A/32/PV.89 General Assembly

The General Assembly, in the resolutions which it has adopted in recent years, has clearly defined the essential dimensions of the Palestinian problem and its place in the attainment of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East. It has first and foremost recognized and reaffmned the fact that the Palestinian people, like all the other peoples in the world, has a legitimate right to self·determination, indepen- dence and national sovereignty. It has set up a Committee entrusted with the formulation of recommendations designed to enable the Palestinian people to exercise its inalienable rights and it has endorsed the recommendations drawn up by the Committee last year.! 2. The General Assembly has also concluded that the establishment of a lasting peace in the Middle East can be brought about only through a just solution of the Pales- tinian problem. Consequently, it has decided that it is essential for the recognized representative of the Pales- tinian people-which is the Palestine Liberation Organi- zation [PLO] -to participate in all efforts, deliberations and conferences on the Middle East which are held under the auspices of the United Nations on an ~qual footing with the other parties. 3. Those General Assembly conclusions have, since the beginning, been shareCl by the great majority of States. They have been and continue to be actively supported and encouraged by authoritative forums such as the conferences of the non-aligI}ed countries and the Organization of African Unity [OAU]. In analysing the development of.the Palestinian question in the last few years, one cannot fail to realize that international support for the recognition of the rights and legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people is constantly increasing. NEW YOlr 4. The same comment applies to the authority of the PLO, which has given repeated proof of its major concern and desire to make a constructive contribution to the peaceful settlement, by means of negotiations, of the Middle East conflict, a central element of which is the Palestinian problem. S. I should like to take this opportunity to ask our wIleague, the representative of the PLO, to convey our cordial greetings to the head of the political department of the PLO, Mr. Farouk Kaddoumi, who is now in New York. 6. At its last session the General Assembly, in the course of its discussions on the subject, revealed the existence of a consensus on the fact that the Palestinian question is one of the essential components of the Middle East problem and that consequently a just and lasting peace in the region can only co:ne about if the legitimate rights and aspirations of the Palestinian people are duly taken into account. At the same time, it was also stressed generaIly that a satisfactory and equitable solution of the Palestinian question could only be brought about within the context of a comprehen- sive settlement of the Middte East problem in accordance with the relevant United Nations resolutions. 7. The encouraging development of efforts made in the course of the 12st few months to break the existing deadlock was notable for new and significant steps towards the unanimous recognition of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, including their right to their own homeland, and to be duly represented in peace negotia- tions. 8. In that connexion, I should like to refer to the statement made this morning by the representative of Belgium on behalf of the nine member States of the European Economic Community. Miss Dever said: "Today we would like to recaIl the statement made on 29 June 1977 by our nine Heads of Government in which we reiterated the four principles which should be the basis ofa peace settlement. "In the framework of those four principles, which fonn an indivisible whole, we expressed our conviction that a solution to the conflict in the Middle East would be possible only if the legitimate right of the Palestinian people to give effective expression to its national identity were translated into reality-which would take into account the necessity for a homeland for the Palestinian people." {88th meeting. paras. 3 and 4.} 9. Indeed, the recognition of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, and the acceptance of the Palestinian question as one of the essential elements for a 10. What is that authority? It is the PLO, which is recognized by the United Nations and by the overwhelming majority of States in the world as the true representative of the Palestinian people. Certainly, participation in negotia- tions by the recognized representative of the Palestinian people is an essential element, because the results of these negotiations will be viable and will lead to real peace only in so far as the decisions taken are accepted by all parties to the conflict and express the will of all those concerned. 11. I should also like to point out that recent develop- ments concerning the Palestine question confirm the basic ideas which guided the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People in formulating the recommendations which it submitted to the General Assembly and which the General Assembly adopted last year This year that Committee, under the competent chairmanship of Mr. Medoune Fall of Senegal, has sought to make its own contribution to the efforts to arrive at a negotiated peace in the Middle East. In that connexion, special mention should be made of the diplomatic activity of Mr. Fall who, through the contacts which he made on behalf of the Committee with the members of the Security Council and with other persons, highlighted the intention of the Committee to continue the tasks assigned to it by the General Assembly, and thus to contribute to the establishment of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East. In this delicate task the Chairman has been very closely assisted by our Rapporteur, Mr. Gauci of Malta, whose contribution to the activity of the Committee is indeed worthy of all our admiration. 12. The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, of which Romania is a member, indicates in its report [A/32/35] that it remains ready to welcome any Member of the United Nations wishing to contribute by suggestions, proposals or initia- tives to the solution of the Palestinian problem and, consequently, to the peaceful settlement of the Middle East probleIT'. 13. The position of Romania on the Palestinian problem and on the establishment ofpeace in the Middle East is well known. 14. I should like at this time to stress the firm and unswerving support of Romania for the just cause of the Palestinian people and its authentic representative, the PLO. 15. Romania and its President have been among the first to support and actively to promote the recognition of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, and its right to :iet up a free and independent Palestinian State. 16. In the view of the Romanian Government, a view I should like to once again reaffirm, a just and lasting peace 17. More than ever we are convinced that the way to arrive at this goal and to avoid in the future new destructive military confrontations lies in serious and sincere negotia- tions among all parties concerned on all aspects of the Middle East problem. In our view, at this decisive stage, no effort should be spared, no opportunity should be passed up, and all possible means should be used finally to set in motion the process of these long-awaited negotiations. 18. In this connexion, the President of the Socialist Republic of Romania, Nicolae Ceau§escu recently stressed that it is necessary "... to act resolutely for the earliest possible resump- tion of the Geneva Conference, with the participation of all States concerned, including the Palestine Liberation Organization, as well as for the more active participation of the United Nations in the settlement of the conflict". In our view, Middle East problems, complicated as they are, can be solved in an equitable manner by peaceful means because all the peoples of that region, who have contri- buted so much to the development of human civilization, are profoundly interested in replacing force by reason. 19. Romania remains .ready actively to support, in the United Nations and outside it, all efforts designed to speed up the resumption and the progress of negotiations for the settlement of the Middle East problem as a whole and for the establishment in this region of a just and lasting peace, a peace which should be just for all peoples in the region and lasting for the benefit of all countries and for international peace and security.

When 33 States voted in favour of the partition of Palestine on that black day, Saturday, 29 November 1947, no State, not even the 13 other countries which voted against that resolution on partition [resolution 181 (If)], nor the 10 countries which abstained during the vote, could ;ulagine that the General Assembly would be continuing to examine the question of Palestine for another 30 years to no purpose. 21. Those countries, in dividing Palestine into two States, one Jewish and the other Arab, believed that they had resolved the problem, washing their hands of this matter. Those countries did not know that the Zionist designs knew no limits and that the Zionist invaders would not content themselves with the mere 56 per cent of the area of the land of Palestine that had beel~ given to them by the United Nations·- when they represented only a third of the whole population-nor with the additional 21 per cent of the land of Palestine which they usurped over and above what the United Nations had given them in 1948 and 1949. None of those countries knew that the Zionists really aimed at taking possession of the entire land of Palestine, even 23. Israel has set up scores of Jewish settlements through- out those occupied Arab lands. The Israelis persecute Arab citizens. They fill their prisons with those Arabs exposing them to the most odious types of torture. 24. The Zionist entity no longer hides its expansionist designs. It has handed over the reins of power to its most die-hard extremists and to inveterate terrorists. The Prime Minister is no longer ashamed to declare publicly what Israel has wanted to do decades ago and still wants to do, namely, to bring all the Arab territories under its domi- nation, to ensure the expansion of the racist Zionist State so that this State may become an imperialist base and a bridge-head that will allow imperialism to dominate this cross-roads of three continents and to force the Arab, Asian and African peoples into subjugation. 25. Why has the United Nations been faced with the same problem for 30 years? Why have the resolutions of the General Assembly and the Security Council-and they are countless on the question of Palestine and the Middle East problem-not been implemented throughout these long years? 26. Why does the controversy continue as to whether a Palestinian State should be established on the small part of the land of Palestine that remains, when resolution 181 (11), adopted by the General Assembly 30 years ago, remains an official resolution recorded in the documents of this international Organization and must be implemented? :hat resolution states unequivocally the right of the Palestinian people to establish an independent Palestinian State on at least 46 per cent of the land ofPalestine. 27. Perhaps I should refresh. the memories of those countries which imposed the iniquitous partition resolution on the Palestiniarl Arab people in 1947 and draw their attention to the fact that that resolution, which is still in force, provides in section A, paragraph 3, of the Plarl of Partition with Economic Union annexed to that resolution: "Independent Arab and Jewish States and the Special International Regime for the City of Jerusalem, set forth in part III of this plan, shall come into existence in Palestine two months after the evacuation... of the mandatory Power has been completed but in any case not later than 1 October 1948. The boundaries of the Arab State, the Jewish State and the City of Jerusalem shall be as described in parts 11 and III below."2 2 Quoted in English by the speaker. 29. The spokesmen of the Zionist regime justify their expansionist policy and their violation of the partition resolution, under which their State was established, on the pretext that the Arabs refused to accept that resolution and voted against it. It is paradoxical to blame a people for refusing to have their land partitioned and their national territory broken up. Did the Zionists and their allies really f'xpect the Arabs to applaud a resolution which robbed them of more than half the land on which the} had lived for thousands of years? Could they expect to see the afflicted Palestinian peop ~ dancing in the streets as the intruding Zionist settlers did when they had succeeded, by cunning, pressure, corruption and deceit, in imposing the partition resolution? 30. Have the rightful owners of the land no right to reject the expropriation of the greater part of the territory that remains of its homeland simply because they refused to agree to the fragmentation and partition of that land? 31. Mr. Quincy Wright, Professor of international law at the University of Chicago, and former President of the American Assodation ofInternational Law, said: "Israel is a creation of the United Nations. The United Nations ignored the principle of the self-determination of peoples and the rights of the Arab people in Palestine, under the Mandate and Article 80 of the United Nations Charter, in order to c:.lrry out the policy of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine ... "The justifiability of the original Arab objection to partition can hardly be questioned."3 32. Whatever the case may be, and even though the Arabs rejected the partition plan, how can Israel have the right to swallow up both what it was granted and what it was not granted of the partitioned land? 33. Another important point which the Zionists feigned to forget and others forget is that "Israel" is the only Member of the 149 Members of the United Nations whose member- ship has been subjected to conditions additional to those laid down in Article 4, paragraph 1, of the United Nations Charter. Unlike all other resolutions on the admission of non-founder States as Me~:lbers of the United Nations, General Assembly resolution 273 (Ill) of 11 May 1949 includes a special clause stating the commitment under- taken by the representative of the Government of IHael in respect of the implementation of two important General Assembly resolutions: resolution 181 (ll) of 29 Nvvember 1947 relating to partition, and resolution 194 (Ill) of 11 December 1948. The latter lays down, inter alia, the right 3 Quoted in Fnglish by the speaker. 35. Another major obstacle Israel puts in the way of efforts to achieve a just and lasting peace in the region, because of its refusal to recognize the rights of the Palestinian Arab people, is its refusal to sit down at the negotiating table with the PLO, the legitimate represen- tative of that people, under the pretext that that organi- zation is u "terrorist" organization, that it wishes te destroy Israel, and that its Covenant calls for the '''elimination of zionism in Palestine". 36. The Palestinian people is the victim of the crime which established the Zionist entity in Palestine. Can anyone blame that victimized people for rising up against the entity that has despoiled its land and placed millions er refugees and oppressed persons under the yoke of occupation? 37. The Arab people in general ap.d the Palestinian people in particular make a very clear distinction between zionism, a racist settler movement, and Judaism, a revealed reli- gion-a religion reco~nized by the Arabs, who have the greatest respect fer Its prophets and precepts. The Pales- tinian national covenant contains nothing designed to remove from Palestine either Judaism or the Jews; rather it is lionism which that covenant seeks to remove from Palestine. Perhaps a simple cOr:1parison between the Pales- tinian National Cov~nant and the Zionist law of return suffices to reveal the humanistic and tolerant Palestinian philosophy and the fanatical and racist Ziol1ist spirit. 38. Article 5 of the Palestiniall National Covenant defines as "Palestinians" "Arab citizens who were normally resi- dent in Palestine t:l1til 1947", without any distinction as to their religion; indeed, religion is not even mentioned, whether it be Christianity, Islam or Judaism. Article 6 of the Covenant regards as Palestinians "Jews who were normally resident in Palestine up to the beginning of the Zionist invasion", but the Zionist law of return limits to Jews alone the right to emigrate to Palestine and that law accords all the rights and prerogatives provided for in it to all Jews born in Palestine and all Jews who emigrated to Palestine before or after the proclamation of the law of return, as well as to all their children <h"1d ~randchildren and the husbands and wives ef Jews. The law is so racist and discriminatory that it deprives any Jew who renounces his religion ofthe rights provided for in the law. 39. This racist law of return defines a "Jew" as any person born of a Jewish mother or any person who embraces the Jewish religion to the exclusim of any other. 40. Thus, the Palestinians base their national identity on the fact of citizenship, on the place of birth, on the homeland, on life in that homeland-whatever the religion or the beliefs of the citizen-whereas the Zionists base theIr 41. Having said that about the Palestinian National Cove- nant, I turn now to the accusation that has been made that the PLO is a terrorist group. That accusation is truly the height of irony coming, as it does, from a regime headed by Mr. Menachem Begin, the leader of the Irgun Zvai Leumi gang. How can he accuse anyone else or any other organization of being terrorist? 42. The description of the liberation and national resist· ance movements as "terrorism" is something to which the struggling peoples and nations striving for their indepen- dence and self-determination have become accustomed. This description has always been used, throughout the years, by all the Nazi, Fascist and imperialist organizations against national liberation movements. Such a charge has been brought even against the European resistance move- ments fighting the Nazi occupation forces during the Second World War. If an organiza~i0n iliat uses armed resistance to liberate its usurped land and to rid its soil of foreign occupation forces is to be considered as terrorist) then the PLO is honoured to be regarded as cl terrorist organization, along with others in our modern history, such as the Vietnamese liberation movement, the Algerian liberation movement and the African liberation movements. 