A/35/PV.80 General Assembly

On 29 November 1947 the General Assembly adopted the plan to partition Palestine. In adopting resolution 181 (11), the Assembly created two States: a Jewish State and an Arab State. The city of Jerusalem constituted a corpus separatum under a special international regime, to be administered by the Trusteeship Council for an initial period of 10 years. At the expiration of that period its status was to be reviewed by the Council. Persons living in the city would then have every freedom to indicate, through a referendum, their suggestions with regard to possible modifications of the status of the city. 10. Of the two States contemplated in the partition resolution, only Israel saw the light ofday. The abusive and erroneous interpretation that Israel made of that resolution constitutes one of the earliest sources of the upsurge of violence raging in that region. Whether we wish it or not, that decision by the General Assembly is at the basis of the tragedy ofthe Palestinian people. That resolution in fact gave Israel a pretext for seizing by force the whole of the Palestinian terri- tory. Hence the Palestinian people has been deprived of its country and possessions, and hence there has been a massive exodus of Palestinians to countries willing to give them asylum. 11. Israel has gone even further in its policy of annexation. Today Israel occupies the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the city of Jerusalem, part of Egyptian territory and the Golan Heights, which it proposes to annex definitively. 12. Thus, deliberately or otherwise, the General Assembly, by adopting resolution 181 (11), brought about a situation containing the seeds of the destruction of a people living peacefully in the land of Palestine, its fatherland. 13. Although it is true that the tragedy of the Jewish people deserved special attention and even solidarity from the international community, it was, in our view, inadmissible to correct one injustice by bringing about another injustice. In other words, the rehabilitation of the Jewish people should not have had, and should not have, as its price the martyrdom of the Arab people of Palestine. 18. I should like also to stress the importance of resolutions 3236 (XXIX) and 3375 (XXX), because these clearly define the path to be followed for the solution of this thorny problem. 19. While reaffirming the legitimate and inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to return to its homes and to regain possession of its goods and to accede to self-determination, sovereignty and national inde- pendence, the Assembly in these resolutions regards the PLO, the only representative of the Palestinian people, as the sole authorized spokesman for the Palestinian people in defence of its inalienable rights. 20. On the basis ofthese resolutions, the participation of the PLO on a footing of equality with the other parties is indispensable in all our efforts, deliberations and conferences on the Middle East, for the question of Palestine is in fact the centre of all this. Thus, the overwhelming majority of States Members of the United Nations do not wish to follow the erroneous line of argument to the effect that the PLO is a terrorist organization. 21. As regards the legitimacy of that organization, allow me to refer to the very pertinent arguments the representative of the PLO presented to the interna- tional community from this very rostrum on I Decem- ber 1980. "Thirdly, all the elected mayors and members of the mayoral councils of the towns and villages inside the occupied Palestinian territories have declared that they stand with the PLO as their sole legitimate representative. Several popular conven- tions have been held and have declared that the PLO is their only legitimate representative. " "Fifthly, the PLO is a full member of the League of Arab States, the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the non-aligned movement. It also has observer status at the United Nations." [75th meeting, paras. 99-101 and 103.] 23. In the light ofall this, the international community should reject the slogans hurled at the Palestinian people by the very people who are occupying by force Palestine and Arab Jerusalem, who confiscate and expropriate property in the occupied Arab terri- tories, establish settlements in those same terri- tories, persistently violate United Nations resolutions and consistently show inadmissible contempt for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights [resolution 217 A (Ill)]. 24. The tragedy of the Palestinian people could one day befall other peaceful peoples which have no great means of defence. Thus we should be aware of the dire consequences which could result from our position with regard to the struggle .of the Palestinian people. 25. The Palestinian people has been forced, to abandon its country, its land and its property. It is hunted down in all the Arab and Palestinian territories occupied by Israel illegally and by force. It is con- tinually subjected to bombing in its refugee camps, its schools, its fields and its hospitals. It is the object of widespread misunderstanding, not to mention an international conspiracy, which extends into this Organization and especially into the body which is charged with the maintenance of order and peace in the world. I shall spare the Assembly the details of the other crimes of which the Palestinian people has been the victim. 26. In these conditions, can we then in honesty dictate to that people the means it should use in its struggle for survival and dignity? By what right can we demand of that people that it offer as a means of defence only an olive branch? 33. It is high time for the Security Council to over- come those inconsistencies and fulfil its responsibilities in this matter, in which it already noted the existence of a threat to peace in its resolution 54 (1948), which was adopted following the first hostilities between Israel and the Arab countries. 34. In the context of Security Council action, the delegation of Burundi considers that resolution 465 (1980), adopted unanimously by the Security Council, constitutes an important step in the right direction. 35. We hope that Europe-which since the meeting of Heads of State and Government and the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the nine member States of the European Community, in Venice last June, has been making energetic efforts concerning the setttlement of this question of vital importance for the international community-will take another important step towards recognition of the fact that peace and security in the Middle East can be achieved only through a just and final settlement ofthe Palestinian problem. That means 42. The Palestinian question remains at the core of the continuing crisis in the Middle East. This problem has continued to elude any comprehensive solution by the United Nations, not because of lack of effort but mainly because Israel has persistently refused to comply with the resolutions of this body. 43. Faced with expulsion and exile, the Palestinians have increasingly turned to education that makes them versatile and have equipped themselves with mobile professions. Dispossessed by the Israelis, they have used education as a means of national self-preserva- tion. Contrary to the usual assumption, therefore, the problem is not that the Palestinians are a primitive people mired in misery and encamped on Israel's doorstep; it is that the more the Palestinians wander, the more they dream of returning home. The more 48. The brutalization of the victims makes headlines. The brutalization of those who victimize them is scarcely mentioned at all. Here lies the irony. The most ironic legacy of the six-day war is that Israel today is a less free and less attractive society, a nation less sure of itself than it was before all the battles were won. 49. Events in the West Bank this spring and summer have been most disturbing. The expropriation of Arab land for Jewish settlements is going on faster than ever. The brutality of the repressive measures which the Israelis are using is even more open and shameless than before. But the process itself is exactly the same as it has always been, the process by which Palestinian 5I. The techniques are familiar. But there has been a new element in the pattern of repression in recent months, and especially since the beginning of this year: the open participation of the Israeli settlers in that repression. These settlers, and especially the fanatics of Gush Emunim, have been active for some years in harassing and provoking the Palestinian population in the vicinity of their settlements from Kirya Arba and Hebron itself, and also those of the nearby village of Halhoul, where in 1979 the settlers smashed up Arab cars and property and on one occasion killed two of the villagers in the rioting that followed. 