A/41/PV.86 General Assembly

35.  QURSTION OF PALESTINE: (a) REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE EXERCISE OF THE INALIENABLE RIGHTS OF THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE (A/41/35) (b) REPORT OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL (A/41/215-S/17916) (c) DRAFT RESOLUTIONS (A/41/L.38 to A/41/L.41) Mr. MANSOUR (Yemen) (interpretation from Arabic): The years pass by, and still the problem of Palestine is awaiting a solution; it has become a permanent item on our agenda. Four decades have elapsed and the situation remains unchanged, It has become an intrinsic part of the life of the United Nations, like other chronic items such as the problem of the Middle East, the guestion of Namibia and the uuestion of South Africa. Of course the United Nations has already expressed its view on how the. situation should he resolved in its resolutions. But what is the practical value of those resolutions if they are not implemented? What is worse still, the entity which has prevented the implementation of those resolutions occupies a seat, just like other Member States, here and in other forums of this international Organization. Yet as we all know that entity - Israel - even makes a deliberate policy of postponing any solution of the problem , and is thus prolonging the sufferings of a whole nation. The thought of the suffering endured by the people of Palestine throughout the decades, even before the Zionist entity was established, gives rise to a deep sense of pain and anguish. The Palestinian people have been condemned to wandering, exile, and living in camps; they are to be found behind the walls of prisons and detention camps, languishing under the yoke of the cruel Zionist occupation and enduring all kinds of humiliation and suffering, while the world watches this terrible human tragedy and stands by doing nothing. what can be worse for any people than to see its homeland welcoming strangers and excluding the rightful inhabitants? Palestine has now become the home of immigrants from all auarters of the globe, while its rightful inhabitants have been exiled, or must remain there under oppression. I do not want to enter into detail on this issue, which has been fully discussed in all its aspects. We are dealing with a just cause whose righteousness is obvious and requires no further proof. Israel's position is based on its arrogance; in dealing with the united Nations, it tries to act as both judge and jury, and while belonging to the Organization it seeks only to undermine its credibility and damage its prestige. I hope that a real effort will he made to settle this issue, so long discussed, and that it will not be allowed to become the detonator for an explosion, a war, that could extend beyond the region and engulf the whole world. (Mr. Mansour, Yemen) In any case, it is Israel and Israel alone that must bear the full responsibility for refusing to listen to reason and to accept the judgement of world public opinion as expressed by the United Nations. Mr. MOUSHOUTAS (Cyprus) : The question of Palestine, being at the core of the Middle East problem, is a test case for this Orqanization. Its persistence as a grave international problem does nothing for the credibility or the prestige of the United Nations. It demonstrates rather the weaknesses of our world Orqanixation, because of its inability to implement its own resolutions and decisions, Unless we devise an effective system of security, as provided for in \,- the Charter, in which this Organization c6uld implement its resolution and decisions, its credibility will continue to be auestioned and its effectiveness and prestige further eroded. Moreover, the perpetrators of injustices, though universally condemned through almost unanimous Bnited Nations resolutions, Will continue their practices undisturbed with the knowledge that the international community has no effective means of implementing its decisions. The Palestinian problem represents a negation of human dignity and of lofty ideals. It is also a humanitarian problem of vast dimensions, affecting the livea of millions of suffering Palestinians who live either as refugees away from their homes or in the occupied territories under foreign administration. Their plight ie well known to the international community - and it is too well known to the people of Cyprus, because of geographical proximity and because of their traditional tiee of friendship with the Palestinians. Eaually well known is their heroic struggle, under the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Orqanization (PLO), the Sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. The fact that we also have 200,000 refugees of our own, as a result of the 1974 invasion and occupation of our country, makes the problem of Palestine and the yearning of its people to return to their homes and lands very dear and very close (Mr. Moushoutas, Cyprus) t0 Our hearts. To turn people into refugees is a grave injustice and a crime Of vast dimensions. Next week, on 1 December, the international community will mark the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. In a message to Mr. Arafat, Chairman of the ,PLO Executive Committee, the President of the Republic Of CyprUS, Mx. Spyros Kyprianou, "reaffirms and renews Cyprus' consistent support and firm solidarity with the Palestinian people in their efforts for restoration of their inalienable rights and the establishment of their own independent sovereign State". The President of Cyprus continues: "We pay tribute to the heroic struggle of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, and stress once again that a just and viable solution to the Palestinian ouestion can only be achieved through the implementation of the relevant United Nations resolutions". As a member of the United Nations Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, Cyprus has firmly supported the rights Of the Palestinians, including their right to self-determination and to the establishment of an independent Palestinian State. We have always maintained that the Palestinian people must be parties to any peace negotiations concerning their future. Any process aimed at a just and lasting solution of the problems in the Middle East will have not only to deal with the Palestinian question but also to involve the legitimate representatives of the Palestinian people. We regret that so far not only has progress not been achieved towards the s01Ution of the problem but, on the contrary, we are witnessing a deterioration of the Situation, which has added to the human suffering of innocent people, (Mr. Moushoutas, Cyprus) Cyprus will exert every effort to promote the just cause Of th@ Palestidatt people and the implementation of the relevant united Nations resolutions and decisions on Palestine. We owe it to the people of Palestine, and to all suffering peoples, including our own, to ensure that there are no oppressors and oppressed, no concuerors and conauered, and that peace, in justice, prevails. We believe that this Organization, on the basis of the principles enshrined in its Charter, could play an even more significant role in promoting peace and justice in our world. We must build on the United Nations Charter and strive to realize its lofty principles as well as the provisions of our resolutions, for the question of Palestine must and will finally be solved on the basis of the relevant United NatiOnS resolutions and decisions and within the framework of the United Nations. Only then will a just and lasting peace be established in the region which Will allow all the people there to live and prosper in peace and security. Mr. AHMAD (Brunei Darussalam): Brunei Darussalam again joins other nations to consider this very sad human saga, which is a perennial issue in the Assembly. No other issue in contemporary history has held the attention and disturbed the conscience of the international community for so long or been so intensively deliberated in international forums as the issue of Palestine. The cfuestion of Palestine has been the responsibility of the United Nations ever since the founding of this international Organization in 1945, TWO years later, on 29 November 1947, the United Nations adopted resolution 181 (II), which approved the plan for the partition of Palestine to create two States, an Arab state and a Jewish State. However, Only part of that resolution was implemented, the creation of the State of Israel. Since then Israel has confiscated Arab lands and (Mr. Ahmad, Rrunei Uarussalam) established settlements in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. To complicate the conflict further, Israel has annexed East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. Israel, therefore, has not only. gained a homeland for its people, as provided ’ for in the United Nations decision, but pursued an expansionist policy that has deprived the Palestinian people of their own independent State. The Palestinians too have become the target of Israeli aggressive and suppressive policies. They have been subjected to a series of wars and massacres and their economic resources are continously exploited. Regrettably, neighbouring Arab States also have not been spared . Israel continues to this very day to pursue it8 policies of %KWession and provocation against neighbouring Arab States. Israel was accepted as a Member of the United Nation8 in 1949 on condition that it complied with the terms of resolution 181 (II), of 1947, and resolution 194 (III), of 1949, which included recognition of the right of the Palestinian People to their own State and the right of return of Palestinian refugees. Nearly foul: decades have passed and Israel has yet to fulfil its obligation to implement those resolutions. Thus, the long-standing coriflict not only remains unresolved, but has escalated, turning the Middle East into a region of violence and uncertainty. The consequences have also extended beyond the region and have been proved to strain relations between some countries. The need to find a solution has never before been so acute. Any delay in solving the cuestion will lead only to fur’ther deterioration of the situation in the Middle East and prolong the sufferings and plight of the Palestinian people. If a just and durable solution is to be found to the Palestinian problem, which is ‘the core of the continuing conflict in the Middle East region, there must be total and Unconditional withdrawal by Israel from all Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem, and the right to return, the right to