43. Thus, the arguments used by the Zionists for refusing to recognize the PLO· and to negotiate with it lose all validity. This heroic organization has the support of all the sons of the Palestinian people both inside and outside the occupied territory. Recent developments amply prove this. Moreover, the General Assembly and the Security Council have recognized the PLO as the sole legitimate represen- tative of the Palestinian people and, on that basis, have granted it the right to participate in an the work of the Assembly and the Council on questions relating to the Middle East and the Palestine problem. Furthermore, the League of Arab States, the OAU, the group of non-aligned countries and the group of Islamic countries, as well as more than 100 countries members of this international Organization, have recognized the PLO. 44. Israel's refusal to recognize the PLO as an essential party in the Arab-Israeli conflict is only a manoeuvre aimed at erecting artificial barri~rs to the peace efforts, at gaining time, and at confronting us with a fait accompli. Indeed, even leaving aside the irrefutable facts and circumstances to which we have referred, no party to the conflict can infringe the freedom of another party to choose its ~presentatives, or its right to decide to choose them itself. If the Arab side were to apply the same logic in respect of the representatives of the Israeli side, it could challenge Mr. Begin's capacity to represent his country. Arguments abound for such a challenge. Indeed, the Israeli Prime Minister has committed innumerable acts identical to those which he unjustly attributes t") others. 45. The international community unanimously established the fact that the Palestinian question forms the core of the 46. The principal obstacle preventing that people from exercising their inalienable rights, as recognized by the international community as appertaining to all other peoples, is the Zionist occupation of the land of Palestine and other neighbouring Ar:-ab territories. This Israeli occupa- tion continues in Palestine and other Arab territories. It is a continuing act of aggression which is contrary to the United Nations Charter and to the principles of international law and of numerous other covenants and declarations, such as the Definition of Aggression in General Assembly resolu- tion 3314 (XXIX). 47. I should like to quote once more, ifI may, an excerpt from the valuable study prepared by Professor Quincy Wright on the principle of the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by force, a principle which is the basis ofSecurity Council resolution 242 (1967): "This principle goes beyond the principle 'no fruits of aggreSSion'. It says there shall be no territorial fruits from war, using the latter term in the material sense of a considerable use of armed force. Its application, there- fore, does not depend on determining who was the 'aggressor' in the 1967 hostilities, a difficult question to answer. There can be no doubt that, whether or not Israel was the aggressor, its occupation"; of territory were achieved by the use of armed force. "The circumstances inducing the Security Council to accept cease-fire lines in June and July 1967, on the boundary of Israeli occupation were similar to those in 1949. The resolutions were justified as necessary to end the hostilities, but could not be regarded as conferring any title to the territory occupied by Israel. It is unfortunate that the position taken in 1956, requiring Israel immediately to withdraw to its de facto frontiers before the hostilities, was not adhered to. "In any case the principle in question clearly required that Israel gain no poli!kal advantage, in respect to the establishment of a boundary with its Arab neighbours while it occupied the disputed territories."4 48. It is deplorable that the United Nations and the great Powers which are permanent members of the Se~urity Council have dawdled for over 10 years without requiring Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories it gained by force and aggression. 49. The attitude of the United States in particular gives rise to special bitterness because, by supporting Israel, the 4 Quoted in English by the speaker. 50. How similar today is to yesterday. Israel invaded Arab Sinai in the autumn of 1956 as it did in the summer of 1967. It plotted against the territorial integrity of Egypt with the connivance of the two imperialist Governments which then ruled France and the United Kingdom in an endeavour which has come to be known today as the "Suez campaign" or the "tripartite aggression against Egypt". 51. The heroic resistance of the Egyptian army and peoples under the courageous leadership of their President, Mr. Nasser, the revulsion on the part of world public opinion, together with the just and courageous position taken by the United States and the Soviet Union, led to the withdrawal of the British and the French armies from the Canal region. Israel, however, whose colonialist, expansion- ist designs went even beyond the temporary imperialist plans of France and the United Kingdom, refused to withdraw from Sinai despite the many successive resolu- tions adopted by the General Assembly and the Security Council, which in vain continued to order Israel to withdraw. Mr. Eisenhower, the President of the United States, tried by various means to convince responsible Israelis to implement the United Nations resolutions and withdraw from the occupied Egyptian territories. Instead, Israel mobilized Jewish-American organizations, institutions and personalities to exert pressure OIithe President of the United States, a policy which Israel has always pursued towards the United States. That is what it is now doing on a broader scale with President Carter to make him keep silent on the occupation of the Arab territories and to support Israeli expansion and aggression to the detriment oflaw and justice even at the expense of the national interests of the American people. 52. It was then that the President of the United States found it necessary to speak directly to the American people on 20 February 1957, thu~ thwarting the Zionist pressure groups and the agents of Lle Government of Israel. After having spoken of Israel's negative stand and stubborn refusal to withdraw in spite of the United Nations resolutions and the guarantees and assurances of the United Sta;es Government, he said: "This raises a basic question of principle. Should a nation which attacks Md occupies foreign territory in the face of United Nations disapproval be allowed to impose conditions on its own withdrawal? "If we agree that armed attack can properly achieve the purposes of the assailant, then I fear we will have turned back the clock of international order. We will, in effect, have countenanced the use of force as a means of settling international differences and through this gaining national advantages. "If the United Nations once admits that international disputes can be settled by using force, then we will have destroyed the very foundation of the organization and our best hope of establishing a world order. That would be a disaster for us alL "I would, I feel, be untrue to the standards of the high office to which you have chosen me if I were to lend the influence of the United States to the proposition that a nation which invades another should be permitted to exact conditions for withdrawal."s 53. Scarcely a week after President Eisenhower had taken that firm and courageous position, Golda Meir, then Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Zionist regime, stated in this Assembly6 that she accepted the fact that the forces of aggression should withdraw. 54. The aggression perpetrated by Israel in June 1967 is yet more fraught with horror and violations than the crimes committed in October 1956. And whereas the Israeli invasion forces remained only a few months in Egyptian territory after the 1956 aggression, those forces have remained more than 10 years in the Egyptian, Syrian and Palestinian territories since the 1967 2ggression. 55. Presi::lent Carter, who, since he became President, has shown considerable moral and objective courage and who has tried for some time to base his foreign policy on just ethical values, should draw inspiration from President Eisenhower's courageous attitude in the face of increased Zionist pressure to make him go back on his word and to undo all the progress that has been made thanks to his desire to imbue American politics in the international field with an ethical character that will truly serve the real interests of the American people. 56. The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People has determined the dimensions of the Palestinian problem and has affirmed that that problem is the essence of the Middle East problem and that a just and lasting peace in the region is impossible without the realization of the inalienable national rights of the Palestinian people and without the evacuation of all Israeli occupation forces from all Arab territories. 57. That Committee has made intensive efforts to accom- plish the task entrusted to it by the General Assembly'in its resolution 31/20, in the manner described in its report lA/32/35]. 58. My delegation would like to express its deep apprecia- tion for the efforts made by the Committee. The Chairman, 59. Might I also pay a tribute to the efforts and the valuable assistance provided by Mr. Kurt Waldheim to facilitate the work of the Committee, in promoting peace efforts in the Middle East and in seeking a just and comprehensive solution to the Middle East problem and the Palestinian question, which is the very crux of that problem. 60. But my delegation is compelled to express with equal force its disappointment at the fact that the Security Council and, in particular, certain permanent and non- permanent Western Powers, found themselves unable to assume their responsibilities under the Charter and to endorse the Committee's recommendations which, since the adoption of General Assembly resolution 31/20 in fact constitute recommendations of the General Assembly adopted by an overwhelming majority. The Security Council must renounce its rigid, negative attitude and must discharge its task under the Charter of safeguarding international pear.e and security in the region by putting an end to the continual aggression which is being suffered by the Palestinian people and their brothers, the Syrian and Egyptian peoples. 61. My delegation has participated as an observer in all the work of the Committee. We reaffirm, as we have already done repeatedly in the General Assembly, in the Security Council and'in the Committee itself, our support for the Committee's recommendations and especially those contained in paragraph 72 of annex I of its report. That is the minimum which should be done immediately to restore certain rights to the Palestinian people and to contribute to ending the Arab-Israeli conflict and to establish a just and lasting peace in the region. 62. My delegation has clearly expressed its position regarding the dramatic surprises which took place in the region during the examination of the problem of the Middle East in this Assembly last week. The events and develop- ments which followed have proved how right we were to expect that unilateral measures would prejudice the inter- national and multilateral efforts, which have over the past months focused on the preparation of the Geneva Con- ference with the participation of all parties to the conflict, including the PLO, in order to achieve a complete, comprehensive and peaceful solution dealing with all the elements of the conflict and to bring about a just and las~ing peace in all parts of the region, and on all fronts where there is conflict between parties to the dispute. 63. Those unilateral initiatives have produced-as they were intended to do-a breach and a division in the front of the Arab forces confronting Israeli aggression, and has brought to the fore again the differences and the tension between the two super-Powers, Co-Chairmen of the Peace Conference; they have also removed the problem-as Israel has always urged-from the United Nations, from the international sphere and from the orbit of thos'~ who collectively oppose the aggression. So they have led us away from the multilateral Geneva Peace Conference, which was 64. The Syrian Arab Republic will continue its efforts under the leadership of its President, Hafez EI-Assad, to reduce the consequences of the unilateral initiatives of recent days, their negative effects in the region and on the comprehensive international peace efforts and the breach that has been made in the front of the Arab countries confronting aggression. The Syrian Arab Republic will also pursue consultations with brotherly and friendly countdes, the great Powers, the regional groups and the non-regional groups concerned with the problem, and especially with the group of non-aligned countries, in order to make sure that the legitimate national right:. of the Palestinian people are respected and that the withdrawal of Israel from all occupied Arab territories is guaranteed and to prevent Israel and its former or new allies from retrogressing to a step-by-step policy or to partial, separate solutions. 65. The General Assembly, on 25 November 1977, adopted by an overwhelming majority resolution 32/20 : ~affirming its condemnation of Israel's continued occupa- tion of the Arab territories and urging all the parties to the conflict to work towards the achievement of a comprehen- sive settIem~nt that would cover all aspects of the problems and would be worked out with the participation of all parties concerned within the framework of the United Nations. 66. We understand the recent initiative taken by the Secretary-General, Mr. Kurt Waldheim, as announced in his press cO:lference on 29 November 1977. That initiative accords with that resolution. The Syrian Arab Government continue~ to examine the proposal of the Secretary-General with all the interest it deserves and in due course will make the appropriate decision. My delegation feels compelled, however, to record our satisfaction-whatever may happen in the future to that proposal-at the fact that the Secretary-General in his proposal has taken into considera- t.ion the respect expressed in United Nations resolutions regarding the framework within which efforts and negotia- tions for peace should be undertaken and, in particular, the fact that all those efforts and deliberations must bring together all parties to the conflict, including the PLO. Those effort~ and activities must continue to be maintained within the framework of the United Nations and must deal \vith all elements of the problem and not merely certain aspects of the ccnflict. 67. The Secretary-General acts-as we have always known him to act- in accordance with the principles reaffmned by United Nations resolutions, the last of which is General Assembly resolution 32/20, which I have just mentioned. For this he deserves our appreciation and thanks. 69. But the Arab nation will allow no individual or party, whoever that party may be, to remove the Arab problem from its international framework; it will forgive no one responsible for sacrificing the comprehensive and just Arab claims on the altar of partial settlements and separate agreements. 70. The Syrian Arab Republic reaffirms for the thou- sandth time its sincere desire to achieve a just and lasting peace in the Middle East based on granting the Palestinian Arab people-just like all the other peoples of the region- all their national rights, including their right to return, their independence, their right to establish their own indepen- dent State on their own lands, the liberation of all the Arab territories occupied since the 1967 aggression, an_d the right of all peoples and States in the region to live in peace once the consequences of the Israeli aggression from which the whole region suffers have been eliminated. 71. In line with those principles we are convinced that the recovery by the Palestinian Arab people of their inalienable national rights is one of the main pie-conditions for the establishment of a just and lasting peace in addition to the condition of complete withdrawal of Israel from the occupied Arab territories. 72. The Syrian Arab Republic is one of the sponsors of draft resolutions A/32/L.39 and A/32/L.40 which mention the recommendations of the General Assembly concerning the exercise of the inalienable right of the Palestinian people and the creation of a special unit within the United Nations entrusted with the task of ensuring t.1]e rights of the Palestinian people. I do not deem it necessary to add anything to what previous speakers have said on the importance of setting up that unit, seeing that the United Nations has been absorbed by the study oof the Palestinian problem for 30 years. 73. Our desire to see peace needs no further proof, but a peace which is not based on justice is nothing more than surrender. Moderation does not mean abandoning ones rights or resignation. Nor does clinging to justice and one's legitimate rights signify obstinacy or extremism. 74. President Eisenhower was so right when he said, 20 years ago: "Peace and justice are two sides of the same coin."7