52. But since the beginning of this year there has been clear evidence that the settlers, whose presence and behaviour are the cause of most of the violence on the West Bank, are not merely encouraged by the Israeli authorities but enjoy the active collaboration of the military administration and of Israel's security forces. There has been a great deal of discussion about this in the Israeli press, with the opinion freely aired that the Israeli Chief of Staff, General Eytan, has personally authorized that collaboration; and there is no doubt at all that the Minister of Agriculture. General Sharon, provides full support for the settlers from inside the Government or that the Prime Minister himself sympathizes with the aims of the settlers and at least turns a blind eye to their illegal acts. 53. Few foreigners have access to the Israeli press. but many people in Britain will have seen a programme called "The Peace Breakers" screened bv Thames Television on 3 July. It showed the Israeli'settlers at work and provided a chilling opportunity for them to state their intentions, including their intention to resist with force any Israeli Government which might try to dismantle their settlements. 54. It is indeed the anxiety which these Jewish fanatics arouse in the minds of other Jews, both inside and outside Israel, that provides the most telling condemnation of them. Chaim Berrnant , writing 55. General Matityahu Peled, a General in the Israeli army reserve and a leading figure in the Shelli Party, said in an interview with the Paris daily Le Monde in June 1980 that he was very pessimistic, "not because of the appearance of the phenomenon of Jewish terrorism, but because this terrorism is unofficially supported by the Government." 56. Two main issues in the Arab-Israeli dispute-the national issue of Palestinian rights and the regional issue of the presence of foreign occupation forces in Arab lands-remain unresolved because of Israeli intransigence and military arrogance, These issues have been discussed over the years even in conferences outside the auspices of the United Nations, but all solutions prescribed have fallen flat because Israel is still unprepared to concede Palestinian rights and still contends that its settlements on the West Bank and Gaza are there as of right. In short, the creeping measures of annexation, which have been stepped up by Israel over the years, particularly since 1967, are designed to ensure that the seized territories are eventually incorporated in the Jewish State if and when a final settlement is hammered out. 57. But that attitude has had the opposite effect. The Palestinians, under the leadership of the PLO, con- tinue to resist the invaders, and at the international level Israeli intransigence continues to push the Jewish State into isolation, transforming it into an outcast in the comity of nations. So long as the Israelis reject the absolute minimum requirements for partial justice for the Palestinians, including the acceptance of the principle of the return of the West Bank and Gaza, then we must admit that there is nothing to be negotiated, at least over the Palestinian problem. But since the Palestinian problem is itself the root cause of conflict in the region, it follows mutatis mutandis that Israeli leaders are, in effect, rejecting the principle of peace. 58. In the past year there have occurred new and frightening developments which pose the gravest threats yet to international peace and security. Political acts sometimes send devastating symbolic messages. So it was last year, when the Israeli Cabinet approved a Gush Emunim plan to establish a settlement near Nablus on the West Bank. Nablus is a town intense in its Arab feeling, a centre of Palestinian nationalism. Israeljustifies some settlements on security grounds; it argues, for example that those in the Jordan Valley should remain outposts under a final peace agreement. But that agreement does not even apply to this case. A settlement built on confiscated Arab land in an intensely Arab area would never be acceptable to any Arab authority. It could exist only as long as it had Israeli military protection. The political implica- tions are plain. When it approved the Nablus settle- ment, the Israeli Government was effectively asserting a right to permanent military control of the area. It was also, by that act, sending a message that Israel intended to continue the occupation of the West Bank, in one guise or another, indefinitely. 65. The participation of the PLO, the representative of the Palestinian people, on an equal footing with all other parties on the basis of General Assembly resolu- tions 3236 (XXIX) and 3375 (XXX), is indispensable to all efforts, deliberations and conferences on the Middle East which take place under the auspices of the United Nations. 66. The inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by force and the consequent obligation of Israel to withdraw completely and quickly from all territories so occupied must also be taken into account. 67. Because Israel has persistently defied this body over the years by refusing to comply with all resolu- tions adopted on this subject, the General Assembly "In my view, Israel's persistent refusal to recognize the fact that it cannot continue to enjoy legitimacy and rights based on the Organization's original Partition Plan for Palestine [resolution /8/ (11)] and at the same time deny to the Palestinians the corresponding legitimacy and rights of nation- hood based on the same Plan is the greatest obstacle to any lasting peace in the Middle East. The Palesti- nian Arabs must and should be enabled to have their own independent, sovereign State. Nigeria firmly supports the legitimate right of the Pales- tinians to their homeland." 69. I cannot end this statement without saying a word or two on what the United Nations expects ofIsrael's Western backers concerning the all-important objec- tive of bringing peace and stability to the Middle East. The Heads of State and Government and the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the nine member States of the European Community issued a joint declaration at Venice on 13 June [A/35/299-S/ /4009] in which they acknowledged for the first time that the exercise by Palestinians of their right to self-deter- mination is central to a comprehensive Middle East peace settlement. That will not be enough. They will have to exert more pressure on Israel if we are to get anywhere near an internationally acceptable solution. 