A/37/PV.96 General Assembly

34.  The situation in the Middle East: reports of the Secretary-General ( continued) I. Mr. IRUMBA (Uganda): For about 35 years, the General Assembly has been deliberating on the situa- tion in the Middle East and examining, ways and means of easing conflict in that troubled region. Un- fortunately, a solution has continued to elude us, mainly because many of us have chosen to ignore the core of the problem-the question of the restoration of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people. Instead, emphasis has been put on the consequences of the problem-the refugees and the Arab-Israeli con- flict. Uganda has always maintained that a just and comprehensive settlement can be realized only if it takes into account the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people. 2. The conduct of one of the parties to the conflict, Israel, has impeded the search for a peaceful solution. For too long, Israel gave the false impression that it was the victim of Arab aggression and that it acted only in self-defence to protect and secure its borders. How- ever, Israel's conduct since 1967 proves beyond a shadow of doubt that it had been using that excuse as a cover to grab more Arab territories. Israel has already annexed Jerusalem and declared it to be its eternal capital, despite the universal condemnation of the international community·. Last December, annexa- tion was extended to the Golan Heights. Israel has replaced its military authorities in the West Bank with a civilian administration. That, coupled with the construction of massive settlements. is an ominous sign and betrays Israel's design to annex the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. 3. Israel's design extends well beyond the occupied territories. Israel continues, with impunity, to commit acts of aggression against its neighbouring Arab States. In June last year, a bewildered world witnessed an unprovoked and unprecedented attack on Iraq's peace- ful nuclear research station. All that was justified in the name of self-defence. A month later, the Israeli air force carried out a massive bombardment of civilian targets in Beirut. 4. The reality is that the situation in the region has Undergone a drastic deterioration in the last year and has created more difficult circumstances. The images of NEW YORK Lebanon, of the loss of lives and of the attempt to · bomb the Palestinians out of existence are still fresh in the minds of the international community. It must be emphasized that Israel's invasion of Lebanon, its annexation of the Golan Heights and the creeping annexation of the occupied territories, which Israel tries to justify on the basis of self-defence, cannot alter the basic principles on which a comprehensive settlement must be based. 5. Despite the Israeli provocation, the Arab coun- tries have acted responsibly and in a statesmanlike way. At the Twelfth Arab Summit Conference, held at Fez, they evolved peace proposals which take into account the fears of Israel. President Reagan has al- ready taken an initiative which takes into account the need for a Palestinian homeland. The Palestine Libera- tion Organization [PLO] has expressed a willingness · to enter into genuine negotiations. All those moves are constructive. 6. However, the obstacle to realizing the conditions for a just and peaceful settlement remains Israel's intransigence. Israel has rejected the peace initiatives out of hand and has responded provocatively by announcing its intention to build more settlements in the occupied territories. We hope that those who have influence on Israel will bring pressure to bear to make it realize the futility of the course it is undertaking. Israel and the region as a whole can attain peace only if there is a just and comprehensive settlement. 7. Since the Palestinian question lies at the root of the Middle East problem, it is hardly necessary to say that among the indispensable elements for peace in the Middle East are the following: first, Israeli withdrawal from all Palestinian and other Arab territories, in- cluding the city of Jerusalem, occupied since 1967; secondly, the establishment of an independent Palestin- ian state in Palestine; and thirdly, the direct and equal participation of the PLO, as the sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, in any peace process. 8. Our urgent duty is to work for peace in the Middle East. Nothing must detract us from that goal and no opportunity should be lost in that endeavour. In that task, Uganda is ready and willing to make its contribu- tion. 9. Mr. MAITHA (Kenya): The item currently before the General Assembly for deliberation has occupied its attention for a long time without any progress towards a solution. The situation continues to grow worse with every passing day. Violence has not given way to peace. Brutality has taken the upper hand in all th~t takes place in the region, particularly since June ofth1s year. JO. Intransigence has not given way to compromise. Despite the efforts of the international community to 11 .. In the !•!st few months, we hav~ all witnessed the arbllrary military occupation of the State of Lebanon and the destruction of life that has followed in its wake. The massacre of Palestinian refugees in Beirut cannot pass without our strongest condemnation. 