S/PV.1309 Security Council

In accordance withthe decisions taken previously, 1 shall now, with the consent of the Council, invite the representatives of Israel, the Syrian Arab Republic and the United Arab Republic to take seats at the Council table in order to participate without vote in the discussion. At the invitation of the President, Mr. M. Comay (Israel), MI-. G. J. Tomeh (Syria) and Mr. M. A. El Kony (United Arab Republic) took places at the C’ouncil table.

At the 1308th meeting, on Monday, the Council acceded to the request of the representative of Saudi Arabia that he be permitted to make a statement on the question before us. As that stafement has not been concluded, 1 shall invite the representative of Saudi Arabia to take a seat at the Council table. At the invitation of the Presiclent, Mr. J. M. Baroody (Saudi Arabia) took a place at the Council table.

The Council will have taken note of document S/7553 of 17 October 1966, which is 4. I shall cal1 on the Secretary-General.

On the basis of the report of the Chief of Staff of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization which has already beensubmittecl to the Security Council in document S/7553, I have already requested him to submit a further report on the inspection mentioned in paragraph 20 of his report. 1 shall submit that reportto the Council as soon as it is received.ll 6, The PRESIDENT: We shall look forward to receiving that report, We shall now resume thedebate which was postponed from our last meeting. First of all, 1 shall cal1 on the representdive of Saudi Arabia who began his statement to us at our last meeting. On that occasion I interrupted him, and he was good enough to accede to the request which 1 then put to him. 1 undertake not to do SO again today. 1 now cal1 on the representative of Saudi Arabia to continue the statement which he began at our last meeting,

It was indeed a felicitous interruption, Mr. President, because you made it possible for me to elaborate my thesis and corne to the conclusions which 1 shall present to you and the other members of the Council during this meeting. 8. TO recapitulate, 1 mentioned four main arguments which the Zionists use in claiming that Palestine is their homeland. 1 mentioned the racial argument briefly. 1 took up the religious argument in the same mariner. 1 also touched upon the historical argument. There was no time for me to speak about the humanitarian argument, which the European Zionists used even before they occupied Palestine, as to why they should first establish a national home, which finally evolved into a State. 9. 1 spoke during my last intervention about the persecution of the Jews in the Western world. If 1 had been a Jew myself, living as far back as the tenth Century or even before in the eighth Century, up to almost the middle of the twentieth century, 1 would have acted in the same way in order to find a solution to the persecution that was systematically directed towards the Jews of Europe. We have no quarrel with the Jews as such. In humanity, they had to have a haven. Adolf Hitler, of course, helped the causeof the Zionists unintentionally and inadvertently. Al1 of us, of a11 faiths, deplored not only the brutality but also the untold miseries that were suffered by people of the Jewish faith at the hands of the Nazis on account of their religion. y Subsequently circulated as document S/756l/Rev.l. 11. In my last statement, 1 maintained that the Zionists, or those who bore the torch of Zionism, were Europeans, rooted in Europe, nurtured by European culture and tradition. Judaism, their great religion, was unfortunately used by them as a motivation for their political ends. With regard to historical grounds , our Zionist colleague mentioned the other day-1 think it was in the General Assembly, when he replied to the representative of Syria-that the association between the Jewish people and Palestine goes back 3,000 years. 12. If we are to take the historical argument that people were at one time or the other associated with a certain land or territory, then why should not our colleague from Italy claim one day that the United Kingdom should be occupied by Italy-at one time perhaps Mussolini would have liked to do that-just because the Romans played a civilizing role in the United Kingdom before it was known as such? Why should not the Red Indians who live on this continentwho lived here and are now in reservations-claim that the whole of the United States should be under their rule and domination? Do we discriminate in questions of religion? Did not the Red Indians ever live here? Who knows but that Central Park was the site where they worshipped their gods? Will the United States listen to any Indian who claims that some United States territory should be handed back to them? I think it would be foolish even to cite arguments such as the historical associations, 13. 1 am an Arab, and of course somebody Will say that when Baroody talks on this subject, he should be biased-not that he is biased, but that he should betowards the Arab cause. That is why 1 am encouraged to xead a few passages from the latest book of an eminent historian, none other than Toynbee. In his book-published last April, I believe-he says: “The consequence of the conversion of the Jews to Western nationalism has been the establishment of the local Jewish State of Israel, and the consequence of that has been to despoil [those] . . . whose Aramaic-speaking and Greek-speaking ancestors had been in continuous occupation of this country for more than 1,800 years. They have been deprived of their homes, land and property, and have turned into refugees. This is the worst of a11 the many injustices that the reversa1 of the Diaspora structure of socieiy has inflicted on any people SO far.” 14. 1 sometimes wonder whether some Westerncountries nnd the United States did not want to get rid of the Jews, to send them to Israel. I came here twentyfive years ago. This started me on my human rights career. 1 read the papers and 1 sometimes found, when 1 was looking for a hotel outside of New York, the word wrestrictedW. 1 did not know what the word “restricted” stood for. 1 was told. And 1 shuddered, hecause 1 am a Semite myself. They said that the word “restricted” meant that Jews are not allowed to stay in this or that hotel. Well, thank God for the legislation that was brought about, by the efforts not of American Jews alone but of others, to see to it that a mari is not discriminated against because of his religion or ethnie origin. Thank Gocl for that. 15. But liberal Americans still have a bigfight before a11 people cari feel at home. 1 sometimes wonder why the United States helped in the establishment of Israel. Nationalism is a Western ideology, we know thatfrom history. In the name of this ideology, many follies and crimes have been committed. Political Zionism is a narrow nationalist movement using religion as a vehicle for attaining its own ends. 16. 1 refer to political Zionism; there is nothing wrong with spiritual Zionism referred to the other day by none other than our friend, Mr. Goldberg. Everyone is entitled to spiritual sentiments evoked in him by his own religion. However, political Zionism fortified the concept of a dual nationality for a11 Jews until they cari be ingathered in Palestine. The other day 1 mentioned that this was not possible, because mnny Jews a11 over the world do not identify themselves with political Zionism and do not wish to live in Palestine. 17. In this instance, 1 should like to refer, as a student of the history of our area and of Zionism, to what was said by Henry Morgenthau, who was Ambassador to Turkey during the First World War. 1 met his son, who is called Henry Morgenthau, Jr., but he became a politician; his father was a statesman, and a great statesman at that, as anyone canfind out from his memoirs, which were published in this country in 1922. I Will not encumber the Council by reading out long passages from these memoirs; 1 Will read only the finale of his chapter on Zionism in order to make 2/ Arnold J. Toynbee, Change and Habit; the Challenge of 0~ Time (New York, Oxford University Press, 1966), p. 86. “In the foregoing pages 1 have given my reasons for opposing Zionism. They make plain why 1 asserted at the beginning of this chapter that Zionism is not a solution: that it is a surrender. It looks backward and not forward. It would practically place in the hands of afew men, steeped in a foreign tradidition, the power to turn back the hands of time upon a11 which 1 and my predecessors of the same convictions have won for ourselves here in America. We have fought our way through to Iiberty, equality, and fraternity. We have found rest for our SOU~S. No one shall rob us of these gains, We enjoy in America exactly the spiritual liberty, the financial success, and the social position which we have earned. Any Jew in America who wishes to be a saint of Zion has only to practice the cultivation of his spiritual gifts-there is none to hinder him. Any Jew in America who seeks material reward has only to cultivate the powers of his mind and characterthere are no barriers between him andachievement. Any Jew in America who yearns for social position has only to cultivate his manners-there are no insurmountable discriminations here against true gentlemen. The Jews of France have found France to be their Zion. The Jews of England have found England to be their Zion. We Jews of America have found America to be our Zion. Therefore, 1 refuse to allow myself to be called a Zionist. 1 am an America ‘,3/ . 18. Why cannot you be Americana, true Americans? Do not exercise a dual nationality. You cannot subsidize a usurping State and still be called Americans, beoause this is against the ideals of the United States and its Constitution. For heaven’s sake, wake up, and do not thrust this world into another conflict because there are 100 million Arabs who have resolved never to recognize the “State of Israel”, in spite of the fact’ that the Oriental Jews are not our cousins but our own brothers, and that there is no quarrel between us. 19. The Zionist invasion is a European incursion into our midst. Israel was created for two main reasons, to satisfy world Zionism for political reasons of the West and to place a wedge in the Arab world ,in order to retard its unity, a thorn in the Arab side, a bridgehead or, if you want, a field for Western operations, a justification for Western interference in the affairs of a people very far from their lands. 20, In the United States we speak of colonialism, The ClaSSical type of colonialism was that of a Power which occupied a certain territory to exploit it, not to 3/~enrygenthau, Al1 in a Life-Time (Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday, Page and Company, 1922). p. 403. 21. Then we woke up in 1919,andyou, Mr. President, must have then been about my &ge, to find that a new colonialism had become evident in the world. It Was called the mandatory system. 1 know, Mr. President, how you fought for the liberty of those living under mandates. A mandate was colonialism indisguise, and it became apparent that it was another form of colonialism, with a high commissioner who had a puppet government under him. These were the fruits of the Covenant of Peace and of the Treaty of Versailles. 1 was fourteen or fifteen years old at that time, and 1 nivself lived under a mandate. 1 knew what a mandate was. 22, Then there is a type, of colonialism which 1 named myself; After spending a11 these years in the United Nations, 1 felt 1 was entitled to give it a name, This is called colonialism by proxy. One does not have to occupy a territory or have a highcommissioner, but one cari set up and protect a puppet State through various means, by pressure and by having financial strings attached, and, this is called colonialism by m-w. 23. 1 will not mention any examples of this kind of colonialism. In other committees we have the opportunity to do that. But we have been talking here in the Council about the,incidents and only about symptoms. What I am trying to do is to go deeply into the root of the matter SO that the Council may not waste its time on these constantly recurring incidents, SO that it may treat the disease rather than the symptoms. 24. Then we find another type of colonialism-the creation of enclaves, These enolaves are filled with people who receive aid from an erstwhile colonial Power, which then no longer needs to occupy the territory. Such Powers sometimes find it difficult to exercise oolonialism by proxy, or they no longer cari maintain that a mandate is being used for the purpose of preparing a people for self-government, SO they create such enclaves and use them when it suits their purpose. Their enclaves are created net necessarily with ,the consent of’the State involved, as was done in Palestine, These, enclaves cari be handy to serve the purpose of the Powers that establish them without necessarily the consent of the people involved, like the Arabs in this instance, 25. 1 maintain that Israel was created by certain Western Powers and the United States for that purpose. It cannot stand on its ownfeet at all. Political Zionism has been endeavouring to indoctrinate Jews a11 over the world, but more SO in Western countries-with no success. [At tbis point there was an interruption from the public gallexy.] 28. May 1 proceed, Mr. President?

