A/33/PV.62 General Assembly

The delegation of Kuwait is aware that a lot has been said on the question of Palestine in the Unit,d Nations,its Committeesand its various organs. Our problem here is that we repeat words because we cannot translate them into action, and the United Nations is crippled on the question of Palestine simply because the United States and its allies oppose any drastic action against Israel. We very often speak of the kid-glove treatment accorded Israel by the United States and its allies as the main reason for Israel's intransigence about withdraWing from the occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza. Israel naturally wants the Palestinians to fizzle out com- pletely and disappear fro"m the picture. The United States likens their leadership, the Palestine Liberation Organi- zation (PLO) to the Nazis and the Fascists. This is a macabre allegation. This does not change the reality. Israel can send endless letters of protest to the United Nations about the Palestinians and about the Committee on the Exercise of th~ Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, but this does'not mean that the Palestinians will disappear. The Western Powers may boycott the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People tomorrow a."1d they may continue to turn a cold shoulder to the work of the Committee, but the Palestinians nevertheless will remain the key to the future of the Middle East, whether these Western Powers, including the United States, like it or not. The Palestinians will not fade away simply because the United States, Israel and its allies want them to. They constitute, and will remain, an indispensable factor in the solution of the Middle East problem, no matter what the United States and Israel think of them. 2. The land of the Palestinian people is being called Judaea and Samaria. This underscores Israel's determination to expand. Mr. Begin, the Israeli Prime Minister, has evoked a mystical affinity with their land which he borrowed from his biblical discoveries. Whether Israel and its allies like it or not, we in Kuwait are committed to the struggle, of the Palestinian people until they regain their usurped rights. NEW YORK The United States officials who lecture the world on human rights should know that there is no case in the world in which human rights are so blatantly and tragically denied as in the case of Palestine. Yet the Israelis remain the strongest foreign element in the policy of the United States. The Palestinians are there and it- is our duty in the United Nations to keep them as powerful as ever in order to defeat the intrigues which Israel and its allies design against them. It is no joy for the spokesmen of the Palestinian people to come here every year to inform the Assembly that every minute their territory is being colonized by imported Jewish settlers, most of whom come from the United States. Every year their hope for a peaceful settlement that recognizes their rights becomes dimmer and they are left with the agonizing feeling that armed struggle is the!r only option. 3. For 30 years hopelessness has remained the companion of the Palestinians-so much so that they now feel that in violence they have nothing to lose, while in truces they are forgotten. The world does little to promote their cause and the United States and its allies block the advan~ment of their rights in the United Nations. They live on bORowed time and their patience has been abused. They are not allowed to go back to their country. Those who were evicted in 1967 have their parents and elderly relatives in the West Bank and Gaza, and yet they are prevented from seeing them in their own country. They see the West Bank and Gazs-and that is what is left of their country for them to hope for-being eroded by a Jewish invasion of adventur~ ous settlers who come from various countries to take the land of the Palestinians with total disregard for the rights of the Palestinians. It is rightly said that the tragedy of the people of Palestine is beyond description. It is hard for non-Palestinians to understand. It is the problem of the homelessness of a people that had lived peacefully in its homeland uQ.til the foreign invaders took over the territory by force. 4. My delegation will not be surprised therefore if the Palestinians resort to violence. We cannot expect those whom we have relegated to the level of subhumans to behave themselves under the most provocative circum- stances. What right does an American Jew have to 1iy~ in the West Bank, while the Palestinians, the real owners of the territory, are not allowed to live there? What are we in the United Nations doing to prevent this erosion of the Palestinian presence in the West Bank and Gaza? What are these self-appointed champions of human rights who offer gratuitous advice to us doing about this situation? American money, credits, arms and political support, as well as a pledge to prevent any action by the United Nations; all go to Israel regardless of its defiance of the provisions of the United Nations Charter and of United Nations resolutions. The problem with the Palestinians, and 1031 A/33/PV.62 5. The crucial issue,. which we always talk about, is that the Palestinians are asking for something disproportionate to the injustice inflicted upon them. They want to settle on the 18 per cent of their orlginalland usurped forcibly by the Zionists. Even that 18 per cent, representing Gaza and the West Bank, is denied to them. They want self- determination in that area; they want to put an end to their alienation. They want a State of their own in order to spare the world the annual debate on the financing of UNRWA, and on the question of Palestine. Even to this 18 per cent of their land Israel has dug up mystical attachments. The creeping annexation of what remains-the West Bank and Gaza-is being carried out before the eyes of a disbelieving world. The United States calls this creeping annexation illegal and says that it should therefore be stopped, but it does nothing to stop it. Words have never stopped the most celebrated terrorist on earth from continuing his mission of displacing the Palestinians and expropriating their land. It is incumbent upon the permanent members of the Security Council to shake off their resignation in the face of the challenge posed by Israel and to take drastic action. Only if action is taken will Israel realize the extent of international indignation at its continued colonization of the Palestinian land. 8. We know that the world is full of double standards and deceit and that the Palestinians are victims of that, but all of us also must know that the people of Palestine will remain for ever vibrant and strong and that they have friends who are committed, regardless of the amount of sacrifice and the length of time involved. As I said earlier, the people of Palestine will remain for ever the key to the "solution of the Middle East problem. Without the exercise by them of self-determination and without Israel's with- drawal from the West Bank and Gaza, including Jerusalem, there will be no comprehensive peace in the area. An imperfect arrangement is not a healthy substitute for peace. It provides a lull or a long truce but it does not contribute to a durable and honourable peace. 6. The PLO has shown remarkable restraint in the face of ruthless provocation. The issue of terrorism with which Israel tries to connect the PLO holds no water. After all, Israel is the outcome, the product, of terrorism. Its present Prime Minister unabashedly lauds the achievements of his gangsters in the notorious !rgun units. He ~till gloats over the misery that befell the victims of his gangsters. The Palestinians have remained quiet for so long in the hope that the world will assist them in attaining minimum rights in their land. But they cannot remain quiet forever. If the world lets them down-and they are already at the end of their tether-they may resort to ways and means which are foreign to their nature, yet understandable in their circum- stances. All of us dread that moment, but we shall regret even more the time of our inaction. 