70. The PRESIDENT (interpretation from French): The next speaker is the observer from the League of Arab States, and I call on him in conformity with General Assembly resolution 477 (V). 71. Mr. MAKSOUD (League of Arab States) (inter- pretation from Arabic): The discussion of the Palesti- nian question should be an opportunity for an in- depth analysis. The time has come for us to go beyond what is known, beyond a reaffirmation of what has already been recognized, and to study in detail the causes which prevent the international community from expressing its will and conviction concerning a concrete plan with regard to the rights ofthe Palestinian people. It is not logical for us to continue to repeat the positions and reiterate the facts concerning this issue, even if that means, among other things, further I United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 75, No. 973, p 287. 73. It has also become obvious that the PLO is the framework for the national unity of the Palestinians and the instrument with which their destiny is forged, wherever they may find themselves. For each Palestinian, whether living under Israeli occupation, in a refugee camp or anywhere else temporarily, the PLO is a state of mind which incorporates his national identity, a confirmation of his very being, the centre of his life and his commitments and a tool for his struggle and the fulfilment of his destiny. From this point of view it is clear that the relationship between Palestine, the PLO, and the Palestinian people is a complete relationship, and the interaction between them is basic, essential and permanent. 74. It is for this reason that any attempt to bypass the role of the PLO, to question the legitimacy of its representation or to accuse it of terrorism is an exercise in futility. Any retreat from the position recognizing that the Palestinian problem is at the very heart ofthe Middle East crisis, with all its complexities, constitutes a serious obstacle to the establishment of a just and lasting peace in the region. 75. Furthermore, any attempt to delay the discussion of the Palestinian problem and its solution in accor- dance with all the relevant United Nations resolutions, in particular General Assembly resolution 3236 (XXIX), in reality only contributes to instability in the region and more seriously exposes it to the risk of explosion. For stability is not possible in the region without the establishment of Palestinian peace. 76. It is therefore necessary for us to contain the crisis and to work so that the Organization can direct all its diplomatic, political and moral weight towards promoting the elements of a radical solution of .the question ofPalestine, especially the re-establishment of Palestinian rights, thus reaffirming the credibility of the United Nations and deterring those that continue to disregard these rights and defy with impunity the international will. 77. The thirty-fifth session of the General Assembly, whicl. is being led so ably and wisely, must go down in history as the session at which the Assembly not only advanced the provisions of the resolutions on the: rights of the Palestinian people, but also as that which marked a stage towards the achievement of those rights. 78. We can no longer be satisfied with the wording of those resolutions and with ensuring the harmony ofour positions on the basis of principle. It has become 81. First, the United States position concerning the Palestinian problem has contributed to a great extent to Israel's defiance. With its well-known contempt for international resolutions, Israel behaves in the region as if it had prior approval for its past and future aggression. At best, the United States criticizes the very obvious Israeli transgressions. It does not under- take any practical action to back that criticism. The latest proof of this is the United States criticism of the Israeli settlements in the occupied territories, which it has described as illegal. But at the same time the United States continues to give military and economic support to Israel. Further examples are: opposition of the United States to the Israeli proclamation of the Holy City of Jerusalem as its "capital", but the lack of any deterrent measures; the mild warning of the United States concerning Israeli annexation of the Golan, while continuing its support of Israel's diplomatic, political and military positions; the work of the United States within the United Nations to delay implementa- tion of the resolutions and measures concerning the rights of the Palestinians; its dealing with the PLO in a manner exemplified by its actions during World Bank and IMF sessions; and its attempts to delay application of measures related to population approved by UNFPA. 82. These examples underline the dual stand of the United States on any given problem, thus encouraging Israel to continue not only to defy resolutions of the Organization but also to oppose them. The United States, in effect, condones the strategic policy of Israeli aggression in the region, even if on certain occasions, it takes a critical stand when the transgres- sions are flagrant and embarrassing. 83. It is thus apparent to us that Israel acts strong in the continued American support and tolerance, even for its most flagrant transgressions, and con- sequently it is assured of American acceptance of its strategic goals. 84. It is from this point of view that we must understand the nature of the American-Israeli rela- tions, which makes possible continued Israeli occupa- tion of Arab land, disregard of the rights of the Palestinian people and the persistent evasion of the resolutions of this Assembly as if they were resolu- tions from another world. It is this which enables Israel to cling tightly to the American position, in a 88. This dangerous disparity between the words and actions of the United States is inherent in the so- called Zionist influence in the United States and in election considerations during the presidential and congressional campaigns. 89. However, the importance of election considera- tions and the direct influence the Zionist movement has on public opinion and the media in the United States ought not to prevent a Power such as the United States, with all its influence and its heavy responsi- bilities, from carrying out its strategic responsibilities and taking decisions without regard to such short- sighted and self-centred interests, which are incapable of a comprehensive outlook and an awareness of the public interest. It is not for us to extend advice to a super-Power like the United States, but it is our right to ask whether this pattern of dealing with Israel will persist, for this helps to make the action of the United States even less constructive and a source of crisis and instability. 90. We do not desire to return to the past, but rather to foresee the future American position, although we know that the basic American position regarding Israeli aggression and the Palestinian question has little chance of real change. On the contrary, there seem to be elements in the new Administration that would like to use Israel as a tool in the achievement of strategic military objectives and in the cold war in the region. In other words, those elements will work in every way possible to make American decisions more in tune with the Israeli aggressive ambitions in the region and to ensure less questioning of Israeli policies and be- haviour. There is an important trend within the new Administration which would give Israel the green light to do what it wants without any control. However, one can affirm that there is a counter-trend in the new Administration which seeks to avoid dependence on the will of Israel and the Zionist pressures aimed at dictating the American decisions concerning the question of Palestinian without giving the decision- makers the right to express opinions, question or oppose. 