12. We i~ the Republic of Kenya hold the view that for lastmg peace in the Middle East to be achieved d_ue recognition of and respect for the legitimat~ rights of the Palestinian people must be ensured We wou!d co~sider it a favourable development should the part1~s directly concerned, and the international com_mumty as a whole, take urgent steps towards the realization of that objective. 13. _For !he last three decades or so, we have un- happily w1tness~d the plight of the Palestinian people as they '_Vere dispossessed, uprooted and dispersed from their homes and the land of their ancestors thr<;>ugh the brutal Israeli occupation. Humanitarian assistance h_as been given to these people in past years. particularly assistance channelled through UNRWA, but the problem, as we know, cannot be treated as one to be resolved through the charitable han~ of huma!1!tarian assistance. The problem is basically a poht1cal one and must be dealt with in a political manner. It is an issue that calls for the recognition of the rights of the Palestinians to self- determination, nationhood and a homeland. It is not that such rights have never existed, but that what existed has been forcibly taken away. Those who so brutally looted the rights of the Palestinian people have created a dangerous threat to international peace and security in the entire region. Their policies have resulted in great human suffering and loss of life for the people of the region. 14. Israeli policies towards the Palestinians hinge on two false assumptions: first, that the Palestinians as a people do not exist and, secondly, and consequently, that they have no right to a homeland of their own because they do not exist. It is a sad notion. It is absurd. On the basis of these wrong assumptions, the Govern- ment of Israel has embarked on a policy calculated to mutilate and destroy the Palestinian entity. Annexa- tion and the establishment of Jewish settlements in the occupied Arab territories clearly demonstrate this policy. The carefully planned policy of annexation of the occupied territories takes its root and form from this contention-hence the establishment of Jewish settlements and the implantation of Jewish civilians, which introduce a new demographic feature into the regions occupied. 15. In the 15 years since the war of June 1967, Israel, in defiance of the world community, has absorbed the conquered territories by expelling Arabs and has sub- jected the Arab population to a cruel military occupa- tion. Overriding international protest, Israel annexed East Jerusalem; in 1981, it formalized the annexation tion. of residents from an occupied area regardless of motive; and yet, thousands of Palestinians have been expelled while thousands more have been put under pressure to leave. The Government of Israel has acted in ~ m~nner utterly contradictory to its international obhgatwns assumed under the Convention, to which it is a party. 17. The plight of the Palestinian people in the occupied territories is marked day by day by the con- stant occurrence of serious incidents leading to injuries or loss of life. These incidents are a direct result of the long military occupation which the civilian popula- tion has endured for the last 15 years. At every session of the General Assembly, the international community is provided with reports on Israeli behaviour in the occupied Arab territories. 18. On many occasions in the deliberations on this issue, we have made known our views on the rights of the Palestinian people, in the same way as we have spoken against the racial policies of the South African racist regime. In South Africa, the racist regime, in defiance of the international community, persists with its apartheid policies of oppressing Africans and denying them their legitimate social and political rights. In the Middle East, Israel is seeking to eliminate the existence of the Palestinian people by annexing their land and obliterating their national character, in the hope of frustrating any notion of self-determination and a homeland for the Palestinian people. The prob- lems in South Africa and the Middle East have un- doubtedly occupied a great deal of the time of the international community. Both situations are cases where a group or groups of people seek, on a purely racial basis, to dominate others and, where possible, to destroy those who do not belong to their immediate racial groupings. In other words, Israel intends to carry out an experimental policy of occupation, humiliation and destruction in order to enlarge the Jewish territories. 