Yes, proceed.

Israel cannot stand on its own feet. Political Zionism has been endeavouring to indoctrinate Jews a11 over the world, as it has done with that gentleman who shouted here, but more SO in Western countries and especially in the United States. 1 stated this quite often, even before 1 heard that gentleman complain because of my statements. And what for? TO nurture Israel and to guarantee its survival. The Zionists prevail on the United States by a11 means to nurture Israel and guarantee its survival. And at whose expense? At their own expense? Yes, at the taxpayers’ expense sometimes. But more SO at the expense of the Arabs, a11 the indigenous people of Palestine, Forget that these people are Arabs; they are the natives of the land, they have lived there for 1,800 years. I maintain they have lived there much longer, because who knows since when those peoples’ ancestors have been there? 31. And how cari the Zionists do a11 this? Good God, there are only a few million here in this country and 98 per cent of them are loyal United States Citizen% 1 swear they are loyal, because 1 have many friends amongst them in this city. As you ought to know, my doctor is a Jew-and 1 trust him. My shirtmaker is a Jew from Vienna, 1 will give his address to anyone interested; he is a very good shirtmaker. And whenever I want to buy a little trinket, some jewellery or something, 1 find the Jews have the best jewellery in Town. 1 respect them; there is no quarrel between us Arabs and our Jewish brothers. But there is a lot of difference between us and political Zionism. That 1s another matter altogether. 32, 1 Will give you an example of how 1 learned how the Zionists have been able to achieve such great influence in the United States. In 1959 or 1960 1 happened to be in Munich. Behind the National Theatre in Munich there is a coffeehouse calledthe Kaffee-Hag, It is noted for its coffee and its pastries. It is a small place, with small, round tables and two or three chairs around eaoh table. 1 was sitting there alone when a gentleman came in and asked if he might be seated next to me, He started a conversation, and in the course of the conversation he learned that 1 was an Arab. “Oh, we are the friends of the Arabs”, he said. 1 retorted, “Nothing of the sort”. “What do you mean?” -he said. “What do you mean, friends of the Arabs?“, 1 said. “You Germans are at the root of 33. At this juncture another gentleman entered, and 1 knew that both must have been military men because the first man almost clicked his heels together, when he saluted the newcomer. Finally 1 found out that both these men came from good families, that they had to be Nazis during the war, They were a general and bis colonel, 34. The colonel, the one who was seated first-they were both in civilian clothes-whispered to the general, telling him what 1 had just said to him. Then the general took over the conversation. He said: “We Germans were beaten in the war. Hitler committed many mistakes and brutalities, and now we are a beaten nation, We needed reconstruction. The United States lent us a11 the know-how and the necessary funds not because they loved us but lest Germany turn into a communist state if they did not help us. There was a lot of hatred still in the hearts of Americans who lost their lives in the war.” 35. 1 said, VVhere does a11 this corne in? Not only was Hitler instrumental in creating the State ofIsrae1 by his brutal actions, but alsop quite recently your Government gave $815 million, or $825 million, in reparations to Israel. We consider these reparations a hostile act against the Arabs. SO do not profess your friendship for us. Germany is like a11 big Powers, a11 strong Powers. They do what is in their own interest. 1 say this with a11 due respect, Sir, and 1 do not mean to hurt your feelings.” 36. He retorted: “If you only knew why we had to pay the $825 million”. Of course, 1 was interested to khow. He continued, “Immediately after the war the Americans sent negotiators to Germany. Some of them were Zionists, and some of them who were not Jews were as ardent Zionists as the Jews were. And in the course of their negotiations-and we were in need of United States help and assistance-they sort of said, ‘We Will of course facilitate getting certain appropriations for you if you wil1 see to if: that the idea of reparations to Israel is accepted’.” And then the general looked at me and said, “It may be of some comfort to you to know that a good part of those reparations came from the United States itself.” And 1 said, “It does not matter to me where reparations corne from,” 37. 1 cited this example to show howmilitant Zionism always finds ways and means to get into the higher Bchelons of any Western or United States Government for the attainment of its ends. Do 1 have to tel1 you about the mass information media which the Zionists control in the Western world? Do 1 have to tel1 you how, and even when they get in touch with non-Zionist Jews, they play on their sentiments as they had played on the sentiments of the Rothschilds in Paris and in 39. How cari the argument of humanitarianism be valid, when because of Israel there are now 1.25 million refugees and 300,000 other Palestinians dispersed a11 over the world, including this country, who dream of their homes, of their orchards, of the family life they had led peacefully in the Holy Land? Were there no humanitarian considerations? 1s humanitarianism divisible? Can you have humanitarianism for one people and a negative attitude towards another people? 1 submit that humanitarianism is indivisible, like kindness. 1 cannot be kind to one person and unkind to another person and still be called kind. If you are kind, you are kind to all. 40. The heart of the Zionists is now set on expansion, and the Arab world is frightened because, sooner or later, the Arab countries Will find themselves in oollision with Israel expansion. The militant Zionists Will not freeae immigration into Israel. 41. “Out of thine own mouth will 1 judge thee. w This iS from The Cleveland Plain Dealer, published in this country, the issue of Tuesday, 3 May 1966: “Israel seeking U.S. settlers. The State of Israel in the Iast two years has been receiving about 2,000 American settlers a year, according to Shlomo 2. Shagrai, Director of Immigration for that country. ‘1 want 10,000 a year’, said Shagrai, who was in Cleveland yesterday on a U.S. tour, We need a population of 6 million. We needprofessional and technical people. America has helped us financiallyr, he added. ‘NOW you must help us in manp0wer.l n Expansion. But even 6 million Will not take tare of the Jews of the world. 42. Why go back to the month of May? Only last Sunday, in its magazine, The New York Times had an 43. SO how do the Zionists go aboutthis?By claiming that there is anti-Semitism. 1 have declared time and again that the Arabs happen to constitute 98 per cent of those who may be called Semites. 1 have said to some of my non-Zionist Jewish friends: “If there is anti-Judaism, it is unfortunate, and most deplorable, and we a11 should fight it; but there is no anti- Semitism as such unless you persist in saying that anti-Semitism stands for anti-Judaism. But we the Arabs are the Semites. 1 do not think there is such a movement, except in Israel, against the Arabs. We are the Semites. 1 have travelled a11 these years in many countries and found practically no “anti- Semitism”. Pes, there is still anti-Judaism which is disappearing but unfortunately sometimes shows its head as a reaction to the militancy of the Zionists. 44. The Zionists are doing their utmost to pressure the Soviet Union SO that it may release some of its good, loyal Jewish citizens to emigrate to Palestine. How do 1 know? Every day 1 have to deal with this question of anti-Semitism in one of the committees of the General Assembly. Not only in committee, but also with members of some non-governmental organizations, and others who happen to be Jewish. 1 am on talking terms with the members who profess not to be Zionists. 1 have said to them, “For heaven’s sake, do net focus too must light on the plight of the Jews. In this country legislation is being enacted which in the long run is bound to do away with racial discrimination and religious intolerance. We salute the United States Government for the efforts it is exerting in that direction, But donY you see that if one day something goes wrong in America or the Western countries, innocent Jews Will become the scape-goat and you a11 might suffer at the hands of hoodlums and bigots? Because there is no country that does not have bigots and hoodlums. And 1 talk to you as a brother in humanity. Do net focus too must attention on yourselves, Look at the newspapers -10 or 15 per cent of the space is about Jewish problems-because of militant 2ionism.n 45. 1 have the figures, Mr. President. 1 was told that four and a half million Ukrainians and two and a quarter million Byelorussians were killed by the Nazis. Twenty million Russians lost their lives in the 46. But the Zionists say, “He is an Arab. He has an axe to grind.” 1 have no axe to grind. 1 feel that every Arab is one with humanity, According to Arab teachings, we are a11 brothers. “He is nearest to God who loves mankind best.” There is no such thing as a Jewish race, English race, Arab race. There is only homo sapiens, regardless of the colour of the skin. As 1 mentioned in the last meeting, the hominids do not exist anv more, Al1 those soecies existed before homo sapiens emerged as the dominating species on this earth. Whether vou are black. white. pink or yellow, there is no such thing as a Jewish race or an Arab race. 47. We the Arabs are as diverse as people in the United Kingdom; the Cornish, the Welsh, the Yorkshire men, the Scots. 1 lived inyour country, Mr. President; there is Norman blood, even Phoenician blood, Canaanite blood-1 refer to those who went to Cornwall searching for tin about 1,000 years before Christ: and they went to Ireland too. Al1 our blood is comingled. 48. 1s there an Islamic race? God forbid. What about those 30, 40, 50 million in China who embrace Islam? Are they a Moslem race? No, Religion is between man and his conscience, between man and what he considers a greater Power than himself. It is a hoax that Judaism is a race, Whom do you thirik you are fooling? Jewish anthropologists, scientists and others tel1 us that this racial question has been exploded. 49. What do we find? 1 went only three days ago to the Ukrainian reception on 67th Street in this vexy City, And there were bright lights focused over a plaque facing the Mission with the quotation, “Hear the cry of the oppressed.” 1 think this is from the Psalms of David-I am not sure-you are a good Biblical scholar, Mr. President. And under the quotation engraved in bronze, “The Jewishcommunity in the Soviet Union”. Who gave a power of attorney to the Zionists to sign this: “The Jewish community in the Soviet Union” and to say, “Hear the cry of the oppressed’l? We are trying our best here inthe United Nations to work out a rapprochement between the two 50. Even some of the politicians here who are no more Jews than 1 am a Shintoist or a Buddhist put on a skull cap SO that they cari get the vote of the Jewish community in the United States. Al1 this is happening while the Jews here live in peace and are happy, as Mr. Morgenthau said they should be. 51. I checked with the Soviet Union-do not tel1 me that the Soviet Union lies-not today, but inthe course of my work in the Third Committee, about Jews in the Soviet Union. 1 cannot address myself to a question of anti-Semitism unless 1 go to the source and find my facts. This is the gist of what the Soviets told me, The Jews in the Soviet Union are treated like other citizens, and some Jews have even risen te some of the highest posts in the Soviet Union, I am a contemporaxy of the Soviet xevolution. I remember that many Jews in the Soviet Union attained some of the highest posts-not on the grounds of their religion, but on the grounds of their achievement. Judaism was their religion; it had nothing to do withtheir capacity. They were the products of their milieu and their environment. Who cari say that Russia, whether Communist or Czarist, has not produced a great civilization: its Dostoyevskys, its Tchaikovskys, its Gogolsand in Lenin’s days, the dream of making every man under the sun aware of his economic rights, not only of his political rights, which was the contribution of the French revolution? There were excesses in that revolution. In every revolution there are excesses. In the Arab revolution, too, there were excesses. That does not mean anything. But why do we look at the bad features, unless we have bad motives? You might ask: “Why is Baroody on behalf of Saudi Arabia bringing up a11 those facts?” Because they bear on the incident that is before the Council. 1 thought it high time, after my being for twenty years in this Organization, to lay the bare facts before the Council. 52. One day the Council oondemns this party and the other day condemns the other party, and the resolutions, if tbey are not vetoed, are classified. The symptoms are there, but the disease is still raging. 53. 1 want to assure you that His Majesty the King, a man who is taciturn and does not talk much, made his position and the position of his country patently clear. 1 have the full text in English of His Majesty’s statement just received from Saudi Arabia. 1 am not going to encumber the Council with a11 that His Majesty said. Only one sentence from that document suffices: “Riyad, October 9. “Faisal: We reject UnitedNations resolutions concerning paxtition of Palestine, “His Majesty King Faisal, yesterday affirmed Saudi Arabia’s rejection of the United Nations resolutions concerning the partition of Palestine.” 54. This is not for interna1 consumption, for domestic ears. That is a Western phrase: they say that such and such a man spoke for interna1 consumption. We Arabs do not have interna1 and external consumption. This was said in a11 earnestness, and Iam sure every Arab State has the same attitude, Once and for all, members of the Council should know the attitude of the 100 million Arabs, including the people of Saudi Arabia. Mr. President and members of the Council, do not treat the symptoms-one incident here and one incident there. By doing SO you are not treating the disease. You are treating the symptoms, like aperson who treats a recurrent headache with an aspirin, whatever the resolution, if any, may contain. Here I came to the crux of the question. Please bear with me. 55. The indigenous people of Palestine was never a party to the General Armistice Agreements. Accordingly , the indigenous people is not bound by any of the terms of those Agreements. Hence no Arab Government, including the Government of Saudi Arabia, has the right to impose its will on the indigenous inhabitants of Palestine. 56. The Palestinians in 1920 constituted a people. Was not the Mandate granted to the United Kingdom under Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations for the purpose of preparing the people of Palestine for full independence? The United Kingdom failed to carry out the terms of the Mandate. 1 mentioned the other day why it failed. Why did it fail in Palestine in particular but not in Iraq? Iraq was placed under a mandate, Syria and Lebanon were placed under French mandate. The mandatory Powers finally discharged their duties, and Syria and Lebanon and Iraq are full-fledged members sitting around this table. Why did it fail in Palestine but not in Iraq, whose people were also entrusted to the same Power, namely. the United Kingdom? The answer is clear and unambiguous: simply because the United Kingdom was assured by the Zionists in 1916 that they would enlist the United States Government to enter the war on the side of the Allies during the First World War. Hence the United Kingdom paid the price of Zionist efforts in that direction and satisfied the Zionists with the equivocal Balfour Declaration, which is in contravention of the repeated promises the United Kingdom Government gave to the Arabs in 1915 and 1916. 