92. We are aware that while we are discussing the question of Palestine the United States is in a period of transition from one Administration to another. If, given the reality of American policy, our expecta- tions are not ambitious, that does not necessarily mean that the United States ought to maintain the status quo. 93. What we desire is simply that American policy be more objective, that it examine in a more rational way the de facto situation in the area, the elements of the Palestinian problem and the dangers of Israeli aggression, instead of clinging to narrow interests, erroneous emotional considerations and submission to Zionist pressure by Americans who make the decisions and mould public opinion and who view the region only from the Israeli standpoint, thus making the United States incapable of comprehending all the aspects and details of the problem of the Middle East. 94. The United States, then, ought to shed its pre- judices against the Arabs in general and the struggle of the Palestinian people in particular. It is no longer justifiable for an open society such as that of America to remain a prisoner of the false data, deliberate distortions, narrow interests and mental and political terrorism of Israel and the Zionist movement. 95. Early indications in statements of the new Administration suggest that its policy vis-a-vis the Palestinian question, if it is not amended, is intended to delay or hinder the desired serious dialogue, not only between Arab nations and the United States but also between the United States and the entire third world. 96. We can therefore conclude from what has just been said that the United States position constitutes one of the main obstacles that prevent the speedy implementation of United Nations resolutions. Unfortunately, the United States position was and still is preventing these resolutions from being taken to their logical conclusions, and such obstructionism has led to a lack of enthusiasm for them. There is no doubt that Israel seeks to deprive these resolutions of their binding force and credibility. As long as Israel is able to influence the United St ates position and make it obstructionist, Arabs will be left with no policy alternative but to make the United States position costly for America should it persist in depriving 2 A Framework for Peace in the Middle Easr, Agreed at Camp David, and a Framework for the Conclusion 01 a Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel. signed at Washington on j7 September 1978. 98. The Camp David agreements have enabled Israel to buy time, to deceive the international community and to disdain anything that falls outside the Camp David trio. 99. In its turn, the United States has also been able to allege that in its attempts to resolve the Middle East conflict, it has been dealing wlth one of the Arab parties, namely President Sadat, whom it regarded to be the spokesman for the Arabs. The United States, however, was quick to realize that this spokesman would never be able to win over to his side any other Arab parties to the conflict. In a moment of inattention, the United States mistakenly thought that it would win the support of some Arab parties who would prefer their traditional friendship with the United States over their national ties and responsi- bilities, their firm commitment to the common Arab destiny and to the inalienable national rights of the Palestinian people and to the PLO. lOO. The United States also realized that the Arab resolutions adopted at the Ninth and Tenth Arab Summit Conferences, held at Baghdad in November 1978 and at Tunis in November 1979 respectively, represented a clear and definite response to the Camp David trio and their attempts to penetrate the Arab body politic. These Conferences demonstrated beyond the shadow uf doubt that the Arab consensus reached there embodies the real commitments and obligations of the Arab people of Egypt. 101. Today the Camp David trio realize that their framework for settling the Arab-Israeli conflict is crumbling in the face of existing and new realities which prevail in the region. Although the delay in the announcement of the bankruptcy of the Camp David agreements has been dictated by the United States presidential elections, since President Carter thought that failure could be sold as indicating an achievement which did not produce the results expected. the formula of the agreements is now being questioned not only in terms of its value for American 103. We have seen how in the past three years the Camp David trio have attempted to convince the world that they hold the keys to the solution of the... Arab- Israeli conflict. It has also become obvious to the world that the illusion of Camp David was only a new approach allowing Israel to continue to disregard its commitments to the international community. We have seen how Israel has used these agreement" in order to establish more settlements in the oc, .d territories, to intensify and diversify its attacks on southern Lebanon, militarily to prevent the legitimate Government in Lebanon from exercising control over an its territories and to paralyse UNIFIL. We have also seen Israel use the agreements to further its expansionist objectives, as seen in its annexation of the Holy City of Jerusalem, its proclamation of that city as its capital and the introduction of a bill for the annexation of the Golan. 104. Whatever attempts the Camp David trio make to sell the idea that the agreements are a curb on Israel become a license for its to take new steps towards achieving its aggressive and expansionist ambitions. And as we noted, the most dangerous feature of the Camp David agreements is that they are presented as a substitute for action by the organs of the United Nations, usurping their role and credibility. 105. In this context, the Arab leaders, in the Final Declaration which they issued at the conclusion of the Eleventh Arab Summit Conference, held at Amman from 25 to 27 November 1980, reaffirmed their rejection of the Camp David agreements and what that rejection entails in terms of the practical measures that must be taken to annul their effects [see A/35/719-S/14289, annex]. It is obvious that the Amman decisions reflect the Arab nation's opinion of the challenge posed by these agreements, of the Arab nation's resolve to work towards the establishment of a just and total peace in the Middle East, and of its awareness that this cannot be done without guaranteeing the Palesti- nian people's right to its land and its State. 106. The States members of the European Com- munity have undertaken initiatives which testify to an increased understanding of the facts in the Middle East and to a wider recognition of the Palestinian people's national rights and the real position of the PLO. Despite the fact that this evolution in the European position constitutes a positive step which 139. One of the most provoking and repugnant examples of that was the annexation of the Arab part of the city of Jerusalem and the proclamation of that city as the capital of Israel. This revolting defiance of world publ'c opinion is doubtless the most flagrant violation of Security Council resolutions urging Israel not to undertake any measures tending to affect the status of Jerusalem. .. 140. In the process of legitimizing its colonization of Arab lands, Israel has developed and is carrying out a special programme of establishing military settle- ments in the occupied territories. It is not difficult to understand what deprivations and hardships the presence of Israeli settlements is inflicting on the Palestinians, in particular the Arab population of the West Bank, where the military Administration of Tel Aviv has now already expropriated 32 per cent of the whole territory for the needs of its occupation per- sonnel. 