A/37/PV.85 General Assembly

The Assembly will now take a decision on draft reso!ution B. A recorded vote has been requested. A/37/PV.85

Only yesterday, men offree conscience, enlightened minds and courageous will convened to express solidarity with the Palestinian people in their struggle to exercise th~ir just and legitimate rights. Their positions and statements expressed the unani- mous view of nations and peoples, despite their dif- ferent social, political and ideological stances, that continuing to deprive the Palestinian people of its authentic and inalienable rights to free and ~ndepen­ delJlt nationhood represents not only a denial of human rights, recognized in international instruments, but a renegade act in human evolution and the destruction of the r~,Jble values and ideals for which the peoples ofthe world have struggled throughout modern history. 6. In his comprehensive statement to the General Assembly [8th meeting], the Foreign Minister of Egypt set forth the Egyptian delegation's view of the latest developments on the question of Palestine. In my statement today, I shall not repeat what he said or deaJ with the same topic alone: I shall attempt to crystallize concepts that can provide us with a way out of the destructive cycle of death and violence that has been the fate of the Palestinian peoplt~ and the area for many years. The latest development in Lebanon was by any standard a violent political earthquake that 9. Egypt's policy has always affirmed the idea that coexistence and reconciliation should replace rejection and alienation. The approach we ~aH for is a historic reconciliation between the Palestinian and the Israeli peoples. It is an approach which is based on the firm foundations of the free and resolute determination of the r!ghts and obligations of both-the right to life, the fight to self-determination and the right to inde- pendence and development for the Arab Palestinian people, as well as the right to existence, security and stability for the Israeli people. This recognition of rights is coupled with a commitment to the obliga- tions laid down in the international instruments for all political entities under the present international system, whose umbrella is the Charter of the United 7. The events in Lebanon and the developments on Nations. While such instruments have given all peo- the question of Palestine all confirm that the desperate pies and nations the right to live in peace and secu- attempts to destroy Palestinian nationhood as an idea, rity, they have also made it incumbent upon them a principje, or a future, in fact gave the Palestinians to respect their obligations and commitments by and Palestinian nationhood a new l(:ase on life, free- joining the United Nations family in order to renounce dom and their future and confirmed their existence as aggression and the threat or use of force. a nation. The world response, induding the response even in Israel, was an endorsement by the whole world 10. The violently disruptive events that took place of the reaffirmation of the just and legitimate demands in the Middle East as the result of Israel's aggres- of the Palestinian people. sion against Lebanon and the war waged against the Palestinian people to destroy its will and undermine 8. President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak, of the its political foundations, as embodied in the Palestine Arab Republic of Egypt, yesterday sent a message to Liberation Organization [PLO], have led the rational the Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of and responsible peoples of the world to put forward the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People on the peace proposals whose common approach, despite occasion of the International Day of Solidarity with the their differentt manifestations and the variety of their Palestinian People, as follows: positive elements, led them to confirm the legitimacy of the wishes and aspirations of the Palestinian peo- "The significance of the latest d(lvelopments in pIe. They have emphasized that this is a question of a the Middle East is crystal clear to a.B: the question people, not a matter of refugees', of a State, not of of Palestine is at the core of the conflict of thl~ Middle E3St. The whole world-East and West~ refuge and shelter. All the proposals that have been put forward offer tremendous challenges-the challenges is called upon to act immediately to settle this of peace, whose magnitude and implications far out- conflict pedacefull h Y, in l~ just manner, and in such a weigh those of war. way as to eter t e po l(,;y of aggression and expan- 1 sion and respond to tr~e legitimate national Pal- 11. In all candour and truth, we feel that the Middle ~~,~~.~~~~,~~. rocke~ the area rnd disrupted the prospects for peace in the area, as well as its short-term and long- term viability. To talk of peace amidst the dust of death and destruction is tailtamount to talking about a mirage. * Quoted in English by the speaker. independen~ State of their own. Recently, Palestinians were killed in large numbers during Israel's invasion of Lebanon. This tragedy was followed by the grisly mas- sacre of thousands of innocent Palestinian r~fugees­ a ghastly deed which brought back memories of the Nazi holocaust that befell the Jews. 21. It is high time for all parties to the dispute in the Middle East to engage themselves seriously and vigorously in achieving the goal that has eluded the international community for so long, the goal of establishing a sovereign independent State of Pales-· tine, a goal which will provide a solution to the crux of the problem in the Middle East and will end the suffering of a brave and determined people. 22. My delegation was encouraged by the progress made at the Arab Summit Conference at Fez in early September. We were also further enlightened, in this context, by the statement delivered by His Majesty King Hassan 11 of Morocco on 26 October in the General Assembly [44th meeting]. This development and the positive elements of other positions should be conducive to the settlen:cnt of the problem of Pal- estine. · 23. However, any solution in thjs regard must take into account the absolute need to recognize the true stat}1JS of the PLO by all those who have not done so thus far. The PLO must then be fully involved in the negotiations concerning the question of Palestine; otherwise, the true and authentic voice of the Pal- estinians may go unheard in deciding their own future. 