57. If the United Kingdom failed in the responsibilities entrusted to it under the Mandate, it was because it tried to dance on several ropes at the same time. One might say that it was done on grounds Of expediency in time of war. But what about the period alter the war? The Germans were beaten, and 58. Whom did those Allies think they were fooling? ‘I’he Arabs? No, Sir: they were fooling only themselves, For, once the First World War was over, the Arabs found that they were the victims of deceit and duplicity on the part of the Allies. 59. Again we corne back to the Palestinians. They became the pawns in the power politics of western policies of those days. Anyway, the rights of the indigenous people of Palestine, or of any people for that matter, are inherent and inalienable rights, and do not depend on promises by any one foreign Power or the other. We cari go further and say that the mere fact that there were promises given to the indigenous people of Palestine is tantamount to a recognition of the existence of those rights. 60. But it should be stated here in the Security Council, once and for ail, for every one to note, that the indigenous people of Palestine never authorized the Arab Governments to act on their behalf. 1 wish to repeat again that statement: the indigenous people of Palestine never authorized the Arab Governments to act on their behalf. Nor did the indigenous people of Palestine subsequently accept or ratify the General Armistice Agreements. The indigenous People of Palestine-not only those living in camps, but those living everywhere-are determined to Iiberate their homeland from the fore@ invader. 61. The last eighteen years since Israel was forced upon Palestine should be enough to convince the United Nations, and the Security Council in particular, that the Zionist adventure has failed. One hundred million Arabs still reject in toto this Zionist intrusion into the heart of Palestine, What would you do with them? Fight them? Kil1 one hundred million Arabs? They are as one. Do not harp on any plan to divide the Arabs. We have an Arab proverb which says: “1 and my brother are against my cousin, and my cousin and I are against the stranger.” This is a tribal system; we are the heirs of the tribal system. 62. Al1 the tragfc incidents that have occurred and that Will continue to occur in Palestine shall never stop-I am being frank-because these incidents are the symptoms of the injustice committed against the native population of the Holy Land. None of the con- 63, This is not an interjection: it is serious. We in Saudi Arabia were assured-and 1 believe other Governments were also assured-that no Western arms would be sent to Israel; that the United States would not like to see an arms race. And what do we find? We find Western Germany sending cargoes of equipment, of weapons and of ammunition to Israel. When 1 was authorized to speak to some Germans akout this, they said: VVhat cari we do? We were pressured by the United States”. Why did the United States do this? Because it was pressured by the militant Zionists. The Western Powers were oonstantly promising the Arabs-as you, Mr. President, Will remember in those days when Governments were imperialistic; and 1 salute you for your liberalism, you fought our battles, the battles of the colonial peoples-they were constantly promising the Arabs liberation, on the one hand, and they were promising the Zionists Palestine, on the other hand. Anyway, that was the Conservative Party, Mr. President, and you did not have anything to do with it. 64. Did God Almighty give a title deed to the Zionists granting them the right to ownership of Palestine? 1 repeat: “Did God Almighty give a title deed to the Zionists granting them the right to ownership of Palestine?” If He really did, why do not the Zionists circulate the holy document to members of this Ccuncil for verification? God, in Arabie Allah, may His Name be revered and glorified, the same God, the Creator of the Universe and of a11 the people of the earth, did He distribute land to various religious groups or communities on the surface of this planet? If He did, why do they not produce the evidence? Where is the evidence? Or is it that God chose only to give Palestine to the Zionists and to let the other nations of ‘the world take territory by conquest? In Arabie we say: “God forbid that He discriminate against one group or another in this world.” 65. On the other hand, did God Almighty give a power of attorney to certain Western Powers, especially the 66. There is no title deed, no power of attorney in existence to prove the legitimacy of Zionist claims to Palestine. The usurpation of that unhappy land was effected by those who still believe that might is right, whilst justice keeps begging outside the gates of the United Nations and knocking at the door of this Council chamber on behalf of those who have been driven from their country, cooped up in camps, living on a pittance, with each one of them a potential human volcano that sooner or later is bound to erupt and bring more sorrow and sadness over the land where Jesus the Prince of Peace had declared that God is love: where the European Zionists-setting aside the lofty message cited by Mr. Goldberg, the message of Isaiah, the great prophet-have used lethal weapons to massacre and disperse their brothers in humanity. What a hoax! 67. There was no divine deed given to the Zionists to bolster their claim to the Holy Land, nor was there a divine power of attorney which made it mandatory on the Unit& States and other Powers to abet the Zionists in their conquest of Palestine, What happened was that the native inhabitants of Palestine were Ignominiously betrayed and, instead of rectifyingtheir error, these Western Powers continue to deny the right to self-determination to those whom they betrayed, by harping on rationalisation and made-up excuses that no longer fool anyone with a grain of intelligence in his head. 68. “The earth is the Loxd’s and the fulness thereof; the world and they that dwell therein.” 1 am quoting the opening verse of Psalm 24 by David, revered by the Jews and the Arabs alike. God did not issue any title deed, nor did He entrust anyone with a power of attorney-neither the Western Powers, nor the E astern, Southern, Northern, or Equatorial Powers for that matter. The claim of the militant political Zionists to Palestine on religious, racial, historical and humanitarian grounds is invalid and untenable. On the other hand, the support and assistance readilyextended to the Zionists by the United States and other Western Powers is, to say the least, nakedly unjust and tyrannical. 69. 1 have finished the development of my thesis with regard to the why’s and wherefore’s of the Palestine question. Through you, Mr. President, I may be permitted to make a suggestion to the Council, namely, 70. Knowing the temper of the Arab people, after havlng lived with this question for forty-six years, 1 think that 1 was entitled to develop this thesis for the benefit of those who, because of theirmultifarious duties and obligations, hardly have time to look into the root of the matter. And throughyou, Mr. President, and with the permission of the members of the Council, may 1 address this appeal as a suggested solution for this thorny problem: open wide, you Americans and certain Western Europeans, your gates to welcorne back those Zionists whom you encouraged to leave-because you no longer cari afford, as did some in the past , to discriminate against the Jew on religious grounds, ox against anyone because of the colour of his skin. Racial discrimination and religious intolerance are abominable in the United States and in cther Western countries. Thank God we have had neither of them in our history. 71. The Jews were the people of the Book, and we are a multiracial society. Open wide the gates. Reassure the European Zionists, who should be repatriated to your midst, that they shall have a11 the rfghts and privileges which you yourselves enjoy. You did well by the Rothschilds, and the Melchetts, and the Readings in an age when wealth was a distinction. Our age is the age of the common man. 1 think you would do well by every Zionist who may want to go back home-and when 1 say home, it is on the grounds that Judaism is not a nationality-home tc where the European Jew originated. 72. 1 am glad that Mr. Truman is still alive. You remember one of the quotations from a letter which he wrote to Dr. Weizmann-and 1 am paraphrasingthat “this question Will be resolved promptly; thank you for the votes you have given me”. He has lived eighteen years since he encouraged the creation of Israel. He is an old man nowanda scion of .the Democratic Party. Let him prevail on his party to open the gates of the United States to a11 these Zionists. Let those who are living in kibbutzim develop the Prairies of Missouri and Kansas and, where they cari, reclaim the soi1 in Texas. 73. Why should five million Jews be 1oyalAmericans and feel at home, and by the same token why should the Zionists, uprooted from their country of origin, nOt feel at home in the United States? 1 do not think that they should go back to Germany until we know what the picture is in that unhappy land. Open wide the gates-not of London or Paris, those capitals whose Governments at one time abetted the creation Of Israel; these two cities are overcrowded. But 1 may well ask my colleague from New Zealand if he could prevail upon the Australians to open the gates. ‘74, We want a solution. We do not want to deal with this problem every month or SO, with incidents, to determine whether Syrians or Israelis are to blame, or Syria or, allegedly, the United Arab Republic-os any other State-is to blame. Give a11 these States the benefit of the doubt. We need a solution. There is incident after incident, there is a long chain of them. But these are only symptoms. Treat the disease here in the Security Council; you are the preservers of peace. Go deeply into the roots of the matter. 1 am committed to the United Nations just as much as 1 am committed to Saudi Arabia. If 1 am committed to the United Nations, I am a better servant of the country 1 sepresent. Let us commit ourselves to the United Nations, not to ouf petty special interests. Who are we but shadows, guests, stalking this earth? Ina little while we are no more, Whoare we?What is the human race but that arrogant species of homo sapiens who thinks that it is the centre of the universe. Nothing. The life of an insect andthe life of man compared with eterniiy are only a second, a grain of sand on the shores of time. This is black, this is white, this is yellow, this is a Jew, this is a Christian, this is a Buddhist, this is a Shintoist. 75. Are we here in the age of the United Nations committed to such antiquated notions of how we should behave? No. Somebody may raise this question: why does not Baroody prevail on the Arabs also? Palestinian Arabs? They are the indigenous people who cari talk for their own country! 1 do not speakfor the indigenous people of Palestine for 1 have no right to do SO. They form a people by themselves. They happen to talk Arabie. Some of them are Jews, some of them are Moslems and some of them are even Copts. 1 know there is a Coptic Church in Palestine. Many of my Ethiopian friends speak Arabie because for many years they lived in Palestine. If the Holy Land should be Jewish or Zionist, why not Christian or Moslem? It should be neither Moslem nor Christian nor Buddhist nor anything, but it shouId belong to its native inhabitants. 76, 1 am sorry that I have taken SO much time of the Council. I have tried to abridge my speech, for were 1 to continue as 1 had planned 1 would take another full hour. But 1 must not abuse the generosity of the Council and the President who gave me the opportunity to speak. 78. Let the Jews, who are entitled to humantreatment after a11 those centuries of persecutlon, feel that they are citizens of the world. You Western Powers and the United States should prevail on the militant Zionists not to push you into a conflict. You are statesmen. One gentleman sitting at this table is none other than Mr. Goldberg, for whom 1 have the highest esteem and admiration: he is a brother. As astatesman, perhaps he may intimate to his Government-because we are talking here in an extra-territorial place-that it is hlgh time that it should take a new look at its aid policy to the Zionists lest many things happen which we will a11 regret. No one will regret it more than 1 because we are a11 committed to peace and not to conflict, 79, There are over 1.2 million refugees who are dynamite-because they are deeply frustrated. They may do things. There are 250,000 or SO Palestinians dispersed everywhere; they are free to corne and go; they are bitter and frustrated. 1 have seen many of them on my trips to the Arab East and sometimes I see some of them here in the Unfted States. They a11 say, nA day will corne, if we donot go back”-because some of them are old now-“then our childrenand our children’s children Will go back to our homeland”. 80, The Arabs are not Americans. An American has the pioneering spirit. If he lives inNewYork and finds a better opportunity in Chicago, he, not beingattached to bis home, sells it-it is usually mortgaged. He sells his furniture, too, and moves to Chicago because he has the pioneering spirit. If something betterpresents itself in Los Angeles, he sells his house in Chicago and goes to Los Angeles. 81, But we Arabs are rooted in the land. Every stone on the ground has a meaning to us. As stone is prOSai to everybody else, we Arabs weave verse around it because that stone or rock was there at the time of OU? ancestors. It may be a complex, butthese are Our mores. This is our temperament. We are children of the soil. We cannot be pioneers, even amongst ourselves in the Arab world. Look at the EgyptianSi the United Arab Republic. They do not like to emigrate. They are like the French: the French do not like to emigrate because they are attached to their soila Except for some chefs, we find but a few Frenchmen here, This is a fa& The United Arab Republic bas a problem of over-population, But they are attached to 83. 1 submit, from persona1 knowledge, that every Palestinian-not only those necessarily living in camps-is a potential volcano. And you do not know when this volcano will erupt. Just like every African, when his rights are trampled under foot, he becomes a potential volcano. A volcano, as 1 said and will say, does not give notice of when it will erupt. Such people do not know themselves when they will erupt. The choice is in the hands of a11 Member States, and more so in the hands of the members of the Security Council. Do not let militant Z ionism play the role of Samson-again we go to the Bible-when he became blind and, according to Biblical texts, pressed the columns with all his might until the edifice, on which the Philistines were revelling, collapsed, killing him and his enemies. 84. The United Nations was founded to prevent such incidents from developing into a conflict that may cause the roof to corne down over a11 our heads. For we are a11 here oommitted to peace-and peace with justice, not the peace of the grave,

