A/38/PV.80 General Assembly

The continuing interest of the General Assembly and the Security Council, as well as other bodies of the United Nations system, in the Palestinian problem and in the cause and the rights of the people of Palestine, very clearly illustrates the understanding, sym- pathy and support of the entire international community for this long-suffering people. This interest is further illustrated by the rejection of Israeli policy in the Middle East, a policy based on the use of force, aggression and denial of the most elementary rights of the populations which have lived in the region for thousands of years. 2. The tragedy which has been visited upon the Middle East, for many decades now, has no other explanation, and indeed we can say.at this time that the Palestinian problem is at the very heart of this crisis which increas- ingly threatens international peace and security. 3. The Assembly has certainly not failed in its obliga- tions by adopting an impressive number of very explicit resolutions on the reality and solidarity of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to their national territory. The Security Council, each and every time that it has had an opportunity to condemn Israeli practices without any reservations, has declared these practices null and void and demanded restoration to the Palestinian people of their rights and the return to the Arab people of the region of all their territories. 4. However, in the face of this broad international sup- port, we have seen Israel continuing to defy the Organiza- tion. Far from halting actions that have been disapproved of unanimously, the Zionist State has piled aggression upon aggression, and violence upon violence. The tragic situation of our fraternal country of Lebanon, a peaceful and hospitable country sorely tried by the Israeli invader, offers us clear testimony of the alternative to peace and justice being proposed by the leaders of Israel. 5. Have we, however, forgotten the other Israeli prac- tices in Palestine, as well as in the occupied Arab territo- ries? Have we forgotten Gaza, the West Bank of the Jordan and the Holy City of Jerusalem? And have we also forgotten the virtually total annexation of the Syrian Golan Heights? NEW YORK 6. Behind the dense smokescreen which is rising over Beirut, Sabra and Shatila, the policy of systematic coloni- zation of occupied Arab territories is thus continuing by means of peasant soldiers directly responsible to the army of occupation. The de-Arabization and the de-Islamiza- tion of the Holy City of Jerusalem goes on unabateci, and we still remember the zeal of the supposedly unbalanced pyromaniacs and other marksmen. 7. Attacks against patriots in the occupied territories are so numerous that we cannot count them all. Even university students and young schoolgirls have not been spared the subtle but always inhuman forms of repression. 8. The form and extent of Israeli military action against refugee camps, particularly in Lebanon, betray the real objectives of Israel designed to achieve the physical elim- ination of the Palestinians altogether, in order to solve the problem of their rights by simply making them disappear. 9. The United Nations has unceasingly denounced illegal Israeli acts in the form of abusive annexations of territory, expulsion and displacement of population, the imposition of Israeli national laws upon occupied territories, interfer- ence in Islamic or Christian cultural and religious affairs, to mention only a few. 10. The Organization has most strongly denounced attempts at acquisition of territories by force on the part of Israel and has rejected the annexation of Arab Jeru- salem, wrongly decreed as the "eternal capital of Israel". We have also several times reaffirmed the inalienable right of the Palestinian people, under the leadership of its sole representative organization, the Palestine Liberation Organization [PLO], to return to its territory and to estab- lish an independent and sovereign State in Palestine. 11. Today, the Assembly is called upon further to assure that the Palestinian people receives the support it needs to exercise its inalienable rights in Palestine in order to rebuild and economically to redevelop its country so as to play its role fully in the family of the peaceful countries of the international community. 12. We must, therefore, support with all our strength, the implementation of the practical recommendations adopted at Geneva by the International Conference on the Question of Palestine, held from 29 August to 7 Septem- ber 1983. 13. That Conference, which was a resounding success at a time when threats in the Middle East, as well as the tragic events which were then taking place in Lebanon, elo- quently illustrated the gravity of the situation with which the Palestinian people were confronted. Let us say clearly that the Conference was a success, owing to the many expressions of goodwill in our own ranks, but also because of the dedication of the various bodies of the United Nations, of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalien- able Rights of the Palestinian People and of its Chairman, Mr. Massamba Sarre, of Senegal. 14. I should like to take this opportunity to reaffirm at this time the full support of the Kingdom of Morocco for the just struggle of the Palestinian people, under the lead- ership of its sole representative, the PLO, until it achieves the exercise of its inalienable right to return to its homeland