self-determination and the right of the Palestinian people to establish its own independent State in Palestine must be recognized. No dispute or conflict can ever be settled through partial or unilateral efforts. Peaceful negotiations by the parties to the conflict must therefore take place. My delegation is fully convinced that in such a crucial issue *as the uuestion of Palestine an international peace conference, as proposed in 1983 and endorsed by the Fez summit meeting and the United Nations General Assembly, through its resolution 38/58 C, provides the only possibility of the restoration of peace to the Middle East. The envisaged International Peace Conference on the Middle East, under the auspices of the United Nations , must be attended by all the permanent members of the Security Council and the parties concerned in the conflict, including the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The Palestinians, through their sole and legitimate representative, the PLO, must participate in any decision that concerns them. It is regrettable that this peace initiative, which has gained growing acceptance by countries and international organizations, should have been rejected outright by Israel. Every effort must be made to promote the early convening of the International Peace Conference on the Middle East. The inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, which have long been universally recognized, must be restored. To end the plight of the Palestinians, the international community must again strive to resuscitate the ardent desire for the convening of the International Peace Conference. Its action must include pressing Israel to reconsider its position with regard to the Conference and to end its aggressive and expansionist policies against the Palestinians and the Arabs in neighbouring countries. (Mr. Ahmad, Brunei Darussalam) In conclusion, my delegation wishes to commend the united Nations Secretary-General and the Chairman and members of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People for their relentless efforts in mbilizing international opinion and promoting a just and durable settlement of the auestion of Palestine. Mr. LEXXAILA (Botswana) : Our feelings for the oppressed and brutalized people of Palestine are in every way similar to our feelings for the oppressed and brutalized people of apartheid South Africa. We deeply share the two people’s longing for freedom and their determination to achiwe it peacefully, if possible, and by any other means, if not, Our experience in southern Africa is that intransigence does not pay in the end. The consequences of the violent intransigence of the white minority rdgime in Pretoria has at long last begun to unmask the magnitude of the tragedy of apartheid. Political violence in the land of apar theid has become so commonplace that, whether the rulers of South Africa like it or not, apartheid has become a costly ideology, the continued enforcement of which can only accelerate South Africa’s drift to disaster. This is also true of the intransigence of the rulers of Israel in the Holy Land. There will be no end to violence and death in that part of the world so long as the State of Israel continues to labour under the delusion that its security and survival lie only in the fabled invincibility of its &fence forces. History iS not on the side of such a delusion. The fact is that the homeless Palestinians who are currently wallowing in the squalor of crowded refugee camps all over the Middle East will never abandon their yearning for freedom, for they knw that in the final analysis the verdict of history will be in their favour. They will never Stop . fighting for the creation of an independent state of their own, in the land of their forefathers, where they can exercise their right to self-determination and realize their aspirations in peace and freedom. c We have no problem: Botswana recognizes the right of the State of Israel to exist. We are not prepared to par ticipe te , either by acquiescence or by default, in the liquidation of that State. In other words, we are not prepared by (Mr. Iegwaila, Botswana) acquiescence or default to support any solution of the Palestinian issue which seeks to create a Palestinian State on the ashes of the Jewish State of Israel. But by the same token, we will never accept the argument of the State of Israel that the creation of the independent State of Palestine on the West Bank and in Gaza would pose a security threat to the Jewish State and therefore must not be allowed. We cannot accept such an argument because it suggests in its logic that the dangerous status quo in the area should be allowed to continue because it does not threaten the security of bhe State of Israel. In our view, the contrary is very true: there will be no security, no peace, for the State of Israel and its people so long as the Palestinian people do not enjoy security, peace and freedom in their own country. And so we insist on the feasibility of the existence in Palestine of two independent States: one for the Jewish people within secure and recognised borders, those borders, that is, which delineated the State of Israel before 1967; and the other for the Palestinian people on the West Bank and in Gaza. This is the Sort of solution we will accept and one which we must all impress upon the people of Israel. But how do we arrive at such a solution? By negotiations, we contend, because we are of the firm view that war between the Arabs and the Jews can cnly lead the two sides to disaster. If both sides are quite ready to fight to the bitter end or to the last Arab or Jew in pursuit of their conflicting objectives, what future Can We envisage for the Middle East? In our view, there is no need for a fight to the bitter end or to the last Arab or Jew. We insist that Palestine has enough space for both Arabs and Jews, just as we have always insisted that South Africa is large enough, with all its wealth, for both the whites and the blacks. Even there there is no need to fight to the bitter end or to the last black or to the last white. Of coucse, negotiations for a new equitable dispensation for the Palestinians and the Israelis cannot take place in the sort of environment that exists today in the Middle East, where the rejectianists of the Arab nation ace rejecting any SUggeStiOn that the State of Israel has the right to exist. Na negotiation can take place, we must insist, so long as Israel is threatened with total extinction and So long as those Arab countries which dare to pcsue the path of compromise and peace with the Jewish State ace threatened with eternal danmation. We have seen it all in southern Africa. We ace not speaking out of ignO~8UlCS. We have seen it all in southern Africa, where we had long-lasting empires, Bur opean empi c es , one of which lasted half a millenium. But, as Suce as day follows night, all those empires have perished. They could not be sustained any longer because their victims could no longer tolerate life in servitude and subjugation. They took up arms against them and finally pc evailed. Just as the people of South Africa will prevail against apartheid, the people of Palestine will prevail against the occupation of their lands by Israel. We have also seen the madness which a threat or threats of extinction, hwever imaginary, can generate in the unstable minds of frightened, exogenous minorities who find themselves oaught up in the midst of an explosive, endogenous nationalism. we take seriously the suicidal tendencies so prevalent within the extKemiSt circles of the South African white t3xrmunity. We know that some of them have been so blinded by racism and so warped in their attitude towards the very concept Of idea of a non-racial South Africa that they ace quite ceady to kill foe the pceseration of their evil and archaic convictions. In other words, they would be quite happy to commit suicide if they were pushed against the wall or forced to abandon these convictions. Is that necessary? We say “No”. Just as we have never ceased to preach the message of accommodation, love and peace to our fellow whites in southern Africa, we feel that any attempt by the countries of the Arab world to settle scores with history can only worsen the plight of the Palestinian people. Arab rejectionism can only serve to create a fertile environment for war-mongering in Israel, where the fear of extinction would become real and very dangerous indeed. The Palestinians would be the losers if the Israelis were finally to feel that their survival can only be ensured by the continuation of the status quo. We cannot ask the people of South Africa and Namibia to negotiate the future of their countries and then turn around and ask the people of Palestine to Settle their dispute or conflict on the battlefield. On the other hand, we cannot press the white minority regime in Pretoria to remove the ban on the African National COIqreSS of South Africa (ANC) and the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) and negotiate with them and then turn around and support Israel's refusal to vacate Arab lands and to recognize and negotiate with the Palestine Liberatim Organizatian (Pm). (Mr. Legwaila, Botswana) We support neither South Africa's holier-than-thou demand that the ANC abandon violence before negotiations can be contemplated nor Israel's cynical contention that it cannot negotiate with a "terrorist" organization, the PLC. Who started violence in South Africa? Is it not the authors of the system of racial tyranny under which black South Africans have lived for so long? How has Israel perpetuated itself? Is it not by the use of massive violence against its neighbours and the Palestinian people? We do not, however, ignore the fact that the PLO has also to accept as an irreducible basic antecedent to meaningful negotiations the right of Israel to exist instead of continuing to be adivalent about it. The PLO would lose nOthing by accepting the reality of the existence of the state of Israel, "Zionist entity" Or not, and coming to terms with it, just as the ANC and others in South Africa have long come to terms with the existence and reality of an Afrikaner tribe in their midst and are ready to negotiate the future of South Africa with it. Of course the alternative would be a recipe for disaster. It is our earnest hope that the people of the Middle East, in particular the people of Palestine, will soon see their way out of the seemingly interminable state Of war which has characterized their region for so long. Mr. NASHID (Maldives): Thirty-nine years have passed since