141. Those and many other measures are aimed at annexing the Arab lands that have been seized, and they are accompanied by the most flagrant arbitrary actions, bloody terror and intensification of the repression of the indigenous Palestir.ran population by the Israeli military authorities, all camouflaged by Pharisaical statements on the establishment of so- called administrative autonomy for the Palestinians. 142. As one of the members of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, the Ukrainian SSR is well aware of the urgent and energetic efforts this important body has under- taken in 1980 in order to implement the recommenda- tions of the General Assembly on the question of Palestine. 143. However, the Committee's efforts have not, unfortunately, led to any notable practical results in resolving the fate of the long-suffering Palestinian people. No one in this hall doubts that the main responsibility for this is borne by Israel and its patron, the United States of America. 144. Circumventing the United Nations and ignoring the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, the PLO, Israel and the United States aim, within the framework of the Camp David agreements, to legalize the seizure of Arab lands, thereby depriving the Palestinians living on the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip of the possibility of exercising their inalien- 146. Evidence of this is seen in the negative position of the United States on the question of Palestine in the Security Council and at the seventh emergency special session of the General Assembly. It is well known that the United States has frequently blocked the adoption ofdecisions in the Security Council aimed at breaking the deadlock with regard to a settlement of the Middle East question, thus putting an end to the suffering of the 4 million Arab people of Palestine. 147. All that of course leads to further destabilization of the situation in the Middle East and once again underlines the fact that the Palestinian question cannot be resolved through separate deals between the United States, Israel and Egypt. It can and must be resolved only through the joint efforts of all the parties con- cerned, including, of course, the PLO, within the framework of a comprehensive political settlement in the Middle East. 148. The delegation of the Ukrainian SSR is con- vinced that the only basis for such a Middle East settlement is the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from all the Arab territories occupied since 19f"', including East Jerusalem; the implementation of inalienable rights of the Arab people of Pales self-determination, including its right to estabhs. J own independent State; and the ensuring of the I16ht of all States in the region to a secure and independent existence. 149. In its struggle for the achievement of those objectives, the Arab people of Palestine has always had and will continue to have the very broad support of all the progressive forces in the world, including the people of the Ukrainian SSR. 150. The General Assembly must adopt decisions that will demonstrate the determination of the States Mem- bers of the United Nations to ensure the immediate implementation of the inalienable rights of the Arab people of Palestine, by, among other things, applying against Israel the compulsory measures provided for in Chapter VII of the Charter.

This year we cele- brated with pride the thirty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the United Nations. Our pride derived from the fact that over the last 35 years the United Nations has contributed in no small way to the solution of many world problems. Unfortunately, there are two areas of concern that are conspicuously missing from the list. I refer to the twin problems of southern Africa and Palestine. It is therefore with great pain 159. State terrorism is being unleashed systematically to suppress civic and religious leaders, students and ordinary people throughout the towns and villages of Palestine. The recent closure of Bir Zeit University and the earlier closure of Abu Dees Arab Science College, and the vicious persecution of students from those two institutions; the attempts to assassinate the Mayors of Nablus, Ramallah and Al Bireh; the expul- sion of the mayors of AI-Khalil (Hebron) and Halhoul and the Islamic Judge of AI-Khalil: all point to an escalation of repression. 160. Meanwhile, the Zionists are working frantically to change the physical and demographic character of the occupied territories. Through a 'series of illegal and high-handed methods, more and more Arab land is being swallowed up every day by the Zionists and more illegal settlements are being established. 161. The Israeli hand of terror extends well beyond the confines of the occupied territories; it reaches int ) all the neighbouring countries of the area. Throughout this past year, Israeli tanks and planes have continued to pour forth death and inflict suffering on Palestinian refugee camps and villages in Lebanon. Only last night, Israeli messengers of death returned from yet another gruesome mission in Lebanon, leaving in their trail more people dead and maimed. 162. Israel is bold in committing acts of terror against the Palestinian people and aggression against its neigh- bours because it is protected by a mountain much higher and more powerful than itself. Israel is first and foremost an imperialist outpost in the Middle East. As it serves the interests of imperialism in that region, the imperialist Powers continue to support it by generous provision of financial assistance and military hardware. From this derives the arrogance and bel- ligerence of the Zionist State. 163. The continued pursuit of aggressive and expansionist policies by Israel surely constitutes one of the gravest threats to international peace and security in our time. Since Israel has refused to with- draw from the occupied territories and continues to terrorize Palestinians within and outside the occupied area, it is now time for the United Nations to adopt more concrete measures. Uganda calls upon the Security Council to consider taking decisive action against Israel in accordance with the provisions of Chapter VII of the Charter. 164. Meanwhile, it is clear that neither the systematic terror of the Zionists nor the machinations of the imperialist Powers have affected the indomitable will of the Palestinian people. On the contrary, the Palestinian people, under the leadership of the PLO, have organized determined and heroic resistance against Zionist oppression. The Palestinian resistance has grown from strength to strength and has spread to all sectors of the oppressed community. This 166. But today the international community has exploded the myths that were nursed and propagated for years by the Zionists. Now what lies so clearly before us for all to see is a very unpleasant and ugly truth about the reality of Zionist designs and practice. 167. The report of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People [A/35/35] that is before us is an important contribu- tion to the process of freeing the world from the grip of Zionist propaganda. I wish to pay a particular tribute to Mr. Falilou Kane, Chairman of the Com- mittee, and to all members of the Committee for their tireless efforts to'build a new international conscious- ness of the Palestinian question. 168. For their part, the people of Uganda will con- tinue to support unequivocally the just struggle of the Palestinian people. The justice of their cause com- mands our support and the magnitude of their suffering inspires our total solidarity.