24. For the setting-up of a Palestinian State, the action of Israel wi~l be a decisive factor. Israel will have to take steps to withdraw from all the territories it has occupied since the 1967 war. The settlements established in those territories should also be removed. 28. Israel must, on the one hand, understand the necessity of withdrawing from the territories occupied since 1967 to the limits established by the intemational community on the basis of United Nations resolu- tions. On the other hand, Israel must recognize the legitimate right ofthe Palestinian people to a homeland. Israel fought for generations for recognition of pre- cisely that right and therefore has no moral authority to deny to others what it sought for itself. That country will have to remember the role played by the United Nations in the recognition of that right- which all the parties to the conflict win equally have to respect so as better to understand that our sole wish here is to guarantee to all the same rights and obligations. 29. We acknowledge the sacrifices endured by the Jewish people in the struggle for their hnmeland. However, my Govemment cannot but condemn the tragic.situation of entire popu'ations forced to live and die in exile. The Palestinian people have also been ~ . ------- ~-- 39. For months, the international community was a bystander while the Palestinian people was targeted for extinction, witnessing the naked military invasion of a State Member of the United Nations, the tragic siege of West Beirut, the indiscriminate Israeli bombing, unparalleled in brutality, and the killing ofthousands of civilians, Lebanese and Palestinian alike. That was another example of the paralysis which characterizes the international community when confronted with situations in which decisive, effective and prompt action is required. 40. It is our feeling that this failure of the interna- tional community to act in such cases of crisis quickly and decisively, through the United Nations and espe- cially through the Security Council, in order to estab- lish peace and security is a major weakness which we must overcome for the sake of humanity_We can- 57. Japan supports all the international and related efforts which have been made for the achievement of a comprehensive peace in the Middle East. In this regard, Japan highly appreciates both the new United States initiative and the unified Arab peace plan, and welcomes the ongoing efforts based on those proposals as positive steps towards the achievement of a peace- ful solution of the problem. Furthermore, Japan urges ail the parties concerned, but particularly Israel and the PLO, not to miss this opportunity for peace but to redouble their efforts towards this end. 58. The search for a solution to the question of Pal- estine, which has continued to engage the attention of the United Nations ever since its establishment, is extremely complex and fraught with difficulties. At this time, the Government of Japan reaffirms its intention to ex~end co-operation for the attainment of our common goal: the prompt solution of the question of Palestine through peaceful talks and without re- course to the use of force.

For more than a third of a century, the four million suffering Palestinian people have had to bear a ter- rible tragedy-and for this Israel is to blame, along with the imperiaH:;t forces that support it. It has been deprived of its homeland by force; it has been ter- rorized by the occupation force in the West Bank of the Jordan and the Gaza Strip; and this summer, 65. In the implementation of its policy of annexation in the occupied territories and in flagrant contradic- tion with the provisions of the fourth Geneva Con- vention, of 12 August 1949, relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, Israel is using both open violence and transparent juridical casuistry. For example, in order to deprive the Palestinians of their lands, apart from simply driving them out by force, they are having recourse to a law dating from the far-off time of the Ottoman Empire which re- quires the registration of all landholdings. At. the same time, one of the thousands of pieces of legisla- tion passed by the Israeli occupation authorities makes it impossible in practice for the Palestinians to register their landholdings. 66. The Israeli act of aggression against Lebanon this summer was a deliberately planned link in the long chain of Israeli crimes against the Arab people of Palestine following Camp David and the American- Israeli strategic co-operation. The whole world was shocked by its cruelty. This naked act of genocide has been condemned by all progressive mankind. By this treacherous act, the Israeli hawks were aiming at "the final solution" of the Palestine question by means of the annihilation of the Palestinians, by analogy, it would appear, with the equally barbarous plans of the Nazis. As Le Monde Diplomatique stated in August 1982, this goal also included "the destruction of th~ national organization of the Pal- estinian people and the reduction of the status of that people to that ofa flock of sheep without a shepherd" . 67. The cynicism of this unbridled aggressor in describing this wholesale slaughter as "operation peace for Galilee" is absolutely staggering. 