A/32/PV.85 General Assembly

Before calling on the next speaker on the list, I should like to propose that the list of speakers in the debate on agenda item 30 be closed tomorrow at 6 p.m. If there is no objection, I shall consider that the General Assembly adopts that proposal.

Much has been said about the people of Palestine but little action has been taken so far to ameliorate their plight. Nothing reflects this fact more than the annual visit of Mr. Kaddoumi, the observer for the Palestine Liberation Organization [PLOl who comes to the General Assembly to plead his people's case. In the General Assembly hall many words have been spoken about the right to self-determination. But unfortunately there is an inability to stop the increase of what is wrong at the expense of what is right. The displacement of the people of Palestine from their homeland is wrong, immoral, dan- gerous and unprecedented. The importation of Jews to fill in the gap at the expense .Jf the Palestinians is a crime, unjustifieri and obnoxious. The resignation by Europeans to a sense of guilt at seeing helpless Jews made to suffer by the Nazis and, on the other hand. their unwillingness to lighten the heavy price the Palestinians have paid is an ugly use of the double standard, and makes a mockery of the tenets and principles of the United Nations Charter. The Pales- tinians, who had been living peacefully in their homeland, paid the price for the Western sense of guilt. The Palestinians wer~ driven out of their homeland, Palestine, without any qualms of conscience. That was an unpre- cedented tragedy, carried out by an unprecedented coali- tion of forces of the left and the right to satisfy the suffering Jews, with total disregard for the wishes of the Palestinians and their right to theIr homeland. This is the tragedy of Palestine in a nutshell. It was the fate of the helpless people of Palestine to pay for the crimes of others. Justice, as we have always said, should transcend colour, origin, religion and ideology. It has not dol' -: so in this case. NEW YORK 3. The powerful Zionist apparatus set up in this great country, the United States, may blur the reality of the problem for a time, but not fOl: ever. The United States can ignore the fundamental issue for a time, but not indefi- nitely. 4. The Palestinians can retain their faith in world support, but for how long? They have already arrived, as we can see, at the end of their tether and their patience. Some of them are being mauled in their own homeland, others are fighting a desperate battle elsewhere, while the majority are awaiting the annaal yet undignified voluntary contributions to bail them out of their daily hardship. Like any other nation in this world they are entitled to self-determination and an independent State in their homeland. That fact has been stated repeatedly. The Israelis rave a great deal about the achievement of self-determination in Palestine, yet they deny the Palestinians the same goal that they acquired by brute force. Nowadays there is a thunderous hue and cry about peace in the Middle East but there is equally the inescapable fact that peace without the Palestinians is elusive-a mirage-unobtainable and impossible. We should not build castles in the air. In the United States there is a lot of emphasis on the right of Israel to exist within secure and recognized boundaries but there is hardly a mention of a Palestinian State which will undoubtedly put an end to Palestinian alienation. The crux of the matter is the people of Palestine. Boundaries, the demilitarization of regions and withdrawal constitute derivatives, or branches, but not the heart of the issue. 5. Those who dream of a peace without a Palestinian State are mistaken. Those who think that the people of Palestine can accept consignment to refugee camps or at best the status of aliens existing on sufferance in vther Arab countries are not only mistaken but suffer from incurable delusions. No Palestine State in Palestine means no peace. No peace in the area means destruction for both sides and for others. 6. Dishonest Zionist propaganda has always attributed the absence of peace in the area to the Arab refusal to acknowledge the Israeli right to exist. Nothing is more absurd in meaning and vulgar in tone than this contention. The absence of peace is due primarily to Israel's refusal to acknowledge the right of the people of Palestine to self-determination. Nothing is more obstructive to peace than the refusal of Israel to negotiate the terms of peace with the legitimate representative of the people of Pales- tine. The PLO, as recent events have shown, is the only authorized spokesman for the people of Palestine. The pretext that the PLO is disqualified from talking about 7. The inalienable right of the people of Palestine to self-determination is the centre of the conflict, as has been emphatically stated. Other issues could be resolved without difficulty if the crux of the matter is settled. The crux of the Middle East conflict is between Israel and the Palestine Arabs and tilerefore there can be no real lasting peace without then. 8. Western Europe and the United States are out of touch with the reality of the situation if they assume that the passage of time will erode the Palestinians' insistence on a State of their own in Palestine. Their position on "home- land or identity", it has been often said, shows how this group is either unable to overcome domestic difficulty or is incapable of seeing the facts in the area. Att~mpts to brush aside the Palestinians have already shown the futility of that practice. This enthusiasm for peace and unctuous pronouncements about the rights of the Palestinians are not helpful to the cause ofpeace, especially when we see Western delegations oppose resolutions based on the United Nations Charter. After all, we should remember that exactly 30 years ago tOday the General Assembly, in its resolution 181 (lI) of 29 November 1947, voted for two States in Palestine, one Jewish and the other Palestinian. 