the adoption in November 1947 of resolution 181 (II), which arbitrarily determined the partition of Palestine. Those 39 years have been dramatic ones in the history of the Middle East. The question of Palestine and the problem of the Middle East are an integral whole. Neither of them can be settled in isolation from the other. There can be no partial solution or settlement that involves only some of the parties to the conflict just as there can be no separate peace. It is the contention of my Government that the claim of the Palestinian people to their own homeland is legitimate and just. The prevailing SitUatiOII iS that the Palestinians have been unjustly deprived of their homeland. They have been denied the fundamental and inalienable right to self-determination. No amount of legal or ) diplomatic efforts will change the fact that the people of Palestine are now ) Without a State and that since the creation of Israel in 1948 the Palestinians have ! become refugees in their own homeland. The people of Palestine have been wronged and are entitled to the restoration of their fundamental human rights. I We believe that peace has eluded the Middle East because the direct interests of the Palestinians have not been taken into account in all previous attempts to solve the problem. we also believe that any negotiations for a settlement which do not take into account the questions of the people of Palestine for a homeland are bound to fail. FOG this reason it is essential that the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which is the legitimate representative of the people Of Palestine, be included in any negotiations on the question. In that regard we endorse the Geneva Declaration on Palestine and call for the convening of the International Peace Conference on the Middle East. It is our conviction that all parties that are concerned directly in the area Play a vital role in bringing a solution to the conflict in the Middle East. We once again stress that a comprehensive, just and durable solution to the situation in the Middle East cannot be achieved without the total and unconditional withdrawal of Israel from all Palestinian and other Arab territiries it has occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem, and the realization in Palestine of the legitimate and inalienable rights of the Palestinian people including the right to return to their homes. It is most regrettable that important peace initiatives and efforts by the hkMnatiOna1 community in their search for a canprehensive and lasting Settlem@nt in the Middle East have not evoked a positive response from Israel. It has rejected all peace initiatives and continues to pursue its expansionist policies. We condemn Israel's annexationist policies. We are frustrated at the lack of progress. The United Nations has lived with this question since its inception, as did the League of Nations before it, because it is one of the thorniest issues demanding a just solution. DeSpib3 40 years of discussion and study the United Nations has not yet been able to redress the injustices suffered by the Palestinians since their lands were seized and their families expelled and forced to live in refugee camps for the past four decades. If the question of Palestine has not found a solution up to now and continues to elude any comprehensive solution by the United Nations it is not because of any lack of effort by this body, but mainly because Israel has persistently refused to camply with its resolutions and recommendations. Mr. KIBEDI (Uganda): I represent a Government which came to power in Uganda in January this year after a five-year people's struggle against tyranny, oppression and dictatorial rule. The struggle was spearheaded by the National Resistance Movement, which in its hour of victory and triumph magnanimously formed a broad-based Government encompassing a wide spectrum of political and religious viewpoints in our country. The National Resistance Movement was able to take this step because it is a movement which follows a lo-point programme of action guided by principles and net expediency. It is that firm political foundation which has determined the stand that the Uganda delegation has taken on various issues being considered at the current session, whether they are of a Political nature or are simply related to reform of this organization. MY delegation is fully aware that many issues which are taken up in the Organization, whether at plenary meetings or in the Committees, arouse great passicn. We are aware that a position that a delegation takes on a particular (Mr. Kibedi , Uganda) matter may cause denunciation , indignation and reprobation among one group of Members and acclamation and commendation within another. We know that small countries with limited economic power may be subjected to pressure by those having economic clout when it comes to sponsoring or voting for particular resolutions. In that situation, when a small country feels strongly about an issue but does not wish to offend some great Power, the easy way out is to vote in a way which pleases the big Power I or perhaps to make itself scarce at the crucial time of VOtiW. That may be the easy way out, but it is not a path which the Uganda delegation can countenance or succumb to. We may have neither oil, gold nor zinc in our ground, and we may not have nuclear capability, but at least we have principles, and we treasure them. with a firm stand on principle we can address ourselves to the issues of the day, whether it be Afghanistan, Kampuchea, Nicaragua, economic sanctions against South Africa, dwolonization, the bombing of the Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Yamahiriya or the financial crisis at the United Nations, and speak or vote as a free people, in accordance with what we consider to be the justice and logic of the case, rather than what suits the interests and desires of some Power standing over our shoulder. In this context we take our stand today and express our considered opinion on the Palestinian issue.* *Mr. Henar (Suriname), Vice-President, took the Chair. (Mr. Kibedi, Uganda) The question of Palestine has been on the agenda of this Organization for the last 40 years. It is a matter that generates a deep sense of outrage, frustration and anguish. What concerns my delegation above all else in the present impasse ia the plight of the Palestinian people - men, women and children, young and old, a people of many talents that has been forced to live in refugee camps for generations, without an end in sight to their agony and destitution. Those who are not refugees in Lebanon are largely refugees elsewhere, and their existence is often equally precarious and problematical. Hence the Palestinian issue remains at the core of the Middle East problem and the attendant general destabilization of the region. For too long the problem of Paletine was either misunderstood or deliberately misrepresented as a conflict between the Arab States, on the one hand, and the State of Israel, on the other. Some portrayed it as a refugee problem, simply invoking sympathy and charitable assistance. The fundamental issue of a people with an inherent right to an independent State of its wn in which it could exercise self-determination was often ignored. The anti-Palestinian lobby utilized sections of the world media to cast the Palestinian liberation struggle and its widely recognized organisation, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), in a negative light. Great efforts were made to have them written off as mere terrorists, a ploy which has not worked and will never work. That is why today the PLO enjoys Observer status in this Organization, accepting the responsibilities and benefiting from the privileges that such status carries. In 1974 the General Assembly authoritatively pronounced itself on the Palestinian issue when, at its twenth-ninth session, it adopted its resolution 3236 (XXIX). That resolution clearly spells out the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, which include, among others, the right to national (Mr, Kibedi, Uganda) independence and sovereignty and to self-determination in a State of its own ' without external intervention. The General Assembly also recognized the Palestinian right to representation through the PLO, its sole legitimate representative, which was accorded Observer status. The inalienable rights of the Palestinian people have been reaffirmed in resolutions at subsequent sessions of the General Assembly. Those resolutions provide the framework for a comprehensive Middle East settlement which takes into account the legitimate interests of all concerned. Even the traditional friends of Israel in Europe, namely the European Economic Community, in their Vienna Declaration of 1980, which they subsequently reiterated, have endorsed the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination within the framework of a Middle East settlement and have declared that the Palestinians, through the PLO, ought to be involved in negotiations for a peaceful settlement. In spite of the consensus on the urgent need to find a solution to the problems of the Middle East, the legitimate demands of the Palestinian people, which are the core of this problem, have not yet been addressed. The main reason for the lack of progress towards a comprehensive solution remains the obduracy of Israel as well as lack of political will on the part of important Members Of our Organization. Thus the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and the will Of the international community have been flouted. Right from the start Israel embarked on a course aimed at preventing the full implementation of the United Nations Partition Plan. Through the forceful seizure of neighbouring lands, it set Out to expand beyond the bounderies allocated to it by the Partition Plan and swallowed up Palestinian lands. It Continues to pursue a policy of total disregard of the legitimate rights Of the Palestinian people and has arbitrarily expropriated and requisitioned Arab land in the territories occupied in 1967, establishing Jewish settlements there. There are Plans to increase those settlements sharply. Through policies of enforced deportation, Palestinians are being forced to leave their homelands. The report of the Special Committee on Israeli practices and the introductory remarks of Ambassador Massamba Sarre, Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise Of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, have given a graphic account of Israeli actions. Viewed against the