19. We have stated time and again that peace in the Middle East can prevail only if a number of condi- tions are fulfilled. The first is that Israel must with- draw from all Palestinian land occupied since 1967. Since the international community and, indeed, inter- national law is strongly opposed to the acquisition of land by the use of force, it is indeed regrettable that Israel continues its occupation despite the numer- ous calls by the international community to withdraw from those territories. Secondly, there must be recog- nition of the rights of the Palestinians as a people, including their rights to self-determination and nation- hood. Thirdly, in all negotiations which are aimed at solving the problem of the Middle East, the Palestin- 21. We have heard many times from Israeli and other 27. For 30 years, these forces, the enemies of the quarters that Israel needs these territories for its Palestinian people and the Arab nation, have pursued security: hence the concept of secure boundaries. a genocidal, criminal, divisive, warlike policy, and it is it "':a_s on the b_asis of this unique theory of gaining they alone who have stood in the way of the solution add1t1onal security that Israel, brutally and against all of the Palestinian question and, consequently, of peace norms of international Jaw, invaded Lebanon. The in the Middle East. invasion and occupation of Lebanon by Israel, with 28. It is the systematic refusal by Israel and the all its shocking consequences, left the entire world United States to recognize the inalienable rights of the c?mmunity wondering just how far Israel's aggres- Palestinian people to return to their homes, to exer- s1on would go in its search for this so-called additional cise self-determination and national independence and security. to establish a sovereign and independent State in Pal- 22. The invasion of independent States in the region estine which has aggravated the situation and has was utterly inexcusable. It has left thousands and caused the present very serious threat to peace and thousands dead, mostly innocent women and children, security in the world. in addition to the almost total destruction of Lebanon 29. Israel, in flagrant violation of the norms of inter- as a country. Those who have survived the invasion national law and of all the principles of the Charter are starving and without shelter. Israel did all this in of the United Nations to which it owes its existence, complete disregard of the repeated resolutions of the has never hesitated to use the most cruel and inhuman General Assembly and the Security Council. The inva- methods and practices to conquer, and to impose, sion and occupation of Lebanon by Israel further through its military power, its racist policies of domina- complicates an already complicated problem. tion and hegemony, on the pretext of erisuring the 23. The world community must never allow a State existence of the Israeli people. It is difficult to believe to occupy another State in order to have what may that a people that suffered so much from the Nazi be claimed as secure borders. If this principle were policy of extermination in the middle of the twentieth to be applied, particularly by powerful nations, many of century would use the same fascist, genocidal argu- us small nations would simply disappear. No nation ments and methods against other peoples. can demand, in any circumstances, to occupy another 30. Of course, if it were not for the unconditional country on the pretext of additional security. There support of the United States in all fields, Israel would can be no justification for any State to argue that its not be able constantly to defy the international com- defence depends on having to occupy another State. munity and treat it with contempt, continuing to violate Such a policy is simply a policy of expansion and the decisions and resolutions of the Security Council aggrandizement. and the General Assembly. That support does not sur- 24. We believe the international community has a prise us, but it should be a cause for alarm amongst historical duty and responsibility to render all neces- those peoples who cherish peace and justice. The sary assistance to promote the urgent need for the United States has become the prime promoter ofter- recognition and the creation of an independent Pal- rorism in the world. It has promoted military aggres- estinian State. We therefore urge the international sion, destabilizing actions and economic blockades community, and in particular the supporters of Israel, against peoples and Governments attempting to to recognize this important element for a durable achieve their liberati<]n. peace in the Middle East. Those who support Israel 3 I. The United States is behind the annexation of and have means of persuasion over it should assist in Arab territories, including Jerusalem; it is behind State reversing the policies of Jewish settlement and the terrorism and repression in the occupied Palestinian annexation of Arab lands. Israel must be told in no territories; it is behind the attack on the Iraqi nuclear uncertain terms that the only way to achieve a lasting reactor, which was an attempt to monopolize the peace for all the nations in the area is to withdraw development of nuclear power in the region; it is from the occupied territories and to recognize the behind the invasion of Lebanon to exterminate the right of the Palestinian people to nationhood. Palestinian people; and it is behind the massacre at 25. Mr. CHAMORRO MORA (Nicaragua) (interpre- Sabra and Shatila. If that is not true, how is it possible tation from Spanish): The tragic events of the past to explain the fact that on each occasion when any year in the Middle East once again underline the action is proposed to condemn Israel for its continu- true nature of the crisis in that region, its fundamental ous violations and aggressions, we run into the causes and immediate consequences, and reaffirm the reluctance