 (XXIX), andjust as it is urgent to find means to enable that people to! exercise its right to self-determination so as to constitute itselfinto a sovereign State with its own territory, it is likewise indispensable that that process be carried out with strict respect for the territorial integrity and politicalindependence of the States in the region on the basis of the decisions adopted by this Organization, not forgetting resolution 181 (11) of 29 No- vember 1947, whereby the General Assembly agreed on a plan for the partitioning of Palestine into two independent and sovereign States, one Jewish a'" ~ the other Arab. regarding the item "The situation in the occupied Arab territories" which is reproduced on pages 26 and 27 of the record issued provisionally under the symbol S/PV.1969.t 38. To summarize the foregoing: on 1 March 1976, the Secretary for External Relations of Mexico Mr. Alfonso Garcfa Robles, on the occasion of the visit of the Foreign Minister of Israel to our country said: 34. The need to fmd viable solutions became manifest when the representative of Senegal, Mr. Medoune F9U, Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, which was established in accordance with resolution 3376 (XXX) of the General Assembly, indicated in a part of his speech at the beginning of this debate: 39. The delegation of Mexico will consider any draft resolution which includes the principles and guidelines that we have referred to and that will govern the attitude Mexico will take in due course in regard to such drafts. "The State of Israel is a reality of our time and its existence cannot be denied. "We know well that on both sides it is Widely held that coexistence between Jews and Arabs is impossible. Those who support such a contention Impllcitly argue that the problem of the Middle East can be resolved only by totally and defmitively eliminating one or other of the two parties to the dispute." [66th meeting, paras. 36 and37./ 40. Mr. EL I! ~,PSl ,1'1 (Mauritania) (interpretatior from French): I should like to begin this brief statement by paying my delegation's tribute to the Committee estab- lished last year, the goal of whichwas to ensure the exercise of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people. Our 35. Mexico considers, furthermore, that, within the con- text of the problem of Palestine, the principle that armed "The question of Palestine is at the heart of the Middle East problem, and, consequently, the Committee stresses its belief that no solution in the Middle East can be envisaged which does not fully take into account the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people." [A/31/35, para. 59/ "... we believe that the principle of self-determination is also applicable to the Palestinian people, which, as did the Jewish people in the past, aspires to establish a national home by constituting itself as a State; but in the same way we believe that a stable peace in the Middle East requires that the right of each of the States of the region, including of course Israel, to live in peace and security be ensured. Guaranteeing this right in turn requires that each State recognize the right of the others to their independent, peaceful and secure existence". 41. The debate which the General Assembly has decided this year also to devote to the question of Palestine does not have as its sole objective-cas some have tried to make out-containing passions and arousing hopes in a region in which international peace and security rest on a constantly threatened basis. it is designed, above all, to draw the attention of the international community to the serious situation that still prevails in the Middle East and that is itself the result of the policy of intimidation and aggression of the Zionist authorities in Tel Aviv. 42. The Palestinian problem, although as old as our Organization, has in recent years seen profound changes which already indicate the role which the United Nations intends to play in the future in settling this tragedy that has been a source of such concern to the international community. 43. The General Assembly,' in adopting its resolution 3375 (XXX) of 10 November 1975, which invites the PLO "to participate in all efforts, deliberations and conferences on the Middle East which are held under the auspices of the United Nations", was not only recognizing the represen- tative character of the PLO in this decision but also intended, by that act of faith, to restore their lawful rights to the Palestinian people. The objective that the General Assembly assigned itself in this way was to lead it to adopt at the same session resolution 3376 (XXX),establishing the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. 44. We know that the mandate entrusted to that Com- mittee under the relevant provisions of resolution 3376 (XXX) was to study the aspects of the question of Palestine and to report to the General Assembly at its thirty-first session for a decision. 45. The debate which our Assembly is devoting this year to the question of Palestine, has, therefore, in all respects a special importance and significance. This debate is impor- tant and significant because this is one of the few times since 1947, when the Middle East crisis began, that our Organization has studied the crisis in a detailed and comprehensive manner and has tried to determine waysand means leading to a resolution. 46. It is not that during this period that the United Nations has not been considering the question; nor is it that our Organization has failed to give to this question its due importance. But during the 30-year period of the Middle East crisis, despite many attempts at mediation, the United Nations has not been able to reach a solution, mainly because the fundamental element which underlies this crisis has not been taken into consideration. It is also because the United Nations bodies responsible for ensuring inter- national peace and security often preferred to neglect the essential in favour of the trivial. Finally,it is because in the wild Zionist propaganda the nature and true dimensions of the problem have been presented in such a way as to benefit only the invaderand to deceive international public opinion. 48. Throughout those 30 years some people subject to colonial domination have recovered their independence and their positive and determined contribution has helped to re-establish truth and justice in our Organization. Nations once deceived by Zionist propaganda have been, able throughout this period to develop an objective realization of the true dimensions of the tragedy of the Palestinian people. It is the coming together of all those old and new forces in our Organization that has caused the profound and positive changes I have just referred to and, conse- quently, the establishment of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. 49. While the United Nations has restored some of the rights of the Palestinian people to it by enabling its representatives to participate in the debates in our As- sembly, like all other representatives, the fundamental objective t.hat we have set ourselves is still far from being attained. That objective was defined by the General Assembly in its resolution 3236 (XXIX)as follows: "1. Reaffirms the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people ... including: (a) the right to self-determination without external interference; (h) the right to national independenceand sovereignty; "2. Reaffirms also the inalienable right of the Pales- tinians to return to their homes and property from which they have been displaced and uprooted ...". SO. Representatives will agree that several resolutionshave already been adopted on the subject of the Middle East, some almost identical with resolution 3236 (XXIX). The report of the Committee notes 188 resolutions and deci- sions adopted, all of which deal directly or indirectly with various aspects of the question before us. The position of the General Assembly, which is the most representative body of the United Nations, is today too clear to permit of any doubt. There isno resolution of this Assembly that has not appealed to good sense and reason. 51. But the Zionists have always preferred' to adopt an attitude of scorn, treating the United Nations as a biased body. In reply to all its resolutions, the Zionists have continued to establish new settlements in the occupied Arab territories, in violation of the provisions of article 49 of the fourth Geneva Convention of 12 AUgust 19492 and contrary to the resolution adopted by many United Nations bodies. 52. By defiance after defiance, Israel has continued to consolidate its position in Palestine and in the occupied 2 Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949. 53. It is necessary to know today whether the United Nations is going to continue to accept this kit accompli and whether, after having recognized the most inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, it is going to allow that people to continue to be deprived of its homeland and to continue to live in the most complete destitution. 54. The General Assembly has before it the report of the Committee which was established to recommend the most appropriate solutions for the settlement of the Palestinian problem, which has caused so much suffering, mourning and misfortune. 55. In the absence of a decision by the Security Council to preserve peace and security in the \1iddle East, the General Assembly has the right, I would even say the obligation, to ensure that the decisions of the United Nations are implemented in accordance with the provisions of the Charter. 56. Unless such a decision is taken by our Organization, it is not only the prestige of the United Nations that will be affected, but also international peace and security, which might be compromised once and for all.