9. What is left in Palestine now for the Arabs is no more than 18 per cent of tlle original land. This is very little for the Palestinians to establish a State of their own. After all, they ILst their properties and their homes, and were evicted from their homeland. The General Assembly allotted them 45 per cent of their homelard in 1947, alttlough at that time they were the majlJrity of the population. Now they yearn for 18 per cent of what i~ left on which to build their own homeland. Yet even that little oortion of their land is .. denied to them. One should ask, Are these people really subhuman? Are the invaders who took away their land supermen who should be tolerated even at the price of engulfing the area in another savage war? What is the reason? 10. I am reluctant and afraid, y~t willing, to say that there is a nagging voice in the back of my mind that says that if the Palestinians had not been Arabs-a people of the third world-the reaction would have been different. pn'~cription for peace must comprise withdrawal from tenitories occupied since 1967 and the establishment of a Palestinian State thereon. 12. Israe!i intransigence is a defiance of the United Nations Charter, of its resolutions and of the will of the international community. It is absurd to revive an old affinity with a land on which others have lived uninter- ruptedly for 2,000 years and to claim that those others have no right at all. 13. The delegation of Kuwait commends the Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, Ambassador Fall of Senegal, for his diligent work a..'ld dedication with regard to the reali~ation of self-determl."'1ation for the people of Palestine. Ambas- sador Fall told us on 27 October 1977,1 during the debate in the Security Council that, during his visit to the Middle East and to the Palestinian camps, he read posters on which Palestinians had written that they were fighting for love of their homeland and not out of hatred for their enemy. The General Assembly cannot Ignore its resolution 194 (Ill) calling for repatriation and/or compensation. That reso- lution cannot be brusned aside because of the passage of time. On the contrary, the will of the Palestinians to go back to their homeland has been sharpened rather than weakened by the passage of time. 14. The General Assembly, in adopting its resolution 3236 (XXIX), also voted overwhelmingly for the realization of the inalienable right of the people of Palestine to an independent State in Palestine. The shabby treatment that Western countries have accorded the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People is contrary to their obligations under the United Nations Charter. The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Kur;' Waldheim, in his annual report mentioned justi- fiably that there is a general consensus th.at a Palestinian State be established in Palestine. Any argument to the contrary is unrealistic. 15. The new Israeli position that everything is negotiable cannot deceive anyone. We are not much impressed by this position. Fundamental principles are not negotiable. The General Assembly cannot compromise on the principle of the non-acquisition of. territory by conquest or force. Likewise, the General Assembly cannot compromise on the principle of self-determination for the people of Palestine. The use of this new slogan that ·everything is negotiable" does not cut mucr.. ice with us. The General Assembly should not be deceived by such an outwardly moderate yet inherently dangerous posture. 17. The crux of the matter, as I stated earlier, is Israel's refusal to negotiate with the Palestinians, whose territories it calls "Judaea" and "Samaria". Gaza, of course, is incorporated almost beyond recognition. Under these cir- cumstances, who can blame the Palestinians if they resort to violence? They have placed their faith in an Organi- zation that gives them resolutions; they are supported by developing and other countries but opposed by those who could contribute immensely to alleviating their plight and ordeal. The representatives of the PLO and the Palestinian people come here twice a year to the General Assembly and to the United Nations to talk sense, but they realize, to their disappointment, that sense is meaningless unless it is coupled with for'.:e and power. If they emplGY violence, they are attacked; if they embrace reason, they are ignored. That is their ordeal. 18. I have always stated that the velvet-glove treatment of Israel is not the right course of action. Those who have power to influence events in the region for the sake of peace are either insincere or unable to comprehend the Palestinian aspect. It is sad that every time the General Assembly votes for the establishment of a Palestinian State in Palestine the Western Powers, and the United States in particular, accuse us of prejudging the issue. We are not doing so, but in fact they are attempting to ignore the real issue, thus encouraging Israel in its intransigence instead of discouraging it. This attitude is sheer dilly-dallying, which means finding refuge in unclear language. 19. My delegation supports the conclusions in the report of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People {A/32/35]. Phased withdrawal based on past resolutions of the United Nations means consecration of the principles enshrined in the Charter. 20. The Committee-whose Chairman is Mr. Fall, who merits our admiration-is always being accused of wanting realism. But those who level that accusation are not even interested in bringing in a sense of realism, the absence of which they complain about. They do not answer letters sent to them by its Chairman, Mr. Fall. Who, then, is not realistic? Is it the one who is indifferent, arathetic and negative or the one who tries assiduously to formulate a general framework for the solution of this problem? pledg~d our support for their struggle. They have also the support of all the peace-loving countries and peoples in this world. They should unflinchingly continue their struggle until they ('iJtain their goals and aims in their own homelr:nd, and they should unstintingly give to their caus~. 22. Finally, the Government of Kuwait issued a statement the other day in }Vhich it reiterated its scrupulous adher- ence to the decisions of the Arab summit conferences, including the Conference of Arab Heads of State or Government at Rabat in October 1974, that conferred upon the PLO the legitimate right to negotiate on behalf of the people of Palestine. As has been said by PLO representatives, there is no peace without the Palestinians and no Palestinians without the PLO. Kuwait endorses that sentiment.