May 1, like other mem- ,bers who have spoken before me in this debate, crave the indulgence of the Council to put on record the adherence of my country to the principle of the inviolability of foreign missions and embassies, our disapproval of the breach of that principle wherever it has occurred, and our hope that the principle Will in future be scrupulously respected by a11 countries. 86. Regarding the specific item on our present agenda, it will be recalled that, the last time the Council had occasion to discuss the situation on the Syrian-Israel frontier , the Nigerian delegation unequivocally condemned the policy of reprisals and went SO far as to vote for the condemnation of the Government which had perpetrated aots evidently of the nature of a reprisai. That Government wasIsrae1. We made it clear that, in our view, whenever a country felt that its rights or its territorial integrity had been infringed, or was in danger of infraction by another country, its proper course was to lay a complaint before the Security Council. Israel hasfollowed precisely that course on this occasion and, with great respect to my friend, the representative of Syria, it is only fair that we should acknowledge that fact, and the Nigerian delegation has no hesitation in doing SO. We 87. We shall now turn to the substance of the case before the Council. We have studied with tare the submissions made by the Foreign Minister of Israel; the statement in reply made by the representative of Syria; the statements in his support made by the representatives of the United Arab Republic and of Saudi Arabia; the statements in exercise of the right of reply made by the representatives of Syria and of Israel; the report by thesecretary-General [S/7553] on the alleged incidents based upon information supplied by the Chief of Staff of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization, We have also listened with great attention to the statements already contributed by our fellow members of the Council. We lay no claim to the profound knowledge of Palestinian history and acquaintance with the problems in that area possessed by a number of our colleagues on this Council. What we are now about to say may well reflect this weakness. It certainly is unlikely to contain much that cari be classified as the result of profound and original thinking on the subject. But even stressing the obvious, and reminding ourselves of the true nature of our problem, might be a contribution towards looking for the right solution to it. 88, There may still be people who consider that the Arab-Israel problem is merely the problem of looking after the Arab refugees. The Nigerian delegation is not among them. There are also probably people who might tend to see the recurrent incidents of violence on the frontiers of Israel and its Arab neighbours sfmply as breaches of an armistice agreement. We do not agree with such s view of the matter. Whether we like it or not, the Arab refugees do not regard themselves as refugees of the normal type: they claim the right to return to Palestine, Secondly, an armistice agreement is not normally supposed to be a final treaty of settlement, and the Arab countries do not consider the Armistice Agreement a final settlement of their dispute with Israel. For these reasons, the Armistioe Agreements between Israel and the Arab countries, the energetic efforts of the Refugee Agency to ease the lot of the Arab refugees, the efforts of the Security Council to secure respect for the provisions of the Armistice Agreements, while they have been a great help, have only suoceeded in maintaining an uneasy peace in the Middle East, Bow uneasy that Peace is is clearly demonstrated by the number of violent incidents that have occurred there in the last feW months. 89. The Nigerian delegation submits, with a11 due respect, that in order to bring stable peace to the Middle East it Will be essential to tackle the Palestine problem as a whole. In saying this, we realize that a number of attempts have been made in the past to tackle the problem. We realize also the delioate and COmplex nature of the problem. Nevertheless, we 90. Even if action were to be taken or intensified in the direction we recommend, it is obvious that a final settlement of a problem SO complex and SO delicate as this cannot be brought about very quickly. What do we do in the meantime? The answer seems to us to he clear. The Armistice Agreements must be maintained until 8 final settlement is agreed upon. The Security Council must continue to insist upon that. We think that the chances of getting its appeals heeded, certainly on the Arab side, would be greatly improved by its own manifestation of determination to press on for a final settlement, and not to allowit to be thought that the Armistice Agreement constitutes the end of the matter. As long as there is hope, patience is possible. If the Arab refugees cari be persuaded that their fundamental case has not been shelved but Will be considered with justice and expedition, it is our belief that they Will reconsider their present attitude, which seems to be based on the conviction that only violence cari help them. 91. It Will be essential to inslst upon the implementation of a11 the provisions of the Israel-Syrian Armistice Agreement, The Agreement provides, for instance, for the establishment and use of a Mixed Armistice Commission. From time to tfme, this Council has gone down on record for the implementation of this provision and yet the appropriate steps have not followed for the reason, as we understand, that one or both parties concerned continue to raise objections and Will not yield to any persuasion. This is an unfortunate situation. Why is it possible to secure the successful operation of similar Commissions in respect of the other frontiers of Jsrael, but impossible to do the same in respect of its frontier with Syria? Whichever party is unreasonably standing in the way of reactivating the Israel-Syrian Mixed Armistice Commission must accept part of the responsibility for the unhappy situation on the Israel- Syrian frontier. 92. The Israel Government spokesmen have been good enough to reaffirm their readiness to abide by 93, Similarly, the Nigerian delegation appeals to the Government of Syria to co-operate in the reactivation of the Mixed Armistice Commission, and to do a11 in its power to prevent unofficial organizations from committing acts that would constitute a breach of the Armistice Agreement. From what we have already said in the earlier part of this statement, the representative of Syria cari be in no doubt that Nigeria appreciates the difficult situation in which the Government of Syria is placed in respect of Arab refugees suffering from a sense of grievance that their case is not being actively, expeditiously and fairly pursued in the United Nations. That difficuliy, in our view, would be minimized by the proposa1 we have already put forward for a reaotivation of the Security Council’8 own efforts in search of a final settlement of the Palestine question. 94. The Nigerian delegation cari only hope that the submissions that it has made in this statement Will be received by both parties to the present dispute in the spirit in which they have been put forward.