The General Assembly is once again debating the question of Palestine which is one of the essential elements involved in a Middle East settlement. 76. In recent years the United Nations General Assembly has adopted a number of resolutions of crucial importance on the question of PalestiIle. We cannot fail to mention in 7 Quoted in English by the speaker. 77. That important provision was further developed in resolution 3375 (XXX) in which the General Assembly called for the invitation of the PLO, the representative of the Arab people of Palestine, to participate in all efforts, deliberation and conferences on the Middle East on an equal footing with other parties on the basis of resolution 3236 (XXIX). 78. That and other fundamental decisions of the United Nations have led the international cominunity to the inescapable. conclusion that the question of Palestine is the key to a Middle East settlement. A logical consequeilce of this conclusion is the realization that, without the participa- tion of the legitimate representatives of the Palestinian people, that is the PLO, such a settlement is impossible. The essential need for the participation of the PLO in the consideration of all aspects of the settlement has also been confirmed in practice by the·work of the General Assembly and the Security Council. 79. The position of the overwhelming majority of States in the world, enshrined in the above-mentioned decisions of the General Assembly, is clear. However, once again we are forced to observe that the ruling circles of Israel, as before, continue to impede the exercise of the inalienable right of the Arab people of Palestine to create its own State. Three million Palestinian Arabs, who have the same rights as any other people in the Middle East and in the world, have for three decades already been in the position of an exiled people. 80. This intolerable situation cannot fail to elicit serious concern on the part of all peace-loving States and peoples, which can be strikingly seen from the statements of many delegatiolls in the course of the present session. Virtually all the States Members of the United Nations are convinced of the impossibility of achieving a lasting peace in the Middle East without a so~ution to the Palestine question and they recognize the need to guarantee the inaiienable rights of the Arab people of Palestine, including their right to create their own State. 81. The position of principle of the Soviet Union on a Middle East settlement as a whole, including the problem of Palestine. is well known. It is a position of principle and it is profoundly consistent and just. 82. As was stated by a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union, Comrade A. A. Gromyko, speaking on 29 November 1977 in Moscow during a luncheon in honour of the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Syrian Arab Republic, Abdul Halim Khaddam: "The Soviet Union follows a policy of principle, which is not subject to any changes of expediency. This is "This position of the Soviet Union"-continued A. A. Gromyko-"has been repeatedly set forth at the highest forums of our Party, including the Twenty-fifth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, in L. I. Brezhnev's report and in his other statements. The entire world is aware of this policy, first and foremost, of course, the people of the Middle East. It is a policy of peace, an honest policy truly aimed at solving the problems rather than creating difficulties to impede their solution." 83. The delegation of the USSR considers it at present essential to reaffirm that the Soviet Union has steadfastly supported and will continue to support the just cause of the Arab people of Palestine struggling for its national rights, freedom and national independence and for a just and lasting peace. The Soviet Union follows a consistent policy aimed at the achievement of a comprehensive, just Middle East settlement, an inextricable element of which should be guaranteeing the legitimate national rights of the Arab people of Palestine, including their right to self-deter- mination, the creation,of their own State and the return to their homes in conformity with United Nations decisions. The Soviet Union continues to believe that, without a just solution of the Palestine problem and without the libera- tion of all Arab territories occupied in 1967, there can be no lasting peace in the Middle East. Of course, no solution affecting the fate of the Palestinians can be taken without them, much less against them. 84. The Soviet Union has supported and continues to support the PLO as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people and the universally recognized leader of the Palestinians. As was pointed out by the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Comrade L. I. Brezhnev, in his conversation with the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the PLO, Yasser Arafat, in April 1977: "In recent years the Palestinian resistance movement has achieved considerable success in defending the legiti- mate national rights of the Palestinian Arabs and has become one of the leaders of the Arab national liberation movement." 85. Relations of freedom and fruitful co-operation have developed between the Soviet people and the Arab people of Palestine, as, itldeed, between the Government of the Soviet Union and the leadership of the PLO. We note with satisfaction that the consistent solidarity of the Soviet Union with the struggle of the Arab people of Palestine has met with the profound gratitude of the Arab people of Palestine and its leaders. 87. The Soviet Union is against separate deals concluded behind the backs of any of the direct parties to the conflict bypassing the Geneva Peace Conference. As experience shows, any attempts to solve questions involved in a Middle East settlement through separate deals will not only fail to defuse the climate but will rather further complicate it, to the detriment of the vital interests of all the peoples of the region. Only resolute efforts in the direction of a compre- hensive political settlement are capable ofleading to a radical improvement of the climate in the Middle East. This is the firm position of the Soviet Union. This is the position of the overwhelming majority of States Members of the United Nations. 88. In light of this, our immediate task is the speedy resumption of the work of the Geneva Peace Conference. It is well known what the situation is at present with respect to that Conference. Speaking on 29 November 1977 the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union, A. A. Gromyko, stated: "Today it can be said that the Conference has been placed in a more difficult situation than before and that difficulties have multiplied including difficulties involved in its convening." The Foreign Minister stressed that: "A serious responsibility should be borne by those who, close to or far from the Middle East region, take steps which create difficulties even on the path towards the convening of the Geneva Conference." 89. In the course of a conversation on 30 November between the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and Chairman _of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, L. I. Brezhnev, and a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union, A. A. Gromyko, and the Deputy Prime Minister and Min- ister for Foreign' Affairs of the Syrian Arab Republic, Abdul Ha1im Khaddam, the joint resolve of the Soviet Union and the Syrian Arab Republic was expressed to work for the achievement of a comprehensive Middle East settlement, excluding the possibility of separate deals, which the leaders of some Arab countries still clutch at, and with the full-fledged participation of the PLO, the legiti- mate representative of the Arab people ofPalestine. Should the Geneva Conference be wrecked, then a heavy responsi- bility is to be borne by those who had a hand in it. 90. In discussing the Palestine question, the Soviet delega- tion would once again like to draw attention to the positive significance of the joint Soviet-American statement on the Middle East of 1 October 1977. 92. The statement stresses that the only right and effective way for achieving a fundamental solution to all aspects of the Middle East problem in its entirety is negotiations within the framework of the Geneva Peace Conference, specially convened for these purposes, with participation in its work of the representatives of all the parties involved in the conflict, including those of the Palestinian people. 93. The delegation of the USSR has studied the contents of the report of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People now before the Assembly and fully shares the conclusion of the Committee set forth therein regarding the urgent need to convene the Geneva Conference, and the need for constructive efforts to achieve a just settlement guaranteeing the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and the participation of the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people on an equal footing in all such efforts.

Allowme first of all to pay a tribute to the sincere efforts of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People as reflected in its full, crystal-clear report [AI32135}. My delegation is profoundly grateful to the Chairman and the members of that Committee for the invaluable efforts they have made, in a spirit of objectivity, in their study and their recommendations. I should also like to express my heartfelt thanks and gratitude for the good offices of the Secretary-General of the United Nations in trying to find a just and lasting solution to the problems of Palestine, whose people have lived through more misery, tragedy and terrible crises than any other people in the world because of the implantation of evil and division in their homeland-that is, Palestine. 95. Once more the General Assembly is discussing the longest case known in the history of the United Nations, that is to say, the question of Palestine, at a time when the Middle East region i~ going through a critical stage in its decisive struggle against Israel. Indeed, it is a period of gestation, when we shall see new transformations and new changes which will affect the future of the entire region. Whether the diplomatic efforts fail or succeed in resolving the problem that is at the heart of the conflict-that is to say, the question of Palestine-this period will be decisive for the direction and future dimensior.s of the conflict. 96. It has become obvious to the international community that peace is impossible in the Middle East without a just solution to the Palestinian problem, since, for more than 30 97. Zionism and its instrument, Israel, were able over recent years to propagate an atmosphere of terror and tension unprecedented in that region. This is a grave danger for the future of the region and for international peace and security, because the essential movement and its very nature is one of aggression which since its creation has tried to take control of the whole of the land of Palestine in order to create a racist, colonialist, imperialist entity to the detriment of the Arab people of Palestine and their legitimate rights to their homeland. With all their resources, . with their cen.tres of political and financial influence and propaganda, and with their ability to rely on imperialist forces throughout the world, the Zionists were able to create Israel in 1948 and to give it all assistance and every form of support. Israel has thus continued to usurp the land of Palestine, to occupy it by force of arms and to expel the Arab population which lived there. It has persecuted and tortured those from among that population who remained in their own land. Israel went even further than this, for the world at large saw a new and most odious form of colonialism there, whereby an entire people was expelled from its lands, which were then occupied. The social structures of that people were destroyed and a policy of genocide was imposed. That is what the Arab people of Palestine have suffered and are still suffering, to say nothing of the occupation of territories of other Arab countries, whose peoples are living under the yoke of oppressive occupation. 98. It is not by mere chance or coincidence that Israel has been established at the heart of the Arab region. For Israel was and still is one of the main elements of the imperialist policy of enabling it to consolidate the division of the Arab world and ofusing Israel to attack and strike at the national liberation movement, because Israel represents a military base, designed to protect foreign interests. It was on this premise that the policy of Great Britain allowed the Zionist movement to dominate Palestine. 99. Israel-and behind it the world Zionist movement-has not been content merely to usurp the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and to commit continued and increased aggression against Arab countries. It even defied world public opinion, the world order represented by our international Organization, and the principles of human rights as demonstrated by its obstinate and arrogant refusal to obey the numerous United Nation;) resolutions, of which there ire more than 200. This has become a threat to the whole Middle East region, as well as to the world order, and it prevents the establishment of the just peace, to which the peoples of the region aspire. 100. The United Nations recognized the right of return of the Palestinian people i.q General Assembly resolution 194 (Ill), which makes the admission of Israel as a Member 101. At the last session of the General Assembly, the United Nations reached a new stage in treating the Palestinian problem, that is to say, it achieved an interim practical formula for implementing the inalienable rights of the PalestinianArab people. The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People prepared an exhaustive report on its understanding of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people. That reportS was submitted to the Security Coundl in June 1976 and was supported by an overwhelming majority, but it was not adopted because of the United States veto. Because of that rejection, the Committee submitted its report to the thirty-first session of the General Assembly;9 in the vote it was supported by a majority of the Member States, and we hope that this year's report will be given greater support. 102. But Israel obstinately rejects all United Nations resolutions because they are incompatible with its expan- sionist designs and aggressive aims. It insists on considering the Palestinan problem as a refugee problem, believing that those refugees should be absorbed wherever they are found. That is why Israel not only refuses to allow the Palestinians to return to their homeland but also encourages through various barbaric means those who are still in the occupied land to emigrate. 103. Israel's political, economic and social conditions prove that the Israelies are going through a total crisis which might well stifle them completely and bring a worsening of the situation that could lead to a preventive offensive. That threat has been formulated by Israeli military leaders. We should pay serious heed to it because Israel's situation in 1967 was no worse than its situation this year. It is quite probable that Israel will trigger a new aggression so as to impose a new fait accompli on the world in order to impose its conditions and avoid the convening of the Geneva Peace Conference-because peace is incom- patible with the nature of the Zionist entity, its designs and plans. 104. Israel advocates peace based on faits accomplis imposed by armed force and this was rejected by all covenants and resolutions of the international institutions. First, it considers that its position as the usurper State of 105. While Israel is proclaiming peace slogans and inviting harmony its forces are triggering military operations of greater scope against Arab countries and civilians, as has been done in Deir Yasin, Kafr Qasim, Qibya, Nahhalin, Gaza, Tawafiq, Suez, Irbid, Es Salt and Quneitra, as well as the refugee camps of Rashidieh, Qalqilya, Beddawi and Tyre, and the peaceful Lebanese villages. 106. Israel's appeals for peace are merely manoeuvres to mask its constant expansionist, aggressive plans; but in some cases Israel even prepares for aggression while speaking of peace and expressing a desire to consolidate and maintain it. In certain cases it represents aggression as a desire for peace. Even the terrorist Irgun gang, under the leadership of Menachem Begin, in 1948 "sold" the Arabs peace and friendship slogans while its terrorist spearmen assaulted Palestinian men, women and children during the Deir Yasin massacre. 107. Israel's abnormal existence is based on violence and expulsion, its alliance with imperialist forces and its scorn for United Nations resolutions. That prompts Israel's leaders to create an international climate which accepts the existence of this strange political and social presence in that part of the world. 108. Following the partition resolution in 1947, the Zionist forces occupied lands which had been allocated to the Zionist State and then began conquering more of the land of Palestine and then asked to become a Member of the United Nations within the framework of the boundaries established by the status quo which then existed instead of within the boundaries laid down in the partition resolution. 109. When Israel was unable to occupy Old Jerusalem in 1948 it asked for the city to be internationalized, but after it occupied it in 1967 it refused the internationalization of Jerusalem and annexed it. In accordance with Security Council resolution 242 (1967) and the resolution that preceded it demanding the return of the refugees who had emigrated from their country because of the aggression of 1967, Israel began to discuss the problem of the return of those refugees, completely ignoring the problem of the return of the refugees of 1948-a return that had been guaranteed by United Nations resolutions. 110. The conventions and treaties which Israel undertook to respect when it was created have been put into effect by Israel only to the extent that they have served its 111. Notwithstanding all that, the Arab people of Pales- tine, throughout the period of the Mandate, have never forgotten their legitimate right to a homeland and they have continued their tireless and bitter struggle to safeguard their sovereignty and to achieve self-determination. Since 1919, the Palestinian people have unequivocally rejected the Zionist programme to establish a national Jewish homeland in Palestine. In fact, the Palestinian people were so devoted to their land and their sovereignty that they consistently refused to sell their \ands to Jewish immi- grants, despite the tempting offers made and despite the means adopted by the occupying Powers to induce them to do so. Thus until the last days of the Mandate the Jews still owned and occupied only 5.5 per cent of the total area of the territory. That proves that Palestine was an intrinsic and indivisible part of the Arab world, from whatever point of view, because the population was linked with the Middle East Arabs by ethnic, religious, linguistic and historical ties. Despite the consistent and heavy sacrifices made by the people struggling for over half a century, they were deprived of their right to self-determination on their own territory and in their own homeland. They were even ousted from their hearths by force through recourse to the most despicable forms of intimidation, both materially and psychologically, although the United Nations recognized in numerous General Assembly resolutions that the right of peoples to self-determination, including that of the Pales- tinian people, was essential to the full exercise of all basic human rights. Similarly, the international community recognized the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples by every possible means for self-determination and for libera- tion from foreign imperialist domination. The international community insisted that Member States should support the peoples' f'Ight for freedom so that they might determine their own fate and that help should be given to that end. 112. For how long can Israel continue to dodge the Palestinian issue at a time when attempts are being made to reach a comprehensive and just settlement? Peace is not possible unless it is based on ajust solution; as long as Israel opposes a just solution of the Palestinian problem, the prospects for peace or for an over-all solution will be non-existent, because the Arab people of Palestine have become a reality Israel must recognize, as they are recognized by the international community, if a just and lasting peace in the area is to be achieved.