of the United States, which, in not recog- responsibility of and urgent need for the international nizing \he rights of the Palestinian people and its sole community to find a comprehensive, just and lasting and legitimate representative, the PLO, prevents the solution to this problem. establishment of peace in the Middle East? 26. It is time that those responsible for the injustice, 32. Who, if not the United States, has obstructed the tension and instability in the region end their expan- functions and responsibilities of the Security Council relation~ with the Zio~ist regime. They have urged the mternat1onal <:ommumty not to conclude any military agreement _which wou_ld mean the acquisition of weap- ons, Israeli war machinery or anything else that would support or strengthen its military capacity and enable it to ?evelop its a~gressive and expansionist policies agamst the Palestinian people and the Arab nation. 3~. There i~ yio doubt that Israel's intransigent poli- cies, uncond1t1onally supported by the United States and its expansionist plans are the fundamental reason~ for destabilization and tension in the Middle East, and that they have serious implications for international peace and security. The alliance between the United St~te_s and Israel is directed not only against the Pal- estinian people and the Arab nation; it is an integral · part of a global policy against the interests territorial integrity. self-determination and sovereignty of all our peoples. 35_.. The ref ore, one should not be surprised that a military alliance exists between Israel, South Africa and certain Latin American countries which serves to implement plans of aggression and d~stabilization by Unite? States imperialism. In particular, the Central American peoples have fallen victim to the United States objective of promoting regimes sympathetic to zionism in our part of the world. In this respect, my delegation is particularly concerned about an article in The New York Times of 6 December 1982 which said that the purpose of the visit of the Israeli Defence Minister, Ariel Sharon, to Honduras, a neighbour country of Nicaragua, was to "cement relations with a friendly country which has shown interest in connection with our defence establishment". 36. On innumerable occasions, the majority of the international community has denounced the relations between Israel and the United States and the racist regime of South Africa. We would ask them: what are Sharon's plans when he says that he is going to a country in our part of the world to consolidate rela- tions? 37. The Nicaraguan people have experienced the effects of this kind of relationship themselves; they had to realize that the genocidal massacre of 50,000 of their sons under the Somoza dictatorship was effected with Israeli and United States weapons. 38. Is it the desire of United States imperialism, through the Zionist regime. to install a Somoza-like regime in Central America to create a crisis there similar to that in the Middle East, to destabilize the area by employing counter-revolutionary military units, supported and promoted from Honduran ter- ritory with complete impunity by the United States Central Intelligence Agency [CIA], reaching such dimensions as to regionalize the Central American conflict? 39. In our view, any attempt at a solution which involved negotiations or agreements attempting _to define the future of the Palestinian people and its 49. The history of the Middle East during the last 35 years has been pock-marked with strife and blood- shed. Israel has expanded and has thrived. This, however, is not the case with the Arab Palestinian State, for whose existence the Organization is as responsible as it is for the existence of Israel itself. And yet, there are still those who to this day deny the Palestinian people the right to self-determination and to establish their own sovereign and independent state. The Palestinian people are forced to live either in exile or u,1der foreign Israeli domination in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. But their determination to bequeath to their children a homeland of their own has never wavered, and the day will come when their legitimate aspirations will be fully realized. We earnestly hope that in order to bring this about, more blood will not have to be shed and more wars will not moderation. 52. I am, nevertheless, fully aware of the formidable obstacles that lie ahead. I cannot fail to stress that some actions taken by the Israeli authorities have hardly contributed to the easing of tensions or to a climate of moderation. This applies to the illegal annexation of East Jerusalem and of the Golan Heights, as well as to the policies adopted by Israel for the West Bank and Gaza. I wish to refer specifically to the pace at which Jewish settlements on the West Bank are being built up, with the end result of changing the demographic character of the land; to the dismis- sal, arrest and deportation of elected Arab leaders; and to many other actions which the international community is aware of and forcefully condemns. 