The tragic plight of the Pal- estinian people has recently become even more acute. In the West Bank, there have been numerous reports of clashes between the Palestinians and the Israeli authori- ties. Moreover, Israel continues to establish settlements in the West Bank, arousing ever greater international public concern. In southern Lebanon, the homes of many Palestinian refugees have been destroyed. Their security is constantly threatened, and many of them have been detained withou~ due cause. In addition, the Palestinians in Lebanon are still reeling from the Israeli invasion of Beirut in June last year. 18. It is extremely deplorable that, at a time of such suffering, confrontations among the Palestinians have developed into fierce fighting in northern Lebanon. It has been reported that the fighting in and around the camps of Nahr al-Barid and Beddawi, where over 30,000 Pales- tinian refugees were registered by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East, resulted in heavy casualties, especially among civilians. The conflict has spread even to Tripoli, involv- ing innocent Lebanese as well as Palestinian civilians. Fortunately, a cease-fire agreement has been reached, and we sincerely hope that it will hold. 19. It is profoundly regrettable that there are divisions among the Palestinians when it is imperative that they be united. The dispute within the PLO adds to the dif- ficulties and will only postpone the settlement of the Palestinian problem. The Government of Japan earnestly hopes that all the parties to the dispute within the PLO will address the problem from a broader perspective and overcome their differences without delay. 20. In this connection, Japan welcomed the unanimous adoption of Security Council resolution 542 (1983) of 23 November 1983. It is hoped that, in accordance with the resolution and with the cease-fire agreement of 25 November, the parties concerned will strictly observe the cessation of hostilities. refrain from the threat or use of force and settle their differences exclusively by peaceful means. 21. Japan believes that, as a concrete step towards the early solution of the Palestinian problem, it is of utmost importance that both Israel and the Palestinian people make sincere efforts to dispel mutual distrust and foster a genuine will to coexist. 22. From this point of view, Japan regards Israel's policy of establishing settlements in the occupied ter- ritories as an obstacle to peace efforts. Nor can it con- done measures taken by Israel that change unilaterally the status of the occupied Arab territories, such as its 23. I should like to take this opportunity to restate the basic position of the Government of Japan on the Middle East problem, and in particular on the question of Palestine. 24. First, peace in the Middle East should be just, lasting and comprehensive; secondly, such peace should be achieved through the early and complete implementa- tion of Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973) and through the recognition of and respect for the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, incJ.:.iL!ing the right of self-determination, under the Charter of the United Nations; thirdly, each and every avenue towards the realization of such peace must be explored, with careful consideration being given to the legitimate security requirements of the countries in the region and to the aspirations of all the peoples in the region, including the Palestinian people; fourthly, Japan is of the view that the PLO represents the Palestinian people. Thus, Japan believes that in order to advance the cause of peace in the Middle East it is essential that Israel and the PLO recognize each other's position, and that the PLO par- ticipate in the peace process. 25. Various international efforts have been made towards the achievement of a comprehensive peace in the Middle East. I refer, for example, to President Reagan's initia- tive3 and the Final Declaration of the Twelfth Arab Sum- mit Conference,I which were announced in September 1982. The Government of Japan strongly hopes that the parties concerned will take both of these proposals into full account and will, with a realistic, constructive and flexible attitude, make serious efforts to achieve a peace- ful solution of the problem. 26. The search for a solution to the question of Palestine is extremely complex and, as has been so amply demon- strated, fraught with difficulty. At this time, the Govern- ment of Japan reaffirms its intention to co-operate with efforts towards the attainment of our common goal- the prompt solution of the question of Palestine through peaceful talks and without recourse to the use of force. 