1 do not believe that 1 need expand on the comments that 1 made at the 1308th meeting last Friday-they are on the record-on some of the observations which had been made by the representative of Syria on the substantive New Zealand statement. 1 gave then appropriate and precise references from the officia1 record in reply to the points of specific criticism which the representative of Syria had advanced, Any one who SO wishes may study the references SO cited and &raw his own conclusions. 95. At this point, however, 1 wish very briefly to say a little more about the underlying principles which, in their application to the matter before the Council, guide the attitude of my delegation. New Zealand believes, and asserts, that every Member State of this Organization, without exception, is entitled to the protection of law which the Charter prescribes. Translated to the speoific situation before us, this means that Israel may expect to enjoy that protection from fear of attack which is the right of a11 Member States; and it means, equally, that Syria is entitled t0 precisely the same degree of protection. This standard, we believe, is one to which a11 Member Stfttea are pledged by their acceptance of the Charter. Thia standard we conceive it to be the duty of the members of the Security Council to uphold. 97, This standard, we further believe, may not be departed from, irrespective of whether one recogniees a neighbour or not, It applies not only to old and ganerally accepted international boundaries but also to those newer lines of international demarcation, 98. In the particular situation before us we recognize that there remain deep differences and that solutions to certain problems are still pending. There are a number of General Assembly resolutions on’ some of these matters, to which my delegation has subscribed. We recognize that their implementationwould entai1 concessions of position on the part of both sides. We do not believe, however, that the existence of these differences and these unsolved problems. charged with emotion though they are, cari justify breaches of the peace, breaches of Charter obligations, by either side.

It is to be regrettedthat the Security Council is once again, within the space of eight weeks, called upon to consider another unhappy event in the history of the Middle East; this time it has taken the form of a complaint lodged by Israel against the neighbouring State of Syria. 100. On previous occasions the Security Council has managed to adopt resolutions calling uponbothparties to respect the Armistice Agreement and to take a11 measures necessary for the preservation of peace in the area. The most casual observer Will have noted, even before this complaint was brought by Israel before the Council, that the appeals, pleas and resolutions of the Council have been’ “more honoured in the breach than the observance”. The relationship between Israel and its neighbours-or one of its neighbours-as recent events have shows, has continued to deteriorate, and it has become even more urgent than before that immediate steps should be taken to prevent armed hostilities from breaking out. 101. In my statement of 2 August 1966 1 submitted to the Council that the machinery which was set up over a decade and a half ago to supervise the ceasefire and generally ensure the maintenance of, peace in the area has outlivedits practical usefulness. 1 said: “The United Nations Truce Supervision Organization was intended to be a temporary stop-gap measure and it was obviously never envisaged that it should concern itself with the multifarious political and other issues that bedevil the Arab-Israel relationship.” [1294th meeting, para. 9.1 I ventured then to suggest that the time had corne for the Organization to adopt new and bold measures which would take into account the political and other problems of the area. 102. When the Council convened on 25 July 1966 [ 1288th meeting] to discuss a similar complaint, members Will recall that my delegation was the first to request a report of the United Nations Truce Super- 103. What we bave in this and previous reports is a situation where the United Nations investigators sec only that which they are permitted to see by either of the parties to the dispute, and where they invariably refrain from indicating their own independent version of the events for fear of inourring the displeasure of one of the parties. 104. If I may refer more specifically to the report before the Council [S/7553, para. 21, a one-sided investigation was requested by Israel, with a further request that there should be a hand-over of footprints if any were found. On the other side of the Jordanian border another one-sided investigation was conducted at the instance of the Jordanian representative (ibid., para. 31. In the view of my delegation, for these two investigations to be of any practical value the two investigating teams should have converged at some point, should have compared notes and should have given us the benefit of their findings; or the United Nations representatives, as neutral agents representing this Organization, should have given us their own independent version of the events. 105. But what do we find in the report? A gruesome and detailed tale of destruction and murder on the Israel side of the border, and a trail of footprints leading to a point close to the anti-infiltration fente. 106. On the other side of the fente we have a situation which would have been comical if it had not been SO pathetic, a situation where an investigating team composed of United Nations and Jordanian investigators pursued the trail of footprints to. the Point opposite the team approaching from the Israel side. At this crucial point just before the hand-over was about to be effected, the report tells us, “. . l the Jordan delegate did not accept the hand-over of these footprints which, he said, were UnCkar” [ibid., para. 91. This breach in the chain of evidence at the critical moment when a clue is about to be found is charaoteristic of past reports, 107. Then we have another farcical situation [ibid., para. 161 where the pursuit of the footprints 1s abruptly interrupted by the refusa1 of a tracker dog to proceed any further. The report goes on to say that the team of investigators dectded to go it alone and, as WSS t0 be expected, failed dismally in their expedition. Something invariably happens just before the two chains of evidence are about to be linked together, somethfng which frustrates and completely nullifies the work of the United Nations military observers. 109. Perhaps this is yet just another illustration Of that dichotomy in human behaviour which manifests itself from time to time when, as the saying goes, “We want to eat our cake and have it too”. Nowhere is this dichotomy more clearly illustrated than in the relationships among States. Nations Will corne to the Security Counoil for redress when they are in difficulties or when they consider themselves aggrieved by a neighbouring State; but they Will only too often obstruct, under the pretext of national sovereignty, any maohinery or device set up by this Organization to find out the facts for itself. 110. It follows, in the view of my delegation, that if the United Nations military observers cannot investigate and report indspendently then their reports are of little use to the Council. A compilation of the atrocities committed by both or either party is of some statistical value, but the world community represented by this Council cannot redress wrongs or prevent outbreaks of hostilities unless it has possession of the facts relevant to any given international situation. The Seourity Council would like to know: what were the immediate causes of the particular incident; who were the parties that played the leading xole; whence did they comeand wheredid they go after the event? 111. In the view of my delegation, the machinery that 1 envisaged, apart from acting as watchdog over the demilitarized zone, would have as its principal duty responsibility for establishing areas of friencily coexistence between the Arab States and Israel. A more positive line of action is called for. By means of this new maohinery it should be possible topreventthreats and menaces found in national mass media before they materialized into overt acts of aggression. 112. In Conclusion, it is my delegation’s view that, while there has been no direct evidence linking Syria with the acts of aggression complainedof, it is important that Syria should refrain from making hostile and bellicose statements. If A threatens to attack me and B, who lias said nothing whatever, stabs me from the bac% 1 would, as 1 hope, be pardoned if I were to retaliate against A. 113. SYria iS bound by Article 2, paragraphs 3 and 4, of the United Nations Charter to abstain from the threat or use of force against the integrity and independence of another State and to seek settlement of a11 disputes with Israel, or with any other neighbur, onlY by Peaceful means. My delegation appeals to the Parties concerned to ,recognize the contractual obliga-