53. I could not conclude this intervention without touching upon the events that took place in Lebanon earlier this year. We were shocked by the wanton bombardment of West Beirut, which resulted in so many civilian casualties, and by the incredible mas- sacre of Palestinians in the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila. Israel's actions in Lebanon have gone far beyond anything that might have been justified by whatever threat it perceived to its security. My coun- try, where so many Lebanese have settled and where they are contributing to our national development, fully supports the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lebanon. We are of the opinion that a 54 .. M~. R~~AIE-KHOR~SSANI (Islamic Republic of lr,m). A?,lln I shall bcgm my statement by reciting a ve~y brief vcr_se . from the Holy Koran, which const1tu_tes ~he principle to be observed in every so- ca!lcd s1tuat1on, and particularly in this situation in the ~~1dd!e ~ast: "And one who attacketh you, attack him m like manner as he attacked you. Observe your duty to Allah, and know that Allah is with those who ward off (evil) ... 55. Herc ~gain we are dealing with the 35-year-old tumour_ which has been planted in the Middle East a_nd v.:h1c~ has be~n euphemistically referred to as the s1tuat1on m the Middle East. 56. The situation today is as unbearable, as danger- ous and as -:vrong as it has always been, except that the concessionary decisions of the Fez Conference g.!ve _more encouragement and more satisfaction to the Z1~mst usurpers, and consequently the massacre in Beirut took place. 57. ~y d_elegation has no doubt that peace and security will be re~tored _in the Middle East only when the cause of insecurity and war is eradicated· that is when the political forgery called Israel is re: moved, the State _of P_ales~ine is restored in the occupied land, . a~d thus Justice 1s done. Any concessionary negotiations or compromise will only prolong the cancerous tumour feeding on the blood of the people of the area, and hence will be an act of negligence that exacerbates the situation. 5~. Peace and security are incompatible with aggres- sion, and therefore there can be no peace or security for the Zionist aggressors. 59. It is a well-known fact that the same forces which. imposed the Zionist base of imperialism upon the Middle East have exploited the United Nations in order to obtain recognition for the Zionist racist regime and have been supporting it up to the present day. Those forces are still dominant in the United Nations and are still exploiting this forum in favour of their Zionist base. 60. This forgery has been given so much recognition and confidence in the United Nations these days that it has assumed the role of the champion of human rights in the Assembly and in the Third Committee. It is sad, indeed, that the greatest insult to human rights is present in the United Nations. 61. I assure the Assembly that sooner or later the Muslim people of the area will end this shameful chapter by erasing the Zionist base from the Holy Land of Palestine. Only then will this debate of the General Assembly be happily closed for ever. "And say: Truth hath come and falsehood hath vanished away. Lo! falsehood is ever bound to vanish." [The Koran, XVIl:81 .] 62. Mr. GHIKAS (Greece) (interpretation from French): The representative of Denmark has already outlined to the General Assembly [95th meeting], 64. The problem of the Middle East originated in the illegitimate resort to violence and has constantly increased and worsened as a result of it, as shown once again by the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. The Greek Government has strenuously condemned that new brutal use of force by Israel and expressed the horror felt by the Greek people over the train of material damage and loss of civilian lives accom- panying that further violation of international law, which culminated in the massacre of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila camps. 65. The presence of a multinational force has made it possible to restore a truce, which unfortunately seems to be a very precarious one. The situation in Lebanon remains grave and will remain .so until Israel decides to abide by Security Council decisions calling on it to withdraw its troops from Lebanon forthwith. 66. The use of violence against countries of the region is complemented by Israel's policy of oppres- sion· of the Arab population in the occupied territories, where Israel is pursuing a systematic policy of intimi- dation, together with the establishment of settlements. It has begun to intensify that policy, despite the unanimous appeals and condemnation of the inter- national community, for the publicly avowed purpose of altering the geographic nature and demographic composition of the occupied territories in order to achieve de facto annexation of those territories, when this is not done by means of a law, as in the case of East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. Greece can only reaffirm its unequivocal condemnation of that policy, which not only is a vqy serious violation of inter- national law but is also designed to undermine the very bases for a peaceful settlement of the Middle East problem. 