Thirty years have elapsed since the time when our Organization was first seized of the question of Palestine, after the termination of the former League of Nations Mandate. The United Nations thereby assumed responsibilities towards the Palestinian people, who have been suffering for many years as a resuit of the denial of their fundamental national rights. 24. For a long time the Palestinian question was reduced to a problem of refugees .and, consequently, the efforts of the international community were directed more towards its mitigation than its solution. The question of Palestine was not dealt with adequately within the context of the Middle East problem. When we speak of a just and lasting peace today, we have in mind primarily a peace providing for a just solution of the Palestinian problem. There is no longer any uncertainty about the que.;tion of Palestine being the core of the Middle East conflict. Any compre- hensive solution must provide for the realization of the national rights of the Palestinian people, in accordance with the relevant United Nations resolutions. 25. By adopting resolut,on 3236 (XXIX), the United Nations General Assembly has redressed an injustice by determining that the realization of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people is essential for the solution of the question of Palestine. That has provided the international community with a proper perspective on the problem and ha~ enabled it to deal with this question in its true dimensions. Although some cot'ntries did not vote for that resolution, they have, like all the others, accepted the irrefutable fact that the question of Palestine cannot be solved without satisfying the national rights of the Pales- tinian people, and notably its right to self-determination. The inalienable rights enjoyed by all the peoples of the world under the United Nations Charter were recognized as belonging to the Palestinian people. 26. By its resolution 3376 (XXX), the General Assembly established the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalien- able Rights of the Palestinian People; Yugoslavia is one of its members. 27. Last year we examined the report of that Committee, and this time we are considering· its progress report. The 28. First and foremost is the withdrawal of Israel from all the territories it has occupied since 5 June 1967. The Israeli occupation is unjustified and illegal; as such, it should be terminated forthwith. The Palestinian people should be enabled to decide its own fate in peace and freedom. 29. Second is the right of return of Palestinian refugees and displaced persons. In addition to other relevant resolutions, the Security Council unanimously adopted, on 14 June 1967, resolution 237 (1967), whose principles have repeatedly been reaffirmed in various United Nations decisions, and whicll "Calls upon the Government of Israel to ensure the safety, welfare and security of the inhabitants of the areas where military operations have taken place and to facilitate the return of those inhabitants who have fled the areas since the outbreak of hostilities". 30. Third is the right to self-determination, national independence and sovereignty, including the right of the Palestinian people to establish their own State. The legal basis for that right is found both in the Charter of the United Nations and in many United Nations resolutions, especially Assembly resolutions 181 (II) of 1947, 273 (HI) of 1949 and 3236 (XXIX) of 1974. All the adopted resolutions are equally valid and consequently no one has the right to proclaim some of them to be relevant and others irrelevant. Similarly, one cannot accept the ~ogic according to which the same resolution would apply to some peoples only and would not apply to others. The denial by Israel of the right of Palestinians to their State is unacceptable, because--according to United Nations reso- lutions-the legal basis for the establishment of both the Israeli and the Palestinian States was the same. The right to self-determination, national independence and sovereignty has its political basis in the fact that the international community as a whole, except Israel, has recognized the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people. It is impossible to conceive legitimate rights without the right to self-deter- mination. 31. The main arguments that one wishes to impose on the international community for the purpose of denying the rights of the Palestinians are the need for secure borders and the alleged danger threatening Israel owing to the c1o~e vicinity of the Palestinian St:lte. However, these arguments are unfounded. They are motivated by Israers policy of annexation. There is no such solution that could guarantee Israel's security as long as Israel continues to hold any of the territories occupied by it in the 1967 war. The best guarantee for Israel's security is resp~ct for the security and territorial integrity ef its neighbours. The continuation of 32. The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People quite rightly draws attention, in its report, to the need for disseminating information on the work of the Committee and on the place and importance of the Palestinian problem with regard to the settlement of the Middle East crisis. My delegation is in full agreement with the Com\llittee's conclusions regarding the necessity for world public opinion to be acquainted with the rights