7. There are already about 100 Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza. The. Israeli Cabinet decided recently, on 7 November, to allocate $32 million to expand these settlements, and no doubt more expansion will take place in the future. What have W~ done to put an end to this macabre blueprint for uprooting the Palestinians? It is true that we debate the issue every y~ar. We adopt a resolution. So what? We are not dealing with a normal country with a normal leadership, a country ruled by a normal mentality. We are dealing with a country that has thrived on force, has expanded by virtue of force and is defying the world because of its belief in settling matters by force. This leads us to the necessity of resorting to action, the only language 9. The recommendations of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People con- tained in paragraph 72 of its comprehensive report [A/33/35 and Co".l/Rev.l] merit our total support. Thf Committee recommends that the Security Council set b time-table for the complete withdrawal by Israeli occupa- tion forces from those areas they occupied in 1967 and also' recommends that such withdrawal should be completed no later than 1 June 1977-for significant reasons. The with- drawal of Israeli troops from the occupied territory is the crux of the matter. The Committee recommends the involvement of United Nations troops to facilitate the process of withdrawal. It would be praiseworthy to engage the United Nations peace-keeping forces in the question of Palestine. My delegation endorses the eight recommen- dations'made in par~graph 72 of the Committee's report. These recommendations are forward-looking and hold out some hope for the future. The enemy of the people of Palestine will accuse the Committee, as usual, of want of realism, as if realism means the surrender of fundamental principles. No matter what Israel does in the West Bank and Gaza, no matter what names the area is given, no matter how many Jewish settlements are built therein, the com- plete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the occupied territory" is a sine qua non for the establishment of peace. We should not lose sight of this crucial element, as the Committee reminds us so succinctly in paragraph 70. 10. The Committee's report constitutes a blueprint for the ~ solution of the problem of the Palestinians, which is the heart of the issue. It does not recommend the dismantling of any State; on the contrary, it is a sincere attempt to resolve the problem on the basis of coexistence. No one will take the place of the other; it is a far-sighted prescription based on the minimum necessary for the termination of the homelessness of the Palestinians. The acceptance by the PLO, the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinians,. of the report adds special importance to it. It shows that the PLO is willing to coexist rather than to confront, 11. The delegation of Kuwait urges Member States to support the just cause of the people of Palestine. Let their leaders who have come from far away to present their cause go back with some hope with which to feed their people. Mter all, the Palestinian people live on the weak flicker of hope they glean from our support. The Palestinians are now at the cross-roads, torn between the glimmer of hope we supply and the temptation to fall into fathomless agitation and anarchy. On trial is our capacity to dP.!iver. Therefore we should tell the people ofPalestine thl:';t we support them in their opposition to the expropriatio"'~ m~ their land. This is their ancestral land. Their fathers tilled its soil. Their mothers subsisted on its crops; their children grew up on its harvests. Mr. Qaddoumi, their spokesman at the United Nations, who spoke yesterday (59th meetingJ, should return with a telling message that the world is behind them.

The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People states in its report: "The question of Palestine is at the heart of the Middle Eait problem and, consequently, the Committee stresses its belief that no solution in the Middle East can be envisaged which does not fully take into account the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people. "The legitimate and inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to return to their homes and property and to achieve self-determination, national independence and sovereignty are endorsed by the Committee in the conviction that the full implementation of these rights will contribute decisively to a comprehensive and final settlement of the Middle East crisis." {A/33/35 and Co".l/Rev.l, paras. 59-60.J 13. The Committee was well inspired when it chose to conclude its report, at present under consideration, by recalling its previous recommendations endor~ed by the General Assembly in paragraph 2 of its resolution 31/20, two years ago {ibid., paras. 59-72J. The two basic con- siderations and guidelines we have quoted from document A/33/35 seem to have, since their inception, received growing support, for we have hardly heard any speaker, at this rostrum or in other responsible forums, who has not stated, almost as an axiom, the fact that a solution of the problem of the Palestinians is central to the establishment of peace in the Middle East and the world. 14. Such and so many have been the various, and sometimes varying, statements and restatements of that basic principle, from that of Cyrus Vance, United States Secretary of State, to that of Farouq Qaddoumi, the spokesman of the PLO, that it would seem to us both fastidious and pretentious to quote and requote from records and speeches or to hope to add any significant oontribution to what has already been md. Yet, if my delegation has asked to be allowed to speak, it is because we believe that Lebanon, for one, has such a vital and 15. First and foremost is the fact that the solution of the "Palestinian problem" cannot be conceived in purely geographical terms. It is a human problem, involving millions of human beings, with an acute sense of their inalienable rights. Hence, there will never be peace as long as we have not created in the Palestinians, particularly in those in exile, the feeling and conviction that they actually are in the process of freely developing both an ~dequate political expression and socio-economic fulfIlment. If this is not done, then we shall all be contributing to perpetuating this strange phenomenon of a "Diaspora-in-revolt", always· ready to disrupt and destroy and to spread its own laws of war and peace through its own logic of despair-a logic totally at odds with the logic of peace and of the conduct of an orderly society and government. 16. This "Diaspora-in-revolt" cannot and will not be dismantled without the achievement of a settlement related to its search for national identity. Nor will it be transformed into some sort of permanent pacific "ghetto-in-exile", especially if it is perpetually looking across the. border at that other ghetto, the "ghetto State" of Israel, which is abrasively usurping both its basic right to citizenship at least in a homeland and its ancient yet now controversial "right of return". 17. Not every Palestinian may choose to exercise that right. Indeed, many Palestinians may choose to remain in the host countries, in Lebanon or elsewhere, as welcome, law-abiding visitors. Yet their presence, their exile, cannot be imposed forever upon us and them, nor should it be prejudicial to their right to a recognized national Palestinian identity. 18. My country and Government have consistently held this as a basic principle of our solidarity with our Palestinian brethren. We are particularly reassured that the representative of the PLO, Mr. Farouq Qaddoumi, should have considered it appropriate and necessary in his state- ment yesterday {59th meetingJ, to re-emphasize this joint Lebanese-Palestinian position. 19. Secondly, we believe that peace cannot be sought where war in not really and physically wage1. In what is now commonly called the Middle East the only battlefield where men are really dying and where we have all the ingredients of an unmanageable crisis and confrontation is Lebanon, particularly the south. There, and not in the Sinai, the Golan Heights or even tne West Bank and Gaza, do we have face to face, all the protagonists, their surrogates and their allies, probably side by side. ~ence, if there is to be real peace in the Middle East Lebanon should not be its fmal stage but should probably be the beginning 20. Yet, there again we have witnessed the unique phenomenon of a revolutionary movement accepting, probably for the first time in history, the challenge of becoming a full-fledged and well-behaved partner in peace-keeping. Thar~ks largely to the personal Persuasion and credibility of the Secretary-General, Mr. Kurt Waldheim, arrangements have been made between UNIFIL and the PLO which recently have been reported to the Security Council1 as well as to this Assembly. 21. The success of United Nations peace-keeping "soldiers of peace" with the Palestinians has been such that Mr. Yasser Arafat, the Chairman of the PLO, stated to The New York Times no later than 21 November that "he would agree to the stationing of United Nations peace- keeping troops" Inside an eventual Palestinian State and on its borders "as a 'reliable' security guarantee". That statement would have been debatable had it not come in the general and developi.~g context of similar responsible political attitudes, the most significant of which was the suggestion made in July 1978 by a distinguished Palestinian scholar, Professor Walid Khalidi-not totally unrelated to llLO official thinking-that "it would make sense for the Palestinian State to declare its non-aligned status vis-a-vis the super-Powers and other Powers" and that "some variant of the Austrian model" of neutrality could be then applicable. 