67. The problem of the Middle East cannot be solved until the Palestinian problem, which is at its core, is solved. There can be no solution of this problem unless there is recognition of the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, including the right to establish its own State. I hasten to add that Israel's right to exist must also be recog- nized without the slightest ambiguity, as must its right to live in peace with the other States of the region within secure and internationally recognized boundaries. 68. Nevertheless, there are some encouraging signs in this connection, such as President Reagan's peace plan,2 which could be a first step towards solving the problem. There is also the Final Declaration 70. Now, thanks to Israel's spiralling escalation of its acts of aggression, the item also includes the Israeli act of aggression against Iraq and the massive Isr~eli invasion and occupation of Lebanon, with all their horrendous and far-reaching consequences. No ?the~ State Member of the Organization throughout it~ history has been responsible for so many blatant violations of the Charter of the United Nations, r~peatedly endangering international peace and secu- rity. 71. In July last year, after the bombing of the Iraqi nuclear installations near Baghdad, the terrorist Menachem Begin indulged in shameless self-praise, which was shamelessly repeated here by his represen- tative in the General Assembly, who asserted that: "People in various parts of the world beyond the Mid- dle East are sleeping more soundly today". 72. Exactly a year almost to the day after the attack, Begin launched his invasion of Lebanon under the banner of'' Peace for Galilee'' and called his murderous assault on Beirut a "peace-keeping mission". Never has the word "peace" been so monstrously defiled, or evil so brazenly portrayed as virtue. 73. After the attack on Baghdad, Begin was quoted as saying that he was "not afraid of any reaction by the world". After the massacre in Beirut, he was shouting: "No one will preach to us ethics and respect for human life"-this from the mouth of the leader of the terrorist lrgun Tzeva'i Leumi, which perpetrated such atrocities as the blowing up of the King David Hotel and the massacre at Deir Yassin. 74. The Beirut correspondent of the Middle East International wrote on 1 October 1982: "It is an irony of history that as bulldozers in the Beirut suburb of Sabra-Shatila last week covered up the corpses of Palestinians slaughtered ... under the auspices of Menachem Begin's government, other bulldozers at the hilltop village of Deir Yassin outside Jerusalem, 220 kms to the south, were reportedly ploughing up the skeletons of the 254 Pal- estinians killed on 9-10 April 1948 by Jewish 'dis- sidents', commanded by Begin himself, in his first set-piece massacre. Deir Yassin may provide the It is obvious that both massacres were planned to disperse as many Palestinians as possible and to enable the Zionists to acquire as much Palestinian land as possible. 75. There are very few people today who realize the fact that most of the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon were from eastern Galilee, which was allotted to the Palestinian Arab State in the United Nations partition plan. In 1948, more than 100,000 Gali- leans fled the Zionist terror which was aimed at clearing the land of its native population in order to settle it with Jewish immigrants. This relentless Zionist policy, aimed at conquering the whole of Palestine, Eretz Yisrael to the Zionists, and making it Arab rein, that is, clear of the Arabs, the denial of the right of the Palestinians to exist as a sovereign nation in their own land, the Zionist denial of the right of the Pal- estinian people to return to their country and to enjoy self-determination, the continued Zionist aggression against the Palestinian people and the Arab countries in order to impose the Zionist diktat on the Arab nation, has always been and remains the root and the cause of the Zionist-Arab conflict. Israel's continued policy of aggression, occupation and annexation has finally unmasked the Zionists' pretexts and sub- terfuge. 76. The aggression against Lebanon was conducted on trumped-up charges, as were the attack against Iraq and all the other aggressions that Israel has perpetrated against the Arab countries. The Zionists claimed that the invasion of Lebanon was aimed at "liberating Israel's civilian population from continuous acts of terror and aggression". The international community knows full well that Galilee had been quieter than it had been for years and that it was Israel itself, and not the Palestinians, that broke the cease-fire along the Lebanese border. 77. On the other hand, it is also glaringly obvious that it is not Israel's civilian population that has to be liberated from continuous acts of terror and aggres- sion but, rather, the Palestinian civilian population of occupied Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza and the Syrian population of the Golan Heights, which have been suffering for 15 years from Zionist terror, con- 81. The Zionists' aims, however, were not limited to Palestine and the Palestinians. Israel's interest in Lebanon has a long history, and, as the Manchester Guardian Weekly, in an article by David Gilmour, pointed out on 27 June 1982, Menachem Begin is not the first Prime Minister to contemplate an invasion of the country. Anyone who has read the biography of Ben-Gurion will see the present carnage in Lebanon less as an act of vengeance against the PLO than as a fulfilment of a long-held dream. In 1948, Ben-Gurion wrote in his diary that the Lebanese Government should be overthrown. "A Christian State," wrote Ben-Gurion, "ought to be set up there, with its south- ern frontier on the Litani." 