background of the annexation Of the city of Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, it is clear that it is the Israeli Government's objective eventually to annex the West Bank and Gaza. The developments in the Middle East over the past four decades have underscored the need for concerted international action under the auspices of the United Nations to find a viable and lasting settlement. We therefore strongly support the convening of an international peace conference on the Middle East, as called for in General Assembly resolution 38/58, in which all the parties concerned, including the soviet union, the United States and the Palestine Liberation Organization, would participate. rt is regrettable to us that responsible Members of this Organization are blocking the convening of such a Conference. We fully share the Secretary-General's concern stated in his report as follows: "In the Middle East, despite efforts from many sides to advance the search for a just and lasting settlement, there is at present an alarming absence of a generally acceptable and active negotiating process, Experience shows all too clearly that such a stalemate encourages resort to extremism and risks the recurrence of wider violence. A way must be found to initiate, as soon as possible, a negotiating process with the participation of all (Mr. Kibedi, Uganda) concerned. I still believe that the machinery of the United Nations, suitably adapted if necessary, can be a useful and acceptable framework for this purpose. There is now a wide measure of agreement that peace in the Middle East can best be achieved through a comprehensive settlement that would cover all aspects of the conflict, including the question of Palestine." (A/41/L.lr P= 1) Uganda supports the Fez Plan, as it offers a sound basis for a comprehensive solution to the problem. I wish also to reiterate Uganda's position that the United Nations can provide a framework for a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East. A framework for peace can be just if it restores the rights Of the Palestinian people , and it can be comprehensive if it takes into account all the legitimate aspirations of the people of the region and involves the participation of all the parties concerned. AS President yoweri Museveni stated when he addressed the Summit Conference Of the Crganization of African Unity in Addis Ababa in July of this yeart "It is our considered view that the Palestinians, like all others in the region, are entitled to a homeland of their own where they and their neighbours can live in security in accordance with the relevant Security Council resolutions. Without finding a just solution to the Palestinian question, the Middle East is likely to continue as a region of potential big-Power conflict to the detriment of everyone." Since the restoration of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people is central to a comprehensive settlement of the problems of the Middle East, it follows that the Palestine Liberation Organization, the sole and authentic representative of the Palestinian people, must of necessity be involved in such negotiations. My delegation is pleased to seize the opportunity provided by this forum to take part in this debate and to make known our views on an issue which is of crucial importance not only to the parties immediately concerned with the problem but to the world at large. Mr. MOUMIN (CO~O~OS): A year has gone by since this body assembled the greatest number of Heads of State in its history to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the Organization. Each and every Wead of State, in his or her statement to the Assetily, reiterated the strongest desire for the maintenance of world Peace and the development of international co-oparation in order to repel the demon of war and contain the hotbeds of tension the world over. Now that a year has passed we ask ourselves whether that pledge has been fulfilled and whether there has been any tangible imprcrvement in the international efforts to maintain peace and security in the world. The answer to th iS question is, unfortunately, a big no. There has been no improvement in that direction. This is clear from our discussians here during the past three weeks. During that time f the General Assetily again focused its attention on the depressing and extremely dangerous situations threatening peace and security. We started with the situation in Kampuchea, then came to Afghanistan, South Africa, Namibia and, today I Palestine, while tomorrow it will be the Middle East. All these are dangerous Situations that are potential threats to world Peace and security. They are the howeds of a third world war, The question of Palestine is as old as the United Nations itself. For more than 40 years the Organization has been seized of the question. For more than 40 Years the Organization has discussed the question and formulated solutions, and all that can be said or formulated in order to arrive at an acceptable solution to the Problem has been said or formulated. Resolutions have been adopted year in, Year out throughout that time, y et tie solution to the problem is not in sight- The arrogant Zionist authorities, heedless of all international appeals for a just settlement of the Palestine question, defiantly respd bY flouting all the united Nations resolutions relative to the question. (Mr. Moumin, Comoros) Had the Zionists abided by General Assembly resolution 181 (II), of 1947, entitled "Future government of Palestine" the problem wxld have long been solved, but the Zionists are not known to be lovers of peace. Violence is in their blood, They would rather use violence than diplomacy in solving problems. The history of tbe creation of the illegal State of Israel is written in the blood of tne Arabs, the legal Owners Of the territory. Their history is full of terrorist acts, starting with the Stern Gang, which killed Lord Moyne, the British Resident Minister of State in Cairo on 6 November 1944; the assassination of the United Nations Mediator, Count Hernadotte, in 1948; the encroachment of 1948 through the terror in Deir Yassin; in 1956 the Kafr Kassem terror; in 1967 the war of invasion, in 1982 the unwarranted invasion of Lebanon, where Israeli forces to this day continue their aggression, with renewed escalation of violence and terror, inflicting heavy casualties and material damage on the Palestinians and other Arabs, not to mention the infamous events of shocking memory in Sabra and Shatila. This all proves that the Israelis are not a peace-loving people. The people of Palestine have a legitimate right to their own State in the land of their forefathers, and peace cannot prevail in the Middle East unless Israel withdraws from the land it has illegally occupied and facilitates the creation of a Palestinian State in Palestine. The people of Palestine have suffered too much and it would be a crime against humanity to allow them suffer KU&I more. It is imperative that a solution to the problem be found, and this solution can be found only in a genuine grasp of the cause of the Arab-Israeli conflict, which is the question of Palestine. No solution can be envisaged which does not fully take into account the legitimte aspirations of the Palestinian people, which include the realization of their inalienable right to return to their homes and property and to achieve self-determination, national independence and sovereignty. It is also indispensable that the Palestine Liberation Organization (Pu)), the sole representative of the Palestinian people, be allowed to participate on an equal footing with other parties in all efforts, deliberations and conferences on the Middle East. The question of Palestine is tie question of the strugg3.e for freedom of a people fighting to rid themselves of the atrocities inflicted upon them by an Occupying Power that legitimizes aggression and State terrorism against an entire people whose only crime is to fight for the restitution of their rights, There is increasing concern that the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories has continued to deteriorate because of the negative attitude Of the Israelis and Israel's persistence in its policy of confiscating Arab-owned land in the occupied Palestinian territories and of increasing the size and number of its settlements, despite the fact that such a policy is a violation of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War Of August1949, and contrary to united Nations resolutions. At the same time, ISrad continues its policy of Judaization of the occupied Palestinian territories through their gradual economic and administrative incorporation into the Israeli national system and the creation of conditions that force the Palestinians to emigrate from their land. Indeed, the situation that prevails in Palestine is outrageous and demands more Strongly than ever before our full and immediate attention. It is utterly unacceptable that we should have debated this issue for so many decades and yet (Mr. Moumin, Comotos) achieved so little in the way of progress. Action is what is needed now and this Assembly is the appropriate forum in which that action should be conceived and undertaken. In this regard, it is our belief that the most appropriate action would be the immediate convening of the International Peace Conference on the Middle East, under the auspices of the United Naticns, in which all the parties concerned, including the PLC, will participate on an equal footing, together with the five permanent members of the Security Council. I cannot conclude my statement without expressing my delegation’s appreciation to the United Nations Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, which, under the able chairmanship of Ambassador Sarr6 of Senegal, has presented us with a very lucid report. My delegation hopes that the Committee’s findings and reoommendaticns meet with the full support of the in terna tional community. Mr. RAHMAN (Bangladesh): The continued Israeli intransigence on Palestine is not deliberate defiance of this august house, it is an affront to humanity. Israeli actions are not the perpetrations of a mindless r&gime, but elements Of a carefully calculated strategy spanning decades to vest the illegal entity with the substance of legality. Tf they have succeeded, it is a sad commentary on the values of our times. The sorrows of Palestine, the miseries of the Palestinians scattered over the face Of earth, the sufferings of the Arabs in bondage in the occupied territories, are all parts of a tragedy painfully unfolding