The crisis in the Middle East has been burdening international relations for a number of years and constitutes a threat to peace and security not only in the region but also in the world at large. The core of the problem, on which a just solution of the crisis depends to a great extent, is the question of Palestine. The vast majority of the States Members of the United Nations have supported the Palestinian people in its demand to realize its ~_i legitimate rights. These States recognized a long time ago that the Palestiniar people should exercise the same rights as they themselves enjoy, proceeding, in this regard, from a realization of the need to respect the principles on which our Organization is based. 58. At its thirtieth session, the General Assembly estab- lished the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. The members of the Committee, consisting of representatives of countries . situated in various parts of the world, adhering to different ideologies and having different political orientations, invited all other countries to participate in the Committee's work. Some countries that were not members of the Committee did also participate in its work. 59. It is significant that the PLO also participated in the work of the Committee in the capacity of an active observer. By its constructive proposals and realistic ap- •proach to the solution of the question of Palestine, the PLO again asserted itself as an organization imbued with a high degree of statesmanllke responsibility. 60. Israel, as we all know, again boycotted the work of a United Nations body founded for the purpose of helping to find a solution to the Middle East crisis. Israel's attitude is a logical expression of its policy of continued illegal occupa- tion of Arab territories and denial of the right of the Palestinian people. It is unacceptable that Israel should 61. As the question of Palestine had not been considered in its entirety, the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People assumed the complex and responsible task of examining all its aspects, to define and elaborate the legitimate and inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, and to submit proposals likely to contribute to their realization. The work and report of the Committee are based on the Charter of the United Nations, on numerous General Assembly and Security Council resolutions, cm the provisions of international law and on the current state of relations in the Middle East. The report, with its recommendations, is a product of the broadest consensus achieved in the Committee. By defining all the elements of the question of Palestine and assigning to that question its place in a lasting and just solution of the Middle East crisis, the report, among other things, may make a significant contribution to future efforts towards establishing peace in the Middle East. 62. Certain principles for the just solution of the question of Palestine have been reaffirmed by almost the whole international community on many occasions. One of the fundamental principles-which found its confirmation, above all, in the Charter of the United Nations-is that of the obligation to refrain from the occupation of the territories of other peoples. There can be no good or democratic occupation, nor can occupation be justified by any reasons. Freedom and independence cannot be replaced by anything, and the best way of protecting one's own freedom, is to respect the freedom of other peoples. Yugoslavia firmly supports the demand of the vast majority of Members of our Organization that Israel should with- draw from all the Arab territories occupied since 5 June 1967. 63. The right of Palestinians to return to their homeland has been recognized in many resolutions adopted by the Security Council and the General Assembly. At its 1969th meeting, held on 11 November, the Security Council unanimously confirmed this right in the statement read out by the President of the Council, by reaffirming: "... its call upon the Government of Israel to ensure the safety, welfare and security of the inhabitants of the territories and to facilitate the return of those inhabitants who have fled the areas since the outbreak of hostilities". 64. In this connexion we emphasize the necessity of consistently implementing Security Council resolution 237 (I967), calling for the return of displaced persons to the territories occupied in June 1967. 1hose persons should be enabled to return as soon as possible and their return should not be subjected to any other conditions. We also deem it indispensable that, in co-operation with the United Nations, the States directly involved and the PLO should start preparations for the creation of appropriate conditions and should find adequate solutions regarding the return of the remaining refugees. 66. Military occupation resulting from armed aggression does not confer any right of sovereignty over the occupied territory, nor does it give the occupier the right to dispose of that territory on his own or anyone else's behalf. Israel must put a stop immediately to the unlawful practice of establishing new settlements in the occupied territories; it should remove the settlements already founded and should cease displacing the Palestinian population and oppressing it. The planned establishment of 29 new settlements in 1977 is indicative of Israel's annexationist intentions, and this is certainly not conducive to peace, but makes peace seem even further removed and unreal. Paragraph 3 of the aforementioned statement read by the President of the Security Council on 11 November 1976. amounts to a unanimous condemnation of such behaviour. 67. As all the conditions necessary for establishing a just and lasting peace in the Middle East would not be fulfilled even if the above recommendations were implemented, my delegation supports the position contained in para- graph 72 (g) of the Committee's recommendations [see A/31/35J to the effect that all the countries directly concerned, including an independent Palestinian State, should take joint action-on an equal footing and on the basis of the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations-for the solution of all outstanding problems. We believe that only within that framework can the sover- eignty, territorial integrity and independence of all the countries in the region be guaranteed on a lasting and stable basis and that only in this way can the borders of the States of the region be secure. 68. My delegation regrets that the Security Council missed the opportunity to endorse the Committee's report during its meeting in June. There is no doubt that postponement of the achievement of the inalienable national rights of the Palestinian people cannot contribute to the cause of peace in the Middle East. The Security Council should not fail to take firm action to safeguard peace and security, this being its basic function and duty. 69. The just struggle of the Palestinian people for the realization of its inalienable legitimate national rights, including the right to establish its own independent Palestinian State, met with the broadest support at the Fifth Conference of Heads of State or Government of Non-Aligned Countries, held in Colombo in August. By its position the Fifth Conference confirmed the view prevailing in the United Nations and more widely also that, without a just solution of the question of Palesune, there can be no solution of the crisis in the Middle East, nor a lasting and stable peace, nor security for all the countries in the region and beyond. My delegation is convinced that an optimum platform for a just solution of the question of Palestine and the Middle East crisis as a whole was laid down in the 70. My delegation believes that the General Assembly should endorse the report of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, including the recommendations, and call for their imple- mentation in the most appropriate way.