22. Need we emphas~ze that, once more, we are thus led to admit that only a new dimension of United Nations responsibility can be conducive to peace and mutual security? 23. That 1?rings me to the third and final point which Lebanon's experience compels us to evoke: there cannot be peace in the Miljdle East if peace is not total and comprehensive. 24. I submit this not as an intellectual exercise but as' a lesson of history so tragically learned at such tremendous expense. For every time there was a fragmented peace, a partial truce or cease-fire or an attempt thereat, there was the backlash of a war in Lebanon which soon destabilized the whole area and brought us all-Israel not excluded-to the verge of catastrophe, with immeasurable consequences for world peace, security and prosperity. 25. It is this firmly held conviction which led my Government in a formal, meeting of 'the Cabinet on 20 September to express its deep concern at the implications of any separate peace accords. Since then we have been at the Ninth Arab Summit Conference, which met at Baghdad from 2 to 5 November, to reassert that same conviction, namely that only through Arab solidarity can we attain the just and lasting settlement which we know the international community is dedicated to developing and maintaining. ~cable and historically significant peace, realizing that lives are at stake and that cities and societies can be either destroyed and disrupted, or rebuilt with hope, joy and confidence in the future and with the sense of security that only freedom can bring. 27. Four years ago in November 1974 the then President of the Republic of Lebanon, Mr. Suleiman Franjieh, came to this very rostrum with what he called a "mission of hope". President Franjieh thought then: "In this way, I am conforming with the most authentic and constant vocation of Leb~on-a land of tolerance and a human synthesis of harmony and brotherhood. This Lebanon, which ha~~ been shaped by the grace of God and the achigvements of its own people-is it not a prefigura- tion of a possible world delivered from the reign of violence and from policies inspired by racial and religious exclusivism? "2 28. Since then, since November 1974, my country, Lebanon, has,. through no fault of its own, lived through the most apocalyptic consequences of the Middle East crisis which have transformed not only Lebanon but also the face of things to come in the whole area. 29. Yet our tenacity and uncompromising faith in God, history and the destiny of man is such that I want here to reiterate the message with which President Franjieh con- cluded his address to this Assembly, for his words may carry greater truth today than yesterday and than ever before. "We are, perhaps-we can be-on the threshold of a dynamic process of true p~ace. I call upon your Assembly to seize this opportunity."3

The current session of the General Assembly has now taken up the consideration of one of the most urgent items in its agenda, the question of Palestine. In this connexion the Mongolian delegation would like once again to set forth the position of our Government on this issue whi~h is so organically interrelated with the question of the Middle East. 31. The situation in the Middle East remains explosive as a result of a failure to solve the basic problems involved in the confrontation in that area. 32. Despite the fact that the United Nations has adopted a number of constructive decisions aimed at bringing about a just settlement of the Middle East question, up to now not only. has no tangible progress been achieved but the situation in that area is now characterized by extreme instability. The basic reasons for that situation are well 34. Speaking in the general debate at the present session of the General Assembly, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Mongolian People's Republic emphasized that: "The recent separate talks in Camp David under the aegis of the United States have once agairl clearly demonstrated the root-cause of the growing tension. The result of these talks has been rightly assessed by progres- sive Arab opinion as one further attempt to impose upon the Arab world a solution tailored to the expansionist designs of Israel and its patrons, a solution which is fraught with the danger of opening the way to military penetration by imperialist forces into that region for far-reaching strategic ends." {14th meeting, para. 85.] 35. It should be noted that many countries in the Arab world, as well as progressive forces in Egypt itself, have sharply condemned the Egyptian leadership's policy of capitulation to the Israeli aggressor and have categorically rejected the deal reached at Camp David, stating that they are resolved to resist its results. 36. Most Arab countries have acknowledged that in the present situation their urgent task is to strengthen the unity and solidarity of all forces which are resisting the policy of capitulation in the settlement of the Middle East question. In this connexion, the delegation of the Mongolian People's Republic welcomes the unanimous condemnation of the Camp David deal by the leaders of Arab States and the PLO at the Baghdad Conference, which made an important contribution to strengthening the solidarity and the unity of action of progressive Arab forces in their struggle against the intrigues of imperialism and anti-Arab separate deals. 37. The fundamental position of the Government of the Mongolian People's Republic on the question of a Middle East settlement has frequently been described in the statements of our delegation at previous sessions of the General Assembly in discussions Gull various aspects of the Middle East problem. 39. Our delegation continues to hold that the most appropriate way to settle the Middle East problem would be to convene urgently the Geneva Peace Conference on the Middle East, with the participation of all parties involved, including the PLO. In this connexion, I should like to point to the importance of the provisions contained in the recent Moscow Declaration {see A/33/392-S/12939}, which was adopted at the meeting of the Political COi~ultative Committee of the States Parties to the Warsaw Treaty and which once again reflected the fundamental position ofthe socialist States on the question of a Middle East settlement_ 40. We would also express our full support for the statements made by the leaders of the Communist and workers' parties and the Governments of Bulgaria, Hungary, the German Democratic Rept!blic, Poland, the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia regarding the situation which has arisen in the Middle East. 41. In the view of our delegation, the Palestine question is one of the key issues in the settlement of the Middle East problem. Only a just solution of this question will make it possible to achieve a Middle East settlement and to ensure lasting peace in that part of the world. ' 42. It is generally known that in recent years the United Nations has adppted a number of important re!'olutions on the Palestine question. Of these, I should like to refer particularly to General Assembly resolution 3236 (XXIX), which confirmed the inalienable rights of the Arab people of Palestine, including their right to self-determination and to the establishment of their own State. In th~n resolution the General Assembly also rerognized that ''the Palestinian people is a principal party in the establishment of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East". That has also been confirmed in other well-known resolutions adopted at recent sessions of the General Assembly. 43. However, the course of events, and particularly attempts to impose upon the Arab peoples conditions in a Middle East settlement that would suit the aggressorand its protectors, and thus to exclude or circumvent any other parties to the settlement, will simply result in encoura'~g ~;)rael in its aggressive actions against neighbouring Arab countries and against the Arab people of Palestine. That is why progressive public opinion throughout the world mu.. rightly condemned the separate deals which have been concluded between ~~rael and Egypt in the absence of a party which is directly involved in the conflict and in circumvention of the Gene'Ja Peace Conference on the Middle East. The course of events has proved that any attempt to solve the Middle East problem by means of separate deals not only contributes to complicating the 44. In considering the development of events in the Middle East, we cannot fail to make some mention of the situation in Lebanon. As everybody knows, the incursion of Israeli forces into Lebanon in 'i..h~ middle of March this year and their occupation of its territory nave created further obstacles to the attainment of a settlement of the Middle East problem. Despite the efforts that have been made by the international community, the situation in Lebanon continues to be unstable because of the unceasing attempts by Israel to intervene in the internal affairs of that State, to foment tension and to provoke divisions in the country. It is precisely for that reason that our delegation is in favour of a normalization of the situation in Lebanon on the basis .ef due regard for its sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity. We are also in favour of strengthening its legitimate authority over the entire territory of the country. 