before a global audience. should the audience continue to behold the drama in silence, and inaction, and without protest? To do so would not be a sin, but an act of cowardice. My delegation condemns the Zionist entity for its continuing occupation of the Arab and Palestinian territories , and for trampling upon the human rights of the Arab and Palestinian peoples in the occupied territories. Israel has continually defied the relevant United Nations resolutions by establishing settlements in the occupied areas and in desecrating the holy places Of the Muslims. Israel has, with impunity, perpetrated State terrorism by attacking neighbouring territories and innocent men, women and children. It is our firm conviction that the question of Palestine lies at the heart of the crisis in the Middle East. Any comprehensive settlement of the issue must guarantee the total and unconditional withdrawal of Israel from all Palestinian and . Arab territories it has occupied since 1967, including the holy city of Al Quds Al Sharif. Such a settlement must permit the Palestinian people to exercise their inalienable and legitimate rights, to return to their homeland, and also to (Mr. Rahman, Bangladesh) establish a sovereign and independent State under the leadership of their sole a*d legitimate representative, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). These are the essential principles that can bring to an end the tragedy, turmoil and strife that has tormented that region for over three decades. My delegation wishes to reaffirm Bangladesh's solidarity with the Palestinian people in their just struggle, under the leadership of the PLO. Bangladesh has consistently supported the Arab Peace Plan of Fez as a sound basis for establishing peace in that region. We support the call for the immediate convening of the International Peace Conference on the Middle East, in which the PLO can participate on an equal footing with all other parties directly concerned. We commend the untiring endeavours of the Secretary-General and stand ready to extend every support to him in his efforts to convene such a Conference. Every time the question of Palestine comes before this august Assembly it is a reminder to us that one of the gravest issues of our times still remains unresolved. Let us not allow posterity to point a finger at us and accuse us of our inability to provide justice to the Palestinian people. All they want is a home of their own. Have we a right to deny them this? Mr. RAJAIE-KHORASSANI (Islamic Republic of Iran): The occupation of Palestine and the homelessness of the Palestinian people have been the central theme of a great part of contemporary political literature. Every year, almost all the nations of the world vote in support of the Palestinian people in this General Assembly. Yet the people of Palestine are today as homeless as ever before and the land of Palestine is as occupied by the lawless Zionist usurpers as ever before. The occupation has even been expanded. Yet, the professional diplomats and politicians, the learned, the knowledgeable and the erudite still repeat the same arguments every year, even though their political and verbal support has been of nc (Mr. Rajaie-Khorassani, Islamic Republic of Iran) 1 practical consequence for the Palestinian people other than the pacification Of 1 those victimized people, Had resolutions been of any avail, the flag of Palestine would already have been xehoisted. so many years of fruitless and inconclusive I repetitions of statements, interventions, resolutions, amendments, and so on, should have awakened the dormant international conscience to the question of why 1 the problem of Palestine is every year being buried under tons of most sympathetic statements, victorious resolutions and supportive documents. The United Nations, with all due respect, is not much older than the problem of Palestine; and thanks to the permanent presence of Western imperialist forces in ~ it, the United Nations has been involved in the actual creation and Official registration of the problem of the Zionist occupation of Palestine and is hence even partially responsible for the victimization of the Palestinian people. Thus, it remains a part of the problem, not really a part of the solution. It is - and I would emphasize this point - simple-mindedness and over-optimism to expect the same international body to contradict its own raison d'ttre and restore the so-called inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to them. ft is true that the present balance of forces in today's General Assembly is cuantitatively different from that of 40 years ago: but it is also true that many of the so-called difference in forces is either irrelevant, totally assimilated err by and large, under the influence of global arrogance. The uuality of the governing forces is kept more or less in such a balance in this General Assembly and in the international body as a whole, that when the entire world is in favour of, let us say, granting independence to colonised territories, the decision is not mandatory, because it is taken by the General Assembly; and where such decisions can be mandatory, there are only the chosen few which take those decisions and not the General Assembly; and those decisions are usually obstructed by vetoes. The United Nations therefore is simply not the right place for solving the problem of the Zionist Occupation of Palestine. Moreover, the nature of the Palestinian problem has been wrongly defined in order that the international body simulate the position of an appropriate forum for this problem. The tragedy is SO grave that the child of imperialism has long been brought to the ranks of genuine human societies represented in this Assembly, whereas Palestine has been kept On the other side of the fence as a spectator with an observer position; and we all have remained so callously indifferent as if nothing has been wrong at all during these years. What a shame! There must be a limit to audacity. The problem of the occupation of Palestine is essentially misconceived, misdefined, misunderstood and therefore misrepresented. It is not an international problem of a secular political nature that can be placed in one of the categories suggested for classifying so-called international problems here. Palestine is not simply a piece of land; it is not a newly-built country with little or no culture or historical background. It is Palestine, an inseparable part of Islamic territory whose defence is mandatory for every Muslim. It lies in one of our most holy places. It is the platform of the Me'eraj, the ascension of the Holy Prophet, and it surrounds a sanctuary about which the Holy Koran says: (spoke in Arabic) Glory to (God) who did take His Servant For a Journey by night From the Sacred MosoU@ To the Farthest Mosque (Sura, XVII) (continued in English) Palestine is an Islamic territory, an Islamic property, an Islamic heritage, an Xslamic identity, and it remains an Islamic entity and an Islamic reality, Only those who wish to betray the cause of Palestine try to secularise it. They try to nationalize it and hence de-lslamize it in order to be able to zionize it, and Only then can they conceive of rendering it to a Zionist base of terror; only the blindfolded, obedient myrmidons of imperialism recognize such an occupation* Palestine is slightly more than any one of those Member States which have been legitimately offered a seat in this dome of secularism. By virtue Qf the accommodation which it has humbly offered to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Palestine is automatically the ultra-national Islamic divine forum, historicallyt 9eogrwhically, culturally, spiritually and indeed meritoriously, far superior to the United Nations. The Muslims of the world shall never sleep comfortably until they ensure that the charter of Palestine, which is the Sura of Isra, surmounts the baseless international decisions that surrendered the Holy Land of Palestine to a 9rouP of Ashkenazi terrorists to establish their cancerous base among the Muslims (Mr. Rajaie-Khorassani, Islamic Republic of Iran) of the Middle East as well as to raise the obstacles which impede the total liberation of Palestine. The problem of Palestine, my dear Muslim brothers and representatives, must be placed in the right perspective once and for all. The solution to the problem of the occupation of Palestine is therefore to be viewed with reference to the appropriate cultural, spiritual, Islamic traits of Palestine, merely because there is always a aualitative resemblance, a congeniality between the nature of every problem and its solution, and the purgation of the Holy Land of Palestine from the unholy presence of Zionism is not an exception to this rule. Besides, such a purgation is imperatively a spiritual act of worship which must be conducted according to the Islamic norms of the charter of Palestine. Of course, the international body may, if it so decides, try to liberate our Palestine by forcing the Ashkenazi Zionists to return peacefully to their homes in London, Paris or Brooklyn in a spirit of accommodation. But, this body does not send them away, We know that. Muslims will do so as a religious imperative and according to Islamic values. This international body has the choice of continuing to grant membership to the Zionist usurpers and of keeping our Palestinian brothers at a distance as observers, or it can exchange the seat of the illegitimate for that of the legitimate. (Mr. Rajaie-Khorassani, Islamic Republic of Iran) If the Assembly has recourse to wisdom and justice, an incipient historic meeting in Palestine is likely, If not, we shall meet the enemy in the occupied territory soon. This is our plan of action and our position of principle with regard to the occupation of Palestine. 