The Palestinian problem represents a serious challenge to the United Nations. Never before has it been so imperative for this august body to show that it has the capability and political maturity to resolve a problem that has grown more complex over the years. 72. We have known of tragedies in various parts of the world that are the direct consequences of the unfortunate partition of States, but, surely, the Palestinian problem must be one of the most serious tragedies of our times. For almost 30 years that problem has eluded any solution and has, instead, brought in its wake four disastrous wars in the Middle East. It has inflicted sufferings on the Palestinian people, which have been uprooted from their homes and deprived of their inalienable rights and properties. It is time that they be allowed to return home and lead a normal life once again. 73. In the past, humanitarian considerations have indeed dictated our deliberations on the Palestinian question. This question has to a large extent evoked in us feelings of helplessness, since we know full well that humanitarian assistance given through United Nations agencies could only give temporary relief to the many destitute' and displaced persons from Palestine. But the imperative of finding an early solution to the problem must surely convince us that we must now give concrete expression to our moral and humanitarian concern by moving on to take up the urgent task of helping the Palestinians to obtain their inalienable rights to return to their homes and properties and to achieve self-determination, national independence and sovereignty. Humanitarian assistance should not be a substitute for a viable and just solution based on the recognition of their inalienable rights. 74. In this context, my delegation derives great satis- faction from the knowledge that the Palestinian problem 84. Hungary is a member of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, and in that capacity it participated in the consensus reached on the report of the Committee. Its considerations and recommendations, based on former United Nations resolu- tions, are positive contributions to the efforts to achieve a peaceful settlement of the problem in the Middle East. We support and fully endorse those recommendations. 85. Everyone may be assured that the work of the Committee was not and is not directed against any country. In its deliberations the Committee proceeded from the basic conviction that the question of Palestinc-jhe imple- mentation of the legitimate and inalienable right of the Palestinian people to sovereign national existence, to a homeland and to return thereto-is the corner-stone of any possible just and lasting settlement of the conflict in the Middle East, and to solve it must therefore be the common goal of the peace-loving countries. All Member States have been invited to express their views on the possible ways and means of achieving a solution. During the discussion in the Committee we were always aware of the high level of integrity, morality and responsibility of the participants. The report of the Committee is a reflection of that constructive spirit. 86. in our opinion the report is an extremely important, well-balanced and realistic document. We wish to express our sincere hope that the General Assembly will endorse the recommendations in the report. That would serve the interests of the Palestinian people and those of the whole region of the Middle East as well as of peace and security in general. 87. Hungary has always supported the just struggle of the Palestinian people and its genuine liberation movement. We are with the Palestinian people in its fight for an indepen- dent State of its own. We feel that the participation of the PLO on an equal footing with other parties is really indispensable in any efforts, deliberations or conferences with regard to the Middle East. 88. In conclusion I should like to express our satisfaction that the Palestinian question is finally beginning to occupy its proper place in the forums of the United Nations concerned with finding a political settlement for the conflict in the Middle East, which obviously reflects the fact that there is no alternative to this. 89. While recognizing the central role of the rights of the Palestinian people in the search for an over-all settlement of the Middle East situation, my Government wishes to reiterate its position that a just and lasting peace in that region can be achieved only by a comprehensive political

The United Nations has been involved in the problem of Palestine almost since the first days of its existence. Over the years, however, the efforts to find a viable solution have run into stiff opposition from well-known circles and forces. 91. The stagnation of this problem does not make it any less urgent. This acute political issue touches upon the core of one of the fundamental principles of the United Nations-that of the inalienable right of peoples to self- determination and independence. At the same time it is directly related to the main function of the United Nations as an instrument for the maintenance and strengthening of international peace and security. 92. When the question of Palestine is viewed through the prism of those two aspects its essence becomes crystal-clear, and it warrants an early solution. 93. What is at stake in this case is the exercise of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, who are entitled, like all other peoples of the world, to live in freedom, independence and peace. Israel, bent on its policies of aggression and expansion at the expense of the neigh- bouring Arab countries, trampled upon these rights of the Palestinian people and to this very day adamantly refuses to recognize that the Palestinians are entitled to a homeland of their own, to set up their own State and to live as an independent nation in the Middle East. 94. Needless to say, the United Nations itself has matured with the consideration of all asp-ects of this question. While earlier the prevailing view was that the question of Palestine was primarily one of a humanitarian character about the situation of the refugees-and this view was advanced by those who wished to distort and exaggerate the real nature of the problem-In the more recent past the overwhelming majority of Member States have succeeded in considering the whole issue in a comprehensive manner and in putting it into its proper political perspective. As a matter of fact, the Palestinian problem has never ceased to be a political problem created by the aggressive and expansionist policies of Israel's ruling circles with the active support and assistance of certain Western Powers. 95. This was eloquently manifested by the debate on Palestine at the twenty-ninth and thirtieth sessions of the General Assembly, when the question was first discussed comprehensively and with the active participation of the PLO. 96. The historic resolutions adopted at those scssions- namely, 3236 (XXIX) and 3237 (XXIX), reaffirmed a year later by 3376 (XXX) and 3375 (XXX)-provided the frame- work for the orientation of practical actions on the ---- -- ~~_.- (a) The right to self-determination without external interference; rh) The right to national independence and sever- eignty".[Reso!ution 3236 (XXIX), para. 1./ 103. The Fifth Conference of Heads of State or Govern- ment of Non-Aligned Countries also acknowledged the fact that, because the Palestinian question remains unsolved, the Middle East situation continues to pose a grave threat to international peace and security. .They also recognized the right of the PLO to participate in .the sessions and the work of 'the General Assembly in the capacity of observer. 104. The general debate during. the current session and this particular debate on the question of Palestine have stressed the gravity of the situation in that area resulting from the lack of any progress towards a comprehensive solution of the problem. The reasons for the continuing deadlock, however, are quite obvious. 