48. We should point out that the countries which at present support Israel and provide it with assistance voted for those resolutions at the time. While Israel was depriving those refugees of the right to return to their homeland, where their forebears had lived for centuries, it was at the same time facilitating by all means the immigration into Palestine of Jews from various parts of the world and strangers to the land who came to replace the indigenous population. 49. The aggre:;sion of 1956 enabled Israel to occupy more lands. As for the June 1967 aggression against the Arab countries, that, too, was part of the plan. Israel in fact occupied the whole territory of Palestine as well as other neighbouring Arab territories whose total surface area is several times greater than that which was originally allo- cated to it by tne 1947 resolution on the partition of the land. Once again thousands of Palestinians were displaced and sent to join their brethren who had gone before them to the refugee camps. 45. In conclusion, my delegation would like, on behalf of the Mongolian people, to voice our unalterable solidarity with the Arab peoples who are waging a just struggle to overcome the consequences of Israeli aggression and are fighting to restore justice and lasting peace in the Middle East. SO. The expansionist policy of Israel is clear for all who wish to see, for from 1967 Israel has been establishing colonies and settlements in the occupied Arab territories in order to absorb fresh Jewish immigrants. We all remember Ben-Gurion's tour in 1968 to South Africa, Latin America and through Europe in order to encourage Jewish youth to emigrate to Israel in order to convert the desert into agricultural land.

Since the creation of the United Nations, the General A£sembly and the Security Council have con- tinually had to consider the question of Palestine in'its various aspects. The Gen3ral Assembly and the Security Council have adopted a great number of resolutions on the subject with the intention of providing a just and lasting solution to this problem. But the problem persists; indeed, it has grown more complex because of the obstinate attitude adopted by Israel towards those resolutions and the obstacles and difficulties that have been raised to prevent their implementation. That has not been the result of chance; it is part of a prearranged plan to dominate the whole of the territory of Palestine and neighbouring Arab territories. Israel has taken every possible opportunity to do so. 47. Since the beginning of aggression against the Pales- tinian people, the invader's forces have expellt-J the unarmed Palestinian citizens from the towns and villages where they lived and where their forebears had lived. They have done so in keeping with a policy to spread terror and fear among the populations. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have thus been displace<1 and have taken refuge in neighbouring Arab territories. Israel has refused to implement General Assembly resolution 194 (Ill) concern- 51. After the June 1967 war Israel's real aims became clear for all to see. The Zionist leaders began to realize the aspiration of world zionism to create a Great Israel. That is why the Israeli authorities have been est~blishing settle- ments on the West Bank, in the Gaza Strip and in other occupied Arab territories. Israel has stepped up its pressure on Palestinians living in the West Bank. It has destroyed their houses, confiscated their property and sentenced them to prison or made them the victims of terrorism. All that has compelled a great number of them to emigrate from their own area. It is paradoxical that at the time when Israel was taking those shameful steps it was none the less continually advocating peace in the area. 52. The military and economic aid, as well as the moral and material support, supplied by certain Western countries 53. The terms of the peace that Israel would like to establish are the maintenance of its power in the occupied Arab territories and the recognition of that occupation, whereas real peace in the area, if it is to endure, must be based on justice. 54. A just and lasting peace in the Middle East must also be based on the recognition of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including their right to self-deter- mination and to establish their own independent State on their national territory. If we want a just and lasting peace, there must be total withdrawal from all the Arab territories occupied since 1967, as stipulated in Security Council resolution 242 (1967) which, among other things, estab- lishes the inadmissibility of the acq.uisition of territory through war. 55. Since 1967 Israel has done all in its power to attribute a different character to the conflict in the Middle East by presenting it as a conflict between the Arab States on the one himd and Israel on the other, not wishing to recognize the very essence of the problem: the question of Palestine and the rights of the Palestinian people, which Israel wishes to reduce to a problem of refugees, whereas it is in fact the heart of the whole Middle East situation. Any attempt to arrive at a settlement in the Middle East without providing a just solution to the Palestinian probl~m and recognizing the inalienable rights of ~he Palestinian people, includi.,g their right to self-determination and the creation of an independent State on Palestinian territory, will inevitably fall" becausa the Middle East crisis will continue to exist and international peace and security will constantly be threatened. Similarly, any attempt to bring peace to the area without the participation of the Palestinian people, represented by the PLO, the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, which should take part on an equal footing with the other interested parties in any settlement, will undoubtedly fail. 56. The Palestinian people have already made clear who their sole representative is, and will never accept the replacement of that representative by any other. Indeed, on many occasions they have shown their attachment to the PLO, which has raised high the standard of struggle over the past few years despi+e all attempts to deny and reduce to naught its role as the leader and representative of the Palestinian people. All such attempts are doomed to failure because the Palestinian people are more than ever united under the national leaders to whom they have sworn allegiance. 57. The fact that Israel and its supporters ignore the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people will not destroy the right of the Palestinian people to their own land, because they have exercised that righ-: in Palestine for as long as they have lived there. They enjoyed that right under the Ottoman Empire and during the British Mandate in 59. Such defiance and obstinacy are not new; Israel has demonstrated them before. Arrogance has be",.;i one of its characteristics since the creation of the State of Israel. 60. In January 1952, Professor Charles Malik, one of the great thinkers of the Arab world and a former President of this Assembly, wrote an article in the magazine Foreign Affairs in which he described the situation in the Middle East at that time, a situation which had existed for 26 years. I should like to read in English a few extracts from that article, in view ofits importance: "I think the Zionist idea, reinforced by al\ organi- zational genius of the first order and sharpened by the sufferings of the Jews in recent years, has proved itself exceedingly potent in summoning forth world-wide sympathy and support. Whether this same idea, in the next crucial phase of its development, is res~urceful and resilient and humble enough to create genuine internal . relations of confidence and co-operation between itself and the Moslem-Arab world in the midst of which it has chosen to plant itself is altogether beyond my ken to prophesy or even to conjecture. But one thing can be said with certainty. If the present arrogance, defiance and ambition are to persist, and if Israel is again and again to be confirmed in its feeling that it is to be favoured just because the United States, owing to the position of the Jews in this co~ntry, to certain well-known p~culiarities in the American political and social system, to widespread ignorance in the United States of real conditions in·the Near East, and also to a certain genuir...e, well-meaning goodness of heart on the part of the American people, will at the crucial moment always decisively side with Israel against its immediate world, then, I am afraid, there will never be peace in the Near East, and the United States cannot be altogether innocent of responsibility for that situation. "Self-establishmen{{ by force is fairly easy-at least it is possible; but self-perpetuation by force is, in the nature of the case, absolutely impossible. At least, history has not known an instance of a nation at permanent enmity with its immediate world. "To establish a State or, for that matter, any institution is one thing; to ensure its continued existence is entirely another. For no matter how difficult the act of establish- ment may be, I think it is clear that the effort at 61. Subsequent events revealed Israel's real intentions, intentions that have led to three more wars in the Middle East. 62. Today, 26 years after the publication of this article, Israel continues to display obstinacy and arrogance, which will inevitably mean the continuance of the Middle East crisis. 