Once again the interna- tional community is discussing, as it has been doing for more than 30 years, a question which continues to appear to defy solution and to threaten world peace. Barbados has made consistently and abundantly clear where it stands and has reaffirmed time and time again its support for recognition of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination and national sovereignty. 170. My Government has also openly voiced its sup- port for the PLO as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. This being so, my delegation fully recognizes and supports the right of the PLO to participate in all deliberations and conferences on the Middle East that might be held under the auspices of this body. 171. Although my delegation believes that a lasting solution of the grave and increasingly critical problem in the Middle East should be sought around the negotiating table by way of a comprehensive settle- ment that includes all parties. it nevertheless has welcomed any efforts, however limited, which lessen the possibility of armed conflict between neighbouring States in that area. 172. My delegation welcomed the Camp David agree- ments in that context even while recognizing their severe limitations and the lack of sufficiently wide- spread support in the area to make them the stabilizing and effective instrument that is needed to bring about a lasting settlement. 179. General Assembly resolutions 3236 (XXIX) and ES-7/2, like the relevant Security Council resolutions, in particular resolutions 465 (1980), 476 (1980) and 478 (1980), remain unimplemented. The report of the Secretary-General [A1351618-S114250] in this regard fully reflects how adamant Israel continues to be in its refusal to recognize the fundamental elements of a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East. 180. We believe that it is high time for the interna- tional community to shoulder its responsibility in this most important and delicate question, which involves the fate of millions of people and on which the atten- tion of the United Nations has been focused for over 30 years. The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People has recom- mended a programme to ensure the achievement of those rights which was endorsed by the General Assembly in 1976, during its last four consecutive sessions and at its seventh emergency special session. In spite of that, the implementation of those recom- mendations has to this day encountered numerous difficulties in the Security Council, first in 1976, later in June, July and August 1979 and most recently in April 1980. My delegation feels that the resolution of the question of Palestine, which is one of the highest priorities on the agenda of the General Assembly-a question which is at the heart of the Middle East conflict, a question which involves the exercise of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including its right to have a State of its own- should not have been permitted to take this long. 181. The question of Palestine, in spite of the many important developments achieved towards interna- tional recognition of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, still remains an incessant source of suffering and wrongs. The reason that this question has not been resolved so far is that it has never really been taken up within its true context. For a long while the Palestinian people has been talked of as a non- entity and a non-issue. Later, for some time, the question ofPalestine was considered exclusively within the context of refugee problems. The Security Council in resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973) refers to the Palestinians as refugees rather than as a political entity. However, after many years, the basic political dimension of the question of Palestine has finally been admitted and defined in various resolutions of the General Assembly. 182. General Assembly resolution 3236 (XXIX) is of historic importance in this regard. In that resolution the Assembly, while confirming the legitimate national rights of the Palestinian people and its right to return, 191. Thus Israel was created, and the tragedy of this era was created in its turn, that of the Palestinian people. The Middle East is familiar with a painful situation and the whole world is suffering from that situation now and will continue to suffer for as long as the United Nations remains unable to find an equitable and acceptable solution to this problem. 192. The world has changed completely since the war, but the Zionists and their supporters in some coun- tries have not yet acknowledged or admitted these changes. 193. For its part, the United Nations, which at that time had only 56 Member States, now has about 100 more, States which were earlier under the yoke of oppression, occupation and pillage. At that time the United Nations adopted the unjust partition resolu- tion, and it has since adopted hundreds of resolutions designed to ensure justice for the Palestinians. Israel has become completely isolated because it defies and ignores United Nations resolutions. 194. The United States is no longer master of the world situation, and it will certainly b~ compelled to free itself from the tight grip of the Zionist forces on its foreign policy, especially ar far as the question of the Middle East is concerned. And Western Europe, which had accepted Zionist policies, has begun to revise its position. 195. The Soviet Union and the socialist bloc of States, which today have become an important force in the world, support the rights of the Palestinian people and oppose Zionist stubbornness and defiance. 208. The fifth principle to which Cyprus strongly adheres, and which is enshrined in the Charter, is the fundamental principle that the acquisiton of territory by force is inadmissible and can never be legitimized whether in Palestine or elsewhere. We cannot, there- fore, condone the continuing creation of faits accom- plis, prominent among them being the purported change of the status of Jerusalem. In addition, the policy of annexation continues unabated, as indeed does the sustained policy of colonization through new settlements with the aim of altering the legal status of the occupied territories or changing their demographic characteristics. This policy of Israel is a direct chal- lenge to the Organization and its Charter. It seriously violates international law, contravenes and gravely breaches the Geneva Convention relative to the Protec- tion of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949and further ignores the numerous relevant United Nations resolutions. The Israeli authorities must cease these practices and withdraw speedily and uncondi- 212. The international community has been patient enough. The occupying Power should realize that the' area under occupation is a foreign land, illegally acquired by force, and inevitably it will have to comply with international law and the Charter and restore that land to its rightful owners. 213. Furthermore, the case before us is a serious breach of intrinsic justice and the fundamental prin- ciples enshrined in the Charter, which should at all times govern the conduct of nations. The Palestinian question constitutes one of the more serious interna- tional problems that threaten peace and security in the entire world. The United Nations has the primary and grave responsibility to strive for its just and lasting solution.