68. In the final document of the meetings at Nicosia of the international investigative commission on the crimes of Israel against the Lebanese- and Palestinian peoples, it is pointed out that there' has been deliber- ate military activity against the civilian population, the bombing ofpeacefUl towns and villages and the use of American cluster, phosphorous and vacuum bombs even against hospitals and clinics protected by the emblems of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent. The Commission described the harsh treatment of Pal- estinian prisoners and civilians and other barbaric acts by the Israeli military. The document also points out -and this should be stressed-that the United States was an accomplice in these crimes. There is no doubt that the comprehensive support given by the United States to its strategic ally in the Middle East, which so faithfully protects {he far-flung so-called vital inter- ests of its patron in this important part of the world, is the main reason for the continuing suffering of the Palestinian people and the failure to solve the Pal- estinian problem and the Middle East crisis as a whole. 69. Incidentally, that fact is referred to in many international documents. The final c-Dmmunique of the Extraordinary Ministerial Meeting ofthe Co-ordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned Countries on the question 70. The Israeli aggression in Lebanon coincided with the aims of the United States, and we find the fol- lowing was written in the middle of November this year by The New York Times on the subject: "Within the Administration, ... there has been a recognition, right from the start of the operation, that Israel's stra- tegic objectives in the war closely paralleled American interests". In enumerating the advantages gained by the United States as a result of this act of aggres- sion, the author ofthe article states, quite frankly from a profit-and-Ioss standpoint, that: "All this has been achieved without any significant cost to the- United States" .. 71. Somewhat earlier, the same newspaper described as a triumph for the United States what world public opinion had regarded as Israeli piracy in Lebanon, a triumph in blood and suffering. This is the normal standard for the imperialists. Adhering stubbornly to its concept of a strategic alliance with Israel, the United States, as may be recalled, blocked the adoption of a number of resolutions by the Security Council in its consideration of the question of Israeli aggression in Lebanon. With an obstinacy worthy of a better cause, the United States prevented the adoption by the Secu- rity Council of the decision to apply sanctions against Israel. Those acts by Israel's faithful advocate pre- 't.:nted the Security Council from effectively carrying out its functions in resolving the Middle East conflict. 72. Hot on the heels, as. it were, of what was re- garded by the enemies of the Arab peoples as the military victory of Israel-although it might be more appropriate here to describe it as a Pyrrhic vic- tory-on the diplomatic front, in its anxiety to con- solidate its achievement, the United States Adminis- tration did not delay putting forward the so-called plan for the settlement of the Palestinian and Middle East problem. 73. Of course, we can only welcome, if it is sincere, the wish of the United States Administration to see a just and comprehensive solution of the Middle East- crisis. However, this plan fails to provide for the most important thing, the withdrawal by Israel from all Arab territories occupied in 1967 and the possibility of the exercise by the Palestinian people of its right to self-determination and the creation of its own sover- eign State. The plan ignores the PLO and in practice is designed to perpetuate the Israeli occupation of Arab lands under the label of the notorious adminis- trative autonomy. 74. It is clear from the statements made in the course of the discussion during the current session of the General Assembly that that is the assessment of the plan made, directly or indirectly, by many delegations. This discussion-and discussion in other 75. It is high time to ensure universal support for effective ways and means by which to make it pos- sible for the Palestinian people to exercise their inalienable rights in Palestine, including the right to create a Palestinian State, on the basis of United Nations resolutions. It is precisely the resolution of the Middle East problem through the collecti~e efforts of all interested parties, including the PLO, the sole legitimate representative of the Arab people of Pal- estine, that has long and actively been supported by the Soviet Union and other socialist countries. In this regard, our delegation believes it necessary to draw the attention of the Assembly once again to the pro- posals of the USSR on the subject submitted on 15 September of this year [see A/37/457]. These proposals proceed from the need for strict observance of the principle of the inadmissibility of the acquisi- tion of the territory of others by means of aggression; the recognition and implementation of the right of the Arab people of Palestine to self-determination and to create their own independent State on Palestinian soil, which should be freed from Israeli occupation; the recognition of the right of all States in this area to a secure existence ana to development in cir- cumstances of mutual respect for sovereignty, inde- pendence and territorial integrity, with appropriate international guarantees. 76. I should like to stress that the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Pal- estinian People, in its report to the General Assembly at its thirty-seventh session, "noted with satisfaction that the plan agreed on major points with the recom- mendations of tbe Committee which had been re- peatedly endorsed by the General Assembly". [See A/37/35 and Corr.!, para. 96.] A favourable view of the Soviet proposals is also contained in paragraph 89 of the report of the Secretary-General [A/37/525]. . 77. The principles for the solution of the Palestinian problem and for the Middle East settlement as a . whole adopted by the Summit Conference of leaders of Arab countries at Fez in no way differ from what the Soviet State has been fighting for for so many years. It is of key significance now that the Arab countries in future continue to act in unison and main- tain consistently the p.osition taken at Fez. 78. Along with other delegations, the delegation ofthe Byelorussian SSR will continue to support the just cause of ensuring the freedom of the Palestinnan peo- ple, led by the PLO, and the creation by them of their homeland.