63. The recommendations contained in the report of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People are, in the opinion of my delegation, practical and constructive and will provide a sound basis for seeking a peaceful and equitable settlement of the Middle East problem. 64. I should like on this occasion to express my thanks and appreciation to Mr. Fall, the representative of Senegal, who is the Chairman of this Committee, and to all the other members of the Committee for the untiring efforts they expended in the preparation of this report. 65. In conclusion, I should like to remind Members that tomorrow is 29 November, a date that should remind us that 30 years have now passed since the inception of the Palestinian tragedy, and that the United Nations Will be celebrating for the first time the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian Pt'oplc. We hope that this anniversary date of 29 November 1978 will mark the beginning of c'i new era that will see the realization of the aspirations and hopes of the Palestinian people as regards their return to their h.olJnes and the creation of an independent State on th~ir homeland.

Tha question that we are now discus~ing in the General Assembly is of rare importance, for we are dealing on the one hand with the inalienable right ofa peopie to decide its own future and to lead an autonomous existence and on the other hand with a situation in a very important region, the Middle East, which seriously affects the inter- national political climate and the interests of peace, detente and general security. That is the reason for the exceptional character of the problem of Palestine. 4 Quoted in English by the speaker. 68. The affirmation of the Palestinian people as a distinct national entity and its Widespread recognition at the international level, including the United Nations, have given the Palestinian question the dimensions and scope that are decisive for the establishment of a lasting peace in the Middle East. That is why a just solution to this question is henceforth vital to any workable settlement of all the problems of the Middle East. 69. One of the main goals of the United Nations is to promote the right of all peoples to self-determination. The United Nations therefore has the responsibility to promote as actively as possible recognition by all States of the national rights of the Palestinian people. It was that major responsibility that constituted the , Jlitical and legal basis for the establishment by the General Assembly of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. It was on that basis also that recom- mendations to ensure the enjoyment of those rights were formulated and adopted. In those recommendations the General Assembly took as its premise the fact that the question of Palestine is an essential factor in the problem of the Middle East and that, consequently t a lasting settlement of the situation there can be achieved only if due account is taken of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people. 70. Rom~ia was among the first countries to stress .that the national rights of the Palestinian people could be fully exercised only within the frlLTllework of an independent State. Only thus will it be possible for the Palestinian nation to organize its own life freely, to dedicate its best efforts to economic and social development, to establish and develop co-operative relations with all States, in its own interc3t and in the interest of peace, security and inter- national detente. . 71. My country has clearly spoken to that effect at all times here at the United Nations, including the occasions on which it has spoken as a member of the Committee t as well as in other international forums; it is in that context, also, that it has established ties of ~riendshipand solidarity with the Palestinian people and for many years now has I~cognized the PLO as the sole representative of that people. 72. Everyone knows the constructive position of principle actively supported by Romania concerning the course to follo.w in order to settle the Middle East conflict. Since the beginning of the 1967 war, my country has been stressing that the only way to solve all the problems of the Middle East is not armed confrontation-which tends to become more and more ruinous for the parties to the conflict and more and more dangerous to international peace and security-but, rather, the political way: direct negotiations between the' parties concerned. The basic principles of an effective and wise settlement of the problems of the Middle East have been clearly stated many times in the official position adopted by my country and in statements by· the President of Romania. 74. In view of that posUin'" of principle, the Romanian delegation wishes to stress again the need to work reso- lutely and to spare no effort to solve the problem of the Palestinian people-an essential condition for the establish- ment of a just and lasting peace in tr..t Middle East. To continue to ignore the aspirations and legitimate rights of the Palestinian people could only slow down the process of peaceful settlement, prolong the conflict and lead to new bloodshed, endangering the peace and security of the area and of the world. 75. It is our deeply held conviction that a just solution to the Palesth1ian question is in the interest of all States, including Israel, because the security and independence of that State can be ensured only to the extent that it recognizes and respects the rights of other peoples. Israel must understand that its own security is closely linked to the unconditional guarantee of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and the fulfilment of that people~s aspirations to live in complete freedom, in the oontext of their own national State. 76. The participation of all interested parties in the negotiations to settle 'international disputes is a basic premise for the achievement of solutions and agreements that are effective and generally accepted. That is an axiom of contemporary international law. In the particularly complex situation in the Middle East, the Palestinian people is undoubtedly such a directly interested party. Thus, the participation of that people, through their legitimate, recog- nized representatives, in negotiations to solve the problems of the Middle East is an essential pre-condition for the establishment of lasting peace in the area. The legitimate, recognized representative of the Palestinian people is the PLO, which has the authority to speak and make valid commitments on behalf of the Palestinian people. I take this occasion to express once again our feelings of friend- ship to the head of the delegation of the PLO, Mr. Farouq Qaddourni, and to tell him how pleased we are that he is participating in this important debate. 77. It is more than clear that there is still a very complex and tense situation in the Middle East. That situation is, without doubt, the result of the continued occupation by Israel of Arab territories and the lack of recognition of the Palestinian people's right to self·determination. In those conditions, we are convinced that activities towards the achievement of an over-all political solution to the problem of the Middle East must bo stepped up. "Romania envisages an over-all solution as involving Israel's withdrawal from the Arab territories occupied as a result of the 1967 war, as wen as the solution of the problem of the Palestinian people, on the basis ofits right to self-determination, including the establishment of its own independent State. At the same time, the achieve- ment of a lasting and just peace in the Middle East requires that the independence and territorialm~grity of all the States of the region be guaranteed and that relations of co-operation and good-neighbourliness with those States be developed." 