With each year that passes, the need to resolve the question of Palestine in a just and lasting manner attracts increasing attention from the States Members of the United Nations. The gradual growth of support by the international community for the heroic people of Palestine in their struggle to achieve their noble national objectives is noticeable. My delegation has worked strenuously in the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and supports its recommendations, which are the best means of solving the question now under consideration. We trust that the General Assembly will adopt decisions that will enable the Committee further to expand its work and thus contribute to an early realization ofjustice for the Palestinian people. lIS. The full exercise of their inalienable rights by the Palestinian people has become a perpetual demand by the concert of nations gathered here. That aspiration goes beyond the national desires of the Palestinian people and has become a universal clamour. 116. However, there is a discordant note in the universal concert of voices. That has been referred to in recent days very appropriately by the head of the political department of the PLO, Comrade Farouk Kaddoumi, who highlighted the unanimous support of the United Nations for the just cause of its people. He said: "Israel and its ally, the United States of America, are the only Members that did not join in the unanimous international support given to our proposals and those of our friends" [84th meeting, para. 49}. 117. During three decades Israel and its main imperialist ally have denied the Arab people of Palestine their most elemental human rights and have attempted to ignore their existence and to disregard their inalienable right to self- determination. However, in confronting powerful enemies, the Palestinian people have known how to resist them and to struggle against those who have systematically attempted to exterminate them. 118. We must state that the Arab people of Palestine, while confronting with courage and determination the sinister designs of zionism and imperialism, have been able to give proof of their constructive and peaceful will, proposing in various forums and on various occasions plans leading to a just, acceptable and lasting solution to the problems of the region. In so doing, the Palestinian movement and its leaders have shown their maturity and their readiness to contribute to international peace and security. 119. It should be added that each time it has been the Zionists and American imperialism which have sabotaged any reasonable initiatives proposed by the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. 120. I shall not go into the wealth ofinitiatives culminat- ing with the proposal for the creation of an independent 121. This is why it is especially inadmissible that today Israel and its imperialist allies, and those who court them, attempt to carry out manoeuvres allegedly designed to solve the Middle East conflict at the expense of the Arab people of Palestine. Such manoeuvres should be rejected most resolutely. 122. The problem of Palestine is the very backbone of the Middle East conflict and, consequently, there will be no real or effective solution to that conflict if it does not include the problem of Palestine, if the Palestinian people are not guaranteed the exercise of their national rights in conformity with resolution 3236 (XXIX) and the other resolutions subsequently adopted by the General Assembly. 123. Any attempt to seek separate solutions taking into account only partial aspects will not lead to peace in the region but, on the contrary, will increase the danger ofwar and confrontation. Faced with approaches favouring alleged bilateral solutions disregarding central and unavoidable aspects, approaches promoted outside the United Nations, we must assert the need to insist on comprehensive solutions which should not exclude any of the factors dermed by the international community and which should be brought about within the _.Org&Jlization, using its machinery and respecting its decisions. In this connexion we should condemn the stratagems of Israel and its imperialist allies and those who echo them, those who wish to frustrate the holding of the Geneva Conference and to replace it with confabulations of dubious inspiration and uncertain prospects. Equally worthy of condemnation are the plans to exclude the PLO from negotiations or to isolate"Syria and to place it in a disadvantageous position. In recent days, moreover, the demonstrations and public protests in the Jordan Valley have shown that nothing and no one will be able to weaken the will to struggle of the Palestinian people and their decision to continue to fight until they achieve the full exercise ofall their rights. 124. The strategy of itnperialism in the Middle East has consisted in trying to divide the Arab peoples and to separate them from the socialist community and the other revolutionary and progressive forces of the world who are their only firm and loyal allies. The Arab peoples and their leading Governments have attempted to co-ordinate a common strategy, enabling them to confront present difficulties and to achieve victory. We are convinced that the Arab peoples will be able to strengthen their cohesion and solidarity and to defeat the intrigues of imperialism and 126. In dealing with this issue, as with many others, the General Assembly has always been able to offer, at every crucial development, both the framework and the modali- ties for progress towards a just solution. Regrettably, however, Israeli intransigence has always been a stumbling- block to any meaningful steps in the direction of settling the problem. The United Nations, through its resolutions, condemned the Israeli aggression of 1967 and demanded total withdrawal from the Arab territories occupied as a result of that aggression. Not only did Israel refuse to withdraw from these Arab territories, but it also annexed Jerusalem. It has also established a settlement policy in line with the expansionist declaration of its leaders to the effect that much of occupied Arab territories either is liberated Israeli land or is necessary for Israel's security. These policies must be seen as a continuation of the Zionist plan, set in motion in the early decades of this century, to displace the native Arat population of Palestine and to replace it with European Jews. In their arrogance, the Zionists act as though Palestine has less religious and national significance for it:; true inhabitants: those who have be~n there for thousands ofyears-and by this I mean the Palestinians-than for the European immigrants who have no right whatsoever to Palestine, let alone to the occupied Arab territories. 127. It cannot be doubted that the resolutions on the Palestinian question adopted by the twenty-ninth and thirtieth sessions of the General Assembly produced a new climate and gave a new impetus to the search for a Middle East settlement. Welcome evidence of this new climate appeared recently, for example, in the joint statement of I October 1977 by the United States and the Soviet Union, the Co-Chainnen of the Geneva Conference, which clearly recog~ed the need to ensure the legitimate right of the falestinian people to nationhood. The statements of leaders of the countries of the European Community both individ- ually and collectively have also added to the international consensus on Palestinian rights. The net result of the recent General Assembly resolutions on Palestine has been the gaining of the widest possible recognition of the fact that the Palestinian people must be able to exercise their right to self-determination and to the establishment of an indepen- dent State in Palestine and that they must be a party to any and all talks on the question of Palestine. In this context it is pertinent to recall that the General Assembly has recognized the PLO as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. 129. While the momentum created by the resolutions on Palestine of the past few years is being carried forward in various initiatives outside the United Nations, there is still much that can be done by the General Assembly and the Committee on Palestinian rights. My delegation believes, fIrst of all, that it is of great importance for the Security Council to complete the process the General Assembly has begun by recognizing the inalienable right of the Pales- tinians to nationhood. No opportunity to persuade the Council to respond to the international consensus on this matter should be lost. 130. My delegation also attaches great importance to the mandate of the Committee on Palestinian rights to promote the greatest possible dissemination 'of information on its programme of implementation. We hope in the future to see even greater emphasis placed on contacts with the non-governmental organizations, which would no doubt benefit more from the information the Committee offers than United Nations bodies, which are already well acquainted with the Middle East question. 131. Thanks to the continuous efforts ofthe international community, the present time is one of great hope that opportunities for peace in the Middle East may be achieved. We also reali~e that failure to reach a comprehensive settlement in a reasonable time might well even aggravate the situation and create more tensions and conflicts than we have witnessed in the past. 132. The vast majority of Member States recognize that there can be no peace unless the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people to a national identity are fulfllled and unless occupied Arab territories are returned. The Israelis cannot have both peace and expansionism. They cannot expect to enjoy tranquillity when they usurp the rights of others. The choice between peace and conflict is Israel's to make.