The Council has before it a complaint by a Member Nation of the United Nations against another Member State relating to specific incidents. With due respect and persona1 regard for those who have spokenin this vein, 1 fail to see the relevancy to the agenda item before us of comments relating to groups or individuals in the United States of a particular religious or national origin. 115. I merely would point out that thepubliopolicy of the United States, including its foreignpolicy, is determined by our people at large, through a democratically elected President and Congress, and by no other means. We are proud of this and would have it in no other way, and reject aspersions on the undivided loyalty to our country of a11 citizens, regardless of their origins. TO the people of the United States the true test of an American is this: that he is one who does not conceal but affirms his origin, who is proud of it whatever it may be, and who recognizes that in the plurality of American life is our strength and the source of the freedom that we SO proudly profess in the world. As to our foreignpolicy, it is based upon respect for a11 peace-loving countries which adhere to the principles of the United Nations Charter. This is true, in particular reference to the subject before us, of a11 countries of the Middle East whose national independence and sovereignty we uniformly respect. 116. Peace, our President recently said, is first on our agenda, for the Middle East as it is elsewhere. We shall unceasingly pursue the goal of peace for a11 countries in the Middle East and would be the very first to agree to join with other countries which initiated the arms race there to stop it in that part of the world as elsewhere. We have offered to do SO, publicly and privately. 1 did SO this very day with respect to the world at large in the First Committee [1431st meeting], I repeat that offer again with specific reference to the Middle East, and would welcome an affirmative response. 11’7. My Government deplores the wastefulness of armaments in an area which loudly calls for social and economic development-development which we have supported and wish to continue supporting in the interests of a11 the inhabitants and countries of that area. Peace, 1 repeat, is first on the agenda for the Middle East; and this Council, in discharge of its 119. 1 cal1 on the representative of Israel.

Before proceeding any further, I must, with very deep regret, inform the Council that attacks and threats against Issael of the type which brought my Government to request these meetings of the Council have continued in the three days since the Council last met. On Tuesdaymorning, 18 October, another vehicle hit a land mine laid in a road close to the Syrian border, and one of its occupants was seriously injured. The details are set out in my letter of the same day [S/7556] to the President of the Council. 121. Yesterday, 19 October, an Israel patrol encountered a group of four armed men that had concealed itself at a spot in Israel territory near the northern border. In tte exchange of fire that followed, thr8e of those men were killed and one wounded and captured, while one member of the Israel patrol was wounded and later died. Reports on this particular clash have not yet corne to hand and it would be premature to try to draw conclusions from it at this point. But this penetration of yesterday seems very similar to that described in my letter to the President of the Council on 11 September 1966. Thatletter reads in part: “On the evening of 7 September 1966, at 1940 hours, an Israel army patrol intercepted a group of four armed men who had infiltrated across the border, and was apparently making for the Israel village of Kefar Yuval. In the ensuing exchange of fire, two of the group were killed and the other two fled across the border. “The scene of this clash was less than 60 metres from the edge of the village and about 1500 metres from the nearest point on the Syrian border. “The two men killed were dressed in khaki clothes with army belts and wore rubber-soled boots. They 122, I recall that incident of 7 September because in the first reports that have corne to hand about yasterday’s clash, it is of interest to note that this also was a group of four men, dressed in khaki clothes, with rubber-soled boots and armed with sub-machineguns and, hand grenades. These fresh incidents reinforce and make even more urgent the first of the two complaints which the Israel Government has submitted to the Council in document S/7540. The second of the two complaints in that document refers to: “Threats by Syria against the territorial integrity and political independence of Israel, and open Syrian incitement to war against Israel . . . II And the validity of this complaint, too, has been given fresh endorsement since the Council’s 1308th meeting on Monday. 123, A now Syrian Government was formed at the beginning of this week. On Tuesday, Radio Damascus hroadcast a declaration by the Prime Minister, Mr. Zu’ayen, setting out the programme of his Government. In that policy statement the Syrian Government has again gone on record with a renewed pledge to carry on a people’s war against Israel. It is staggering that that declaration should have been made while the Council was actually in the midst of considering this very question arising out of previous Syrian statements. 124. In view of both the seriousness and the urgency of the matters before the Council, 1 cannot but express my delegationrs surprise and regret that the representative of a non-Council member has beenpermitted ta take up several hours of the Council’s time at two successive meetings in giving a weird dissertation on the history of the Jewish people. That interlude in the debate has taken place while the situation on the Israel-Syrian border deteriorates and people are being killed. Apart from these two brief sentences, 1 have nothing to say about that intervention and Will, Mr. President, with your permission, return to the item on the agenda, 125, The Secretary-General’s report of 1’7 October 1966 [S/7553] deals factually with two specific incidents: the attempt to blow up apartment buildings in Jerusalem on 7 October, and the mine explosion at Shaar Hag Golan on the northern border on 8 October. The Secretary-General’s report fully corroborates the time, the locality and the natuse of those two outrages, aa Conveyed in my letter to the President of the CounCil on 10 October [S/7536]. It also indicates in each case that the tracks of the perpetrators lead fowards the border; that owing to the nature of the terrain and for other reasons-to which my distinguished friend and oolleague, Mr. Kironde, has 126. These two incidents are links in a Iengthy sequence of such attacks with which the Council is by now a11 too familiar. After ten or twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty and now nearly seventy such armed sabotage raids in Israel, since the beginning of last year, a clear-tut pattern emerges. What are the essential features of that pattern’? First, every single one of those incidents has taken place in proximity to the border on the Israel side, and in no instance more than a short walking distance from the border. That geographical fact is very suggestive. The closeness to the border and the recurrent footprints leading in the direction of the border correspond exactly to the picture we have placed before the Counoil in numerous letters and statements, namely, that those attacks are carried out by small groups of armed men coming on foot across the border, under caver of darknrss, mining the roads or laying dynamite charges with time fuses, and slipping back again the same night. Another feature of this pattern to which 1 would draw attention is that practically standard tactics, techniques and equipment are employed in a great number of attacks carried out at different times and at different places. It seems as if a11 these saboteurs were trained by the same army instructors and drew their equipment from the same army stores, 127. In order to illustrate this aspect, 1 should like to mention a particular group of incidents on the Syrian border, In my letter to you, Mr. President, on 18 October, 1 gave details, as 1 have already mentioned, of a vehicle hitting a landmine while travelling along a road near the border. That letter also points out that two other vehicles had recently been blown up by landmines at the same spot on 6 and 9 September , and in a11 three cases footprints led in the direction of a Syrian military position close by. 128. The records show that in the six months since April there have already been nine such cases of roads being mined in the Israel-Syrian border area. I shall read a list of those incidents, because I think the list suggests something. (&,l On 18 April, near Kibbutz Ma’yan Barukh, a tractor struck a mine on a road leading to the fiel&, and the driver, a member ofthevillage, was seriously injured. The distance from the border was 1200 metres. (B, On 16 May, at the village of Almagor a vehicle struck a mine. The two civilian occupants were killed. The distance from the Syrian border was 1000 metres. (d, On the same day, 13 July, near Mahanayim, a tractor struck an anti-tank mine, and the driver, aged seventeen, was badly injured. The distance from the border was somewhat greater in this case, 6000 metres. (d On 6 September, near the village of Shaar Yashuv, a tractor drawing a trailer with a work party hit a mine, and seven of the workers were wounded. The distance from the Syrian border was 700 metres. (fl On 9 September, in the same locality, an army jeep on a routine patrol was blown up, and three of its four occupants injured. The distance from the Syrian border was 600 metres. (ff! On 8 Ootober, neas Kibbutz Ma’yan Barukh, a land mine was discovered in the roadway, fortunately before any vehicle hit it, and was dismantled. The distance from the border was 700 metres. (&) Again on 8 October, near the village of Shaar Hag Golan, a border police jeep on a routine patrol was blown up by a land mine. Four policemen were killed and the remaining two wounded. The distance from the Syrian border was 1400 metres. @ On 18 October, near the village of Shaar Yashuv, a vehicle again hit a land mine, One of its occupants was wounded. The distance from the Syrian border was 700 metres. 