27. Mr. LING Qing (China) (interpretation from Chi- nese): In the past two days, the Chinese delegation has listened attentively to the speeches made by the delega- tions of Arab and other countries and by Mr. Kaddoumi, the representative of the PLO, the sole legitimate repre- sentative of the Palestinian people. 28. Please allow me, in the name of the Chinese dele- gation, to express our deep sympathy to the Palestinian people, who are fighting for the restoration of their national rights, and to pay them a great tribute. At the same time, I would like to take this opportunity to express our appreciation to the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, which, under the leadership of its Chairman, Mr. Sarre, has done out- standing work in support of the just struggle of the Pales- tinian people and in the preparation and convening of the International Conference on the Question of Palestine. 29. Since the massive Israeli invasion of Lebanon in June last year, the situation in the Middle East has become more tense and turbulent than ever. Trampling under foot the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and violating the well-known basic norms of international law, the Israeli authorities have stuck to their policy of aggression and annexation and committed int.~;1r['{ational meetings. This year, for example, five regional conferences were held, as well as an International Conference on the Question of Palestine. Considerable attention was devoted to this problem by the Seventh Conference of Reac!.., of State or Government of Non- Aligned Countries, held at New Delhi from 7 to 12 March 1983. In the decisions taken at those meetings, it was affirmed that it was essential to grant the Palestinian people their lawful and inalienable rights, including the right tu self-determination and to found their own State. The right of the PLO, the legitimate representative of the Arab people of Palestine, to participate on an equal footing in the solution of allmatters affecting the Middle East was confirmed. 42. However, in spite of these decisions and of the numerous resolutions of the General Assembly and the Security Council, the Palestinian problerrr remains unset- tled. The Arab peuple of Palestine has been forced to go abroad or suffer the oppression of military occupation in the territories seized by Israel and is suffering physical annihilation in the most brutal form. 43. The report of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and other evidence presented to this s~ssion all show that Israel is not only failing to comply with the decisions of the Security Council and the General Assembly, but is also continuing to pursue the course of annexing the Arab territories it has occupied, including Palestinian territo- ries. As is pointed out in the Committe's report, "in the course of 1983, the Government of Israel has pursued its relentless policy ef establishing and enlarging settlements in the occupied territories despite the illegality of those actions" [A/38/35, para. 19]. 44. Israel's current course of action in occupied Arab territories is aimed' at totally undermining the economic activities of the Arab population, stripping it of its lands and destroying its cultural heritage so that the Palestinians will forget their national affiliation. Israel is constantly stepping up tenJr and other repressive measures against the Arab population of the occupied territories and much evidence testifying to this is contained in the report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the Occupied Territories: "The overall picture ... reflects the further deterioration in the human rights situation of the civilian population. The treatment of the civilian popl<~ation continues to get harsher in all respects" [A/38/409, para. 370]. 45. Israel's policy in the occupied territories is in flag- rant violation of the provisions of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949,2 and also of relevant decisions of the United Nations. 46. A natural question arises: why has Israel, in disre- gard of decisions of the Security Council and the General Assembly, continued its policy of aggression and brigan- dage against Arab countries and the Palestinian people? Here is another legitimate question: how is it possible for Israel, whose economy is in a sorry plight, whose level of inflation has reached 150 per cent a year and whose balance-of-payments deficit is approaching $5 billion, to wage an uninterrupted war against the Arabs? The fact is that Israel's actions fall squarely within the framework of United States expansionist policy in the Middle East. ili~war. I 56. The Arab League States have left us with no doubt that they seek debates such as this one, and the ritualistic incantations that accompany them, precisely in order to prevent any progress towards a negotiated peace. Those States which reject peace with Israel have, after all, been exploiting the question of the Palestinian Arabs for over 30 years to serve their own selfish and frequently con- flicting interests. To this end, they have harnessed the General Assembly to assist them. They have used the question of the Palestinian Arabs for various purposes -to draw attention away from the numerous conflicts throughout the Arab world and also to try and achieve a semblance of unity when no such unity exists elsewhere. 