A/41/PV.85 General Assembly

I have been requested to announce that the voting on the draft resolutions submitted under this item will be postponed until next week. Accordingly, the voting will take place on a date to be announced in the Journal. Mr. RAKO'roNDRA'4BOA (Madagascar) (interpretation ftem Frenchh The General A8sellbly is called upon mce again to consider the question of Palestine. This question has been dealt with by our Organization virtually from its inception, as is borne out by the many resolutions of the General Assell'bly and the security Comcil. Throughout all those years we have repeatedly and unequivocally reaffirmed the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination without outside interference, independence, national scwereignty and t.O create its own state in Palestine. At tile same time, we have condelllled Israel's occupation of Arab territories, in accordance with the principle of the inadmissibility of the aoguiaition of terd tory by force, and rejected its policy of oppression against the Palestinian people. However, our organization's efforts to arrive at a just and lasting settlement of the question of Palestine have always met wi th the arrogant refusal of Israel, whose aggressive policy is a threat to peace and stability in the Middle East regime Since 1967 Israel has been carrying out a policy of Judaization and annexation in the occupied Arab territories, beginning with Jerusalem and the Galan Heights. Despite the cmdemations of the international commW\ity, it continues to establish settlements on public and private confiscated or expropriated land. The Israeli policy of repression has been further intensified by the imposition of collective punishment, expulsions, arrests and administrutive detention. All those practices, which constitute violations of human rights and many international conventions or covenants, have but one plrpose: to deny the pllitical identity and national rights of the Palestinian people. The Palestinian people has refused to accept that situation passively. Deapi te the iron-hand policy practised by Israel against the palestinians, the resistance of that martyred people has never flagged. on the contrary, its (Mr. Rakotondramboa, Madagascar» struggle is intensified every day under the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), its sole legitbnate representative. My delegation regrets that almost three years after the idea of the International Peace Conference on the Middle East was launched no practical steps have yet been taken with a view to convening it. Yet, there is today a unanimous wish to find a just and lasting solution to the Israeli-Arab conflict, as attested to by the many statements made in the general debate of the forty-first session. There will be no peace in the Middle East region so long as the auestion of Palestine remains unresolved. The Democratic Republic of Madagascar considers that there is a pressing need to convene that Conference, in implementation of resolution 38/58 C. That Conference would make it possible to find solutions acceptable to all which would take into account the rights and ~~terests of all parties. In that connection, we believe that the guidelines set out in the Declaration of the International Conference on the Quer.tion of Palestine, held in Geneva in 1983, remain ~alid and should be applied, in particular: recognition and restoration of the inalienable national rights of the Palestinian people, the withdrawal of Israel from all the occupied Arab and Palestinian territories, recognition of the right of the Palestine Liberation organization, the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, to participate on an eaual footing with all the other parties concerned in the negotiations relating to the Middle East, and recognition of the right of all states in the region to existence within secure and internationally recognized boundaries. My delegation has no difficulty in accepting the idea of establishing a preparatory committee, within the framework of the Security Council and with the participation of the permanent members of that body, to take the necessary steps for the convening of the Conference. Mr. NGIRUMPATSE (Rwanda) (interpretation from French): In the course of the general debate the Minister for Foreign Affairs and co-operation of the Rwandese Republic reaffirmed before the Assembly the position of my delegation on the question of Palestine, as follows: ftRwanda reaffirms its solidarity ••• with the Palestinian people, convinced that it would be foolish to try to promote a just and lasting peace in the Middle East without guaranteeing respect for the rights of that people in the spirit of the fundamental purposes and principles of the Organization and without withdrawal by the State of Israel from all the Arab territories occupied by force since 1967." (A/4l/PV.29, p. 57) About 40 years ago the united Nations voted in favour of the creation of a state for a people that had been dispersed for many centuries. It thought that thus it would strengthen peace, one of the priority objectives of our Organization. unfortunately, that decision did not achieve its aim. Regrettably, since then the Middle East has experienced a long war, the exile of chousands of persons and the occupation of territories by ,force. The international community did not save one people in order to make another disappear, namely, the people of Palestine which, for so many years has seen its chances of stability diminish with each passing day. It is to ensure peace and the survival of that people that the General Assembly has adopted many resolutions calling for the creation of a Palestinian State and withdrawal from the occupied territories, which alone would represent a lasting, if not definitive, solution of the disauieting situation in Palestine and the Middle East. One of the qualities of a good policy is pragmatism. The States and peoples of the Middle East are tangible realities whose right to life and peace our Organization recognizes. My delegation is convinced that those