129. The total number of casualties in those nine incidents was twenty-four, eight of them killed. In each of the nine cases the identical type of anti-tank military land mine waa used. In each of the cases there were footprints leading in the direction of the border, made by two or three men wearing rubbersoled footwear. That list, 1 think, drives home the point that we are dealing not with unrelated incidents carried out by individuals but with a connected series of incidents organized and directed from a single source and carried out by men who have been trained for the purpose. My delegation believes that members of the Council are not very much impressed by rhetoric, by recriminations or by rambles through history but will want to know the cold, hard facts and Will want to draw their own conclusions from those facts. 130, Let us go on examining this broad pattern into which must be fitted the two specific incidents dealt with in the Secretary-General’s report, Of the sixty- Wen sabotage attacks since January 1965 a large number, though not all, have occurred directly on the Syrian border, including the group of mine ex- Ph3iOnS to which I have already referred. In these cases the connexïon with Syrian territory is obvious, and the resljonsibility of Syria to prevent them is 131. On this point, 1 would repeat what my Foreign Minister said at the Councilts meeting Iast Friday. Mr. Eban said: ‘IRecent incursions of guerrilla units into Israel from States other than Syria arise not from the policies of those States, but from an illicit and unwanted use of their territory at Syria’s initiative. This, of course, does not liberate other States from the duty of vigilance and prevention. We hold them to this responsibility. But there is no doubt that the policy of infiltration, murder and sabotage against Israel, the training and financing of commando units, that policy Will stand or fa11 by Syria’s decision.” [1307th meeting, para. 44.1 132. This view of the matter is placed beyond doubt by one circumstance. From time to time saboteur squads have been intercepted by the security forces of other neighbouring States while they were on their way to the Israel border. These attempts to deny the El-Fatah units from Syria transit through the territory of neighbouring States have produced bitter and abusive attacks upon those States fromRadio Damascus and in the statements of Syrian leaders. Someof these faots were placed before the Council at its meetings in July and August of this year. They are on the record, and 1 need not repeat them here. But what could show more clearly which Government is promoting this guerrilla warfare? 133. In this connexion Council members have rightly attached a good deal of importance ta the so-called war communiqués of El-Fatah which are regularly broadcast by the Syrian Government radio after the SCtS of sabotage in Israel. They are important because they confirm that there is a special relationship between the Syrian Government and that organization, The Syrian representative has tried ta pretend that there is really no significance to those broadcasts at ail. He has suggested ta the Council that such communiqués are generally broadcast or published in the area by Arab radio stations and news media matically put OUt by Radio Damascus and by no other Government radio. Would he mind telling us, for instance, which other Government radio has broadcast communiqué No. 53, which refers, among other matterS, t0 the Romema sabotage incident in Jerusalem and has already been quoted to the Council? 134, The credibility of statements and denials made on behalf of the Syrian Government appears in a curious light also in connexion with the charges that the Israel army has been massing on the border to attack Syria. Yesterday the United Nations observers carried out an inspection of the border areas, and we await their report with confidence, 135, Did not Mr. Eban tel1 the Council at the 1307th meeti.ng that the Israel Government was quite agreeable to General Bull’s carrying out another inspection and had indicated that to him? What was Mr. Tomehts reaction to that? The moment there was a prospect that the truth and credibility of his Governmentts charges might be checked, he hurriedly retreated from them. And in addressing the Council at the 1308th meeting, the only basis he could suggest for these charges of troops massing against Syria consisted of the following three points: firstly, a statement alleged to have been made by Mr. Eban ten years ago; secondly, what he called the well-known fact that the Israel army could mobilize rapidly if it had to; and thirdly, that Israel villages near the border had to be able to defend themselves against attack. 1 cannot imagine a more frivolous basis for these very serious charges against a Member State. 136. The last matter 1 wish to deal with today is the question of the armistice machinery, because on that question, too, the real position has been misrepresented. The representative of Syria wants the Council to believe “that Israel has completely boycotted the Mixed Armistice Commission”, that this is done “for obvious reasons: that it wishes to avoid being condemned by the Mixed Armistice Commission for itS acts of aggression, and it has been producing unilateral statements a11 the time containing alleged incidents, without ever giving a chance to the neutral authorities of the United Nations to present their views” [1306th meeting, para, 1211, 137. Now what are the facts? Except with regard to plenary meetings, to which 1 shall refer again shortly, -the armistice machinery functions normally and with full Israel co-operation. This co-operation is carried on 1-.-\ough the Israel and Syrian delegates to the Mixed Armistice Commission, who are appointed especially for this purpose. Complaints are submitted, investigations and interrogations are carried out, and the fact-finding reports are made available to the parties, There is regular contact between the Truce Supervision Organization and the Armistice Affairs 138. In addition, here at the United Nations Headquarters in New York there is close contact with the Secretary-General and his advisers on a11 armistice mattess. In other werds, there are intimate and cooperative working relations at a11 levels between the Israel authorities and the United Nations authorities concerned with the armistice regime. 139. The difficulty about holding plenary meetings of the Commission was caused many years ago by Syrian attempts to place on the agenda questions over which the Commission had no competence. In the course of the years, a further practical problem has developed. There is by now on the agenda a backlog of several thousand obsolete complaints and counter-complaints which would take the Commission literally years to dispose of before it could get around to dealing with immediate border incidents and problems of anurgent nature. My Government has always been willing, and remains willing, to discuss in the Mixed Armistice Commission clashes and incidents as they occur. If Syria accepts this, there need be no further difficulty. 140. We would also like to see recourse to informa1 meetings, This gives an opportunity for the delegates on both sides to discuss matters freely in the presence of the United Nations Chairman without being forced into rigid, forma1 positions expressed by votes, These informa1 procedures have been valuable in other Mixed Armistice Commissions. 141. The true role of the United Nations, as we see it, is a diplomatie one: the patient day-to-day effort to harmonize differences and to reduce the causes of tension, rather than simply piling up files and files of decisions against one side or the other. This has been General Bull’s approach in the several years that he has now been trying to deal with the problems of cultivation in the border areas and to work out understandings regarding these problems. What the Syrian representative has saidon this subject in the debate is also tendentious and misleading. 1 say that simply to keep the record straight, without any intention of being drawn into a debate which may prejudice General Bullls efforts on the spot, which he is pursuing with Israel’s co-operation and Israel’s encouragement. 142. And in the same spirit of trying to corne to grips with the roots of tension rather than the incidents which are the effects of tension, Mr. Eban stated last Friday that “we are ready to discuss with Syrian representatives the methods and measures to be adopted in order to make the frontier utterly secure against a11 military actions, infiltration and guerrilla 144, At the same time, we believe that one should not delude oneself that the problem facing the Council is a problem of armistice machinery. Let us not forget that the armistice machinery as it exists today was designed to operate within the context of a certain inter-State relationship created between the two signatory countries by the General Armistice Agreement of 1949. That relationship, as has been pointed out over and over again, was meant to be a temporary transition period to peace. It is a relationship which permits of no threat by one country against the other, of no attack from the territory of each against the territory of the other. It makes the two Governments the joint guarantors and guardians of the joint armistice line. In brief, it creates a very specific set of mutual obligations between two Member States. If one repurliates these obligations and is unwilling to respect them, the armistice machinery cannot be expected to remedy that situation, And 1 say this in all fairness to the Secretary-General, to General Bull and to everybody else who represents the United Nations in these matters. 145. It is implied in the report of the Secretary- General, now tabled, on the two recent incidents that the armistice machinery was never designed to tope with the hit-and-run guerrilla war, which has no place at a11 in the General Armistice Agreement. In the statement made by the Chairman of the Mixed Armistice Commission yesterday in Jerusalem, there is almost a cry of helplessness and frustration at being reduced to little more than a police investigator recording footprints, 146. We t.herefore corne aroundfull cycle to the fundamental question raised in this debate. It is a question Of governmental attitude and a question of policy. Chat is the policy of the Government of Syria? Does the Government of Syria regard itself as conducting a limited liability war with Israel? ‘Does it feel that under the Armistice Agreement it is free to pursue that kind of limited warfare through surreptitious guerrilla raids? If that were SO, one might as well tear UP the Armistice Agreement because it would have become meaningless and robbed of its fundamental purpose. Does the Syrian Government accept its responsibility, under the Armistice Agreement, to prevent any illegal crossings of its border with Israel? We corne baok over and over again to this question, and we still have not had any answer. Can the Government of Syria publicly shed that responsibility as it appears to be doing? These are questions which go the root of the whole armistice régime which