82. The diaries of Moshe Sharell, Israel's Foreign Minister and later Prime Minister, between 1949 and 1956, reveal that Ben-Gurion, like his chief of staff, Moshe Dayan, was obsessed with the idea of inter- vening in Lebanon. Dayan continued to be so, and after the 1967 war he remarked ominously that all of Israel's borders, except the one with Lebanon, were now ideal. According to Sharett, Dayan recommended, in May 1955, an immediate intervention in Leban?n so that "the territory from the Litani southward will be totally annexed to Israel". 83 Nor indeed are Zionist plans limited to the dis- m~mberment of Lebanon. An article by Oded Yinon, entitled "A Strategy for Israel in the I 980s", in first-rate political aim which is obstructed by the Camp David and the peace agreements". He also says that "breaking Egypt down territorially into distinct geographical regions is the political aim of Israel in the 1980s on its western front". 84. He sees the situation in Lebanon as a precedent for the entire Arab world, including Egypt, the Syrian Arab Republic, Iraq and the Arabian Peninsula. The author states that "the dissolution of Syria and Iraq later on into ethnical or religiously unique areas such as in Lebanon is Israel's primary target on the eastern front in the long run, while the dissolution of the military power of those States serves as the primary short-term target". As to Jordan and the occupied West Bank, he states the following: "Changing the regime east of the river will also cause the termination of the problem of the territories densely populated with Arabs west of the Jordan, whether in war or under conditions of peace. Emigra- tion from the territories and economic freeze in them are the guarantees for the coming change on both banks of the river, and we ought to be active in order to accelerate this process in the nearest future." 85. The writer asserts that: "It is not possible to go on living in this country in the present situation without separating the two nations, the Arabs to Jordan and the Jews to the areas west of the river. Genuine coexistence and peace will reign over the land only when the Arabs understand that without Jewish rule between the Jordan and the sea they will have neither existence nor security. A nation of their own and_ security will be theirs only in Jordan .... The solution of the problem of the indigenous Arabs will come only when they recognize the existence of Israel in secure borders to the Jordan river and beyond it, as our existential need in this difficult epoch, the nuclear epoch, which we shall soon enter. It is no longer possible to live with three fourths of the Jewish population on the dense shoreline. which is so dangerous in a nuclear epoch. Dispersal of the population is therefore a domestic strategic aim of the highest order; otherwise we shall cease to exist within any borders.·' As to world Jewry, the writer sees that: "Rapid changes in the world will also bring about a change in the condition in world Jewry, for which Israel will become not only a last resort but the only existential option. We cannot assume that the United States Jews and the communities of Europe and strategic plans for Israel in the 1980s in my statement 92. The fact is that the Zionists have persistently [49th meeting] on the questioh concerning Israeli rejected or sabotaged every initiative and peace aggression against the Iraqi nuclear installations. proposal which even remotely tried to secure accept- Sharon went even further than Oded Yinon and did not ance by Israel of basic rights of the Palestinian limit Israel's sphere of strategic and security interests people or of Israeli withdrawal from the occupied to the Arab world alone but included Pakistan, Turkey Arab territories in accordance with the principle and the Islamic Republic of Iran and stretched it deep of the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory into central Africa. Sharon's present visit to Central by force. Yet, in spite of the intransigence and con- America indicates that Israel considers itself to have a tempt displayed by Israel towards its benefactor and strategic role to play even in Latin America. protector, in spite of Israel's repeated violations of 88. As far as the Zionist-Arab conflict is concerned, United States laws and agreements concerning the use first attention must be paid to the crux of the prob- of American-supplied arms, we hear that the United lem, namely, the fate of the inhabitants of the occupied States Senate Appropriations Committee has decided territories, including Jerusalem. This demands imme- to allocate more money for Israel than the $2.5 billion diate remedies, as they are now the victims in the already sought by the Administration in the 1983 arena where the overall question of the rights of the budget. According to The New York Times of7 Decem- Palestinian people is being pre-empted by the Begins ber 1982-that is, yesterday-the Senate Committee and the Sharons of Israel. Much has been made of the has increased the portion in grants from $500 million belated Reagan initiative of I September. Although it to $800 million. It has also added $125 million to the recognizes the legitimate rights of the Palestinians, Administration's request for $800 million in economic the initiative makes it very clear that those rights do aid. not include the inalienable right to self-determination. 