peoples also desire to put an end to a costly, burdensome and painful war. (Hr. Ngirumpatse, Rwanda) The denial of the rights of the Palestinian people and the ref~sal to accord them a homeland will not lead to their disappearance. The lessons of M.story are clear. It is ,~A~.most impossible to make a people disappear, and throughout the history of mankind attempts to do so have not always had the expected results. No long-term solution can be found by ignoring the Palestinian people and scorning the demands of the international community. Security for each State and people is the principle that should guide the peoples of the region in their quest for peace and peaceful coexistence. The peoples concerned, to which the international community has never denied its support, should, as a matter of principle, initiate the process of implementation of the relevant resolutions of the United Nations. Failing that, Rwanda believes that only the holding of an international conference on the question of palestine and the Middle East could inject a new dynamism, which would be beneficial for the solution of that problem. An international conference alone can reconcile the interests of the various parties. Logic and common sense demand that solutions acceptable to all be adopted. Any effort which prolongs the war is neither human nor realistic, inasmuch as it would mean maintaining a state of covert war without leading to a true and definitive peace. certain States represented here have at some point in their history been the object of aggression, persecution and humiliation. Therefore it is easy to understand the nightmare that the possibility of disappearance represents. That is why the United Nations must strongly oppose any such prospects whatever their origin. We believe that it is time to be inspired again by the spirit and determination that prompted our predecessors in 1948. If they saved one people, it is up to us, who benefit from their example, to save the people of Palestine by (Hr. Ngirumpatse , Rwanda) opposing its disappearance or perpetual exile. It is high time for everyone to contribute to the best of his ability, in good faith and speedily to the implementation of the resolutions of our Organization. It is not wise to continue a war over which there is the danger of losing control so that it leads to an even more lethal confrontation. Recent history shows that most of the wars waged within the context of self-determination have ended in negotiations. The sacrifice of so many human lives that wisdom and foresight could save can no longer be justified. In this Hall not a day goes by without our speaking of human rights. The Middle East and the Palestinian people should benefit from those noble ideas. The disappearance of a people or a State is incompatible with our Organization's idea of human rights. Unless we wish to be accused of hypocrisy, we cannot speak of human rights if we look on as mere spectators, if not accomplices, while a people is dismembered, driven from its homeland and dispersed throughout the world. Peace in the Middle East would not only be beneficial to the peoples of the region but also bring relief to many innocent persons who, without being responsible for or capable of putting an end to the conflict, run the risk of paying with their lives for the prolongation of this ludicrous situation which political realism and will could end without further delay. ~r finally there must be a return to the rule of law, as defined by the principles of the Charter and the many resolutions of our Organization. The contribution of the Middle East to the wisdom and civilization of mankind is enormous. The peoples of that region should go back to the sources of their history and find there the principles of tranquillity and peace. One of them has written that peace is the fruit of justice. It is by rendering justice to the wronged that peace is possible. My delegation is profoundly convinced that only respect for the security and independenc. of all can restore peace to the Middle East. Perhaps a new vision ~f the realities will halt the infernal cycle of violence that we are witnessing today. It is not confrontation that will be the source of peace. NOr will repression be the cradle of peace, for, as another wise man in the Middle East discovered, repression makes the wise man mad. Hr. SINCLAIR (Guyana) I My delegation pays a warm tributc~ to i:he committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian people, under the dedicated chairmanship of Ambassador Massamba Sarre of Senegal, for its untiring efforts to bring an end to the tragedy of the Palestinian people. The elements of that tragedy are well known to all in this Assembly. The pages of the report of the Special Committee give us an up-date on the attempts by the Israeli occupying Power to consolidate its occupation of Palestinian and other Arab territories, to force the inhabitants of these territories to come to terms with that occupation, to erase all trace of Palestinian national identity and to suppress Palestinian national aspirations. Also, the Assembly will soon be considering the report of the united Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugoes in the Near East (UNRWA) and the report of the committee charged with examining Israel's policies affecting the human rights of the population of the occupied territories, both of which constitute a serious indictment of the Government of Israel. Of course, for the occupiers neither the passage of time nor the severity of the occupation is making the price of that occupation lower or its burdens lighter, for what we see being manifested in these territories is the timeless phenomenon whereby peoples subject to alien domination nnd exploitation struggle to free themselves and to assert their right of self-determination. The Palestinian people's right of self-determination is not a right that this Assembly, or any State, conferred or could confer. As in the case of peoples everywhere, that right is timeless. It pre-dates the establishment of the Jewish