During the discus- sion on the Palestinian question many delegations have emphasized that a solution to the Palestinian problem is of key importance for the elimination of dangerous hotbeds of tension, for bringing about a just and lasting settlement in the Middle East and for future peace and international security. Recognition of the decisive importance of this question is reflected in the opinion of the overwhelming 134. This is also reflected in the report of the Committee en the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, which contains a number of important conclusions and recommendations concerning ways and means of resolving the Palestinian problem. 135. The delegation of the Ukrainian SSR is profoundly convinced that the solving of the Palestinian problem would provide a reliable basis for a just and lasting peace in the Middle East. That can be denied only by those who oppose a peaceful settlement and who hatch plans that have nothing in common with the task of strengthening peace and security in the Middle East. 136. Our delegation has at this session already voiced its consistent policy of principle on the Middle East issue [81st meeting}.' We have emphasized the necessity of a radical and comprehensive settlement in order to achieve peace in the Middle East. We have also stressed that, in order to achieve a comprehensive settlement, the appropriate machinery is at hand-to wit, the Geneva Peace Conference, where the equal participation of alll:iides directly concerned is necessary, including, of course, the representatives of the Palestinian Arab people, who must be one of the main parties to any solution of the Middle East problem. The legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, recog- nized by the United Nations, is the PLO. Since the Palestinian problem is the heart of the Middle East conflict, it goes without saying that trying to resolve this problem without the Palestinians and behind their backs, especially against their interests, is unrealistic and is inadmissible. 137. Nevertheless, the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, which are recognized by the United Nations, continue to be grossly trampled underfoot. The Israeli forces, as heretofore, illegally occupy more than 60,000 square kilometres of Arab lands, appropriated as a result of the 1967 aggression, and the 3 million Arab people of Palestine are deprived of their homeland by the occupying forces and are compelled to eke out an existence as a refugee people. The leaders of Israel, with the support of international imperialism, are pursuing a policy ofeliminat- ing the national existence of the Palestinian people. This situation is contrary to the United Nations Charter, the decisions of the General Assembly and the will of the international community. 138. In pursuing an aggressive policy against their neigh- bours and ignoring all United Nations resolutions, Israel is obstinately colonizing the occupied territories, is ousting the Arabs from their ancestral lands and is pursuing with regard to them a policy of repression and racial discrimi- nation, demolishing entire Arab settlements and clearing the ground for its notorious "lebensraum", in order to strengthen and hold on to the o-~cupied territories. The leaders of Israel themselves do not hide their designs but regularly proclaim at all levels their refusal to return to the 1967 borders. However, no one now doubts that peace built on aggression, the appropriation of the lands of others and the ousting of a whole people cannot be just and 140. The report of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People emphasizes the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by the use of force and the need for complete and immediate withdrawal by Israel from the occupied territories. A demand is made for a speedy implementation of the inalienable rights of the Palestinians. The need is stressed for the participation of the PLO on an equal footing with other parties to the conflict in all efforts to bring peace to the regio~1, including, of course, the participation of the PLO in the Geneva Conference. Of course an intrinsic and integral part of a settlement of the Middle East conflict must be the implementation of all rights of the Palestinians, including their right to self-determination and to the creation of their own State. Any further disregard of these current demands would only complicate an already explosive situation in the Middle East. 141. The situation in that region is now very complicated. The delegation of the Ukrainian SSR has several times emphasized that the path to a just and lasting settlement lies through a speedy resumption of the work of the Geneva Peace Conference. Unfortunately, we have to note that as a result of certain separate actions that Conference has been placed in a more difficult situation than heretofore and its convening has been complicated. 142. A peaceful solution would be in the interests of all peoples of the Middle East, both Arabs and Israelis. 143. It is time for Israel to renounce its policy of annexation and to stop denying the rights of the Pales- tinians. No one has been able or will be able to deprive a whole people of its native land. Notwithstanding all attempts to eliminate their national existence, the Pales- tinians live, they fight, and sooner or later they will, with ever growing international support, be able to exercise their inalienable rights, which have been recognized by the international community. 144. If the leaders of Israel really want peace, as they say they do, they must be realistic. They must return all the Arab lands occupied as the result of the 1967 war and recognize the inalienable rights of the Arabs. 145. The delegation of the Ukrainian SSR calls upon all Members of the United Nations to do their utmost to eliminate this hotbed of tension so dangerous to peace in the Middle East so as to arrive at a speedy and just solution of the Palestinian problem, which would be in the ~nterests of all States and peoples and in the interest of peace and 147. The delegation of the Democratic Republic of Madagascar remains convinced that the question of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people is at the very heart of the Middle East conflict and that the establishment of a just and lasting peace in that region presupposes the recognition and the exercise of those rights. 148. Moreover, we believe that it is necessary to eliminate the misunderstandings and redress the injustices of which the Palestinian people were the victim when our Organi- zation some 30 years ago adopted the unsatisfactory solution one aspect of which was the creation and delimitation of the State of Israel. 149. Since then the Palestinian people, expelled from their homes or living sometimes as refugees in what remains ef their own country, have never ceased to proclaim their legitimate revolt against their inhuman living conditions and to wage a relentless struggle to compel their neighbours and the international community to recognize their right to exist, their right to freedom, their right to independence on lands which are recognized as theirs, and their right to life itself. 150. As long as justice is not done in conformity with the very principles of the United Nations Charter, we shall hope in vain for a climate of security, trust and mutual respect in the region, one in which the peoples of the region will gradually get used to living with one another in peace. 15L That is why my delegation was both pleased and honoured to have been among the sponsors of resolution 3236 (XXIX), whereby the General Assembly has enshrined the inalienable and legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination, sovereignty and national independence, as well as the right of the Palestinians to return to the homes from which they were uprooted and the property of which they were despoiled. 152. That is why we have endorsed the view that the PLO, recognized by the United Nations and by the vast majority of States in the world as the legitimate and sole represen- tative of the Palestinian people, should be made part of any effort, negotiations, deliberations and conferences on the Middle East undertaken under the auspices of the United Nations. That is why we dissociate ourselves now and in the future from any initiative designed to arrive at a settlement without their participation. 153. That is why we have always supported the principle of the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by force in violation of the United Nations Charter and the relevant resolutions of the United Nations. 155. The Committee has taken care to place on a sound legal basis its recommendations, which draw their substance from resolutions adopted by the General Assembly and by the Security Council and which are in complete conformity with the principles of the Charter and international law: first, the right of peoples to self-determination and national independence; secondly, the inadmissibility of the acquisi- tion of territory by war; and, thirdly, respect for the rights of civilian populations in occupied territories. 156. During last year's deliberations reservations were voiced by several delegations who had wished to see the COIl1filittee go beyond the framework of its mandate and declare itself on the question of the borders and the security of States in the region. But these reservations, which are, formally speaking, inadmissible, do not affect the validity of" the programme submitted by the Com- mittee. To be convinced of that, it suffices to recall that at the time of its admission to the United Nations, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Israel, upon the explicit demand ofMember States and as a condition for admission, subscribed to the solemn commitment of respecting the Charter and to accept, first, resolution 181 (11) on the partition plan providing for the creation next to Israel of an Arab State in Palestine and, secondly, resolution 194 (Ill) on the right of the Palestinians to return to the homes from which they had been expelled or to receive compensation should they decide oftheir own accord to go elsewhere. 157. Last year the Committee was able to ascenain that the views expressed in this Assembly during the debate on Palestine agreed with the fundamental considerations which underlie its recommendations. 158. The same is true this year, and the Committee has also noted that the only Power to have used its veto against the recommendations of the Committee in 1976 has begun to refer to the rights of the Palestinian people, and no longer only to "their legitimate interests". Subsequently, other statements have been made to diminish, or nullify, the significance of that switch. But we have all taken note of the fact that on two occasions-the frrst time in a statement made from this rostrum by the American Chief Executive [18th meetingj and the second time in the joint American-Soviet statement of 1 October 1977-the satisfac- tion of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people has been considered by the Government of the United States as an essential element in any political solution to the Middle East problem. 160. In its resolution 31/20, the General Assembly urged the Security Council to consider again as soon as possible the recommendations of the Committee in order to take the necessary measures to achieve early progress towards a solution of the problem of Palestine and the establishment of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East. 161, That reconsideration has begun but has not yet led to any conclusion. 162. Is it asking too m'.Jch to wish that temporizing should fmally be r~nounced and that a decision be taken reflecting the developmr:nt of the attitudes of all the parties? 163. Now that all the members of the Security Council have tEken a stand in favour of the inalienable rights of the PalestiniDAl people, how c~n world public opinion under- stand nhy such unanimity should not be reflected in eflective action, fmally breaking the now existing deadlock in the development of the Palestinian question? 164. Unless we accept that the obscure interests and the taboos that have protected Israel since its birth have defmitely eliminated any will to real action among political leaders in certain countries, it is not clear what could oblige them, even today, to remain passive witnesses of the daily manifestations of the profound contempt in which Zionist leaders hold the rest of the intern&tional community. 165. Could it not be said that the idea is to give Israel all the time it needs to realize its expansionist designs, to the detriment of the Palestlliian arid Amb peoples, and to complet~, in the territories thus usurped, the implemen- tation of its racist policy of the total "Israelization" of Palestine, so that it can create an irreversible situation! killing any hopes for peace in the region for an indefmite period? 166. This is, to say the least, unexpected on the part of nations who have d~Ecovered the main basis of their solidarity in the struggle that we have waged together against a racism wbich has been exalted into doctrine. 167. But who '!:ould profit from that? One can guess. In any case. not Israel becallse, flouting the decisions of the lTnited Nations llnd the piinciples of international law that do not directly serve its seUish interests of the hour, the Jewish State is providing dangerous weapons to those of its neighbours or victims which are disturbed by its existp !i1ce and which in their tim~ have not always accepted the resolutions of the internation:ll community legitimizing its birth. 168. We have heard the rect.l1t Zionist declarations pro- claiming that Israel will not meet with the PLO, which is, however, recognized by the United Nations as the sole and 170. I am sorry to have spoken so long, but I wished to express the profound concern of our delegation about this incomprehensible inability of our Organization to deal with the most burning prcblems on the planet, an inability which may eventually deprive the Organization of all its credibility, and thus of its raison d'etre. 171. In my view this is because of those Members who have become accustomed to considering that these resolu- tions cannot apr'y to them except in so far as they do not affect their selfIsh interests and they have expressly accepted them by voting for them. 172. Thus the archives of our Organization accumulate documents year after year in which justice and universal brotherhood become pious wishes which are only still-born, good intentions such as those hell is paved with. 173. This situation cannot be prolonged without danger, and I hope we can realize the urgent need to act to ensure respect for the decision~ that we have taken, or will take. 174. There are ~rovisions in our Charter which allow us to force a recalcitrant Member to abide by decision.s demo- cratically taken. If it is necessary to use those provisions, we must find the will and the courage to do so.

The position of the Kingdom of Morocco on the question of Palestine has already been very clearly stated a number of times. It is a position that is based on the constant consideration that this matter has received and the fact that it is the central element of the Middle East conflict. Taking this position, my delegation continues to feel that without respect for the inalienable rights of the PlLestinian people, there can be no just and lasting solution of the conflict in the Middle East. 176. Since its frrst appearance 30 years ago, the question .Jf Palestine, having first been studied only from the humanitarian angle, according to which the Palestinians were considered as refugees owing their survival to inter- national charity, remains one of the main subjects Gf concern of the intern~tionalcommunity. 177. In 1974, after 25 years of hesitations and delays, our Organization, having devotpd a separate examination to this question, gave it the full importance it deserved and properly understood the grave nature of the problem. Since then the Palestinian problem has stood out sharply, and we believe that the resolutions adopted consolidate the vic- tories achieved by the Palestinian people in their constant struggle at all levels. In basing their substance on the true 178. The recognition of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, to national independence and to sovereignty, through the many different resolutions adopted since the historic meeting when Mr. Yasser Arafat addressed our Assembly as Chairman of the Executive Committee of the PLO,. 0 the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, has consecrated for that people its own distinct individual existence with all the legal attributes that make it the party most directly concerned in solution of the problems of the Middle East, and the party most qualified to participate in any negotiations to resolve the crisis. That recognition has today become a living reality recognized by the overwhelming majority of the international community. 179. Only Israel, with an arrogance that has become legendary, wishes to continue to ignore that reality. Its view of the facts remains distorted, to say the least. Its obduracy and obstinacy in pursuing its policy of changing the physical, geographical and demographic character of the Palestinian territory, its intransigence in refusing to recog- nize the PLO as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, and above all its persistence in attempt- ing the systematic physical extermination of the Pales- tinians and their replacement by new settlements peopled by immigrants from outside the region means that they have learned nothing from the revulsion in the inte':.11.ational community caused by their behaviour. Israel's eagerness in attempting to initiate a direct dialogue with the Arab countries while, paradoxically, rejecting even the principle of doing so with the true representatives of the Palestinian people, although the latter are those best qualified to conduct the negotiations, is also typical of Israel's unreal- istic policies and once again illustrates the irresponsible character of the Israeli policy. 180. Although it refuses to recognize the PLO as the most qualified and authentic body to deal with in settling definitively the crisis in the Middle East, sooner or later Israel, despite its insolence and arrogance towards that organization, will have to recognize the legitimate standing of the PLO and accept that only the PLO is in a position to adopt authoritative decisions. Isr.ael must also be convinced that the international community could not allow any substantive solution that might threaten that legitimate standing, acquired at the cost of enormous sacrifices in human life and heroic struggles for national dignity and for the justice of its cause. 181. The fact that since 1974 the General Assembly has included the qt:estion of Palestine on Us agenda as a separate item is ample evideace that it is the representatives of the Palestinian people who have the responsibility and the authority to pl:m their own future in the region, and it is they and they alone who m~st work out a fmal solution to their problem. 10 Ibid., Twenty-ninth Session, Plenary Meetings, 2282nd meet- ing, paras. 3-83. 183. May I say that we support the report of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, and we would like to express our profound gratitude to its Chairman, Mr. Medoune Fall, to the Rapporteur and to all the members of that Committee. The delegation of the Kingdom of Morocco fully endorses the conclusions and recommendations contained in that report, since we consider that without the realization of the inherent rights of the Palestinian people to a free, indepen- dent and sovereign homeland, no viable, just and lasting solution can be found to the very dangerous problem that we are considering. 184. We all understand thi5 implacable logic. Let the leaders of Israel also become aware of these facts and realize their significance. 185. So far as the PLO is concerned, it has given tangible proof of its awareness of responsibili~.The statement by Mr. Kaddoumi, head of the· political department of the PLO, to this Assembly [84th meetingl, shows clearly that the Palestinian people, while determined to achieve their rights to national existence, see their future in the region in terms of peace, justice and tolerance. In doing so, they have also placed their trust in our Organization to achieve that end.