97. This year alone the Security Council has twice discussed the question of Palestine-last January, within the context of a comprehensive analysis of all aspects of the Middle East crisis, and last June, when the Council discussed the report of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. Unlike the General Assembly, the Council failed to take a decision because of the United States veto. 105. Israel is still refusing stubbornly to recognize the rights of the Palestinian people and its sole legitimate representative, the Palestine Liberation Organization. Israel, with the active support, protection and encouragement of its allies, continues to sabotage the decisions of the Security Council and the General Assembly on the Middle East. What is more, Israel continues its policies of aggression and expansion. By arbitrary legislative and administrative acts it , is trying to annex permanently large portions of the Arab territories it seized by force in 1967. It is no accident that this year alone the Security Council has discussed on three different occasions the situation in the Israeli-occupied Arab territories. The latest discussion was only this month, when there was a resounding condemnation of Israel in the authorized statement made by the President at the Coun- cil's 1969th meeting. In that statement a unanimous Council expressed: 98. During the current year we have had detailed con- sideration of the problem in the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, which held a number of meetings in the first half of the year and reported to the Security Council. The Committee, never in doubt as to the rights of the Palestinians, put forward a number of specific proposals with the aim of helping the Palestinians to exercise their rights. The overwhelming majority of Member States approved the report of the Committee, for it constitutes a further step in the efforts to restore the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people. 99. These deliberations and the relevant decisions con- firmed two obvious facts. First, the United Nations, with the conspicuous exception of Israel and its protectors only, has pronounced itself overwhelminglyin favour of restoring the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people. The United Nations has, in fact, told Israel and its protectors that those rights are not negotiable. Secondly, the recognition of the political nature of the question of Palestine and the recognition of the growing international prestige of the PLO have focused attention on the decisive role which the Palestinians are destined to play in the settlement of the Middle East crisis. 100. World public opinion has long acknowledged the fact that the Palestine question underlies the whole Middle East crisis. The exercise by the Arab people of Palestine of their inalienable rights and the settlement of the Palestine question are key elements in the Middle East conflict. If those two elements are not resolved the conflict will remain, and so will the explosive source of tension in that area, which poses a serious threat to international peace and security. 101. The General Assembly has recognized this situation. In its resolution 3236 (XXIX) it stipulated that the Palestinian people was a principal party in the estab- lishment of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East. "... no solution in the Middle East can be envisaged which does not fully take into account the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people." [A/31/35, para. 59./ "... its grave anxiety and concern over the present serious situation in the occupied Arab territories as a result of the continued Israeli occupation". 106. As a result of this Israeli-created situation, the Arab people of Palestine have gone through untold suffering and deprivation. Rampant Israeli actions, arbitrariness, brutal measures, the sheer force of military aggression and occupation have been deployed against the Palestinians on a growing scale and with increasing intensity. One and a half million Palestinians have been driven from their lands by the Israeli war machine. Hundreds of thousands of people have been reduced to total destitution, stripped of their rights and compelled to wander about as exiles in various countries while their homeland and its natural resources have been plundered and systematically depleted by Israel. The once-flourishing towns and villages of the Palestinians have been turned into rubble. The Israeli occupiers, who do not shy from using the inhuman and universally denounced methods of the Nazis, are pursuing a policy of State-run terrorism against the Palestinians. Israel is waging a massive war of annihilation against the people of Palestine because they dared to raise their voice and demand their inalienable and legitimate rights to self-determlnauon and indepen- dence. This seems to be the ultimate crime in the eyes of 108. Actually, it becomes increasingly evident that a piecemeal and step-by-step approach will only lead to a solution that will be entirely in the interest of Israel's expansionist policies. Egypt, Syria and Jordan will not get back all their territories; Lebanon will be kept in a constant state of turmoil; and the people of Palestine will not enjoy genuine self-determination, nor will their legitimate rights be satisfied. 109. It is now only too clear that the complex problem of the Middle East cannot be resolved unless all of its aspects are resolved. Can there really be a just and lasting solution if the question of the Arab territories occupied by Israel in 1967 alone is discussed or made the subject of partial agreements that produce half-measures and ignore the core of the problem? 110. Yet there is a solution, the merits of which are universally recognized, even by Israel and its allies, though they merely pay lip service to it. 111. A settlement in the Middle East should be considered in a comprehensive manner through meaningful negotia- tions, which could take place at the Geneva Peace Con- ference, as provided in the proposal made by the USSR [A/31/257J. This proposal in fact contemplates the resumption of the Geneva Conference with a specific agenda containing four items: withdrawal of Israeli troops from all the Arab territories occupied in 1967; realization of the inalienable rights of the Arab people of Palestine, including their light to self-determination and the establish- ment of their own State; preservation of the right to an independent existence and to security of all the States directly participating in the conflict-the Arab States bordering on Israel, on the one hand, and the State of "srael, on the other-and the granting to them of appro- priate international guarantees;and, finally, cessation of the state of war between the Arab States concerned and Israel. 112. The PLO should participate in the work of the Conference from the very beginning and with an equal status, since it represents a principal party to the conflict. 113. This is the only way to a just and lasting solution of the Middle East crisis, including the question of Palestine. The Geneva Conference is, therefore, the most appropriate forum for a consideration of this item. 115. The Government and people of the People's Republic of Bulgaria, maintaining close ties of friendship and co-operation with the Arab peoples, and particularly with the Arab people of Palestine and their sole authentic and legitimate representative, the PLO, will continue to support and actively assist in the United Nations and elsewhere the just and legitimate Palestinian struggle against Israeli aggres- sion, for the creation of conditions that will enable the Palestinians to exercise their right to self-determination and to create their own State. We shall take our share in the common efforts to reach a just and lasting solution of the conflict In that part of the world in the interests of all peoples in the area and in the interests of international peace and security.