State, it pre-dates the Partition plan, it pre-dates even the establishment of this Organization. The General Assembly gave recognition to that right as long ago as 1969. In 1970, the Assembly went further, acknowledging the central position of the (Mr. Sinclair, Guyana) Palestinian issue in the Middle East situation when it declared that the people of Palestine were entitled to equal rights and self-determination and that "••• the problem of the Palestine Arab refugees has arisen from the denial of their inalienable rights" and that "full respr,;ct for the inalienable rights of the people of Palestine is an indispensable element in the establishment of a just and.laotin9 peace in the Middle East". (resolution 2672 C (XXV» This evolution in the status of the Palestinian issue and of Palestinian representation in the united Nations went one significant step forward in 1974 when, in September of that year, a large number of States joined together to propose that the question of palestine be included as a separate item on the Assembly's agenda. This recommendation was sustained by the General Committee, and in that same year the question of Palestine reappeared on the agenda for the first time since 1952. In that same year, too, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was invited to participate in the Assembly's proceedings on the question of palestine as the representative of the Palestinian people. On that important occasion in 1974 the Assembly reaffirmed once again the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people in palestine, inclUding the right to self-determination without external interference and the right to nat~onal independence and sovereignty. The Assembly also reaffirmed the inalienable right of the Palestinians to return to' their homes and called for such return. In t:.e same way as no State could confer the right of self-determination on the Palestinian people, to no State is given - least of all to the occupying State or its powerful apologist and benefactor - the right to decide whether or how the Palestinian people will exercise what is their inalienable right, or to place any pre-eonditions on or in any way circumscribe or abridge, the enjoyment of that right. It is contrary to the most basic ~nd elementary justice that the ursurper of P~lestinian lands should be recognized as the judge of Palestinian rights. The crux of the matter is not security for Israel, nor is it whether or not the PLO is what it suits Israel to believe and to contend that it is. It is not either of these. It is that the Partition Plan of 1947 called, among other things, for the creation of an Arab State and a Jewish • ~\te. The Jewish state is very much present, within borders that exceed by far those contemplated in the Plan. But where is the Arab State? The people for whom that State was to be created continue to live in dispersal and dispossessioil. So long as that situation continues, peace in the Middle East will continue to elude us, and the sooner all recognize this and behave accordingly, the better are the chances of peace in the Middle East. The Palestinian rights COmmittee has in its recommendations laid down a programme which, if implemented, would allow the Palestinian people to exercise their inalienable rights. This Assembly has repeatedly endorsed these recommendations. It is the opposition of one permanent member of the Security COuncil which has prevented and continues to prevent the COuncil from taking action on them. The recommendations of the COmmittee were refined at the International Conference on palestine, in 1983, which produced the call for an international peace conference on the Middle East under the auspices of the United Nations and involving the participation on an equal footing of all the parties to the Arab-Israeli conflict, including the Palestine Liberation Organization on behalf of the Palestinian people. The call for an international peace conference is the most comprehensive, the most far-reaching proposal for a peaceful settlement of the separate themselves from it truly wish to work for peace in this troubled region. My delegation calls on the Security council to assert itself in order to introduce some momentum where there is stasis. In this regard the Beads of State or Government of non-aligned countries, meeting in Barare last September, made some constructive suggestions that are worthy of the Council's serious consideration. Time is not on the side of peace in the Middle East. The 9assage of time is causing Israeli intransigence to harden, it is giving rise to new pretexts for ignoring the will of the international community, but, most of all, it makes peacefuL settlement all the more difficUlt as it increases the chances of armed confrontation. And the next such confrontation in this region is likely to be more destructive than any of the preceding ones. In his message on the occaDion of the commemoration of the International Day of Solidarity with the palestinian people, on 29 NOvember last, our Secretary-Genera: said: "It remains the primary responsibility of the United Nations to strive for a political solution to the Palestinian problem, in spite of all the difficulties involved. Disillusionment and discouragement must not be permitted to sway us from our obligation to continue to press forward with the search for a negotiated peace in the Middle East, a peace which will ensure justice for all people in the region and put an end once and for all to the violence which has persisted for over a generation• ... "I continue to believe that the United Nations has a crucial role to play in this endeavour." (A/AC.183/PV.123, p. 12) Mr. FERNANDO (Sri Lanka): The tragic irony of modern times is that the ~ region of the Middle East, which is the birthplace of three of the world's great religions, JUdaism, Christianity and Islam, should be deprived of peace and tranauillity. The consideration of the question of Palestine by this Assembly almost parallels the history of this Organization, since the request for inclusion of the auestion in its