As is well known, the question of Palestine has been considered in the United Nations since 1947. In that year the General Assembly adopted resolution 181 (11), by which it partitioned Palestine into two States, Arab and Jewish, with the city of Jerusalem placed under international jurisdiction. However, that resolution remains to this 224. On 7 Novernoer the delegation of Sri Lanka had the honour to introduce the report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the Occupied Territories at the 25th meeting of the Special Political Committee. That report is a compendium of the gross violations of human rights and the infringements of obligations under international law by the Israeli authorities. Among the conclusions of the report are that: first, the situation prevailing in the occupied territories is a serious threat to peace; secondly, the military occupation is the principal cause of the viola- tions of human rights in the occupied territories; and, thirdly, a systematic effort to change the status of the occupied territories is being made in pursuance of the "homeland" policy of the Israeli Government. 225. Year in and year out the reports of the Com- mittee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People have been endorsed by the General Assembly, but the occupying Power continues to defy world public opinion and to pursue the same old policies. The international community cannot afford to be indifferent to this state of affairs, for the question of Palestine lies at the core of the Middle East problem, on which the future of world peace depends. In a message on the occasion of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, the President of Sri Lanka said: "The international community must vigorously pursue its efforts to effect a just and lasting settle- ment of this issue in all its aspects. Failure to do so would have grave repercussions not only on regional peace and stability, but on the peace and stability of the entire world." 226. In conclusion, I should like to take this op- portunity to stress that it is the urgent and imperative duty of the international community to take immediate measures to restore the inalienable national right of the Palestinian people to return to its homeland, and its right to self-determination. If the international 229. The irony is that there is no conflict between the practice of so-called democratic procedures among the citizens of a national entity and the commission of crimes by that entity against the non-citizens who happen to live within its boundaries or under its military occupation. Therefore, even if we accept the idea that Israel is a democratic State for its Jewish inhabi- tants, the fact remains that the Zionist entity is engaged in committing various crimes against the Palestinian Arabs in the occupied territories. 230. The exiled Palestinians want to return to their homes; those inside Israel or under military occupation want freedom, self-determination and independence. AII those Palestinians have unanimously chosen the PLO to represent their legitimate cause and to fight for their rightful aspirations to establish and inde- pendent State. It is absurd that certain non-Palestinians should insist on representing the aspirations and interests of the Palestinian people and should permit themselves to bargain on behalf of that people and behind its back. The status of the PLO as the sole representative of the Palestinian people has been recognized by the overwhelming majority ofthe nations of the world, and it is high time for the few others that have not yet recognized the reality of Palestine to do so. 23] . The rhetoric about Middle East peace used today by the United States is coterminous with the desire to suppress the question of Palestine. It is this inhuman solution-planned or otherwise-that the Palestinian people now resist. There ought to be no surprise, then, that "peace" as it is thus defined has found no willing Palestinian participants. 232. Under the provisions of the Camp David agree- ments, Israel has the right to fight political "sub- versiveness" the purpose of which is anything that might advance the likelihood of a Palestinian State coming into being. Nothing in Israeli or American attitudes allows Palestinians any hope that "auton- omy" would be anything more than continued military domination. As one distinguished Palestinian has described it: ., A fraction of the Palestinian people is promised a fraction of its rights in a fraction of its homeland, and this promise is to be fulfilled several years from ~~ ...- 235. The adoption of resolutions in the Assembly wilI not solve any problem: it will not even make the Israeli officials express shame or regret for their policies of aggression, expansion and annexation. It will only show men and women of goodwill throughout the world that the international community continues to be outraged about the crimes committed against 4 million human beings simply because they are not Jews. 236. The Islamic Republic of Iran is convinced that the historical and moral sufficiency of the Palestinian cause will finalIy defeat alI attempts to isolate and misrepresent it. We shalI continue our firm support of the just struggle of the PLO in promoting the Palestine cause, in the same way that the PLO helped the Iranian people to achieve its revolution against tyranny and subordination.

The Assembly is once again considering the important question of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people in the light of the hostile and defiant attitude of Israel towards the United Nations and world public opinion, an attitude that is contrary to alI the rules of interna- tional conduct and morality. Nemerous resolutions adopted on this question which reflect the support and the verdict of the international community con- cerning the legitimacy of the struggle of the Palestinian people and the authenticity of its just cause remain totally unimplemented because of the aggressive and expansionist policy of a Member State, Israel, and the alI-round support and enormous rniiltary and financial assistance being extended to it by United States imperialism and other warmongering and reactionary circles and forces. 238. Despite the conclusion by the international community, without any reservations, that the question of Palestine is the crux of the problem of the Middle East and that no solution to that problem can be envisaged unless the inalienable rights of the Pal- estinian people are fulIy realized, separate deals have been made and understandings reached, through collusion, which totally disregard the rights and the interests of the Palestinian people. , I 239. Those attempts, which are manifested in the Camp David agreements and the separate Egyptian- Israeli deal sponsored by the United States, have not only complicated the prospects for a just settlement of the Middle East problem, based on the restoration 241. These arrangements are doomed to failure and will not lead to a comprehensive, just settlement of the Middle East problem, as they run counter par- ticularly to the interest of the Arab and Palestinian people. 242. The continuation of the aggressive and expan- . sionist policy of Israel in the Middle East and its brutal and repressive measures in the occupied terri- tories remain a matter ofserious concern to the interna- tional communitv. The continued violations of human rights, as well as other inhuman Israeli practices in the occupied territories in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip, aimed at brutally suppressing the ever- increasing resistance movement in the occupied terri- tories by guns and bullets have time and again been condemned by the international community. 243. The convening this year of the seventh emer- gency special session of the General Assembly, on Palestine, to review the implementation of the relevant resolutions adopted on this question, reflected the importance the international community attaches to the early realization of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people as well as the significance of that people's just cause. 244. While the recommendations of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People outline in clear and realistic terms the necessary conditions for a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, based on the restoration of the inalienable rights ofthe Palestinian people, the Security Council has so far failed to take appropriate action on the rer . "l1endations of the Committee. 245. As the General Assembly at its seventh emer- gency special session endorsed the Committee's recommendations by a vote of 112 in favour, it is imperative once again to request the Security Council, with some greater degree of vigour and seriousness, not to delay further in taking the specific actions against Israel under Chapter VII of the Charter for its contir .ed intransigence and particularly for not heeding the deadline of 15 November 1980for its with- drawal from the occupied Palestinian and Arab territories. 246. Among many other reasons, the following may be mentioned to justify the urgency of such specific actions by the Security Council: first, Israel has set a disturbing and dangerous example of defying the Charter and the relevant resolutions of the Organiza- ttion; secondly, the continued denial by Israel of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and the aggressive policies of Israel in the Middle East have increased the danger of the outbreak of a new war in the Middle East; thirdly, Israel has intensified its 247. We believe that the Security Council, still dealing with the problem of Palestine and the Middle East, should act on the recommendations of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and take. the necessary specific actions under Chapter VII of the Charter. By doing so, the Council would be discharging its responsi- bilities for the maintenance of international peace and security. 248. The delegation of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan maintains the position that a just and lasting peace can be achieved in the Middle East only after the total and unconditional withdrawal of all Israeli forces from the occupied territories and the realization of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including its right to establish its own national independent State, under the leadership of the PLO, the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. 249. In conclusion, I reiterate the firm sunnort of the Government and people of the Democr, ~.ic. Republic of Afghanistan for the fraternal Palestinian people in its just struggle against Zionist occupation, and our revolutionary solidarity with that people. We remain convinced that the struggle of the Palestinian people will eventually succeed.