79. As we have atready said, Romania has spoken out and continues to speak out in favour of the settlement of the Middle East conflict by means of peaceful negotiation among all the interested parties. 80. Faithful to that position, Romania feels that all negotiations are a positive element, in so far as they contribute, on the basis of the principles set forth, to an over-all solution of the conflict. In the situation created by the Camp David talks, which my country sees as part of the process towards a global S()lution, we believe that we must act to fmd a way to ensure the participation of all countries and parties interested in an over-all settlement of the conflict. 81. We feel that to this end it is particularly necessary to strengthen the covoperation and solidarity of all the interested Arab States. .. 82. My country believes tha~ in order to achieve an appropriate over-all solution it is particularly important to organize, under the aegis and with the active participation of the United Nations, an international meeting, either by reconvening the Geneva Conference or by some other means, in which all interested countries and the PLO, as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, wou~d take part. - 83. We are firmly convinced that the recognition of the national rights of the Palestinian people and the creation of an independent' Palestinian' State would be in the true, present and especially long-term interest of all States in the Middle East, because it is only by satisfying the legitimate aspiration of the Palestinian people to have their own country, like all other peoples in the world, that we· can possibly ensure peace and security in that area. 84. Tomorrow, for the first time, in the United Nations we shall be celebrating the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. This important-event, decided on by the General Assembly at its regular session last year, is intended to draw the attention of the world public to the urgent need for recognition of the legitimate national rights of the Palestinian people and the peaceful settlement of the Middle East situation as a whole. We believe that this will be an excellent opportunity to make an urgent appeal to the political will and wisdom of States, particularly those that hold the key to progress towards peace in the Middle East, urging them to move out of the present impasse and tackle the Palestinian question in a new and realistic spirit. 86. Romania for its part intends to contribute in the future, te the best of its ability, to any constructive efforts to put an end to the conflict in the Middle East and establish a just and lasting peace in that area of the world.

Once again the General Assembly of the United Nations, as in many previous years, is obliged to revert to a discussion of the explosive situation in the Middle East and to devise ways and means of bringing about a just settlement of this problem, including the question of Palestine. 88. It should be ,emphasized that within and outside the United Nations a correct evaluation was made long ago of the situation in the Middle East and an excellent basis was devised on which to settle that conflict. This was the result of the active position taken by the States of the socialist community, progressive Arab countries, the non-aligned movement and the Organization of African Unity and the fruitful work done by a number of international bodies at both the intergovernmental and the popular level. 89. In' its resolutions the United Nations has resolutely condemned Israel's annexationist policy, pointed out the inadmissability of the acquisition of territory by force, demanded that Israeli forces be withdrawn from the Arab territories occupied in 1967, condemned the criminal activities of the Israeli authorities and military forces in the Arab territories they have seized, and confirmed the inalienable national rights of the Arab people of Palestine, including their right to national independence and sover- eignty. Clear and unambiguous decisions have been taken by the United Nations regarding ways and means of bringing about a comprehensive settlement of the Middle East problem through the resumption of the Geneva Peace Conference on the Middle East, under the co-chairmanship of the Soviet Union and of the United States and with the full participation of all the parties involved in t1,le conflict, including the PLO. 90. On 1 October 1977 a joint Soviet-United States statement on the Middle East question was issued. It said in part that: "... vital interests of the peoples of this area as well as the interests of strengthening peace and international security in general urgently dictate the necessity of achieving as soon as possible a just and lasting settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict. This settlement should be The statement further envisaged resumption of the work of the Geneva Conference not later than December 1977, with the participation of the Palestinians. It also contained an appeal to all the parties in the conflict: "... to understand the necessity for careful considera- tion of each other's legitimate rights and interests and to demonstrate mutual readiness to act accordingly." 91. At its thirty-second session the General Assembly of the United Nations took note with satisfaction of the joint Soviet-United States statement to which I have referred {resolution 32/20/. We were all entitled to expect that at the present session we should have an opportunity to speak about prcgress achieved towards a comprehensive settle- ment in the Middle East, including one of its essential components, a just solution of the Palestinian problem. 92. Unfortunately, despite all the favourable conditions, that did not occur, the reason being that there was an attempt to conclude a separate deal with Israel. 93. The tendency to make separate deals with ·the aggressor, which started last year-in other words, to enter into a conspiracy at the expense of the Arabs and behind their backs-encouraged Israel to perpetrate its aggression against Lebanon and is intended to help Israel to become entrenched in the Arab and Palestinian territories it has seized and make it impossible for the Arab people of Palestme to enjoy their inalienable national rights. Israel even refuses to discuss the Palestinian issue and continues a policy that has been condemned by the United Nations, that of annihilating the Arab "people of Palestine as a nation. 94. For these purposes Israel, despite the decisions of the United Nations, is establishing new illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Arab territories and strengthening the old ones it had created there previously. It is changing the physical character, the demographic composition, the organizational structure and the status of the occupied territories, including Jerusalem. It is evacuating, deporting, expelling, displacing and resettling the Arab inhabitants and confiscating and destroying their property and belongings. It has failed to fulfil the requirements of General Assembly resolution 194 (Ill) and subsequent decisions of the General Assembly of the United Nations on returning the Palestinian refugees and displaced persons to their homes or to their previous places of residence. Israel has violated its obligations under the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949, by pursuing a policy of terror and torture against the Arab population of the occupied territories. It is destroying the archaeological and cultural property of the Arabs and at the same time intervening in their spiritual and family life. 95. This policy of aggression and neo-colonialism is a direct challenge to world public opinion and also to the resolutions of the United Nations and an end should be put to it in the interests of overcoming the consequences of Israeli aggression and ensuring the exercise of the legitimate national rights of the Arab people of Palestine. 96. If the attempts to conclude separate agree:ments which have been going on for a year now have proved anything it is only that they are aimed at creating disur.Uy among the Arab peoples and undermining their efforts and the struggles of all anti-imperialist forces to bring about a just and comprehensive settlement in the Middle East and to resolve the Palestinian issue. Furthermore, by creating an illusion of progress they have spurred the aggressors on to fresh crimes against the Arab peoples. They have proved that their aim is to establish colonial status for the Arab people of Palestine, and that the aggressor has been so far emboldened as to demand from its protector, in the form of an ultimatum, a multibillion-dollar contribution for promising to leave only the Sinai desert. 