1 should like to make a brief observation on the attitude of the Unibd States towards this old issue that has been misidentified as an Arab-Israeli conflict. The United States Administration may as well know that the present conflict is not an Arab-Israeli conflict: it is a confrontation between Islam and KUfr. __ mdw, the whole of Islam and Kufr in its entirety, face each other in a confrontation that is more serious than ever before, The Government of the Uhited States has UP to xw chosen to side with infidelity and has given its unreserved support to the Zionist infidels. Because of that unwise policy, innocent people in the united States have paid - and are paying and will pay so long as United States policy reIIBin Unchanged - a very heavy price in terms of both life and property, security at-&d international humiliation. Twenty-five years ago, United states nationals could walk safely and without mY eSCOt-t, and indeed regardless of their official position or social status, in all parts of the Muslim world without looking over their shoulders at all, but nowadays no American regardless of his position or social status, can feel safe anywhere in North Africa, the entire Middle East or any other Muslim country Or aW partially Muslim State. That MY be the case in many non-Muslim Asian, African and Latin American countries too. In those good old days American officials and tourists did not need any escort. mday, the united States is in need of an army far better equipped and more sophisticated than its regular army of 25 years ago, solely for the protection of its subjects and its property outside the united States, and despite that there is constant evidence of its failure to provide such support and protection. This is because the United States Administration has been manipulated by the Zionist lobby and ignores its own national interests in favour of the interests of those who are occupying Palestine. The Zionist enemy has cleverly manipulated United States policy, United States elections and American public opinion. It has been able wrongly to convince the United States that Israeli interests and United States interests are always SynwDO~# although Israel has at the same time been so ungrateful as to spy on its supporter. It has tried to deceive public opinion in the United States by telling everybody that M.Islims are antagonistic towards the West. The duty of every Muslim to defend the liberation of Palestine has been pictured as Muslim animosity against the West, but we hope that the West will not allaw itself to be confused with a bunch of corrupt criminals who have occupied our holy land of Pales tine. We hops that the American people will be able to liberate themselves from the claws of the Zionists who are manipulating and exploiting them in every possible way. The representative of the Zionist base occupying Palestine has also tried in this General Assembly to hide the criminal faces of those terrorists whom he is supposed to represent here, by producing baseless allegations of terrorism against the most respected Muslim leaders of the present time. On behalf of the Muslim people and the mvernment of the Islamic Republic of Iran, let me assure this Assembly, first of all, that the crimes of Sabra and Shatila are not and will not be forgotten by the Muslims of the region, and definitely not by Iranian ~uslints. Seccndly, that no matter what groundless (Mr. Rajaie-Khorassani, Islamic Republic of Iran) allegations and rude insults are hurled at us by Zicnist officials in international forums, we shall never shirk our responsibilities with regard to the liberation of Palestine. Thirdly, the international body remembers very well that the well-equipped Arab armies could never have dreamed of defeating the Zionist forces occupying Palestine. More than once or twice, champions of Arab nationalism have suffered crushing defeats by the Zionist forces and they therefore concluded that the Zionists occupying Palestine were invincible, Yet a small group of Muslim combatants has not only effectively refuted the general oonviction about the invincibility of the Zionist forces but also restored the self-confidence and self-respect of the entire Arab nation who, this time, Insha'Allah, not as Arabs but as Muslims will give a very good lesson to the ugly Zionists - a lesson they will never forget. It is in order to save themselves from the punishment that they deserve for the illegal occupation of Palestine that even in this General Assembly they do not miss any chance of exploiting every relevant or irrelevant issue to confuse international public opinion. They exploit the Iran-Iraq war, SUnni-Shish, the Islamic revolution, fundamentalism versus modernism, East-West confrontation, communism, Afghanistan or any other issue. Regardless of any merit of the substance of the arguments presented by the Zionists, I wish to reiterate that none of these arguments can justify the occupation of Palestine or should they divert our attention from the illegal occupation of Palestine when the issue is being debated here. I wish to express my deep regret that a couple of people have already fallen victim to this divisive Zionist plot and both in their statements and in their exercise of rights of rePlY (Mr. Ra ja ie-Khor assan i, Islamic Renublic Of Iran) have already referred to those irrelevant matters with which the Zionist representatives have been trying to mislead them. It is evident that all the people of Afghanistan, whether those loyal to the present rdgime or those critical of it, all the people of Irag, whether those inside Irag or those who have taken refuge outside Irag, all the MUSliXIIS of North Africa, whether those in the Western Sahara or those in Morocco, all the Muslims of Fgypt, whether those who open fire on Zionist agents who are granted diplomatic Status in Egypt or those who keep silent, all the people of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia - in brief, all the Muslim nations of the WOK Id - are strongly opposed to the occupation of Palestine, regardless of any internal conflicts or differences that may exist amor.g them. Therefore, it is cnly wise for all those who wish to represent Muslim nations not to permit the devil enemy to exploit those differences for the creation of further confusion in international public opinion. I should also reiterate that we and all other Muslims make a clear distinction between Judaism, which is a divine message proclaimed by Moses - may peace be upon him - and the racist atheistic ideology of Zionism, whioh treats even the local Jews from the Sephardic family as second-class citiz@nS+ Finally, the Western countries, whether in Europe or in the American continent, must rest assured that the Muslim contribution to the West has always been a peaceful and constructive challenge of which Muslims are proud. Muslims have always maintained their moral commitments, and will continue to do so, to all Eastern and Western countries. Muslims have always participated effectively and constructively in all administrative, academic, economic and industrial activities in every Western country where they have resided. While the Muslims have always contributed to the productive and useful endeavours of their national States, the Zionists, on the other hand, are well known for sinister infiltration, manipulation, forgery and dealing in drugs and pornographic, corrupting materials. As evidence of this character of the Zionists, in particular those occupying Palestine, I wish to read out a few passages from a booklet written by a Jew who ran away from occupied Palestine. This document is written by an Ashkenazi Jew who left the united States under the influence of Jewish propaganda for the “heaven” of Israel, so to speak, intending to live there for ever, to stay for good, After some time he concluded that he must run away from that "hell" of Zionism, and upon coming back to the united States, he addressed himself to the American people in this booklet. (Mr. Rajaie-Khorassani, Islamic Republic of Iran) There are many books like this, some of which I am sure representatives have in their offices, but just to refresh the memories of some of our colleagues I decided to pick up the one that was most easily available and to read out a few passages from it. With regard to discrimination inside occupied Palestine, it says on page 7: "Opportunities for employment follow the same pattern: Ashkenazi Jews get the choicest jobs, Sephardic Jews next, and Moslem, Druze and Christians fill the menial jobs with a great many left unemployed. "Even though I was an Ashkenazi Jew from the United States, I was placed lower on the list for housing because I had married a Sephardic Jewess. "Being denied housing was my second experience of the intense racism that exists in Israel. From the very beginning of my arrival in Israel, many Slurs were yelled at me. We American Jews were merely being tolerated." On page 9, with regard to the so-called democratic character of this base, the Writer is trying to show that it is only a police State, and in this context he says: "Like in Nazi Germany , all people in Israel are required to carry identity booklets called 'Teudat Zehut' in Hebrew. "One day I changed jackets and forgot to take out my ID booklet when I went downtown in Tel Aviv. A police officer approached me and asked for mY 'Teudat Zehut'. I told him I had left it in my other jacket. ‘Because I didn't have my ID booklet with me, I was taken to the Police station. (Mr. Rajaie-Khorassani, Islamic Republic of Iran) "At the police station, the desk sergeant informed me that for not having mY ID booklet with me, I could be jailed for up to 16 days without even being taken before a judge. ~11 that was necessary is for the Police Lieutenant to sign a 'Remand Order'. "I asked permission to make a -telephone call to my wife and tell her to bring my ID booklet to the station. The Sergeant allowed me two hours to have my 'Teudat Zehut' produced. I called my wife and she brought my 'Teudat Zehut' - arriving just minutes before the two-hour deadline expired. If she had been late in arriving, I would have been jailed for 16 days for not having my ID booklet with me. "This is just one indication that Israel is a 'Police State' and not a democracy." NOW I should like to turn to page 14 - and I hope that members will be patient with me because some of these remarks are very interesting. The writer is speaking of religious discrimination. That is one of the issues on which most of the representatives of the third world are being punished in the Third Committee. Yet as everybody knows, there is no resolution against the Zionists occupying Palestine with regard to this particular crime, which is so prevalent in occupied Palestine. The writer says: "Israeli laws suppress all religion - For instance, it is against the law to try and convert a Jew to another religion even if the Jew is an athiest or humanist. “A Christian is permitted to preach the gospel in a church building, but for the clergy or anyone to even tell anyone about teachings in the Bible outside the church building will hring a 5-year prison sentence." HOW do members like that? "For a Christian to give a bible or other religious article to a Jew will also bring a S-year sentence. Even an act of kindness by a Christian toward a Jew, such as giving a gift of food , can be interpreted as trying to convert the Jew to Christianity and can bring a 5-year prison sentence. "This same law of religious suppression applies to those of the Islamic faith who in an act of kindness give a gift of any kind to a Jew. A li-year prison sentence can result." So much for religious freedom and democracy in occupied Palestine. More interesting is the passage regarding Israeli crimes. I am reading from page 27: "Since Israel (formerly Palestine) is the land where Moses, Jesus and Mohammed once walked, it would seem the inhabitants of this land would have respect for this holy land and for the religious sites that exist. "Nearly all Arab Moslems and Arab Christians do have respect, even reverence, toward the holiness of the land; but, only a small minority of the Jews have this same respect. 