I should like first to congratulate most sincerely the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Riohts of the Palestinian People on the excellent repo. t it has once again submitted to the General Assembly on a subject that directly involves the full and undivided responsibility of the United Nations. To the Chairman of the Committee, our brother and friend Mr. Falilou Kane, I should like to express, on behalf of the delegation of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, our deep admiration and our sin ''"e gratitude for the zeal, intelligence, experience r ne objectivity with which he has devoted himself to the fulfilment of this noble an , difficult task. Our admiration and gratitude are addressed also to Mr. Vic- tor Gauci, the Rapporteur of the Committee, and to its other members. 251. Thirty-three years ago, almost to the day-on 29 November 1947-there were sown on the sacred soil of Arab Palestine the seeds of a tragedy, and 257. Those who were asking during the 1950's "Where is the Palestinian people" can no longer be unaware of its passionate willingness to die for ufe and freedom. Its sole and legitimate representative, the PLO, gives evidence every day in every international forum of its seriousness and maturity. 258. It is against this background that the Interna- tional Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, 29 November, is from year to year becoming the occasion for a meeting for all those who refuse to allow a fait accompli to take precedence over law and justice. The International Day of Solidarity has become the symbol of refusal to endorse the usurpa- tion of the land of others and the denial of their national identity. 259. Recognition of the jus.Le of the cause of the Arab people of Palestine and the need to reach a definitive solution of its suffering is now universal. The latest manifestation of this reality has been the positive transformation that took place just before and particularly after the announcement of the Venice "Neither the desperate attempts of the Zionists to defy history by trying to change the Islamic- Christian character of the occupied land, nor its suicidal policy of faits acco.nplis which it wishes to be 'eternal', nor its racist contempt for the values of Arab civilization in Palestine, nor its terrorism set up as a State system and directed particularly against Arab elected officials and adolescents, nor the astonishing complicity with the Israeli aggressor in consolidating its heinous crimes, can for ever thwart the popular will and the national conscience of Arab Palestine." 266. Mr. A. G. KOROMA (Sierra Leone): I should like at the outset to place on record our sincere gratitude and appreciation to Mr. Falilou Kane of Senegal, Chairman' of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. for the outstanding qualities and devotion to duty he has shown in his efforts to secure justice for the palestinian people. 267. Once again the General Assembly is considering the question of Palestine, a seeerningly intractable problem that the Organization has had to grapple with since its inception. The Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, in a perceptive statement here [75th meeting], recalled the fact that since the founding of the United Nations many serious problems relating to the maintenance of international peace and security had come before the Organization and that solutions had been found for them. But the Palestinian problem, which the world body has had before it over the past three decades, has yet to be resolved. 268. This problem was created in part by the Organization, which has a moral obligation to find et lasting and just solution to it if it is to live up to its principles as enshrined in the Charter. 269. What is the problem and what is the solution? Indeed, on the question of Palestine the problem and the solution are intertwined. General Assembly resolu- tion 181 (11) provided for the partition of Palestine into a Jewish State, a Palestinian Arab State and a corpus separatum for the city of Jerusalem. The problem is that that resolution has only been partially imple- mented, v. .th the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, whereas the establishment of a Palestinian Arab State, as provided for in that resolution, is yet to be Arab territories, including Jerusalem, and without the achievement of a just solution to the problem of Palestine on the basis of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people in Palestine, including its right to self-determination, national independence, sover- eignty and the right to establish its own sovereign State. Thus, the General Assembly has repeated the "prescription" which it wrote more than 30 years ago for the solution ofthe problem of Palestine. Jndeed, it is the only viable solution. Almost the entire interna- tional community has recognized this, and it is more than time for Israel and its allies also to take cognizance of that fact. 271. At its seventeenth ordinary session the As- sembly of Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity, held at Freetown from I to 4 July of this year, reaffirmed that a just, lasting peace in the Middle East can be achieved only through the exercise by the Palestinian people of its inalienable rights, especially its right to return to its motherland and to recover its national sovereignty and establish an independent State on its territory. 272. The Head of the Political Department of the PLO, Mr. Kaddoumi, in his statement here the other day [75/h meeting], which was constructive. pointed the way to a solution of the Palestinian problem. Mr. Kaddoumi stated that without any pre-conditions the solution to the question of Palestine lies first in the right of the Palestinians to return to their land and property. The second point is their right to self- determination without foreign interference. The third is the Palestinian right to sovereignty and national independence and the establishment of an independent Palestinian State in Palestine. Those are reasonable demands and reasonable expectations to which any fair-minded observer would subscribe. Those funda- mental demands in no way pose a mortal threat to Israel, and, in any case. it is inadmissible in this day to prevent a people from exercising its right to self- determination on the pretext that such exercise would pose a mortal threat to an adjacent State. That position is untenable today and indeed it never had a place, even in the past. 273. The claim of mortal danger as a pretext for preventing the exercise of the right to self-determina- tion by the Palestinians is also untenable under the Charter of the United Nations. The Palestinian's case