The current session of the General Assembly has devoted a great deal of attention to the consideration of the Middle East problem in all its aspects. The whole range of the discussions has also produc'.;;d one essential conclusion which categorically deserves respect, to the effect that me question of Palestine underlies the Middle East crisis, and without its compre- hensive solution it will not be possible to reduce the explosive nature of the tension there, nor can a solution be found to the problem of establishing a just and lasting peace in the Middle East. 187. The conclusion is further substantiated by General Assembly resolution 32/20 on the situation in the Middle East adopted by the General Assembly at its current session not long ago. The idea of a comprehensive settlement permeates that resolution entirely. 188. One of the primary elements of such an approach to the problem is the restoration of the inalienable rights of 189. In the course of the last few years the United Nations had adopted a number of important decisions, such as the recognition of the PLO as the sole legitimate representative of the people of Palestine and the granting of pennanent observer status to that organization. 190. In this way the world Organization, despite the opposition put up by Israel and some of its allies, has pronounced itself decisively and categorically in favour of the restoration of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, including their right of return and their right to their own national State. 191. For three decades already the Palestinian people have been driven away from their m.:>therland and have been denied the right to enjoy a home of their own. Those have been years of privation, suffering and yearning for their native land. Those have been years ofheroic struggle for the recognition of their right to existence. Exiled from their land, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been forced to live in conditions of want and distress and have been compelled to wander about in foreign countries. At the same time, a policy of State terrorism has been pursued against them by Israel, a policy which aims at extenuinating the Palestinian people en masse. 192. What is the reason for the persisting tragedy of an entire nation, in spite of the support which its cause has mustered both in this world Organization and from world public opinion? 193. The answer is widely known, for this tragedy is rooted in the obstinate refusal of Israel, assisted by certain allies, some permanent members of the Security Council included, to withdraw from all the Arab territories occu- pied in 1967 and to recognize the right of the Arab people of Palestine to independence, sovereignty and the restora- tion of their own national home. Thus a quite odd paradox can be observed. On the one hand, Israel exerts all efforts to obtain recognition from the Arab States in order de jure to legalize before the Arab countries its right to existence as a State, while, on the other, Israel at the same time denies the right to the 3-million-strong people of Palestine La create a national State of their own. 194. Each nation has its own representatives who become the spokesmen of its desires and aspirations. At the same time, it is the right of each and every people to designate its own representatives. Such a repre~ntative of the Pales- tinian people-and the sole legitimate repr~sentative at that-istr..e PLO. The United Natiotl;) has recognized this representative unequivocally by granting it pennanent observer status. 196. The Buigarian delegation fully shares the recom- mendations of the Committee contained in its report to the effect that the United Nations and its organs should play a larger and more influential role in the promotion of a just solution to the .question of Palestine and its effective implementation [A/32/35, annex I, para. 64]. We also consider that the Security Council, in accordance with its powers under the Charter of the United Nations, should take subsequent measures with a view to rendering assist- ance to the Palestinians for the exercise of their right to return to the~i" homes, lands and property. 197. 1.he Bulgarian delegation is firmly convinced that the effective and just solution of the question of Palestine can be achieved only within the framework of a comprehensive settlement of the Middle East crisis in accordance with the relevant United Nations resolutions. 198. The joint Soviet Union-United States statement on the Middle East of 1 October 1977, which has met with wide support and been assessed as an important step towards the Geneva Conference, also gives prominence LO the concept that only a comprehensive political solution taking into account the rights and interests of all the parties concerned can lead to the establishment of lasting peace and security for all in that part of the world. 199. The pressing necessity for a comprehensive solution of the Middle East problem, the Palestine question in- cluded, enjoys ever greater support. This is confinued also by the largest segments of world public opinion. The fmal communique issued after the ministerial meeting of the Co-ordinating Bureau of Non-Aligned Countries, held at New Delhi from 7 to 11 April 1977 [A/32/74, annex I}, re-emphasized the need for the observance by Israel of relevant United Nations resolutions. At a number of other international forums, such as the session of the World Peace Council, held in Warsaw from 6 to 11 May 1977, and the Sixty-Fourth Inter-Parliamentary Conference of the Inter- Parliamentary Union, held from 21 to 30 September in Sofia, resolutions and dec!5ions were adopted condemning the continuing occupation of Arab territories and the stubborn refusal by Israel to recognize the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination ~d the establish- ment of their own national State. 201. It is to be regretted that we have witnessed recently some unilateral and separatist initiatives for a partial settlement undertaken against the will of the overwh€·. ling majority of the Arab people, including the Palestinian people, and thus sacrificing their legitimate interests. These initiatives not only are prejudicial to the comprehensive solution of the Middle East crisis but are also damaging the prospects for the success of the Geneva Peace Conference on the Middle East. 202. The People's Republic of Bulgaria's position on the Palestine question is based on the consistent and principled policy aimed at ensuring a continuing "green light" to international detente, at further strengthening and expand- ing it, ap.d at solving existing conflicts in the world by peaceful ways and means. 203. As the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of Bulgaria declared during the general debate at the current session: "The Government of t:le People's Republic of Bulgaria remains convinced !hat genuine peace in the Middle East is possible only under the following conditions: the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from all the Arab territories occupied in 1967; the exercise of the legitimate national rights of the Arab people of Palestine, including their right to an independent S' .te; and respect for the independence, existence and :.~.rity of all the countries in the area. V 7e believe that tht. ueneva Peace Conference on the Micljle East should be reconvened, without any further pro(,~astLlation, with the participation of all interestedparties, including from the very outset, and with equal rights, the Palestine Liberation Organization !'I.S the sole legitimate repre~entative of the Arab people of Palestine." [14th meeting, para. 180.J 204. The Government and people of the People's Republic of Bulgaria deeply cherish their traditional ties of frie1'\dship and co·operation with the Arab peoples, and particularly with the Arab people of ~alestine and their sole legitimate representative, the PLO. In keeping with this under- standing, Bulg:tda will continue to render active support and as::istance, n:)£ orJy in the United Nations but in other international forums as well, to the just and legitimate struggle of the Palestinians against the Israeli aggression, a struggle whose ultimate aim is the realization of the longings of many years of the Palestinian people to live in their independent, sovereign and flourishing Palestine, and

I think it is worth while entering a strong plea for the present debate on the question of Palestine to be allowed to emerge from the normal rut of the United Nations, in order to be considered from a new staI1dpoint within an appropriate diplomatic and political context, so that our respective delegations-particularly those which support the just cause of the Palestinians-do not have to bear the heavy responsibilities for those political err,JIS which history will never forgive. 207. My delegation has studied with interest the report of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People in document A/32/35. We should like to state our appreciation to the Committee and its Chairman for the work they have done. 208. In the light of this study, we note that the just cause of the Palestinian people is continuing to be cnderm5ned by zionism and the imperialist countries, in spite of th~ relevant resolutions of our Organization. It is a secret to no one that the sabotaging of the Palestinian cause form!; part of the vast criminal plot hatched against this pear...iul and peace-Iovmg people by the imperialists, a plot which goes back as far as the First Zioni.:;t Congress held at Basel in August 1897, and the sinister Declaration of 2 Nov~mber 1917 of Lord Balfour. 209. In pursuance of this plan, the Palestinian people have been exiled from t:ie land of their birth since 1948. Since that time, the recOld of the long history of the Palestinian people has been nothing but the unacceptable record of a people pillaged, exploited, reduced to wandering and dispersion-in a word, a people reduced to the status of refugees or stateless rJer;ions. ihls is something which is easy to see from the report which we are now discussing, which states: "The Chairman [of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People] also visited some of the refugee camps, where he was able to see for himself the unacceptable plight of the refugees." [A/32j35, para. 16.J 210. This grim picture is the primary and essential cause of the Middle East conflict. But whose is the responsibility, the heavy responsibility, for this abominable historic tragedy? Who benefits from the present status imposed on the Palestinian people? Primarily, it is the imperialist Powers and also the expansionist and racist Zionists and all their little lackeys ofvarious kinds. 211. The imperialist Powers, which invented the State of Israel, are perfectly well aware that the Palestinian question is at the heart of the Middle Ea!>t crisis. They are well aware that no settlement is possible if the Palestinian question is ignored and treated summarily. The policy of the Zionist 212. The Zionist and imperialist plot against the Pales- tinians in 1he Arab States:. in particular in Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Egypt and, recently, especially in Lebanon-has always aimed at systematically undermining the rearguard of the PLO. From the standpoint of world public opinion, Israel's policy has been and remains that of representing the Palestinians grouped within ~he PLO a:; common terrorists. A number of acts of terrorism have been unjustly attributed to the Palestinians. Western and Israeli secret services have established throughout the world subversive bases of isolated and unwitting Palestinian and Arab elements to sow terrorism and discredit th-.: P'l1estinian people in the eyes of world public opinion. 213. The camps of Palestinian refugees have been sub- jected to pounding by Israeli mortars and bombs. Pregnant women and children have been massacred. Everyone knows that the intention behind all those criminal acts is to bring about the elimination of a whole people, the people of Palestine. 214. The history of the Palestinian people is not just a matter of those terrible facts that I have just recounted; the history of the Palestinian people is, above all, for us and for the peoples of the world which love peace and justice, one of struggle, sacrifice, self-denial, determination and devo- tion to the land of their birth. I shall confme myself to the concrete results of that long and glorious struggle of the Palestinian people. Before the twenty-ninth session of the General Assembly the Palestinian problem was represented here aQ being a purely humanitarian matter. So that the consciences of some would not be troubled, it was just a matter of taking care of the humanitarian aspects of the question. The United Nations, through one of its offices, contented itself each year with collecting the n~cessary funds or tins of food to be distributed to the Palestinians. That palliative made it possible for the imperialist Powers to salve their consciences and little by little to bury the question of Palestine. Naturally, they did not reckon with the vigilance of the progressive forces, which are the natural allies of the struggling Palestinian people. . 215. At the twenty-ninth session the United Nations General Assembly viewed Palestinian national existence in a different way. The PLO was reco~nized as the only organization representing the whole Palestinian people and 216. Since the twenty-ninth session, the Palestine prob- lem has assumed new dimensions: for the international community, the Palestinian people are aware of their national identity, their authenticity; they are a proud people fighting to recover the land of their birth' and, like all the other peoples of the world, to build a nation; they are a peace-loving people determined to defend their survival. The determination of the Palestinian people is something which today no one can ignore; nor will it disappear. 217. At the thirtieth session our Organization took a further step forward by establishing a Committee consisting of 23 members to draw up an inventory of the inalienable rights of the Palestinians and to produce recommendations for the exercise of those rights-an exert;ise that is long overdue. Those rights of the Palestinian people are, first of all, the right to return to their homes, from which they were driven out; the right to self-determination; the right to sovereignty and the right to national independence-in a word, the right to create a Palestinian State. At its thirty-first session, the General Assembly took note for the first time of the report of the Committee. It called for further work and, above all, it asked the Security Council to see to it that the rights of the Palestinian people were implemented. 218. I should like to say that the creation of the Committee and its report constitute, in our view, another victory in this long struggle of the Palestinian people supported by all people that love peace and justice, because the cause of the Palestinian people is a just one and the report under discussion makes that amply clear. 219. But when we take stock of the situation what do we fmd? The Security Council did indee1 examine that report twice, fi :st in June 1976 and then in OCftober 1977; however, it was unable to take any measure to enforce those rights. Why? The Sec1lrity Council, paralysed by its internal contradictions as usuai, dominated by imperialist influence and with the right ofveto always hanging over it, has been unable to take any deCision so far. The last meeting of the Security Council was purely formal and W2S an illustration of the political impotence in whicn it has become bogged down, thanks to the well-known manoeu- vres of the imperialists. The Western Powers which possess the veto have determined to thwart any constructive action in the Council which would have the eff~ct of recognizing the rights of th.~ Palestinian pe(lple. That is the truth. This 11 Ibid., para. 82. 220. Th~ manoeuvres of the imperialists within the Security Council tied the hands of the other members. It is the task of this Assembly to take note of this failure to act. My delegation, for its part, would like to reaffmn that it whole-heartedly endorses the conclusions and recom- mendations of the Committee. 221. My delegation continues to feel that the two draft resolutions presented by the Socialist Republic ofViet Nam [A/32/L.39 and A/32/LAOj are similar to what the non-aligned countries had in mind.

At the outset, I should like to expre~ my delegation's appreciation to Mr. Fall, in his capacity as Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, for his lucid introduction of the report of the Committee [84th meetingj. My delegation also notes with appreciation the statement made by the Rapporteur of that Committee [ibid.j. 224. The Committee has demonstrated objectivity in its work and its diligence in seeking to secure the implemen- tation of its recommendations, embodied in its report of last year. The Indonesian delegation is of the view that those recommendations continue to be valid and constitute an equitable basis for the solutbn of the question of Palestine. The Committee has been successful in focusing world attention on the rights of the Palestinians, including their right to return to their homeland and their national right to self-determination and independence. The interna- tional community has in the past exhibited a degree of indifference to their plight; however, there is now a general recognition of their rights and of the urgent need to restore them as part of any over-all settlement in the Middle East. 225. It is significant that there is virtual unanimity of opinion among the members of the General Assembly that the Palestinian issue is the fundamental element in the search for a settlement of the conflict. It is consequently recognized that any agreement that excludes the national rights of the Palestinians and does not involve the participa- tion of the PLO cannot be viable. The PW represents the Palestinians and was designated as the sole representative of the Palestinia.."ls by the Conference of Arab Heads of State or Govermnent, held in Rab;;lt in 1974. That recognition has also been confmned b.' the relevant resolutions of the United Nations, which called for the participation of the PLO as indispensable to all negotiations on the question of the Middle East. It is therefore only logical that the PLO should be represented on an equal footing with the other partIcipants at the Geneva Peace Conference. 226. Unfortunately, Israel's current policies with regard to the Palestinians suggest that it is not yet prepared to accord 227. Despite consideration of the recommendations of the Committee by the Security Council for a second time, the Council has failed once again to adopt a decision to implement them. In my delegation's view, it is most essential that action be taken by the Security Council with regard to this pressing issue. The recommendations of the Committee are designed to facilitate ar. equitable solution to this question, which has been before thp, Council for a long time. It is therefore incumbent upon the Security Council to endeavour urgently to promote a positive approach which will lead to a solution of the Palestinian problem. Continued failure would be fraught with danger- ous consequences not only for the region, but also for the international community as a whole. 228. My delegation fully endorses the proposal contained in draft resolution A!32!L.40 for the establishment of a Special Unit on Palestinian Rights w.ithin the Secretariat of the United Nations in order to prepare studies and publications relating to the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and to promote the attainment of those rights. My delegation, as a member of the Committee, would extend all support within its means to the Co~t­ tee's efforts to promote the implementation of its recom- mendations as called for in the draft resolution contamed in document A!32!L.39. Furthermore, we hope that the Security Council will take a decision as soon as possible on the recommendations, so as to facilitate a solution of the Middle East problem. 229. It has taken our Organization nearly three decades to give the Palestinians and their national rights the urgent attention they deserve. However, we have reached a critical phase when thejr recognition and implementation can no longer be postponed. It is imperative to consolidate the support that this cause has already received and to unite all efforts towards the achievement of a just and lasting peace in the region. In that light, all the competent organs of the United Nations should be prepared to initiate action and provide assistance ror the realization of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people.