On Thursday, 11 November, at its 1969th. meeting, the Security Council unanimously adopted a consensus statement read by its President on the situation in the occupied Arab territories. The statement expressed grave anxiety and concern over the present serious situation in the occupied Arab territories as a result of continued Israeli occupation and reaffirmed its call to the Government of Israel to ensure the safety, welfare and security of the inhabitants of those territories and to facilitate the return of those inhabitants who have had to leave their homes and hearths since the outbreak of hostilities. 117. My delegation welcomed, along with other delega- tions, the part played by all, members of the Security Council in adopting the unanimous consensus statement on the situation in the occupied Arab territories. Such actions help to restore the confidence of people in the working of the United Nations. The suffering and plight of the Palestinian refugees should torment the conscience of all fair-minded people. 118. The Security Council statement referred to the territories which Israel has occupied since the 1967 war. The Special Political Committee, which met on the follow" ing morning-12 November-witnessed a film on Quneitra which was appropriately subtitled "The Death of a City", The fllm showed how houses, shops and schools were destroyed, how neither hospitals nor mosques were spared by the occupation forces. The representative of Israel in the Special Political Committee rejected the report of the three-member special committee of inquiry which visited Quneitra in September 1974 "categorically and totally ... as well as its findings, conclusions, proposals and recom- mendations."4 This indeed is a negative attitude which 119. It is a paradox of history that some people who suffered and had to leave their homes within Europe have settled by force in another people's land and have made its inhabitants homeless refugees. It was Mr. Balfour, Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom, at one time Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, who in 1917 declared that a home for the Jewish people would be established in Palestine. We share the commonly held view that Balfour "had no legal or moral right to select a part of the Arabian peninsula and declare that the Jewish people living and flourishing at that time in different parts of the world would be settled in that already populated area. However,it redounds to the credit of the only Jewish member of the British Cabinet in 1917, Mr. Edwin Montagu, that he opposed Mr. Balfour's proposal for a Jewish home in Palestine and had to relinquish his Cabinet post soon afterwards. The Security Council was entirely justified in declaringthat: "... arty act of profanation of the Holy Places, religious buildings and sites or any encouragement of, or con- nivance at, any such act may seriously endanger inter- national peace and security."! 120. Since its very inception Pakistan has consistently upheld the rights of the Palestinian people and has opposed Israel's aggression against them. At the Islamic Summit at Lahore in February 1974, Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, in his capacity as Chairman of the second Islamic summit,« wrote letters to the Heads of the member States of the Islamic Conference calling for their support in including a separate item on Palestine in the agenda of the twenty-ninth session of the United Nations General Assembly, held from September to December 1974. For the first time in the history of the United Nations the question of Palestine was included as a separate item in the agenda of the United Nations at the twenty-ninth sessionof the General Assembly in 1974. The General Assembly invited the PLO, as the sole representative of the Palestinian people, to participate in the deliberations on the question of Palestine in the plenary meetings of the General Assembly, expressed deep concern that no just solution to the problem of Palestine had yet been achieved and reaffirmed the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people in Palestine, including the right to self-determination without external interference and the right to national indepen- dence and sovereignty. 121. Events in the Middle East have proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that the Palestinian people are the principal party in the establishment of a just and durable peace in the Middle East. At the thirtieth session of the General Assembly Pakistan was a sponsor of all the draft resolutions regarding the Middle East. Pakistan also served as a member of the Committee on the Exercise of the 123. My delegation commends the work of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and fully supports the recommendations contained in its report. 124. In accordance with the relevant resolutions of the Security Council, Israel must be made to withdraw from all the Arab territories it has occupied since 1967. Israel is under a binding obligation to permit the return of all the Palestinian refugees displaced as a result of the Arab-Israeli hostilities. The inalienable right of the Palestinianshas been affirmed by the General Assembly in its resolution 3236 (XXIX). In the meantime Israel should desist from the establishment of new settlements in the occupied territories. 125. The Security Council should be requested to recon- sider its decision on the recommendations of the Com- mittee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and to prepare a time-table for the complete withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces from the areas occupied since 1967, in consultation with the PLO. 126. So long as the Palestinians remain a stateless people there can be no peace in the Middle East. The establishment of an independent Palestinian State is the ultimate solution of the impassein that war-tom area.

On behalf of the nine member countries of the European Communities, I should like to state our viewpoint on the very Important item before the Assembly. 128. The nine Governments have repeatedly said what importance they attach to the question of Palestine. This problem is one of the central questions in the Middle East conflict. No peace settlement will be achieved unless a solution is found to that problem. 129. In this context I should like to recall that the Foreign Minister of the Netherlands, Mr.van der Stoel, stressed in the statement he made during the general debate that the countries of the Communities attached particular impor- tance to the application of the following principles: "... first, the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by force; secondly, the need for Israel to end the 130. Those four principles are designed to cover all the aspects of a settlement of the Middle East crisis, including those resulting from the 1967 conflict and the new awareness of the aspirations of the Palestinian people. 131. It is with regret that our nine countries note that no progress has been made in the past year in the search for peace in the Middle East. We are of the opinion that the situation in the Middle East requires the early resumption of negotiations with a view to finding an over-all settlement to the Middle East conflict, a conflict which continues to represent a serious danger to international peace and security. Those negotiations must be based on the elements contained in Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973) and on the principles which" I have just outlined. 132. We wish to reaffirm that the nine Governments of the European Communities remain ready to make an active contribution to all the efforts to find a solution of the Middle East problem. In this respect, they have repeatedly stressed that they are ready to consider participating in a system of international guarantees. 133. In repeating that the Palestinian problem has a decisive weight in the search for peace in the Middle East, our countries wish to make it clear that the exercise of the right of the Palestinian people to the effective expression of its national identity might include a territorial base within the framework of a negotiated settlement. The exercise of that right must be compatible with the right of all the States in the region, including Israel, to live in peace within secure and recognized frontiers. 134. Turning now to the report of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, I should like first of all to recall that the nine countries of the European Communities expressed reservations with regard to the constitution of that Committee. Those reservations concerned mainly the basis of the Committee's terms of reference. We were of the opinion, as Mr. Vinci of Italy stated on behalf of our countries at the thirtieth session of the General Assembly." that the texts on which the Committee's mandate was based, namely, resolutions 3376 (XXX) and 3236 (XXIX), singled out one of the aspects of the Middle East settlement and thus prejudiced the framework fixed in Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973). 135. Despite those reservations our nine Governments have considered with interest the report of the Committee, since we believe that it represents an effort to give concrete expression to the rights of the Palestinian people, the 137. The nine Governments of the European Communities believe that the implementation of the rights of the Palestinian people cannot be achieved except within the framework of an over-all settlement, which is the only formula capable of reconciling the legitimate rights and concerns of all the parties, because it does not separate the various elements of the problem.

