A/39/PV.77 General Assembly
THIRTY-NINTH SESSION
36. The situation in the Middle East: reports of the Secretary-General I. The PRESIDENT: I shall now call on representa- tives who wish to speak in exercise of the right of reply. 2. Mr. KHALIL (Egypt) (interpretation from Ara- bic): At the outset of my statement yesterday [75th meeting], I referred to the fact that the international community calls on us to set our sights on a future untainted by the fanaticism and hegemonic ideas of the past and cease to enumerate past events from the United Nations rostrum so that we can profit from every possible opportunity to advance towards peace. We deeply regret the statement made by the represen- tative of Israel two days ago [72nd meeting] and the way in which he attacked the Arabs. I am speaking in Arabic, our language, the language of Arab values and civilization, the true Arab heritage. We are proud of this heritage. 3. The representative of Israel chose to attempt to attribute the problem of the Middle East to the Arab character, as though that problem, of which the question of Palestine is the core, were caused by differences between Arabs or the intolerance of Arabs against non-Arab minorities in their countries. 4. Today, therefore, I wish to reject totally the attack on Egypt's present, past or future and any attempt to interfere in Egypt's internal affairs, direct- ly or indirectly. We believe that the adoption of such a method is an attack on Egypt, which has chosen peace as a strategic goal, and we hope that the message on which Egypt based its statement of 27 November represents a movement towards the future so as not to miss other opportunities to achieve peace, stability and a settlement in which all the parties concerned can participate. 5. The PRESIDENT: The Observer of the League of Arab States has asked to make a statement in reply. I call on him in accordance with General Assembly resolution 477 (V) of 1 November 1950. 6. Mr. MAKSOUD (League of Arab States): The General Assembly has been exposed to a harangue against the Arab so-called political culture, as if a campaign of defamation had been let loose, and to gloating over the Arab problem. The Israeli represen- tative has sought to distort our situation, our position and our objectives. Wednesday, 28 November 1984, at 3.25 p.m. NEW YORK 7. Does the nature of our Governments, our regimes, whatever value judgement one might make on them, constitute a reason or a licence for Israel to continue its annexation? Does the negative image, assuming that the distortions are valid, constitute absolution for Israel, allowing it to go on the loose, conquering and annexing? Is it on a so-called civiliz- ing mission? Does Israel's occupation of our land help to improve our condition? Are we, according to the logic of the Israeli representative, improvable, or is our condition incorrigible? If so, do we deserve to survive, or are we expendable? Is this Zionist outlook towards the Arabs and towards our so-called political culture acceptable? 8. In the Arab world we may have problems; what society does not? For us, the problems of growth, of emerging societies, of our previous colonial periods, of modernism and traditional societies, of frustrated aspirations seeking an outlet, are indeed problems, but the thrust of Arab evolution is to affirm the pre- eminence of pluralism, equality for all, the centrality of the human person irrespective of race, colour, religion or religious affiliation. 9. That is in contrast to Israel, where discrimina- tion is not a problem but a policy. It is institutional- ized, it is legitimized, it is practised, it is preached, where to be a non-Jew means to be separate, to be different, to be alienated. It means to be another kind of citizen, preferably absent, even more preferably non-existent. Discrimination in Israel is the raison d'etre of zionism, the raison d'etre ofIsrael. Discrim- ination is built into the very fabric of this colonial settler entity. 10. Israel mutters these insults about Arab culture, resorting to heaping insults on us, on our culture, on our past and on our present. It reflects a well- established Israeli design-that is, to pre-er.ipt our Arab future. What we are observing is a racist ideological monstrosity on the loose. It has to be checked, it has to be confronter', because it is dangerous, besides being profane. 11. Articulating, as the Israeli representative did, innuendos, half-truths, hearsay and rumours demon- strates an intention to substitute defamation of the Arab people and culture for an answer to the universal condemnation of Israel's occupation of Arab territories and its systematic denial of Palestin- ian rights. The onslaught by the Israeli representative on Arab culture, the Arab situation and the Arab nation was a pathetic attempt to deflect this Assem- bly from focusing on the root causes and germane issues. That is why Israel resorted to a filibuster. 12. What is more ominous, however, is tile clear racist and indiscriminate association of the term "Arab" with terrorism, violence, plague: words that are charged with and intended to reinforce prejudice against the Arabs, deliberately to distort our Image, Elections to fill vacancies in principal organs :* (a) Election of five non-per.;:, ~,,~nt members of the Security Council
As representatives will re- call, at its 33rd meeting, on 22 October, the General Assembly elected four non-permanent members of the Security Council for a two-year period beginning on 1 January 1985. One seat therefore remains to be filled in the Council from an African or Asian State. 39. In accordance with established practice, there is an understanding to the effect that of the two States to be elected from Africa and Asia, one should be from Africa and one from Asia. Thailand was elected at the 33rd meeting; therefore, the remaining seat is to be filled from among the African States. 40. As the third restricted ballot, held at the 33rd meeting, was inconclusive, we must now, in accord- ance with the rules of procedure proceed to a first series of unrestricted ballots. In unrestricted ballot- ing, any Member State from among the African States may be a candidate, except for Zimbabwe, which is an outgoing member and not eligible for immediate re-election, and for Burkina Faso and Egypt, which remain members of the Council in 1985. 41. Ballot papers are now being distributed. I request representatives to write the name of one State only. Ballot papers bearing more than one name will be declared invalid. At the invitation of the President, Mr. Boukrif (Algeria), Mr. Halinen (Finland), Miss Rovirosa-Prie- go (Mexico), Mr. Fernandez (Philippines) and Mr. Rydzkowski (Poland) acted as tellers. A vote was taken by secret ballot. The meeting was suspended at 4 p.m. and resumed at 4.10 p.m. 42. The PRESIDENT: The result of the voting is as follows:
15. 149 1 148 1 147 98 150o 150 1 149 100 151 1 150 1 149 100
The result of the voting is as follows: Number of ballot papers: Invalid ballots: Number of valid ballots: Abstentions: Number of members voting: Required majority: Number of votes obtained: Ethiopia ' , , . Somalia '" .
As neither of the two candi- dates obtained the required two-thirds majority, in accordance with the rules of procedure the Assembly will continue the voting and hold a series of three unrestricted ballots. However, 1 propose that we postpone the balloting to a later meeting to be announced in due course and suspend the election for the time being. It was so decided.
152 2 150o 150 100
152 2 150o 150 100
75 75
The meeting rose at 5.45 p.m.
NOTES