95% of the Jewish population are athiests or SeCUlar humanists and are not held back by the 10 commandments or other restraints on sinful human behaviour. "When the Zionist/Bolshevik Jews won control of the 'Holy Land,' every form of sin began seeping into this land. Within a few short decades, this holy land became a modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah. Drug trade, drug abuse, illegal weapons sales, prostitution, gambling, labour racketeering, murder, extortion, blackmail, insurance fraud, loan sharking and corruption of government officials and police. "Israel has a highly organizsd crime syndicate headouartered in Bat-Yam near Tel Aviv. Many members of the crime syndicate are ex-convicts and @x-commandos from the Israeli Army and they are highly skilled in the use of weapons and explosives. "The crime syndicate in Israel operates openly because of corruption in government and police circles. Some of the police and government officials are 'paid-off' by the crime syndicate and some officials are actively associated with the crime operation. "The average American doesn't hear of this, the real side of Israel, because the Zionist controlled press, radio and TV in America keeps silent about it. But in Israel some newspapers report the facts. For instance, right in the middle of page one of one of the Hebrew language newspapers a couple of years ago was an article that said, in effect, what the Italian mafia couldn't accolnplish in 40 years, the Israeli mafia accomplished ih 5 years. It has developed the largest illegal drug exporting ring in the Mideast, selling drugs mainly to Germany and the U.S." 1 should like to call the attention of those who are fighting drug abuse in the United States to this particular sentence. in the Third Committee we hear about drug trafficking and every country is named, except the real agent, the real criminal, On page 30, with regard to racism, which is the main characteristic of that State, we read the following: "You will recall that I mentioned my troubles in 'Israel began when I, an Ashkenazi Jew, married a Sephardic Jewess. Anti-Sephardic treatment bY Ashkenazi Jews is even official government policy. This racism runs very deep in Israel and sharply divides the Jewish pOpulatiOn. "One day I entered a cafe in Tel Aviv. The place was crowded and I sat down on the only seat available. A&SO sitting at this table were 5 sephardic Jews from Morocco. They learned that f was studying the Hebrew language, so they were helping me with my studies when a blue-eyed, Nazi-type Israeli police officer walked into the cafe. "He ordered me to 'Get away from those Kooshim'. 'Kooshim' in Hebrew means 'NiggerS' . "I replied, 'After I finish eating.' "The officer drew his service revolver and said, 'You move now=' "'YOU had better listen to him,@ the cafe owner advised. so, I got up. "Standing close to me, the officer pointed his gun right at my face and ordered, 'Throw your coffee and pastry on the floor.' With a gun pointed at me, I didn't argue. I threw the coffee and pastry on the floor. "Then he said, 'Get out of here and don't come back.'" Let me read another passage. The whole book is interesting; hut it is time-consuming. On page 33 evidence of Zionist terrorism is offered. It is very important to remember that, since all the officials of this base are professional t@rrorists and since the base is theoretically founded on terrorism, in order to make the term "terrorism" gain currency and make the base somehow tolerable, the first and best device for the representatives of the Zionist base is to accuse everybody else, every good man in the world, of terrorism. If that were done, all people would look alike, therefore the territories would be safe. But that is not going to work. As regards terrorism, the book says: "BY 1948 when Israel declared itself a state, those invading Jews had increased their land ownershipt but, it was still less than 6%. "To accommodate the increasing European Jewish migration, the Yews needed more land, but the Palestinian Arabs refused to sell. so, to get more land from the Palestinians these communist oriented European (Ashkenazi) Jews resorted to the one thing at which they are adept - terrorism. “Their first major act of terrorism against the Palestinians was at the Palestinian village of Deir Yassin. During the night of 9 April 1948, two Zionist terrorist gangs, the Irqun and the Stern Gang attacked and massacred over 250 men, women and children. "Menachem Begin, leader of the attack on Deir Yassin and later, Prime Minister of Israel, had this to say, IThe massacre was not only justified, but there would not have been a state of Israel without the "victory" at Deir Yassin'. "The massacre at Deir Yassin caused other Palestinians to flee their homes in fear. Zionist terrorists drove trucks with loudspeakers through the streets and over the roads of Palestine warning Palestinians that what happened at Deir Yassin would happen to them if they didn't leave. These Zionist terrorists weren't bluffing. For example: "They killed 60 Palestinians at Balad Bsh-Sheikh. "They blew up 20 homes in Sa'sa', killing 60 women and children. "They killed a number of women who were working in Saint Simon monastery in Jerusalem. “They massacred 250 at Lydda. “They killed 200, mostly old people, in the village mosque in Ed-Dawayimeh. “They killed 51 workers as they returned from their fields at Kafr Qasem. “Christian inhabitants of Kaba Bir’im were expelled from the village and the village destroyed. The village cemetery was desecrated, including the smashing of 73 crosses. “During the few months when these and other acts of terrorism were taking place, 300,000 Palestinian Christians and Moslems were forced to leave their homes or be killed by the terrorist groups which were made up of European, communist oriented Jews. “After Israel declared itself a state on 14 May 1948, Israeli terrorism continued in an effort to push more Palestinians from their homes* “Since 1948, 350 Christian churches and Moslem mosques have been destroyed by these Zionist terrorists. “At this point, I wish to give this warning to all God-believing people ’ in the United States, Christians, Moslems and Jews: "The destruction of religion by the Zionist Jews is well underway in the U.S. In Israel, it has nearly been accomplished.” ‘Ph@ final passage that I wish to read to you is on page 35 - how they eliminate opposition) it is a very brief paragraph, but it is nice to know more about them. It reads% “To accomplish their goals, the Zionists will let no one stand in their way. During World War II, the Zionist leadership co-operated with the Nazis by delivering lower class Jews to the concentration camps." Members will understand who was really responsible for the Holocaust* “So, it is not surprising that they sank the ship ‘Patria’ carrying 252 Jewish immigrants whom the Zionists feared may oppose Zionism= In another incident, 760 Jewish lives were lost when the Zionists sank the ship ‘Struma’ for the same reason. “Even well-known world figures are not immune to Zionist terrorism and violence. In 1948, in an effort to bring about a peaceful settlement in the Israeli/Palestinian area, the United Nations sent Count Folke Bernadotte Of Sweden to mediate. Count Bernadotte favoured a partition of the area - a portion of the land for Jews and a portion for Palestinians. This angered the Zionists who wanted all the land, In a brazen show of disregard for diplomacy, justice and common decency, the Zionists ‘eliminated’ Count Bernadotte. He and his driver were assassinated while riding down the streeta of Jerusalem.” (Jack Bernstein, “The Life of an American Jew in racist, Marxist Israel”) This testimony by an honest Jew, whom we greatly respect for his commitment to the religion proclaimed by Moses - may peace be upon him - may convince all representatives regarding the nature of Zionism and the Zionist non-entity occupying Palestine. Let me reiterate that, until this Zionist base is dismantled comPletelY, peace and SeCUrity will not prevail in the Middle East, because the Very nature of that r&ime is crime, terror, war, bloodshed and corruption. PortunatelY, recent developments in the region have provided reasons for optimism. As I have said, a small group of committed, serious Muslims have been able to crush the invincible army of Zionists occupying Palestine. It does not take long for the Muslim nations to unite and to liberate all of us, even the General Assembly, from the claws of Zionism. Mr. ICAZA GALLARD (Nicaragua) (interpretation from Spanish): The question of Pales tine has been discussed in the Security Council and in the General Assembly since the founding of the Organization. Forty years of discussion and countless resolutions adopted by both bodies have not managed to solve this PC oblem, which lies without question at the heart of the Middle East crisis. The Middle East has been the theatre of many wars, all of which, in essence, have had their origin in Israel’s illegal, unjust and relentless policy of denying the Palestinian people their right to self-determination and their right to a homeland. The suffering, destruction and logls of life caused by that policy and the efforts made by the international community since this Organizaticn’s inception, have not been enough. The report of the Committee an the Brercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People submitted to the General Aasenbly at its forty-first Session could not be more eloquent. The report states: “As a result of the policies and pratices of Israel ‘and of the resulting lack of progress towards a peaceful, just, durable and comprehensive solution, tension and violence have continued to grow in the area, further endangering international peace and security.