According to the terms of resolution 3376 (XXX), the report and recommendations of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People should have been submitted to the General Assembly with an account of the measures taken in respect to them by the Security Council. Since the Council was prevented from taking any measure following its consideration of the report, the Committee had no choice but to reaffirm its recommendations and submit them on their merits for consideration by all Member States. 139. My delegation, which is ,a member of the Committee, wholly subscribes to its recommendations which, in our opinion, constitute a coherent programme of implemen- tation designed to enable the Palestinian people to exercise the rights recognized in paragraphs 1 and 2 of resolution 3236 (XXIX). May I point out in passing that the Com- mittee's mandate was confined to the formulation of that programme. 140. My delegation had no difficulty in accepting the latter, because as a sponsor of that resolution we recognized the legitimate and inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination, national sovereignty and independence, as well as their right to return to their homes and properties from which they had been displaced and uprooted. For the same reason we were able to support the idea that the participation of the PLO, the representative of the Palestinian people, is indispensable in all efforts, deliberations and conferences on the Middle East and Palestine held under the auspices of the United Nations. Furthermore, since we have always supported the principle of the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by force in violation of the Charter and the relevant resolu- tions of.' the United Nations, we consider the evacuation of 141. The programme itself seems to have other merits, among which, in particular, is the fact that it offers an integrated approach to a situation in which there is a question of the exercise ofindividual rights, the exercise of national rights, the protection' of civilian populations in time of war, the evacuation of occupied territories, peace- keepmg operations, an interim adminlstration by the United Nations, the establishment of communications, economic and technical assistance by the United Nations and the restoration of peace. In brief, it is a very delicate and complicated situation. The search for a solution to all these problems would have been most difficult, if not impossible, if our Committee had not had the following guidelines. 142. First, an unassailable legal basis should be established for its recommendations. Whether it was a question of the return of the Palestinians, the right to self-determination and independence, the protection of civilians, the prohibi- tion on the establishment of new settlements, or the removal of those already established, our basic texts were the relevant United Nations resolutions and the Geneva Convention of 1949. 143. Secondly, the role of the United Nations in the settlement process should be strengthened, taking into account, as resolution 3376 (XXX) provides, all the powers conferred by the Charter on the principal organs of the United Nations, without overlooking the fact that, when the time comes, the parties to the conflict will have their role to play and must enter the scene. We flad here recommendations on temporary peace-keeping operations, the provisional administration by the United Nations of the liberated territories, its economic, technical and corn- municationsassistance and its participation in the settle- ment of the substantive problems. 144. Thirdly, an appeal should be made to the Inter- national Committee of the Red Cross and to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the NearEast,institutionswhich are known and whichhave had experience in Palestine, to help in the solution of logistical problems. 145. Fourthly, in a practical spirit, the solution of the problems should be divided into several elements or chronological phases with appropriate recommendations for each. 146. It was in that spirit that we formulated the recom- mendations. My delegation doesnot wish to dwell on those recommendations after the clear and complete statements made in this Assembly on this subjectby the Chairman and the Rapporteur of our Committee {66th meeting]. I myself would have gone no further, because my delegation had no 147. It is fitting to speak of this, because the rejection of that draft might either create doubts as to the legal and political grounds for our recommendations or at least lead certain delegations to wonder whether we should pursue the matter, since the Security Council itself has refused to take the measures necessary for the implementation of the proposedprogramme. 148. The delegations to which I have referred seem to be unanimous in their comments on one point, namely, the priority to be given to negotiation,as the only means likely to ensure an over-all and simultaneous solution to all the problems. And yet the delegations concerned criticized the proposed programme for not having the virtues of that over-all solution. 149. As the Chairman of the Committee indicated in his letter of transmittal, these are "considerations beyond the scope of the Committee's mandate"{A/31/35, p. v], If the Committee had been asked for its opinion, it would never have rejected the idea of "negotiation", but, on the other hand it would have rejected the implication that the exist~nce of negotiations meant that the United Nations would no longer be seized of the question, that it would no longer have an active rolein the settlement of the problems of Palestine or that it would have been relegated to the rank of a recording room. 150. It was the United Nations that established Israel, and thus consecrated "a people's transition from political anonymity to clear identity".9 It is the United Nations which has the responsibility for preventing its owncreation from revoking the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people. It is the Un 'rations which has the duty to see to it that by a gratunous selectivity Israel does not take it upon itself permanently to dispossess, deprive and dis- advantage those who merely claim the rights which we, the Member States, retain and jealously guard for ourselves. In our opinion, any search for a solution that aims at eluding the authority of the United Nations and disregarding its numerous resolutions would result in a loss of credibility and the seal of universal consensus. 151. The Geneva Conference did not appear ex nlhilo. It was the United Nations which decided to convene it, and we have no doubt that it retains the power to amend and supplement the basic principles which serve asa'framework for the negotiations. It is on this point that the delegations that I mentioned before have adopted divergent positions and thisis also the subjectof my secondremark. 152. The problem which arose and which always arises before the Security Council is that of determining whether or not it is necessary to supplement the framework laid down by resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973); whether 153. Hence, what are we to say of Israel's request that the Assembly flatly reject the report and recommendations of the Committee which, according to that delegation, would sabotage any move towards a negotiated settlement? Before Israel uses such language, it should tell us whether the consecration of its existence, "the consummation of a people's transition from political anonymity to clear identity",10 resulted from negotiations with '~he Pales- tinians or a declaration adopted by the General Assembly. Israel should tell us why the United Nations was able to make such a declaration in respect to it and not in respect of the rights of the Palestinian people. 154. Israel tells us that the report of the Committee is "nothing less than a prescription for the dismemberment" of the State of Israel. To want to have all the occupied territories evacuated and to refuse to accept the acquisition of territories by force in violation of the principles of the Charter and the relevant United Nations resolutions; to request Israel to desist from its policy of establishing settlements and to withdraw Israeli citizens from the settlements established in occupied territories since 1967; if that is considered dismemberment by Israel, then we say "yes" to such dismemberment. All the rest is paranoia. 155. Israel tells us further that the PLO envisages occupy- ing the territory of Israel, the West Bank of the Jordan, the Gaza Strip and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Thus, before returning its territory to the Palestinians, Israel is already speaking of the Palestinian people as expansionist. That people today only asks for the liberation of its territory so as to be able to exercise its national right to self-determination, independence and sovereignty. All else can only be speculation and a trial of motives all the more unacceptable since they come from a country which declares itself to be in favour of negotiation. 156. The national sovereignty of States which the repre- sentatives of Israel attempted to minimize on the occasion of the aggression at Entebbe-sperhaps because it was the sovereignty of an African State-is invoked by the same representatives to deny the Palestinians the right to return to their homes. They say: "This right which the Palestinian Arabs have arrogated to themselves is in conflict with international law, which is based on the principle of the "... Affirms the inalienable rights of all inhabitants who have left their homes as a result of the outbreak of hostilities in the Middle East to return, resume normal life, recover their property and homes, and rejoin their families according to the provision of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights"."! In our view, the Declaration is binding on Israel as on everybody else. 158. Finally, Israel tries to adduce an argument from the composition of the Committee to suggest that the recom- mendations submitted to the Council and now to the General Assembly show partiality. In particular, the Israeli representative says that among the members of the Com- mittee only four countries maintain diplomatic relations with his country. This argument can be turned the other way, because how does it happen that the recom- mendations of the Committee were adopted unanimously by its members, whether or not they maintain diplomatic relations with Israel? This proves that the Committee carried out an objective review and analysis of the situation, and it is rather for Israel to find among the countries which maintain diplomatic relations with it a single country which would oppose the right of return' of the Palestinians or which would be against the principle of evacuation of Arab and Palestinian territories occupied illegally and by force. This argument, which was based on the partiality of the Committee, must therefore be rejected, the more so since the countries parties to the conflict and all the Members of the United Nations were invit-d to participate in our work or to make their views known. Israel for its part did not even deign to reply to that invitation. 159. To reassure Israel, we can also say that we are in favour of the resumption of the Geneva negotiations. But we do not believe those negotiations are any use unless all the parties concerned are previously placed on a footing of equality, if one must still speak of "rights" for some and "interests" for others. That is why we insist-and it is also the objective of the Committee-that the national rights of the Palestinian people be safeguarded within the framework of those negotiations, the success or failure of which will depend on the recognition or non-recognition of the national rights of the Palestinian people, which are, after all, at the core of the problem of the Middle East. 160. Because of the position taken by Israel and by the United States the Security Council was hamstrung on this 1J See Final Act of the International Conference on Human Rights, Teheran, 22 April to 13 May 1968 (United Nations publica- tion, Sales No. E.68.XIV.2), chap. Ill.