57. Despite the unbending policy of Arab rejectionism vis-a-vis Israel, my country has successfully survived the relentless Arab onslaught and hac emerged as an inde- pendent and vibrant nation. At the same time, however, the unrelenting hostility of the Arab regimes towards my country has brought only tragedy for the Palestinian Arabs themselves. Instead of having moved along a course which could have constructively promoted a solu- tion to the problems of the Palestinian Arabs, the self- appointed Palestinian Arab leaders and the leaders of the Arab States have led the Palestinian Arabs from disaster to disaster. 58. The problem of the Palestinian Arabs at its outset was already an outgrowth of deep-rooted inter-Arab rivalry. By focusing their attention on Israel and by deflecting their enmity against a common target, the Arab States sought to cover up their internal discords. Instead of seeking a constructive solution to their divisiveness and many differences, they proceeded along a destructive course, thereby creating another problem-that of the Palestinian Arab refugees. Ever since Israel's rebirth in 1948, the Arab States have perpetuated the refugee status of the Palestinian Arabs as a political expedient, a SYmbol which would enable Arab regimes to continue the conflict with my country in total disregard of the refugees' plight. Thus, the Palestinian Arabs were the ones who paid the price for the Arab world's unity in hatred against Israel, intended to hide their disunity in all other matters. 59. It has been the misfortune of the Palestinian ;;;..,abs to have become the victims of a cynical and opportunistic manipulation of their situation by forces inimical to their interests. These forces are represented by the political leadership of the Arab countries, the fanaticism of the Palestinian Arab leadership and the conspiracy of silence of the Arab intellectual community. Instead of demand- ing a humanitarian approach within the Arab world and an accommodation with Israel through negotiations, Arab intellectuals have acquiesced in the callous exploi- tation of the Palestinian Arabs by the Arab Governments. This attitude is especially condemnable in view of the successful effort in Israel to integrate the hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees who had to flee the Arab countries. These former second-rate citizens of Arab lands are today full-fledged members of Israeli society. 60. The Arab States-and their camp followers in the General Assembly-are acting as if nothing has chang€. this year in the situation of the Palestinian Arabs. Such regime' ,.kh sponsors it. Each Arab State thus possesses a terrorist organization of its own, an arm of its clan- destine or overt policy in the Arab world. Elimination of opponents through terror and intimidation is a favour- ite variety of employment assigned the terrorists by their paymasters. The PLO does not exist as an independent body and represents no one. Today, it turns out, the PLO does not even represent itself. 70. The course chosen for the PLO by the Arab States and adopted by the terrorist organization was destructive from the start. Its utterly destructive character persists even in the midst of its own disintegration and the large- scale massacre of civilians in northern Lebanon. 71. The Palestinian Arabs have gained nothing through the murderous activities of the PLO. A stocktaking of PLO "achievements" would include the hijacking of air- liners and passengers, the murder of children in nurseries and schools, the slaughter of worshippers in synagogues, the butchery of athletes at the Olympic games, the slaying of fellow Palestinians and other Arabs who have "devi- ated" from the course dictated by the PLO, and the massacre of civilians in Lebanon, as well as the devasta- tion of that country's communities. Has all this brought the Palestinian Arabs any closer to the solution of their problem? Certainly not. 72. The Palestinian Arabs have themselves become the main victims of PLO terrorism. One of the PLO's unique contributions to the annals of international terrorism has been its meticulous cultivation of a new battle tactic: shielding terrorists behind civilian populations and waging their war from the "shelter" of hospitals, schools and homes. Such barbarous conduct was evident in Lebanon in 1982 and in the Tripoli area in recent weeks. One United Nations official present during the recent fighting in Tripoli told a reporter of The DailyExpress of London, as reported in that paper on 21 November last: "They are incapable of showing mercy even to their own women and children". That report also noted that one of the ter- rorists remarked: "All of the inhabitants will be smashed and crushed-but we shall continue to fight". An organ- ization which victimizes its own people by demonstrating utter contempt for their very lives surely does not deserve to be referred to as a national liberation movement. 