* (A/41/35, para. 5) The report is clear in its confirmation of the &grading and inhuman treatment Boeing meted out to Palestinians in the territories under Israeli occupation. I@ ference is made to the reinstatement in August of 1985 of the emergency regulations of 1945, introduced during the British Mandate, which are the principal tools of Israel’s repressive policy. Mention is made of arbitrary arrests, tar ture, collective punishment, vandalism and the profanation of the &slem Holy Places, especially in Hebron and Jer’usalem, all of which are daily occurrences, We have all known for a long time who is responsible for the Organization ‘s powerlessness to resolve this problem. I sr ael has received unconditional (Mr. Icaza Gallard, Nicaragua) political, military and economic support from Washington. That support has taken the form of the united States abusive recourse to the veto in the Security Council on more than 50 occasions and the continued contempt that Israel, encouraged by that support, has consistently shown towards the resolutions adopted by the general Ass etily . The situation reflected in the Committee’s report can only be equated with that created by the brutal and inhuman sys tern of apartheid in South Africa. The facts of the situation should provide food for thought to those countries whi&, putting their self-interest first, continue to support both those rdgimes. That support turns their purported supper t for human rights into hypocritical and empty words. The efforts of the Organization have been crystallized in a series of principles that form the bases for any solution to the Middle East problem. First, the question of Palestine is the key element of the entire problem. Without respect for the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including their right to return to their homeland, to self+eterminatim and to independence and to establish their own independent State in Palestine, there can be no just and lasting peace in that region of the world. Secondly, the participation on an equal footing of all interested parties, including the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), in all talks, meetingsr negotiation8 and conferences held with the purpose of achieving a just and lasting peace, is indispensable. Thirdly, the principle of the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by force must be respected. The basis for any solution, therefore, is Israel’s complete and unaxditional withdrawal from all occupied Arab and Palestinian territories. mur thly , all the provisions and measures adopted by the occupying Power, x srael, designed to alter the status of Jerusalem, such as the expropriation of 1-d and property, the promulgation of the so-called basic law and the designation of that city as the capi ta1 of Israel, are null and void. Fifthly, the right of all States in the region to exist within secure and internationally recognised borders , with justice and security for all peoples, must be respected. Sixthly, Israeli policies and practices in the occupied Arab territories, including Jet usalem , are inadmissible and illegal. Those policies and practices have been condemned by a vast majority of the international community. Lastly, we believe that the convening of the International Peace Conference on the Middle East, under the auspices of the united Nations, as spelled out in the 1983 Geneva Declaration on Pales tine, brooks no delay, The holding of that Conference would be an important step forward in the quest for a just and lasting peace in the Middle East. In that connection, both Israel and the United States Would demonstrate their interest in finding a peaceful settlement to the problem were they to desist from their opposition to the convening of that Conference. The PLO, the sole, legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, cannot be excluded from that Conference, since, without its participation in any rregotiatias, a just and lasting solution to the problem cannot be achieved. We must remeder that both the holding of the Conference and the establishment of a preparatory committee within the framework of the Security Council have the full support of the Non-Aligned Movement which I at its eighth summit meeting, emphasised the need for that conference to be held as early as possible and candermed the negative attitude of Israel and the Wnfted States with respect to it. That position of the non-aligned, which my Oavernment shares, must be taken into account by all the metiers of the Security Council, the body which bears the major responsibility in the establishment of that preparawry committee. we should like to conclude by expressing our solidarity With the Palestine Liberation Organizatico, the sole, authentic and legitimate representative of the Pales tine people. Nicaragua has identified fully and actively with the Palestinian cause, not only because we believe it to be a just and neoessary cause, but because we have found - and the latest news yesterday in the American press appears to confirm this once again - that Nicaragua, like the Palestinian people, is the target of the same imperialist interests. The day is not far off when justice and pea-r the ObjeCtiveS of both our struggles, will pevail for the good of all mank ind . The PRESIIXNT: May I now invite the representative of Senegal to introduce draft resolutions A/41/L.38, L.39, L.40 and L.41. Mr. SARRE (Senegal) (interpretation from French) t A week from now, when we mark the day of solidarity with the Palestinian people, the international community will be showing renewed solidarity with the Palestinian people and for the return of peace and stability in the Middle East- For several days now we have been discussing the question of Palestine in the Assembly. All this shows, on the one hand, the concern of the international community over this matter, and on the other the need for finding a just and lasting solution to the problem, if we wish to see peace and stability restored in the region. It is obvious to all that failure to settle the Palestinian issue is a threat to peace and international security. Therefore, the General Assembly and the Security Council must pool their efforts to settle the question. It is in this spirit and framework that the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights Of the Palestinian People, since its establishment, has spared no effort to supply the relevant bodies of the United Nations with those elements likely to achieve that objective. One example is the settlement plan proposed by the Committee in the form of recommendations. As the Assembly will remember, it endorsed the plan at Previous sessions, both regular and special. Other international forums have already adopted these recommendations, and On the initiative of the Committee, with the approval of the General Assembly, an International Conference on the Question of Palestine was held in Geneva from 29 August to 7 September 1983. That Conference, inter alia, proposed the convening of the International Peace Conference on the Middle East as the best possible way t0 appeal for dialogue among the parties involved. The dialogue presupposes, f i rat and foremost, the absence of any pre-established conditions. Par all of these reasons, the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People wishes to submit to the Assembly draft resolutions A/41/L.38, L.39, L.40 and L.41. Draft resolution A/4l/L,38 stresses the need for the Security Council to take positive action on the recommendations of the Committee, in so far as these recommendations, through their objectivity and pragmatism, and taking into consideration the interests of all parties involved, can make a notable contribution to a settlement of the question of Palestine. It was also considered necessary to inject new dynamism into the united Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine. Draft resolution A/4l/L.39 deals in particular with the role of the Secretariat on the question of Palestine. Here, the Secretary-General is requested to provide the Division for Palestinian Rights of the Secretariat with the necessary resources. This body, as the Assembly is aware, has succeeded, through its dedication, competence and objectivity, since its establishment, in making the question Of Palestine better understood and grasped by public opinion. Draft resolution A/41/L.40 deals with the role of the Department of Public Information in bringing about a better understanding of the question of Palestine. Here, we welcome the outstanding manner in which the Department of Public Information has discharged its task and the draft resolution requests that Department, in full co-operation with the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, to continue its special information programme on the question of Palestine , in particular to disseminate informationr publish brochures and organize regional and national encounters for journalists. Draft resolution A/41/L.41 deals with the convening of the International Peace Conference on the Middle East. That Conference is the result of a long and uitful approach to the question of Palestine. The International Conference, as vacated here, forms an important contribution by the united Nations to the search r a just and lasting solution to the question of Palestine. It brings together 1 the interested parties , as well as the permanent members of the Security Nuncil. This is why the draft resolution urges all Member States to redouble .eir efforts to convene the Conference. The Security Council, through its role in maintaining international peace and mcurity, is urged to set up - and this is an innovation - a preparatory committee 1 take the necessary action to convene the Conference. The Secretary-General, in consultation with the Security Council, is also #quested to continue his efforts with a view to convening the Conference. These four draft resolutions, in their content and wording, are aimed at a ngle objective3 the restoration of peace to the Middle East through the exercise the Palestinian people of its inalienable rights to self-determination, ldependence and the establishment of a state in Palestine, to be achieved by :acef ul means. As the Assembly will have noticed, moderation, restraint and bjectivity characterize these draft resolutions. BY adopting them the Assembly 11 have renewed its determination to work for the restoration of peacel stability Id security in the Middle East and thereby will allow the Palestinian people Once ‘ain to recover its legitimate and inalienable rights.