In view of what Mr. Herzog said at the previous meeting, I feel constrained to call the attention of the Assembly to the genesis of the Palestine question, as I have done time and again. As the hour is late, I shall be as brief as possible, but I hope that I shall be able 'to give the Assembly sufficient historical facts to allow representatives to judge for themselves whether Mr. Balfour, and later Mr. Truman, had the right to create the State of Israel. 162. At the end of the First World War, the Jews, including a handful of Zionists, constituted less than 3 per cent of the population of Palestine. The Zionists were feeding propaganda to the ignorant European populace- not to the leaders-to the effect that Palestine was a land without a people and that the Zionists were a people without a land. 163. The populace in Europe and in America were concerned about their own well-being after the First World War. They were not politically minded. They should have been reminded about the principle of self-determination elucidated by President Wilson of the United States. The First World War was allegedly fought to free Europe and the rest of the world from what was called German militarism. 164. Mr. Wilson, when he elucidated the principle of self-determination at the League of Nations, stated as a corollary the principle that sovereignty lies in the people. 165. Now, we know very well that Palestine was a separate entity. We know the terms of the Sykes-Picot-Sazonov agreement, which was secretly signed by three allies in the First World War-the United Kingdom, France and Tsarist Russia. The name "Sazonov" was dropped from the agreement in 1917, when Russia overthrew the old regime and, by means of the revolution, established communism in Russia. 166. The Sykes-Picot agreement stipulated that the coun- tries of the Fertile Crescent should be divided into four mandates: Lebanon, under a French Mandate; Syria, under a French Mandate; Iraq, under a British Mandate; and Palestine, under a British Mandate. Syria and Lebanon were not placed together under one French Mandate; there were two separate Mandates. And Iraq and Palestine were each placed under a separate British Mandate. 167. In. 1917 the United Kingdom was losing the war against the Germans of Wilhelm 11. The Zionists were active in England, as they were in the United States. The only salvation for the United Kingdom and its ally, France, was to bring the United States into the First World War. It was because of Zionist activity, interalia, that the United States was railroaded into the First WorldWar. 169. So the principles for which the Allies had fought were cast by the wayside: freedom of peoples, self-deter- mination. 170. I remember my first trip to Palestine, in 1925-51 years ago. Already there was trouble, because the Balfour Declaration was being interpreted by the Jewish Agency at that time as meaning that Palestine should be the home of the Jews all over the world. It was to that end that the Zionist movement was labouring: the ingathering of all the Jews of the world in Palestine. 171. But there was no Jewish people; there was a Jewish religion. There was no Jewish nationality; there were nationals of many countries. Jews were proud to be nationals of certain countries. The French Jews were proud to be French. The British Jews were proud to be British. 172. To whom did Arthur Balfour address his Declara- tion? To an Englishman who happened to be Jewish: Mr. Rothschild. Rothschild was the head of the Jewish community-an honourary head. Distinctions usually go with wealth. Rothschild was a wealthy man. 173. When Mr. Balfour was writing that Declaration, on 2 November 1917, Mr. Rothschild, among others, agreed to the expression of the hope-I am paraphrasing now-sthat Palestine would become a national home for the Jews. They had thought of usir,1 the word "State", but Rothschild was afraid to use the word "State"-I heard about this from his cousins in France during the 1930s-lest there should be an anti-Jewish resurgence in Europe, as had happened in the days of the Dreyfus affair. It was feared that in that case not only the Rothschilds but any Jew who happened to be prosperous would be told: "Go home; you have a State of your own". That is why they used the words "national home" instead of the word "State". 174. I am giving the genesis of the situation. I am not using platitudes. I am not casting aspersions or using invective. I am givingthe facts. 175. The Balfour Declaration stated that His Majesty's Government-that is, the Government of the United King- dom-would endeavour to ensure the establishment of a national home in Palestine-not a "State"-provided this did not conflict with the civil, religious and political rights of the indigenous population; that is, the people of Palestine. Let us forget that they were Arabs: they were Palestinians.• They had a separate entity; otherwise they would not have been livmg separately, under a British Mandate. Even during the Ottoman Empire, the Lebanese had a separate entity; the Syrians had a separate entity; and they were autonomous. So were the Palestinians. So were the Iraqis. 176. How, then, could it have been said that Palestine was a land without a people? That was just a slogan that the Zionists used to propagandize for the establishment of an alien Zionist entity in the midst of the Arab world. 178. The Sykes-Picot agreement, to which I have referred, was signed between France and Britain in 1917 or at the end of 1916-1 forget now-but the British through High Commissioner McMahon, the High Commissioner in Egypt, had promised Sherif Hessein of Mecca, that the Arabs would be independent. That is why they kept' this secret. When the Tsarist Russian troops were beaten by Hinden- burg, they surrendered a copy of the Sykes-Picot-Sazonov Agreement to the Germans, and the Germans, who were allied to the Turks, sent a copy to Sherif Hussein in Djedda, through Jamal Pasha, who was Commander of the Fourth Army. I remember that as a child I saw this Jamal Pasha, when he visited Beirut. And poor High Commissioner McMahon sent the complaint of Sherif Hussein to whom? To the Foreign Office. And the Foreign Office sent Professor Hogarth, who was an orientalist, to tell them it was all fiction. 179, Of course, in war everything is fair. When the war was over, the Arabs found it was no fiction. And when Sherif Hussein complained, what did they do, the British of those days? They banished him to Cyprus, where he died in 1924, and many of us-I was 19 years old then- demonstrated against the perfidy of the British Government of that time. 180. A land without a people, and a people without a land? What a fiction! Ninety-three per cent of the people are indigenous Palestinians, and the architects of zionism were Khazars converted to Judaism in the eighth century. These are the facts. They speak for themselves. This is the history of the area. 181. The Arab Jews-I call them "Arab Jews"-of Baghdad were highly respected throughout the centuries because they were Arabs who also happened to be Jews. The Arabs in Spain who happened to be Jews contributed, as Mr. Herzog has mentioned, to the Arab culture because they were Arab. They believed in the same God. And then people began to indoctrinate them. 182. There was no Jewish problem in the Arab lands. Those who created the Jewish problem were the Khazars, whose ancestors had been converted to Judaism in the eighth century A.D. They had a Semitic religion. The French had a Semitic religion too, but they are not Semites. 183. It bears repetition. These Khazars were strangers to the land, and they are still strangers to the land, unfortu- nately. Why? Because they wanted to carve out of the Middle East a State for the ingathering of..all the Jews of the world. There are 16 million Jews in the world. And this explains those settlements they have there. They are stepping-stones for expansion. 