97. The Byelorussian SSR would like to express its solidarity with the Arab people of Palestine and the other Arab peoples .which have closed their ranks and resolutely condemned the policy of separate deals and capitulation, and are waging a just struggle to surmount the conse- quences of Israeli aggression and for their freedom and independence. Selfish political manoeuvres on the questions of a Middle East settlement of Palestine, and separate actions at the behest of imperialist circles, should be brought to an end. 98. The General Assembly, on the basis of previous resolutions on the Middle East question and the question of Palestine and regardless of any negotiations being con- ducted in Jerusalem, Camp David, Washington, a New York airport or hotel, or anywhere else, should do everything possible to ensure that the ways and means it defined previously of reaching a settlement in the Middle East once again become the practical basis for further work and for a just and comprehensive decision on and settlement of a situation which has become dangerous for the entire world. 99. In this connexion we should like to commend the work of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. We believe that it is necessary that its recommendations be implemented by all, including the Security Council, and we continue to believe that the Palestinian question can and should be resolved in the context of a just over-all settlement of the Middle East conflict. Such a decision will require Israel's total with- drawal from all Arab territories occupied in 1967; complete and unswerving respect for the legal rights of the Arab people of Palestine, including their right to create their own independent State; and reliable guarantees of the security of all countries in the Middle East area and of their right to an independent existence and peaceful development. 100. All these problems should be solved at the Geneva Peace Conference on the Middle East, with the full participation of all parties concerned, including the PLO, 101. In conclusion, I should like to stress once again that the Byelorussian SSR has always been and will continue to be on the side of all victims of Israeli aggression and has always striven and will continue to strive, together with all progressive forces, to surmount the consequences of Israeli aggression and ensure the triumph of justice and lasting peace in the Middle East. We are convinced that the just cause of the Arab people of Palestine and other Arab peoples will triumph in the end.

5 The question of Palestine, which is ~efore the General Assembly, is one which concerns the tragic history of a people with an ancient identity, an uncertain present and an unknown future. It is useful to recall how and why this question was brought before the United Nations so that we may consider ways and means of settling it peacefully and with justice. . 103. The struggle of the Arab people of Palestine for independence began during Ottoman rule. When the Otto- man Empire went the way of all empires, Palestine came to be placed under British administration according to a Mandate of the League of Nations. The Palestine Mandate fell in the "A" category of Mandated Territories, which included Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, all of which are now sovereign States Members of the United Nations. 104. Category"A" Mandated Territories were recognized as having a distinct political ind!viduality; in other words, in 1919 those Territories had already reached the stage of • development where their existence as independent nations could be provisionally recognized. The only reason that Palestine did not follow Iraq, Syria and Lebanon in attaining the status of political independence was the so-called Balfour Declaration, which provided for the estaNishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish peopie consistent with the rights of the Arab inhabitants. That particular obligation having been fulfilled by the establishment of Israel, there could no longer be any legal barrier to the independence of Palestine. '0 105. My second submission is that until Palestine becomes independent, the United Nations has the role of a trustee and is responsible for the. protection of the rights of the Palestinian people. When the Ottoman Empire was dis- solved, Turkey divested itself of all rigjlts over Palestine, and those rights did not pass to the British Govemment_~ the Mandatory Power. Under the Mandate the ~BrifiSh Government had no power to dispose of Palestine; on the contrary, the predominant element in the Mandate was that of trusteeship for the inhabitants of Palestine. Indeed, it was the duty of the Mandatory Power to assist Territories under its Mandate to independence, as was the case in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. 106. As Article 77 of the Charter makes clear, the International Trusteeship Sy:;tem of the United Nations, created under Chapter XII, applied 1.0 the Territories under 5 Mr. Rai spoke in Hindi. The English version ofhis statement was supplied by the delegation. 107. Therefore, it is my submission that, until the goal of independence is achieved, the United Nations remains the trustee of the rights of the Palestinian people, including their right to self-determination and to a nation-State of their own. Their rights cannot be extinguished by the United Nations, for they have been endowed with the quality of inalienability. 108. The history of the Palestine question, the partition of that country, its subsequent occupation and the various conflicts are too well known to be recalled. But I have chosen to recall the earlier history of this question in order to establish the fact that the right to independence of the Palestinian people is well founded in international as well as natural law. The consequences of the partition of Palestine, which was based on confusion between religion and nationalism, still remain with us and are crucial to peace and security in the Middle East: no peace settlement in the Middle East will be viable unless it includes a just solution of the Palestine question. 109. Since the United Nations was responsible for the partition of Palestine, it continues to bear a special responsibility for restoring to the Palestinian Arab people their national rights. The Charter of the United Nations provides the necessary procedures and powers to enable those people to fulfil their national aspirations by establish- ing a nation-State in their own homeland, with due respect for the security of other States in that region. The General Assembly has adopted several resolutions reaffirming the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people. 110. Hans Kelsen, the noted authority on international law, had this to say on Palestine: "At the moment. the Government of the United Kingdom withdrew from Palestine, that territory was in a legal status of statelessness until the new state of Israel was established and recognised by other states. That part of Palestine which is not under the control of the new government legally will be a stateless territory until a recognised Government win be established there."7 111. In order to facilitate the attainment of such a goal, the first step is to secure the with4rawal of Israel from areas occupied by it sinee 1967, for only thereafter will the Palestinian Arab people be able freely to exercise their national and human rights. .The occupation of Arab territory during a conflict has now become so prolonged as to assume the character of colonial rule. This situation is even more intolerablp. because of the fact that the occupied territory is morally under international trusteeship. The 116. Since 1948 the Middle East has been in a perpetual state of tension. Our part of the world has not seen peace and security since an alien enclave was calVed out of the Arab homeland. The indigenous people of Palestine were forcibly evicted, dispossessed, uprooted, dispersed and forced either to lead lives as refugees or to live under cruel . military occupation. 112. My delegation is a member of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. That Committee has done good work to publicize the problem and to suggest a pragmatic programme of action. However, ultimately it is the Security Council and the General Assembly that will have to find a just solution, with the co-operation of the big Powers. Above all, the United Nations must always keep in mind its role as trustee of the rights of the Palestinian people, and it should not permit the destruction of those rights or of the identity of that people and their homeland. 113. Nowadays the United Nations is rightly preoccupied with the promotion of respect for human rights every- where. The question of Palestine is a test case for the United Nations. Bertrand Russell said, "To invoke the horror of the past to jUl;tify the horror of the present in Palestine is gross hypocrisy." And the father of the Indian nation, Mahatma Gandhi, said: "Numbers are not crucial to any struggle; strength and purpose are." The strength and purpose of the Palestinian people are invincible, because they are just.