Iwonder if Mr. Comay, in his last intervention the other day in the Security Council, was really serious when he objected to my participation in the discussion of the item under consideration. I am sure that the Israel authorities, unlike their representative here, give much weight to our intentions and reactions before they embark upon any adventure against the Arab countries. If Mr. Comay meant to ignore the facts of gewwhy, the security of our country and Arab solidarity, 1 hope that he listened well to the following words of my last statement in the Council: “In this connexion I deem it necessary to state that Syria is not alone in defending its integrity against any aggression on the part of Israel.” [1308th meeting, para. 8.1 148. Mr. Comay and his authorities in Tel-Aviv should know that both the Syrians and the Egyptians, whether they are united in one State or live in two States, Will be forever united by unbreakable ties of blood, a common heritage and one destiny. We Arabs remain one nation, resolved to defend our Arab homeland.

As the Security Council reconvenes today, our deliberations have been made easier by the presentation to the Council of the Secretary-General’s report of 17 October [S/7553], for which we thank him. That report brings to this important body the refutation of the Israel charges of alleged acts of aggression by armed groups operating from Syria. Indeed it proves beyond any shadow of doubt the falseness and artificiality of the Israel complaint against Syria. 1 need hardly go into the details of the report as it is presented to us. It deals with the Israel allegations as presented to the United Nations military observers and explains the meticulous investigations carried out by them. 150. Regarding the alleged explosions of 7 October in the Romema quarter of Jerusalem, paragraphs 7, 8 and 9 of the report show very clearly that the United Nations military observer trackers were unable to trace any footprints into Jordan, but stoppedat a point close to the anti-infiltration tents on the Israel side of the armistice demarcation line. Paragraph 10 of the report is significant in the following statement: “A Jordan tracker dog was given the scent of two alleged footprints in Jordan approximately forty metres from the anti-infiltration fente and which had been identified by the Israeli tracker as the same as those he had located in Israel. The dog completed a short track which led him to the feet “The tracks were easily recognized and were followed by the investigating military observers to the hard-surfaced road where the prints could no longer be seen. From that point, at which the party entered the demilitarized zone, an Israel tracker dog and dog-handler continued to follow a trail leading south-east along the road to a wire-fenced road-block at which point the trail followed by the dog left the hard-surfaced road and turned in a north-easterly direction toward the slopes in the south-eastern portion of the southern sector of the demilitarized zone. For security reasons, as this point was the approximate eastern liniit of Israel cultivation, the Chairman authorized only the investigating military observers and the tracker dog to proceed beyond it; howeves, the dog would not respond to handling by the military observers. They searched the area further in a north-easterly direction, where the earth was dry and hard, but found no trace of incoming or outgoing footprints.ll 152. In view of this clear, unequivocal report, 1 submit that the Israel complaint should be dismissed as utterly untenable, thus saving the precious time of the Council. 152. Etant donné ce rapport parfaitement clair et net, je p&ends que la plainte d’Israël doit &re rejetée comme étant absolument insoutenable, ce qui ferait gagner au Conseil un temps précieux. 153. Le représentant @Israël vous a adress8, Monsieur le Président - et il s’y est référé dans 1 ‘intervention qui a précédé la mienne -, datée du 18 octobre, [S/7556] selonlaquelle un nouveau cas de minage de route se serait produit au voisinage de la ligne de démarcation. A ce sujet, voudrais présenter les observations ci-aprés. 153. The Israel representative submitted to ~OU, Mr. President-and he referred to it in his statement that preceded mine-a letter datedl.3 October [S/7556] alleging another case of road-mining in the vicinityof the armistice demarcation line. In this connexion may 1 submit the following remarks. 154. This letter was submitted one day after the report of the Secretary-General of 17 October, which clears the Syrian Arab Republic completely of the false charges and accusations. In the absence of any proof against the Syrian Arab Republic the letter is intended to incriminate the Syrian ArabRepublic. May 1 ask this question: does it stand to reason that when the Security Council is looking into a complaint against the Syrian Arab Republic for alleged acts of aggres- Sion, such acts could occur orbe committed right now? 154. Cette lettre a été soumise un jour après le rapport du Secrétaire général, en date du 17 octobre, qui disculpe completement la République arabe syrienne de toutes les accusations formulées contre elle. En l’absence de toute preuve la République arabe syrienne, la lettre d’incriminer ce pays. Qu’il me soit permis de poser la question suivante: est-il raisonnable de penser qu’au moment même oh le Conseil de sécuritit est en train d’examiner une plainte contre la République arabe syrienne pour de prétendus actes d’agression, actes puissent se*commettre? 155. As to the statement nttributed to the Prime Minister of the Syrian Arab Republic whichwas quoted by Mr. Comay in his letter that was referred to above, the full Arabie text of which 1 have not as yet seen, the clue to the whole thing is the word ~~Zionisml’. 1 have already read out to the members of the Counoil the motto of the Zionist group that occupied our offices. It is: Wretz Israel on both sides of the Jordan”. 1 have also read sections of the memorandum addressed by the Zionist Organization of America to a11 Zionist leaders in the United States and to a11 155. Quant à la déclaration attribuée au Premier Ministre de la République arabe syrienne, que M, Comay cite dans sa lettre, et dont je n’ai pas encore vu le texte complet en arabe, le mot clé en est le mot llsionismett, J’ai déj8 lu aux membres du Conseil la devise du groupe sioniste qui a occupé nos bureaux: “Eretz Israël des deux c8tés du Jourdain.” lement lu certaines parties du mémoire adressé par l’Organisation sioniste américaine à tous les dirigeants sionistes des Etats-Unis et % tous les Américains de confession juive pour leur demander 156. This problem is a very serious one, andin Order to understand the attitude of our people and leaders one should appreciate how we look at this problem and how we understand Zionism. Zionism considers a11 Jews in the world to be in the Diaspora until they return to the land of their so-called ancestors. The Arab mind, therefore, whether in theory or in practice, cannot but look at Zionism as being an act of aggression. We have seen in our lifetime how the Arabs of Palestine were dispossessed of their lands. This Zionist-colonialist occupation of Arab Palestine appeared within the two decades of the United Nations, for when Britain passed the Palestine problem to the United Nations in 194’7 the Zionists did not own more than 6 per cent of the total land area of Palestine, Nevertheless, theGenera1 Assembly, without justification, granted the proposed Jewish State about 54 per cent of the total area of Palestine. Israel immediately occupied and still occupies 80.48 per cent of the total land area of Palestine, thus dispossessing the Arabs of Palestine, This Zionist territorial expansion took place for the most part before 15 May 1948, that is to say, before the forma1 end of the British Mandate. And when Zionists a11 over the world, and especially in the United States, cal1 for the immigration of a11 Jews into Israel, this to us-to any Arab, whether Syrian or from any other Arab country-constitutes an expansionist and aggressive policy, 157. 1 should like to read the following statement which appeared in the newspaper Homodia on 10 October, as reported in the Summary of World Broadcasts published by the British Broadcasting Corporation on 12 October 1966; it is stated therein: ttHomodia says chat it is clear beyond almost any doubt that the Syrians should pay the price, and this time it should be a high one. It is true that there is no compensation for the lives which have been lost, but blood is crying from the earth for revenge and repayment. IV 158. Mr. Eban, and later Mr. Comay in his last intervention and also today, dwelt a great deal on the obligations owed to the United Nations Charter and to the General Armistice Agreements. Mr. Eban went SO far as to quote our representative in the Security Council in 1949 [434th meeting] when he stated that “the Government of Syria honours its word and fully respects agreements into which it enters.” 159. The question was put to me the other day, as in fact it was put today, whether we abidedby the General Armistice Agreement, its provisions and stipulations. The answer to this question is very clear; it is to be found in the records both of the Syrian Arab Republic and Israel at the United Nations. The first party to 160. This took place in 1951, and it might be said that this was a long time ago. But what about the complaint that was submitted by the Syrian Arab Republic to the Security Council on 21 July 1966 [S/7419] regarding the aerial attack that was perpetrated by Israel against the Syrian Arab Republic on 14 July 19667 That was, as some members of the Council have said, eight weeks ago. Israel has indeed maintained an aggressive policy of carrying out military attacks across the armistice demarcation lines. The territories of neighbouring Arab States have been invaded repeatedly by its forces. Israel has been condemned, censured or rebuked five times by the Security Counoil and six times by the General Assembly. Neither the Syrian Arab Republic nor any other Arab State has ever been çondemned by any organ of the United Nations for military attacks upon Israel or any other State. Cur answer is therefore clear. Our record speaks for itself. 161. In order to make this situation absolutely clear for the Security Council, the United Nations andworld public opinion, may 1 emphasize the request that was made to the Secretary-General by the representative of Morocco in September 1963 in the Security Council I1063rd meeting], and later confirmed by the representative of Jordan in May 1966 lS/7281], to place before the Council a report about a11 the demarcation lfnes from the beginning of the MixedArmistice Commissions and their operations up to the present time. 162. As to obligations towards the United Nations Charter and the resolutions of the United Nations, 1 cari do no more than enumerate here the headings under which Israel’s violations may be investigated. These are: the expulsion of the Arabs of Palestine; the declaration of Jerusalem as a capital in violation of United Nations resolutions; the expansion of Israel territory, against the injunctions and provisions of the United Nations resolutions and the cesse-fire of the Secl+ty Council in 1948; the annexation of the demilitarized zones, including non-co-operation with the Mixed Armistice Commissions; the treatment of United Nations personnel and their agencies; the occupation of the United Nations offices: the imprisonment of United Nations personnel; the complete obliteration of the armistice machinery; military aggres- Sion as described previously; the repudiation of international commitments. 163. Throughout a11 these years Israel would cal1 in United Nations authorities and invoke its respect 165. The position of my Government has alwaysbeen and still is one of full co-operation with United Nations machinery. 1 repeatedly declared and affirmed the reacliness of my Government to work through the United Nations machinery, and, more specifically, the Mixed Armistice Commission. On the other.hand, the Security Council has on previous occasions reminded Israel authorities to co-operate with the Mixed Armistice Commission. The last such solemn resolution was resolution 171 (1962) of 9 April 1962, condemning Israel for its attack on Syria; and then, in paragraph ‘7 thereof, reminding the parties to reaetivate the Mlxed Armistice Commission, it is stated that the Council: Valls upon the Governments of Israel and Syria to co-operate with the Chief of Staff in carrying out bis responsibilities under the General Armistice Agreement and the pertinent resolutions of the Security Council, and urges that a11 steps necessary for reactivating the Mixed Armistice Commission and for making full use of the Mixed Armistice machinery be promptly taken.” 166. Now, we have heard two conflicting statements tonight regarding co-operation with the Mixed Armistice Commission, one comingfrom the Israel spokesman and the other from me as representing my country Syria. Why not obtain a repart, throughthe Secretary-General-in exactly the same manner as we received the report of the Secretary-General on the alleged incidents and accusations and charges by Israel against Syria-about who is co-operating with the Mixed Armistice Commission and who is not, Perhaps that would bring further clarification to the Council. 167. Therefore, it is Israel which shouldbe reminded of its obligations towards the General Armistice Agreement. Had Israel abided by the General Armistice Agreement, had Israel not violated the General Armistice Agreement when the ink was not even dry on that Agreement, the Council would have been spared a11 these meetings. The United Nations Truce Supervision Organizafion and the Mixed Armistice Commission are the proper United Nations machinery to investigate this question. 169. Mr. Comay, during his last intervention, further spoke about the situation of the Egyptian army in Yemen. Today, the representative of Yemen submitted to you, Mr. President, a letter dated 20 October 1966 [S/7559]. 1 deem it necessary to clarify the matter by quoting the following from that letter: “The relationship between the Yemen Arab Republic and the United Arab Republic is based on common heritage, namely: language, religion, origin, customs and traditions, as well as unity of principles, unfty of objectives and unity of destiny. The Yemeni people work with full force to achieve complete unity with the United Arab Republic as a first step towards a total Arab unity which is cherished by the millions in the Arab world. Withir, this framework, the oo-operation existing between the Yemen Arab Republic and the United Arab Republic is a co-operation between one people. The revolutionary people of Yemen Will never forget the sacrifices of the people of the United Arab Republio for the Yemen revolutionary gains.” 170. With your permission, Mr. President, may 1 reserve my right to make a further intervention whenever it is necessary.

No other member of the Counoil has asked to speak at this meeting, Therefore, we shall adjourn to a subsequent occasion. We await the report which the Secretary-General has promised to give us on the inspection, and when that report is received 1 shall consult with members of the Council with a view to an early meeting of the Council. Unless 1 hear any objection, 1 shall take it that that is acceptable. The meeting rose at 6.40 p.m. HOW TO OBTAIN UNITED United Nations publications may distributors throughout the world. Write to: United Nations, Sales COMMENT SE PROCURER LES PUBLICATIONS Les publications des Nations Unies sont agences dépositaires du monde entier. ou adressez-vous à: Nations Unies, Section COMO CONSEGUIR PUBLICACIONES Las publicaciones de las Naciones casas distribuidoras en todas partes dirijase a: Naciones Unidas, Secci& Litho in U.N. Price: $U.S 1.00 (or quivalent in other currencies)