184. Mr. Herzog said that the Palestinians were dispersed in 1948 because the Arab leaders told them to leave, but that is not wholly true. Many left Palestine out of fright after Deir Yasin. The Zionists wiped out a whole small town. They cut down the trees; they machine-gunned even the animals. And the people were frightened. Those of the Arabs who had not learned of Deir Yasin did not leave. But some people were frightened and became refugees. 185. Mr. Herzog speaks about Lebanon. I have taken some time and done some research. Why did the Allies connive with one of the Lebanese presidents or premiers to disperse the Palestinians in 16 camps? They thought they would sooner or later be assimilated by Lebanon. Lebanon, being a liberal country, did not mind, But who caused them to flee to Lebanon? Who caused them to flee to Jordan? What caused them to be dispersed in all the Arab lands? The terrorism of the Zionists. The Palestinians did not know anything about terrorism. If somebody committed murder, which was something that took place every year or two, the people were shocked. They had respect for life. 186. But now ~ by what right had the Government of the United Kingdom of those days to make a promise about a land that was not even a colony? The Mandate meant that they would prepare the indigenous people for self-rule. Did they? No. They allowed a stream of immigrants to go there. Finally ~ when they thought they had made a mistake, the British began to send commissions to the Holy Land. 187. And then do you know what the Zionists did? They began to hang the British soldiers from the branches of olive trees. When Count Bernadotte tried to do something they killed him. Lord Moyne was killed. The King David Hotel in Jerusalem was blown up. By whom, by the Arabs? No, by the Jews. So many Palestinians thought, if the Zionists-not our Jews but those Europeans who used zionism as the motivation for a political end--if they use these methods, maybe if we use terrorism we, too, will succeed. 188. And, as I used to tell them, 25 or 30 years ago, it was the United States and Britain and the Western world that were backing the Zionists, also for ulterior motives. This is why they finally succeeded in carving out a State. And I remember how they brought pressure at Lake Success. I do not want to mention who it was lest I touch the susceptibilities of people, but they sent a prelate to Latin America to gather votes for them. And they have said from this rostrum time and again, although not today, that it was a land without a people-meaning it was an empty land-and the poor Khazar Jews were a people without a land. That is true, but why should they be foisted on the indigenous people of Palestine? 191. There is no such thing as Jewish blood; there is no such thing as Arab blood; there is no such thing as American blood. This is a ploy on the part of the Zionists to play on the sentiments of everyone who is a Jewand who is not political, but whom they want to make a Jewish political person. 192. And by whom is all this done? By the Khazars, whose ancestors never saw Palestine. They happen to have embraced Judaism, as I mentioned, eight centuries after Christ. 193. Paving the way for the creation of Israel can be attributed to Balfour. And then Mr. Truman, at a distance of 6,000 miles, thought he should create Israel by partition- ing Palestine'. If you go to his memoirs you will find that the Zionists WOUld not leave him alone, and finally, when the State Department experts on the Middle East appealed to him, saying, "It is not in our interests to antagonize the Arabs", he said: "How many Americans of Arab origin do I have in my constituency? " 194. Is this based on justice? Anything that is not based on justice is bound, sooner or later, to totter and fall. 195. As I have said again and again-I mentioned it just the other day in the Security Council-Jerusalem is holy to the three religions. Why should the Jews have a monopoly? Why should it be the capital of one monotheistic religion- why? There are 16 million Jews. If you go by the demographic yardstick, there are 1 billion Christians and 600 or 700 million Moslems.Why? Just because God spoke to them? I can claim that God is speaking to me now. Everybody can claim that. These were parables of ancient scriptures that became intelligible to the people of a tribal form of rule. 196. The Zionists cannot live except on tension. By the same token, the Palestinian refugees, till doomsday-and I say that because this world may come to an end-will never forget their homeland. Why are they tenacious? After all, it is their homeland. Do you want them to be submissivelike the Red Indians? They do not happen to be Red Indians. Why do not you Americans give back Manhattan to the Red Indians? Twenty-four dollars is nothing. I do not know how, but they sold it for $24, and you gave them some beads and put them in reservations. 198. Is that what the United Nations is predicated on-balance of power and power politics? Are we a chess-board for the major Powers, whether Russia or America, to play their chess game on? They are not playing with wooden pieces; they are playing with the destinies of peoples and nations. The Palestinians have tormented the entire Moslem world, indeed all the world, rightly or wrongly-and I say rightly, because after all it is their home. 199. And why do the big Powers-especially the United States-support the Zionists? We saw the auction for votes, and that showed what influence the Zionists have. Are we to base this Organization on what we can get by votes, or on justice? I feel sorry for the Zionists. They are human beings like you and me. I am not against them as human beings, but they are misguided. They have no place there; sooner or later they will dlsappear, not necessarily by war, but by attrition. We shall assimilate them, as we assimilated other people who came to that area. But in the meantime Jews and Gentiles will suffer, and the American taxpayer will pour in money earned by the sweat of his brow to bolster the Zionists unnecessarily. Why should we be against the United States? We have been opening our doors and our gates to it for 50 or 60 years. The oil interests are what? Russian interests? No, they are mostly American- American and British. In spite of that, the Americans still side with Israel instead of, not bringing pressure on it, but rather persuading the Zionists that they cannot exist unless they seek acceptance, adjust and adapt to the Arab world. 200. Rightly or wrongly, the Arab world considered that artificial State as an abscess in the body politic and body social of the Middle East, and the Middle East will always be in ferment until the pus of that abscess is drawn out. How? If not by war, which is a surgical operation, then by absorption. One does not always need to lance an abscess. But in the process many will suffer, Jews and Gentiles. 201. I feel sorry for the 2i0=,ists. They are human beings but they have repeated things tu themselves so often that they have ended by believing their own indoctrination. If they want to live among the Palestinians, in spite of the fact that they have a State called Israel, then they, themselves, should stretch out their hands to the Palestinian refugees and say to them, "Come"; not the other way round. They do not want to recognize them. They recognize Jordan and all the other Arab States, but they do not recognize the Palestinians, who lived under a Mandate. Whom do they think they are fooling? 202. They talk about atrocities by the Arabs. If any Arab committed an atrocity it was because he was frustrated and, as I said, because the Zionists taught him about atrocities in the Holy Land when they themselves were the perpetrators. We have a famous saying in Arabic: "He who instigates evil is the one who is most responsible". The meeting rose at 6.45 p.m. 204. Mr. Balfour had no business interfering in the ethos of the Palestinians as a people and nation. And you, our