Thirty-one years ago, the United Nations, contrary to the principle of self-deter- mination embodied in the Charter, allowed itself to become an instrument in the hands of certain major PowerS' that planted the l;eeds of tension and turmoil in our part of the world in order to continue to reap the fruits of our natural resources. It was then that the United Nations assumed a basic and vital role in creating a tragedy unparalleled in modem history. Instead of acting as a supporter of the legitimate aspirations of a people, the United Nations helped to deny that people its basic and fundamental rights. Because of its role in creating this tragedy, the United Nations has continued until now to assume the responsi- bility for the victims of that connivance. 115. Since the early days of the United Nations, the Arab States, of which my country is one, have repeatedly cautioned against United Nations involvement in the machinations and designs of the colonial Powers. We have staied emphatically that the question of Palestine can only be viewed as a colonial question, despite its different ramifications. 117. The situation in the Middle East did not arise from the aggression by Israel in 1967 against the neighbouring Arab States-aggression that was envisaged, planne4 and carried out in accordance with an over-all master plan of zionism prepared years before. That aggression of 1967 was 118. The conflict in the Middle East is first and foremost between the indigenous people of a country who were living peacefully in their land and waves of alien immigrants from all corners of the world who had in common only their goal: to colonize Palestine by de-Arabizing the land and substituting themselves for thlil indigenous people. The people of Palestine are the primary party to the conflict. Their struggle against the Zionist-Israeli axis is the primary conflict. Only as a result of this conflict and because of zionism's aggressive, expansionist and racist nature, did the conflict broaden to involve the Arab nation as a whole. 119. Throughout their long history, the Arabs havl.7 always opened their doors to people who were persecuted and sought refuge, including Jews, and to people who came to live with us in peace and to participate in the development and growth of our nation. Let me state emphatically that our opposition to zionism is not the result of any religious bigotry or racial prejudice. Our position would have been the same had any other group, of any other faith or from any part of the world, invaded our shores with such schemes and with such a repugnant philosophy. 120. The United Nations today is not what it was in 1947. Millions of people have regained their freedom, become masters of their destinies, and joined the membership of our Organization. They bring to it the feelings, sufferings, and aspirations of those who lived under the yoke of colonialism and foreign domination. They know what it means to be free and independent. They can look at the manner in which the United Nations handled such vital questions as that of Palestine-a manner that was neither correct nor moral. They can see how those with selfish motives have used this Organization for the achievement of their own designs and intrigues. 121. Today the question of Palestine is again on the agenda of the General Assembly, but it is certain that our deliberations and discussions of the issue are directed at remedying and rectifying the injustice inflicted upon the Palestinian people. It is certain that the United Nations would not recommend partition as a solution. It would not condone the usurpation of the land of a people by the alien community that came as an invading force. It would not allow the indigenous people to become refugees a few steps away from their homes, their land, their country. 122. The crux of the Middle East problem is the question of Palestine-a simple question that has become complex. It is a question of a people denied their inalienable rights, the right to self-determination, the right to their land. Instead of viewing it as such, the United Nations has been discussing the various manifestations, symptoms, and side effects of the question. What was an integral question has become fragmented into many parts. Even the recent phase 124. We believe that the presence of Israel in our midst is not a natural historical development. Israel's creators and protectors conce;...ed it to serve their interests by keeping our nation preoccupied by a perpetual confrontation, in which we must exercise our national right to self-defence in the face of repeated aggression and occupation, so that they can divert us from our basic task and duty to remake our unity, harness our resources, and develop our capabilities. 125. The Foreign Minister of the Yemen Arab Republic stated from this rostrum on 4 October before this Assembly that: u ••• a permanent and a just peace means the resto:' ration of the legitimate national rights of the Palestinian people, and enabling it to exercise those rights, foremost among which is its right to self-determination and the establishment of its national authority in Palestine under the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the sole legitimate representative of the• Palestinian people." {21st meeting, para. 116.J 126. It is ironic that Israel should speak about negotiating a peace settlement, when that country denies the right of the Palestinian people to their home, and refuses to negotiate with their representative, the PLO, which has been recognized by this Organization and other inter- national bodies. If Israel genuinely seeks a negotiated" peace settlement, it should negotiate with the party concerned, the Palestinims. The fact of the matter is that Israel is seeking only a peace which satisfies its expansionist colonial policy and ambitions. 127. It is the right of every man to lead a normal life in his home and homeland. The people of Palestine are no exception. For what they want rightfully belongs to them. What every people in every land wantsis the ability to lead" a· life free from foreign occupation, racism, colonial subjuga- tion, and alien exploitation. Only if this basic principle becomes the guide and the doctnne of the United Nations can we expect a real, just, and lasting peace not only in the Middle East but in the world at large.