The General Assembly has long been discussing the issue of the Palestinian people under various items. It has long been adopting recommendations and resolutions on the subject, to the extent that this issue has become the 231. Throughout the past three decades a single country has been able to thwart every effort to solve the problem, disregarding all the recommendations and resolutions adopted by the General Assembly. Those three decades of discussion and argument in fact have meant 30 years of suffering~ deprivation and destitution for the Palestinian people, 30 years of cruelty, injustice and arrogance, of an expansionist policy and a persistent flouting of internation- al covenants by Israel. 232. Numerous reports have been issued upon the request of the General Assembly, reports which prove beyond the shadow of a doubt the extent of the suffering of the Palestinians in the way of trampling on their rights, of their dispersion, and of their torture by Israeli authorities which occupy their land after having uprooted these people from their lands. The General Assembly has also adopted resolutions which reaffmned the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including their right to self-de- tennination and to establish an independent State on their soil. The last of these reports is that of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People [A/32/35J. 233. The most striking element in the report is the reaffinnation by the above-mentioned Committee of the recommendations which it submitted to the General As- sembly in its first report-recommendations which were approved by the General Assembly during the last session. As the Committee reaffirms the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to return to their homes and property, to achieve their self-determination and the right to indepen- dence and national sovereignty on their land, it recalls the fundamental principle of the inadmissibility of the acquisi- tion of the land of others by force and the need to strive for an urgent solution of the Palestinian cause which is, in fact, the heart of the Middle East problem. 234. The Committee has reaffmned the need to dissemi- nate information on its activities and on the various aspects of the problem of implementing its recommendations on the inalienable rights of the Palestinians. It calls for setting up a unit in the Secretariat for this purpose. It also proposes that commemorative stamps be issued on the Palestinian people's rights and calls for observance of an international day of solidarity with the Palestinian people. My delegation welcomes these proposals, which call the attention of world public opinion to the Palestinian people's cause and rights, which are increasingly infringed upon, for the usurper has become more barbaric and his greed and appetite for new colonies in Palestine and in the occupied territories know no bounds. Instead of evacuating its troops from the territories forcibly occupied in 1967, in compliance with the decisions and appeals of the interna- tional community, Israel goes on to proclaim to the world at large that these territories are "liberated", thereby demonstrating blatant disregard of the international com- munity's decisions and will, as well as persistently denying reality. Zionist settler colonialism is bent on expanding by uprooting the Palestinian people from their land and changing the demographic composition of the occupied 235. The General Assembly and the Security Council must assume a great responsibility for the implementation of their previous resolutions and for taking drastic action in order to resolve the Palestinian people's problem equitably a..'1d within the context of an all-embracing settlement of the Middle East crisis. The legitimate representatives of the Palestinian people who have been recognized by the General Assembly, namely, the PLO, should take part in any endeavour to reach a just settlement.· The usurped rights and all the occupied territories, including Jerusalem, must be fully restored to their owners. 236. The peace efforts cannot succeed if they come from one side alone. The other side must show that it is serious in its desire to reach a just and lasting peace and must abandon distortion, delaying tactics and deception of world public opinion. The coming days will reveal that everyone who is blessed with heart and hearing shall bear witness. 237. We believe that the initiative to hold the Peace Conference under United Nations auspices with the parti- cipation of all of the parties concerned, including the lawful representatives of the Palestinian people, is the most propitious road to adurable peace and can protect the Middle East and the world at large from the ravages and ruin of war. Last Friday the General Assembly adopted a resolution setting forth clear guidelines on the road to peace and settlement of the Palestinian peoples' cause, in other words of the Middle East conflict [resolution 32/20/. Will this resolution be implemented or will it suffer the same fate as previous decisions? Good faith and a sincere desire for peace, if realized, render superfluous additional recommendations and resolutions. The doors are wide open and the world is waiting for Israel to abandon its intransigence and stubbornness, and to respond to the appeals and will of the international community.

Any delegation for which the notion of justice is not a vague and abstract fonnula but a fundamental element which should underlie the settlement of any conflict always takes part with particular interest in the United Nations debate on the question of Palestine. The question is described quite righ.tly by the General Assembly as the central factor in the Middle East crisis. My delegation repeats today the habit it adopted last year with a particular sense of responsibility because this question is so serious. Now, in the view of my delegation, there is in this question, more than in any other relating to the complex situation in the Middle East, one primary and urgent necessity if we want to achieve a just and lasting peace in the region, that of rapidly restoring to the intrepid people of Palestine the natural justice which is due to them. 239. Indeed, the justice which the vast majority of members of this Assembly, like the vast majority of the 240. Today, after almost 30 years ofeloquent speeches in this Ass~mbly and in other organs of the United Nations, it is highly regrettable that this Organization, which has a particular responsibility towards the Palestinian people, has been unable to succeed in restoring to it all its fundamental national rights, which have, however, been recognized and accepted by all the world, including Israel. In this regard, and to avoid any misunderstanding which might disturb the tranquillity of our debate, my delegation would like- although many others have already done so-to cite the relevant resolutions of the United Nations, particularly General Assembly resolutions 181 (11), 194 (Ill) and 273 (Ill) and Security Council resolution 237 (1967), to the terms of which Israel itself fully subscribed. 241. However, in spite of its unreserved acceptance of all the clauses of these resolutions, Israel has none the less continued for several decades now, with the encouragement and active support of its powerful ally, the United States, and the active sympathy of certain other Western Powers, to violate tnese texts openly and with impunity, thus trampling underfoot all the .national fundamental and inalienable rights of the people of Palestine. This extra- ordinary and irresponsible conduct on the part of Israel is not only arrogant defiance of the United Nations, to which it owes its own birth, but also constitutes a real and grave threat to peace and harmony in the Middle East and in the world at large. 242. And what is far more repugnant to the consciences of the vast majority of Members of the United Nations and the international community is that, while the Government of Israel continues openly and flagrantly to violate all the relevant resolutions of the United Nations, its represen- tatives claim the right before the General Assembly to give sermons on conduct and to speak insultingly of the behaviour of delegations which raise their voices to call for justice for the Arab and Palestinian peoples, who have been the victims of brutal aggression and have constantly suffered for 30 years the pernicious consequences of the aggressive and expansionist policy of Israel. Sometimes the representatives of Israel-and we readily recognize their eloquence-have abandoned their arrogant attitude to en- gage in pathetic pleas to defend the existence of Israel, which the international community has judged to be a fact and which has consequently never been called into question. 243. This spectacle, which has something comic about it, has lasted almost 30 years; it is high time for Israel to stop it. In any case, the vast majority of members of this Assembly are enormously bored by it. What the world wants and is entitled to expect from Israel is that it should give up its sinister plan to have constant recourse to 244. Israel must cease raising obstacles on the road to peace that has been designated by the United Nations by once and for all calling an end to its sinister policy of implanting settlements in Arab territories and occupied Palestine and by declaring null and void those already ~stablished. Although it has already done so in other bodies of the United Nations, my delegation would like once again to repeat its condemnation of this policy of fait accompli, which has become even more accentuated over the last few months and which has the sole objective of making irreversible Israel's illegal occupation. 245. After 30 years of tension and ofpassions run wild, it is highly desirable in the interests of all the peoples and countries of the region and of universal peace for the state of belligerency in the Middle East to be ended. Obviously, if this unanimous wish of the vast majority of members of the international commqnity is to be realized it is impera- tive for Israel to be made to listen to reason and to abandon its aggressive and expansionist policy, which it has pursued for decades, and for it to be forced to restore to the Arab States victims of its aggression all the territories occupied illegally since the hostilities ofJune 1967 and to accord the Palestinian people the full exercise of their rights as laid down in resolution 3236 (XXIX) of the General Assembly. 246. It is inconceivable that after 30 years we should still be hearing the ever growing cries of Israel, which is claiming the sacred right to existence while at the same time refusing the same right to the Palestinian people. In this regard we should like to ask why Israel, whose people has been dispersed for so many centuries, is so intransigent and so cruel with regard to the Palestinian people, whose spirit of tolerance made it possible for the Jewish people to have its own State. In any case, we should like to remind Israel that the international community, the progressive peoples of the world and the peoples that love peace and justice in the world will never permit the Palestinian people to remain permanently reduced to the condition that has been imposed upon it by Israel, a condition Israel wishes to perpetuate. The international community, the progressive peoples and the peoples of the world that love peace and justice will never permit Israel and its powerful ally the United States to engage in sordid manoeuvres to appoint for the Palestinian people leaders or representatives to speak and deal on its behalf on all questions relating to the 248. Today conditions are more favourable than ever for putting an end to the terrible sufferings inflicted on the Palestinian people for almost three decades. The favourable evolution of a new approach to the question of Palestine and the Middle East as a whole, an approach which takes account of the interests and the profound and legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people, is continuing and broadening within the United Nations. 249. In order to accelerate this evolution, my delegation believes it is imperative for the General Assembly, as it did last year, to adopt unanimously and recommend once again to the Security Council, for immediate application, the programme for the implementation of the exercise of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, a programme which has been very carefully prepared by the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, under the competent leadership and the devoted and objective guidance of Mr. Medoune Fall of Senegal, to whom my delegation would like to express its great appreciation. This programme, which takes account of all the aspects of the fundamental national rights of the Palestinian people and also of the interests ofall the parties, since it is based on the spirit of all the relevant resolutions adopted by our Organization on this subject during the past 30 years, constitutes in our view a just basis for a just and lasting peace LTl the Middle East. 250. The members of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People will not have to dismember any State by setting up this programme. In this they have been guided, above all, by the feeling of justice which inspires them all. In this regard, Israel itself must be better aware than anyone that without justice there cannot be lasting peace in the Middle East or anywhere else. Justice has nothing exclusive about it. It is and must be the same for everyone, for the Palestinian people as well as for the Jewish people. 251. Mr. MARA~LI (Turkey): Turkey is a member of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. In joining the Committee, we took into account our country's basic position regarding the question of Palestine and the rights of the Palestinian people, our long association with the discussion of this problem in the United Nations, and also our concern, as a country situated in the area, for the peace and tranquillity of the Middle East. :52. The report of the Committee, so ably presented by its Chainnan, Mr. Fall, and by its Rapporteur, Mr. Gauci, 253. Any discussion on the question of Palestine is bound to focus attention on the tragic fate that the valiant people of Palestine have endured for more than 30 years and their resolute efforts to achieve self-determination. The Pales- tinian issue is still an incessant source of sufferings and wrongs. There can be no durable peace in the'Middle East without justice, and justice requires the recognition and fulftlment of the national rights of the Palestinian people. 254. After many years, during which the issue ofPalestine was considered exclusively as a refugee problem, this basic dimension has been fmally admitted and defmed in various resolutions of the' General Assembly. An overwhelming majority of the international community supports the legitimate rights of the Arab people of Palestine, including their right to establish an independent State. 255. General Assembly resolution 3236 (XXIX) is of historic importance in this regard. This resolution, while confirming the rights of the Palestinian people to self- determination and their right to return to their homes, emphasizes at the same time that the Palestinian people is one of the main parties directly concerned with the establishment of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East. Later on the General Assembly further elaborated this question, and in its resolution 3375 (XXX) decided to invite the PLO, as the sole representative of the Palestinian people, to participate in all international efforts relating to the Middle East on an equal footing with the other concerned parties. 256. Turkey supported those resolutions. Our support has been based on the universal recognition of the right to self-determination and on our respect for the principles embodied in the Charter of the United Nations. I wish to reiterate at the same time, while we recognize the central role of the rights of the Palestinian people in the search for an over-all solution of the Middle East problem, it is the view of my Government that ajust and lasting peace in the region can be achieved only through a comprehensive settlement. It is our firm belief that such a solution cannot be attained unless Israel withdraws from all the Arab territories it has occupied since 1967. It should also be stressed that necessary arrangements should be made to guarantee the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independenc~ of all the States in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries. 257. It is in the light of the considerations I have just outlined that my delegation will support the two draft resolutions before the General Assembly. 