93. The Times of London, in an article by its Jeru- None the less, the Zionists denounced President salem correspondent published on 3 September 1982, Reagan's plan categorically. stated: "It has been calculated that Israel has received 89. The United States Secretary of Defense, Mr. Cas- $1,500 million of the $2,800 million distributed through- par Weinberger, told The Times of London, in an out the world in aid since 1951". The article further interview published on 9 September 1982, that: states that: "With respect to Israel, this points up, ifl may say so, one of the differences between this Government and the previous American Government. We will not turn and run. We will not say, 'Oh dear, Mr. Begin doesn't like it, we can't proceed with it', or any- thing of the kind. The President doesn't operate that way ... . · ' ... When I was in Israel I expressed the disap- pointment that I think we all feel that Mr. Begin, after an hour or half an hour, or whatever it was, of consideration with his Cabinet, flatly rejected it and then within a few days started action that seemed to be designed to emphasize their opposition and con- tempt for this attempt to bring peace. I don't think that, given this, we can say: 'That's the end ofif." 90. Yet what position has the United States taken towards this contemptuous, intransigent Israel? For "Mr. Gideon Patt, the Minister for Trade and Industry, told a recent press conference that Israel, with about four million inhabitants, has foreign debts totalling $18,000 million. Of this some $14,000 mil- lion is estimated to be the result of military expendi- ture." The paper further noted that the finance for much of that expenditure originated with the American tax- payer. Mr. George Ball, the Under-Secretary of State in the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations, writing in the Jntemational Herald Tribune of 31 August 1982, stated: "For the past several years [the United States subsidy to Israel] has amounted to almost one fourth of total United States foreign aid-which for a coun- try with a population less than that of Detroit, and only one tenth of one per cent of the world's "When Israeli Communications Minister Morde- chai Zippori inaugurated on October I 1 a new settle- ment on the outskirts of Nablus he told the settlers: 'Don't you worry about the heavy concentration of Arabs in the area. When I was born in Petah Tikvah, we too were surrounded by Arab villages. They've all disappeared since·." 96. Israel continues to repeat today the crimes it started to commit against the Palestinian people in their own homeland 35 years ago, and the United States continues to supply the wherewithal and political protection to boot. 97. The Arab countries demonstrated at the Twelfth Arab Summit Conference, held at Fez, their unanimous and sincere desire for peace; and as stated by Presi- dent Saddam Hussein in his message to the Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People on 29 November, the Arab position was characterized by a sense of responsibility and a true desire for a peace based on justice. 98. Delegates at this session have heard His Majesty King Hassan II of Morocco [44th meet in,:] present the Arab case and the peace proposal of the Fez Arab Summit Conference. The General Assembly must actively endeavour to overcome the obstacle of the veto in the Security Council, which has not only obstructed the achievement of a just and lasting solu- tion based on the principles of the Charter of the United Nations but has also enabled the aggre~sor to continue and to escalate his aggression, occupat10n and expansion. 99. Finally, in his statement at thdis morninthg's meeting, the Zionist spokesman launche. yet ano er vicious attack against Iraq and the President of Iraq• 100. The representative of the Zionist entity has again tried to divert the attention of the Assembly from the item before it by raising, among other extraneous subjects, the question of the Iraq-Iran war. He alleged in his statement this morning that: "Interestingly, though not surprisingly, the Assembly has not seen fit to discuss that war ... " [95th meetillR, para. 124]. This is a truly ludicrous statement, in view of the fact that the Assembly held a full debate on that war, which was listed as a separate item on the agend3:. The representative of Israel cannot be so absent-minded as not to have taken note of that fact. His allegation is merely another demonstration of the Zionist pro- clivity to distort the facts or deny them. He could, of course, have expressed his views on the war wh~n the Assembly was considering the item, but he deh_b- erately chose to raise the subject here in a futile attempt to draw the Assembly's attention away from Israel's claims and aggressions. IOI. The PRESIDENT: In accordance with General Assembly resolution 477 (V), of I November 1950, I now call on the Observer of the League of Arab States.