73. It is, however, not just the PLO and the Arab States that bear responsibility for the current tragedy of the Palestinian Arabs. Countries which thought the problems inherent in their own relations with the Arab world would somehow be solved by according terrorist organizations an aura of respectability must share the blame. Such countries have conveniently ignored the facts which cnuld not be adapted to their erroneous thesis and have based their policies on fantasy. Some of these countries have cynically inflated the PLO for part15an reasons, while others have been misled by illusions of their own creation. All of them should realize by now that their attitude has only impeded the efforts to resolve the problems of the Palestinian Arabs in an equitable manner. Today, more Conf~rence, like many other United Nations documents and resolutions, are not being implemented. The facts show that during those three months, too, the Israeli Zionists, ignoring all the norms and laws which regulate international relations and disregarding the protests of world public opinion, have been arrogantly and stub- bornly following a barbarous policy of physical exter- mination of the Palestinian people. The cruel crimes, the persecutions and the acts of terror and genocide com- mitted by Israel for decades on end in the occupied Pal- estinian and Arab territories have been intensified and have assumed dangerous proportions. Furthermore, this year, the Israeli aggressors have continued to follow the policy of colonization of occupied territories, taking measures which are aimed at drastically changing the geographic structure and demographic composition of those territories. The Tel Aviv chieftains are persistently pursuing a policy aimed at creating a "Greater Israel" . In this context, the Arab peoples and countries, too, have become a target of that policy. Israel continues to provoke the Arab countries uninterruptedly; it continually pro- vokes armed border incidents and shows an uncontrolled tendency to expansion and domination. 98. The events in Lebanon last year, and this year too, the hideous massacress of Palestinians in that country, bly once again reaffirmed the fact that there can be no comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East without the unconditional withdrawal of Israel from the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem, and without the attainment and exercise by the Palestinian people of its inalienable rights, including the right to self-determination and the right to establish its own independent Arab State in Palestine. 127. Assembly resolution 37/86 E recalled the princi- ples relevant to the question of Palestine that have been accepted by the international community, in particular the right of all States in the region to existence within internationally recognized boundaries and recognition and attainment of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people. 128. For more than 30 years now, the international community has been trying in vain to resolve the problem of Palestine on the basis of the principles I have men- tioned, and yet no solution has been found because of the growing intransigence of Israel and the complacency of certain members of the Security Council. 129. The Palestinian people has been living in a state of "diaspora" since the State of Israel was created in 1948. Ever since that time, the Palestinian people has been claiming its right to return to its own country, Palestine, and to establish the State of its choice. As emphasized in a study by Mr. Sardar Mohammed, having been expelled by the Irgun, 700,000 Palestinian Arabs fled their home- land in 1948. Lebanon took in 80,000, Jordan 400,000, Syria 70,000 and the Gaza Strip 150,000. Some 120,000 Palestinians remained under Israeli control. 130. This state of affairs was exacerbated by the situa- tion which prevailed immediately following the 1967 war after the capture by the Israelis of the Golan Heights, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula, thus placing more than a million Palestinians under Israeli occupation. 131. It goes without saying that the situation in the occupied Palestinian and Arab territories has been a source of constant concern. Although Israel boasts that it is a parliamentary democracy and claims that it has high standards of "justice" and "civilization", the popula- tions ofthe territories that it occupies have seen their most elementary rights constantly violated. The report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affect- ing the Human Rights of the Population of the Occupied Territories [A/38/409] gives very clear examples of this. NOTES