agenda was made as far back as 1947. This, in our view, says as much about the implementation of United Nations resolutions as it does about the auestion of Palestine. Last year, in commemoreting the united Nations fortieth anniversary, virtually every Member State pledged allegiance to the Charter and rededicated itself to the principles and purposes of the Charter. The full potential of the Charter has for a number of reasons remained untapped, if not ignored, in respect of the auestion of Palestine. It is nevertheless equally true that the United Nations remains the most logical forum in which a just and enduring settlement of the auestion can be reached. The auestion of Palestine, therefore, remains the responsihility, and the distinct obligation, of this Organization. Despite the efforts that have been exerted, the question remains u~settled and the Palestinian people continue to be tragically denied their inalienable rights as a nation. The Palestinian people are compelled to live either as refugees, or in lands illegally occupied by Israel, with even their national identity being denied. The conditions in the refugee camps have greatly deteriorated, bringing further misery and hardship to the Palestinians. Sri Lanka, as Chairman of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the PopUlation of the Occupied Territories, has more than an academic knowledge of the conditions under which the Palestinians have been forced to live. The Special Political Committee discussed this report last week. The report of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People gives further information about life in the occupied territories. We thank the Chairman and the members of the Committee for their diligent monitoring of developments affecting the Palestinian people. Until there is a de facto and a de jure acceptance of the reality that the auestion of Palestine is the core of the Middle East situation, peace cannot return to the Middle East area. While the Middle East region remains in ferment and presents a complex of numerous factors, including external interference, the special dynamic of the auestion is the central issue that needs to be addressed. Two factors in our opinion are salient in any solution to the auestion: the withdrawal of Israel from all Palestinian and other Arab territories, inclUding Jerusalem, and secondly, the restoration and exercise of the inalienable national rights of the Palestinian people. At another level, at the heart of this auestion, is the human dimension: the compelling need to end the SUffering, deprivation and death they are having to endure. The political ramifications of the auestion of Palestine perceived by other States sometimes blurs this human factor. The rights of the Palestinian people which should be restored to them include their right to return to their homes, the right to self-determination without external interference, the right to national independence and the right to establish a sovereign independent State in Palestine in conformity with the principles of the Charter. The withdrawal of Israel from Arab and Palestinian territories occupied by it, is an essential prereauisite for the exercise of these rights. It must be clear that all measures carried out by Israel with a view to altering the political, cultural, religious or demographic features of those territories should be declared illegal, null and void. (Mr. Fernando, Sri Lanka) These are necessary prereauisites which have been embodied in numerous peace packages, not only by the United Nations but also in summit and other declarations of the Non-Aligned Movement, the League of Arab States and other ogranizations. The Arab summit meeting held in Fez, Morocco, further elucidated the essential elements of a comprehensive solution, which sri Lanka supports. Any international conference dealing with the Arab/Israeli conflict, that seeks to bring peace and security to all States in the region must clearly involve the participation of all directly concerned in the conflict, including the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. Sri Lanka has long since accorded diplomatic status to the PLO, which provides the essential uniting force among the Palestinian people, and the PLO is represented by an ambassador in Colombo. Their participation on an independent and eaual footing is necessary if there is to be tangible progress towards a settlement. I mentioned that the United Nations has a historic responsibility to deal with this auestion. Last year, resolution 40/96 0 adopted by this Assecbly reaffirmed the call for the convening of an International Peace Conference on the Middle East and stressed the urgent need for additional constructive efforts by all Governments in order to convene the Conference without delay and for the achievement of its peaceful objectives. At their recent summit Conference in Barare, the Headg of State or Government of the non-aligned countries stressed the urgent need to organize this international peace Cc~ference to achip.ve a just and comprehensive solution to the Middle East problem. My delegation notes the Secretary-Generales comments regarding the propsects for this Conference. We support his view that despite t~e existing difficulties, a new and determined effort should be made to explore and 'to use the various possibilities of the united Nations machinery appropriately to promote progress in the peace process in the Middle East• • , , "", (Mr. Fernando, sri Lanka) The Middle Baet region and States :1n it will he bereft of peace until the Palestine aue.tion is settled and the Palestinian people have regained their rights. Eaually, international peace and security oannot be ensured until peace returns to the Middle Baat. The essentials required for a settlement of this question are not difficult to identify. What is required is a determined effort on the part of all concerned to ensure that these oonditions are fulfilled and a just and lasting ••ttl...nt of the QUe.tion of Palestine is brought about. ~h. meeting rose at 5.30 p.m. ,~ I , , f