263. On the contrary, the practice of the violation of the relevant international conventions was being continued, particularly by the establishment of permanent Jewish settlements in accordance with the declared intent of expanding the borders of Israel and reinforcing its claims for peace. Never in the history of the human race has territorial expansion been anything but an impediment to peace or anything but a provocation to war. But that resolution is over and done with. 259. It is a truism that peace must be based on justice, unless it is a dictated peace which calls for unconditional surrender. Justice itself means recognition of and respect for the rights of all peoples and all parties. The situation in the Middle East is a muddle of religious emotions and geopolitics. In these circumstances the true facts and realities become blurred, minds are confused and judge- ments confounded. The most important element is lack- ing-judicial detachment-and for that it is necessary to suppress messianic fervour, to banish illusory fears and eschew partisanship induced by purely political factors completely extraneous to the circumstances of the case. That will induce clear thinking, sober evaluation and sound decisions. In the debate on agenda item 31, on the situation in the Middle East [78th meeting!, my delegation stressed seven points which we considered would provide the essence and form the substance of an enduring settlement. Agenda item 30 is of special significance because it stresses the one element that is at the core of the problem: the inalienable and legitimate rights of the Palestinians, rights that they have not been allowed to enjoy, rights that they cannot be deemed to have forfeited by any act of omission or commission. 260. This is an appropriate moment for me to refer to my statement on the Middle East [78th meeting! and, parti- cularly, to an observation which I made on that occasion to the effect that, despite all our friendly feelings towards the Jewish people, we were compelled to observe that we would have wished that, on the occasion on which the State of Israel was born, the United Nations had suffered an abortion. I must apologize if what has been considered to be an infelicitous choice of gynaecological metaphor has caused offence to the susceptibilities of anybody. And I do take +his occasion to offer my apologies. But can anyone deny that resolution 181 (11) produced only half a child? The United Nations laboured and produced only half a child; a half a child, a misbegotten creature, an abortion. However, as I stated, I wish to express my apologies for any offence I may have caused. 261. It was a great disappointment to many of us that in the vote on the draft resolution relating to the situation in the Middle East, A{32{L.38 and Add.l and 2, there should have been so many negative votes and so many abstentions. At least one negative vote was easy to understand. But the other negative votes and the abstentions were difficult to understand and impossible to appreciate. 264. We trust that on the question of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people a different approach will be adopted and a different spirit shown; that the Assembly, and especially those who are attached to the principles of self-determination and to the protection of human rights, will not exclude from their humanism one people, namely, the Palestinian Arabs. We hope that the treasure chest of reservations will not be ransacked to provide justification for an apathetic or negative attitude towards the Pales- tinian Arabs' claim to fair treatment. 265. All obstacles to peace and to the realization of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian Arabs must be removed-and removed immediately. They are-and I mention only three: frrst, the continued occupation by Israel of territory assigned to the Palestinian Arabs by the UnitedNations itselfunder an instrument which created the State of Israel; secondly, the repeated denial by Israel's leaders of the existence of a people whom the United Nations itself recognized as the Palestinian Arabs. The leaders of Israel have shown no discernible change of policy or of heart on that issue and seem detennined to relegate the Palestinian Arabs to the dustbin of history and to the limbo of forgotten things. The third obstacle is the continuing violation of international conventions to which the delinquent State, Israel, itself, is a party, but which that State, in characteristic fashion, denounces as inapplicable in this instance. Even the most powerful patron of Israel disagrees with it on this substantive issue. Those violations include the deportation of Palestmians from their own homes in occupied territory. The history of colonialism provides many examples of that classic strategy adopted by the colonial Powers to emasculate resistance, to destroy leadersllip and to force the submission of the governed to the will of the governing, placing them at the mercy of their rulers and occupiers and compelling them to sue for terms which the occupying Power or ruler dictates. 266. Is one country to be allowed to dictate to the whole world what the status of the Palestinian Arabs should be? Are we going to be silent witnesses to such a gross travesty of the right and principle of self-determination? Is the United Nations willing to dishonour itself by dishonouring its word by breaking its bond? What is that word and what is that bond? It is the promise of the creation of an Arab State of Palestine. It is only after Israel has acknowledged the right of the Palestinian Arabs to exist as a State or in 267. But what is Israel's response? What is the present situation? A State that wants a people that does not have a State of its own to recognize it demands that recognition- and that without any assurance that the people that does not have a State will, in return for extending its recognition to the existing State, be given the opportunity of attaining statehood. Could there be anything more preposterous and irrational? Could any such position be more intractable? 268. The most powerful State in the Middle East in the military sense of the term contends that the existence of a Palestinian Arab State would endanger its security, and by that statement it vetoes the creation or even the possibility of the creation of that other State. Does any nation in the world enjoy that type of security, that absolute guarantee that Israel seeks? For Israel to demand such a guarantee of security i~ to raise serious doubts as to the sincerity of its purposes. 269. It is to our mind a lamentable response to one of the most dramatic gestures that could ever have been conceived but which was recently demonstrated. What is asked of Israel is not a concession. It is the least that can be asked and it is not asked in a spirit of supplication. It must be a demand, and Israel must complY with that demand if it wishes the world to believe in its good faith. 270. There is only one question that you have to put to yourselves. In the face of repeated assertions on the part of Israel that there can be no Arab State of Palestine, can you-can anyone? -show any belief in Israel's peaceful professions? This is the last chance. There can be no one in this Assembly who is prepared to pay the price of missing that chance. 271. The representative of Egypt, speaking in this debate [87th meetingl, stated unequivocally-and we agree with him-that there can be no ::Jttlement which disregards the legitimate and inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, namely, the right to a State and the right ofreturn thereto. 272. As for the exercise by the Palestinian Arabs of the right of self-determination, the claim of the PLO to represent and speak for the Palestinians is irrefutable. If anyone has any doubts on that point the document that is before us, A!32!313 of 27 October 1977, should fmally dispose of them. The Mayors of Jerusalem, Ramallah Beit Sahour, Nablus, Halhoul, Hebron, Bethlehem, Beit Jala, Doura, Qalqilya and Gaza, the elected representatives of the Palestinian Arabs who are under occupation, have recognized the !'LO as the leader of their struggle for the attainment of their legitimate rights. The Palestinian Arabs have a place at the negotiating table and they alone have the right to make their choice ofrepresentatives. 273. May I turn to the two draft resolutions that are before this Assembly, draft resolutions A!32!L.39 and A!32/L.40, of which we ourselves are a sponsor. Draft resolution A/32/LAO refers, in operative paragraph 1, to the establishment within the Secretariat of the United Nations of a Special Unit on Palestinian Rights. I wish to

The heroic struggle of the Palestinian people to recover their homeland and their independence has now entered the most critical phase. 275. The delegation of Burundi feels that the Palestinian people, to whose courage and vitality I wish to pay a tribute, have awakened a vast current of sympathy and solidarity all over the world and have thus been able to achieve important political and diplomatic successes. For more than 30 years the Arab people of Palestine have been assured of the active support of the Arab peoples, which have made enormous sacrifices to safeguard the survival of a people ousted from their homeland, deprived of all their belongings and injured in what they held most dear, their dignity and national identity. 276. All the Arab peoples, and particulady the Palestinian people, are fully aware of their common destiny, despite temporary differences that might occur. The pride ofplace that the Palestinian people have gained in the Arab nation is an earnest of th~ success of their just cause. The world-wide attitude towards the PLO, the sole and legiti- mate representative of the Palestinian people, is another important factor that ensures the triumph of the Palestinian cause. 277. The admission of the PLO to the non-aligned movement, the many representations of the PLO all over the world, the observer status granted the PLO by the General Assembly of our Organization, all constitute great victories for the people of Palestine. 278. This international opinion favourable to the cause of the Palestinian people was strengthened by the resolutions of the United Nations on the matter and by the decisions adopted on the question by the members of the League of Arab 'States, by the States members of the OAU, by the States of the Islamic Conference and by the States members of the non-aligned group. 279. We also note that a common denominator underlies resolutions and decisions of the international bodies. Almost all States agree in fact that the question ofPalestine lies at the very heart of the problem of the Middle East and that any solution envisaged for the Middle East must take into account the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people. The over-all and fmal solution of the Middle East crisis thus must reaffirm the legitimate and inalienable rights of the Palestinian people. 280. Within the framework of the United Nations, these rights were recognized by the General Assembly and the Security Council in resolutions 194 (Ill) and 237 (1967) 281. It is obvious that certain pre-conditions must be met for the Palestinian people fully to exercise these inalienable rights in Palestine. 282. First, Israel must recognize t1"'e existence of the Palestinian people and their inalienable rights to a homeland in Palestine and to self-determination concerning the exercise of their sovereignty. Israel must also renounce its policy of aggression and annexation of Arab countries, withdraw without delay from all the Arab territories it has occupied by force since 1967 and give up its policies of settlement and the creation of colonies in those territories. 283. Unfortunately, the Tel Aviv authorities turn a deaf ear to the appeals of the international community and to the proposal of the PLO aimed at establishing exemplary coexistence in Palestine between the Jews and the Arabs of Palestine. Worse still, Israel continues to refuse to recognize the existence of the most elementary rights of the Palestinian people and to obstinately defy the relevant Security Council and General Assembly resolutions. 284. In the face of Israel's defiance of the international community, the United Nations must assume its respon- sibilities under the Charter. Indeed, it is inadmissible that a State Member of our Oiganization should continue with impunity to violate the pertinent provisions of the Charter, thus undermining the foundations of our Organization. The members of the Security Council, particularly the per· manent members, should be ready to take the necessary decisions to ensure respect for the relevant resolutions of the General Assembly and the decisions of the Cm. r.,;~U itself. 285. The delegation of Burundi rises in protest against the behaviour of Israel, which, like South Africa, displays intolerable contempt for United Nations resolutions. My delegation has carefully examined the recommendations of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. I should like to take this oppor- tunity to pay a well-earned tribute to the members of that Committee and its Chairman for the outstanding work they have presented to the Assembly. As far as my delegation is concerned, the recommendations submitted by that Com- mittee to the Security Council and the General Assembly constitute an acc~?table basis. We fervently hope that the Security Council w.ill endorse those recommendations in order that they may he implemented in accordance with resolution 31/20 adopted by the General Assembly on 24 November 1976. 286. The Security Council, which is the organ entrusted with the maintenance of international peace and security, must take the necessary measures in order to fmd a just and lasting solution to the Palestine problem. The Security Council should without delay bring Israel to comply with the resolutions of the United Nations on the situation in the Middle East and the question of Palestine. 288. The delegation of Burundi believes that all partiel; to the conflict, including the Palestinian peopk represented by the PLO, should take part on an equal footing in the negotiations. Israel has no right to call in question the authenticity of the PLO's representation of the Palestinian people. 289. If these are serious obstacles to the convening of the Geneva Conference, the United Nations might very well provide a suitable framework. The Security Council should overcome these contradictions that stand in the way of the satisfaction of the deepest aspirations of the Palestinian people and the international community, aspirations that are clearly expressed by the General Assembly in various resolutions. Relations between the General Assembly and the Security Council should be characterized by harmony and effective action and not, as in certain cases, by the neutralization of the General Assembly by the Security Council, certain of whose pennanent members-the allies of Israel-abuse their right of veto to block General Assembly resolutions adopted by overwhelming majorities. 290. The United Nations, which in 1947 accepted the partition plan fot Palestine, cannot shirk its responsibiIitie, in the search for a just and lasting settlement to th· question of Palestine. 291. Our Organization must defend the elementary rights of that people without shelter, without a homeland and subjected to h~.rdships of all types. The United Nations must act J§~il"1st the expansionist policy of Israel and against Israel's violation of human rights in the occupied territories; the United Nations must object strongly tu Israel's blatant violations of the provisions of the Geneva Convention on the Protection ofCivilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949. 292. There is no need to recall the history of the tragedy of the Palestinian people. However, I should like to mention the innocence of that people with regard to the drama of the persecution of the Jews under the Nazi regime. The Palestinian people at no time bore any responsibility for the repression unleashed by th~ Hitler regime against those human beings. How, then, can we not be indignant at Israel's policy of oppression of the Palestinian people? How can we not condemn the unholY alliance between Israel and South Africa and their c~­ operation in the political, military, economic and scientific fields, which is .being strengthened in spite of the relevant resolutions of the United Nations? The Tel Aviv and Pretoria regimes, both based on the most abject racism-- namely, zionism and apartheid-must incur the wrath and the indignation of mankind and give rise to energetic measures by the international community. 293. The Arab world and the African countries have understood the need to strengthen their unity and their 294. The co-operation between the Arab and African States is rooted in their ties of solidarity woven by history, geography and culture. Thtlt is why the African countries cannot remain indifferent to the problems of the Middle East. Hence the obvious solidarity of the countries mem- The meeting rose at 8 p.m.