uf the Palestinian people, with the obstacles standing in the way of their realization and with the importance of the question of Palestine for peace in the Middle East and in the world at large. The information services of the United Nations should play a significant role in this respect, and we hope that appropriate steps will be taken towards that end. 33. On this occasion I should like to emphasize in particular the role that the PLO is playing in the struggle for the realization of the rights of the Palestinian people. In view of the fact that all the Palestinians pursue a single and common aim, regardless of where they are -- that is, the establishment of their own independent State-they have decided to rally under one banner, the bearing of which has been entrusted to the PLO. No attempts aimed at limiting or preventing the participation of the PLO in all peace negotiations could meet with success. Only the PLO is the genuine and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. In that capacity it has become a permanent observer at the United Nations and a full-fledged member of the non-aligned movement, whose full support it enjoy~ In this connexion, I should like to recall the decisions adopted by the conferences of heads of State or govern- ment of non-aligned countries. Since the coming of the PLO to the United Nations, the question of Palestine has been considered and discussed in a qualitatively different manner. The PLO has been playing a constructive role in the United Nations and has made an important contri- bution to the work of our Organization in many of its bodies. It has participated through the United Nations system in the search for a settlement in the Middle East on equal terms with other elements. Having this in mind, we cannot visualize any negotiations on a comprehensive, just and lasting peace without the presence of the PLO and its active participation in negotiations, together with the other parties concerned, on an equal footing. In this sense, it is indispensable to ensure the full participation of the PLO at the Geneva Peace Conference and in all oth~r negotiations on the peaceful settlement of the Middle E::3t problem and the solution of the question of Palestine. 34. For 30 years now, before the eyes nf the entire world, the Palestinian people have been subjected to various trials and trihulations, facing the "right" of the mighty and the 35. We expect that this year too, the General Assembly will fulfIl its responsibilities and adopt appropriate reso- lutions reaffirming the inalienable rights of the Palestinians and the right of the PLO to participate in all efforts •.:erted towards the achievement of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.

While the question of Palestine is being considered in the plenary meetings of the current session of the General Assembly, I would like, in the name of the Chinese delegation, to extend fIrst of all our high tribute to the Palestinian people, who are engaged in heroic struggles. 37. The Palestinian people are a great and dauntless people with an anti-imperialist revolutionary tradition. Since they fIred the fIrst shot in their armed struggle against Israeli- Zionist aggression and expansion on 1 Januaf'j 1965, the Palestinian people, under the leadership of the PLO, persevering in unity and struggle, defying brute force and advancing wave upon wave, have withstood severe tem- pering and tests and are constantly pressing forward in the midst of struggles. The just struggle of the Palestini~l people is closely bOund up with the cause ofthe liberation of the entire Arae people and the struggle of the people of the third world against imperialism and hegemonism. The Palestinian libuation movement has become an important revolutionary force in the struggle of the people of the Middle East and the whole thir _ world to combat impe- rialism and hegemonism and Le wjn or safeguard national independence. The Palestinian people have w:m ever more extensive ir"ternatk'nal recognition and support for their national righI~. 38. The question of Palestine is an important at'1d :ntegral part of the whole Middle East question. We have always held that, intricate and complex as it is, the Middle East question is, in essence, the aggression and expansion by Israeli zionism and the rivalry between the two·super- Powers for hegemony in the Middle East versus the c;truggle of the Palestinian and other Arab people against aggression and hegemonism. At thE same time, the Palestinian people's struggle to regain their national rights is closely linked with the struggle of the people of Arab countries to recover their lost territories, and they support each other. It is their unity and struggle that have promoted the further develop- ment of the Middle East situation in a direction favourable to the Palestinian and Arab people and unfavourable to zionism and hegemonism. "The heart of the problem is the Arab refusal to recognize the right of Israel to national sovereignty in the ancient, historical land of the Jewish People". [27th meering, para. 211.J This is downright gangster's logic and the height of arbitrariness and truculence. To date, the Israeli Zionists are still occupying large tracts of Arab territories and refusing to recognize the national rights of the P~lestinian people_ Their intranmgence and criminal acts have aroused strong opposition and indignant condemnation by the Palestinian and other Arab people and the people of L~e rest of the world. 40. Pursuing the militaristic policy of aggres5iC'n over a long period, Israel is facing seething discontent among .ts people and is beset with troubles both at home and abroad_ Under these circumstances-, the handful of Israeli Zionist~ dare t'l run amuck and do all kinds of evil, r ~rsistentJy making themselves the enemy of the 100 miWon and mo~e Arab people, primarily beca'lse they have the backing of the super.Powers. Motivatec' by their relpective global strategy of seeking world hegemony, bott. super-Powers want to control the Middle East.· Hence each of them is supporting and abetting the Israeli Zionists from different angles and by VaiiOUS means, while at the same time using different methods to exert pressure on the Arab States and the Palestinian people. Over the years, one super-Power has kept on giving blood transfm.ions to Israel economically and militarily, supporting, abe~ting and shielding Israel in various ways. It has ~epeatediy a~'Jerted its "commitment to the security of Israel", subjecting the Palestinian and Arab people to open intimidation and threats. The other super- -Power, which styles itself the "natural ally" of the Arab and Palestinian people, ostentatiously "condemning" as it d';>es Israeli Zionist aggression, has been colluding with Israeli zionism in many ways, overtly and covertly. In the name of "friendship" ~d "support", it is carrying out control and expansion. It uses the supply of military "aid" as a means to ask for military bases and privileges from the Arab States, to interfere crudely in others' internal affairs and to subvert their Governments. Changing tactics fre- quently, it deliberately creates disputes and even spares no effort to provoke conflicts in order to profit therefrom. Recently, it has been very active in exploiting the tem- porary differences among the Palestinians and the Arabs and has done its utmost to sow dissension aw:mg them and disrupt their unity in an attempt to fIsh in troubled waters, using the Palestinian people's cause as a bargaining-chip in making dirty deals with the other super-Power in its rivalry over the Middle East. At present, each of the t\\.-\.) super.Powers is trying to outdo the other in clamourin[ 1~;r 41. As the Chinese saying goes, "a wicked person is bound to bring destruction to himself'. The perverse acts of the super-Powers have educated the Arab and Palestinian people by negative example, enabling them to realize ever more clearly that super-Power rivalry is the root-cause of the prolonged failure in achieving a settlement or the Middle East and Palestin~lU1 questions. Hence they are further combining the struggle against Israeli zionism with that against super-Power hegemonism. 42. Following the Egyptian Government's decision last year to abrogate its "Treatv of Friendship and Co-opera- tion" with a super-Power and the Sudanese Government's expulsion of the military "experts" of this super-Power last May, the Government of Somalia has recently taken the bold action of abrogating the "Treaty of Friendship' with that super-Power, expelling all ft:~ "experts" and ordering the immediate reQoval of all its military installations in Somalia. These just and determined actions have dealt powerful blows at this super-Power's wild ambition to control the Red Sea area nnd dominate the Middle East. They also manifest the Ar~b people's strong determination to further get rid of super-Power control and take their destiny into their own hands. 43. The United Nations has been discussing the questions of Palestine and the Middle East for three decades. Over a long period, as a result of manipulation and obstruction by the super-Powers, many United Nations resolutions, in- cluding the well-known Security Council resolution 242 (1967), described the question of regaining the na- tional rights of the Palestinian people as a so-called "question of refugees". The Chinese delegation has always been firmly opposed to such a position, which is biased towards the Israeli aggressors and most unfair to the Palestinian and Arab people. Although the General As- sembly, at its twenty-ninth and thirtieth sessions, adopted resolutions recognizing the national rights of the Palestinian people, these resolutions have thus far remained unimple- 44. The Chinese Government and people have always stood unswervingly on the side of the Palestinian and Arab people, and we flImly support their just struggle against Israeli zionism and super-Power hegemonism and for the recovery of the lost territories and the restoration of national rights. We strongly condemn Israel's crimes of aggression and the super-Powers' rivalry in the Middle East. We firmly maintain that Israel must withdraw from all its occupied Arab territories and that the Palestinian people must regain their sacred and inalienable national rights. The struggles of the Palestinian and Arab people are just and have won the profound sympathy and powerful support of all the countries and people that uphold justice. Although their struggles remain complex, protracted and tortuous and there will be difficulties of one kind or another on their road of advance, victory finally belongs to the great Palestinian and Arab people who persist in unity, uphold principles, dare to struggle and are good at waging struggles. This is certain and unquestionable. The meetingrose at 4.45 p.m.