S/PV.2386 Security Council

In accordance with decisions taken at previous meetings on this itetn [237dth, 237Sth, 2377th md 2384th rnr~~ti~~~ys], I invite the representatives of Lebanon and Israel to take places at the Council table: I invite the representative of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to take a place at the Council table: I invite the representatives of Egypt and Pakistan to take the places reserved for them at the side of the Council chamber. Pwwnt: The representatives of the following States: China, France, Guyana, Ireland, Japan, Jordan, Panama, Poland, Spain, Togo, Uganda, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States of America, Zaire. Provisional agenda (SIAgendal2386) 1. Adoption of the agenda 2. The situation in the Middle East: 01) Letter dated 4 June 1982 from the Permanent Representative of Lebanon to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council (S/15162); (A) Letter dated 28 July 1982 from the Permanent Representatives of Egypt and France to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council (S/l53 16)

This me’eting of the Council has been canvened at the urgent request, made during the night, of the representative of Lebanon in view of the new and serious outbreak of fighting in and around Beirut. I should like to thank the members of the Council. On their behalf, I should like also to express warm appreciation to the members of the Secretariat and the various services for the promptness with which they responded, at very short notice, to the request for a Council meeting which I as President had to call in the early hours of this morning. Expression of thanks to the retiring President

At this first meeting of the Council for the month of August, as I take the Chail as President, I should like on behalf of the Council and on my own behalf to pay the warmest tribute to my precedessor, Mr. Noel Sinclair, the Permanent Representative of Guyana, who presided over the Council during the month of July. We are all in agreement that he showed the greatest diplomatic skill, tact and courtesy in conducting the business of the Council last month, and I would ask the representative of Guyana to convey our thanks to him. 4. Members of the Council have before them dacument S/15330, which has been prepared in the course of the Council’s consultations. 5. I should like to draw the attention of members of the Council to the following other documents: S/15322, containing the text of a letter dated 29 July from the representative of Cuba to the President of the Council: S/l5324 and S/15326, containing the text of letters dated 29 and 30 July, respectively, from the representative of Lebanon to the President of the Council; and S/15328 and S/15329, containing the text of letters dated 30 July from the representative of Jordan to the President of the Council. Adoption of the agenda The situation in the Middle East: (a) Letter dated 4 June 1982 from the Permanent Representative of Lebanon to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council (S/15162); (b) Letter dated 28 July 1982 from the Permanent Representatives of Egypt and France to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council (S/15316) 6. Members of the Council have also received photocopies of a letter dated I August from the representative of Jordan to the President of the Council. It will be issued as a document of the Council this afternoon under the symbol S/ 15332. 7. As I have already mentioned, representatives have before them document S/15330, dated I August, 8. Before we proceed to the vote, I should point out a small error in the text, which will be corrected in the definitive copy of the draft resolution. This is the omission from operative paragraph 3 of five words that were, as I understood it as President, agreed in the consultations this morning. The words omitted are “as soon as possible and”. The difference is not a substantive one, but the text should include those words. I call now read out the correct version of operative paragraph 3: “RP~LWS~S the Secretary-General to report back to the Security Council on compliance with this resolution as soon as possible and not later than four hours from now.” 9. The Council will now vote on the draft resolution in document S/15330.

I now call on the representative of Lebanon, at whose initiative we are meeting here today and who has asked to make a statement. I I, Mr. TUENI (Lebanon): I congratulate you, Sir, on your assumption of the presidency for this month. We would have preferred not to have you begin your duties at such an early hour. Members are aware that I awakened you shortly after you had gone to bed, and I think that the marvelous way in which you responded and have taken action has already produced results, Your country is a friend of my country and your valiant soldiers have been in Lebanon ever since the establishment of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). Some have been martyred in the cause of peace, and we hope that under your presidency the Council will steer this whole issue to a fortunate conclusion, 12. Although I should address my thanks to you and to all the Council members for having voted in favour of the present resolution, I have not asked to speak for that purpose, but merely to read an appeal issued earlier this morning by the Prime Minister of Lebanon and addressed to the Security Council and to all the Governments of the world. “At dawn today, and as we were getting ready to start implementing the arrangements decided at Jeddah concerning the withdrawal of armed forces “Our people are all asking one simple question: Why? “Why the renewal of this vicious, ferocious shelling, which comes while 600,000 Lebanese have been trying to survive without water, electricity and food, for no crime they committed save their belonging to a civilized homeland whose history testifies to its faith in moral values, the principles of international law, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights’ and the Charter of the United Nations as an instrument that should govern the future of nations, particularly the smaller States such as Lebanon. “I am addressing you this morning in the name of the people of Lebanon, the men and the women, the aged and the children, who were all surprised. by the spectre of death at sunrise. “I am addressing all the peoples of the world. I am addressing this appeal to the heads of State and Government, to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, to the President and members of the Security Council, asking them all to come tO Lebanon’s rescue and to save an aggrieved people besieged in its own capital city, devoured by the Israeli war machine, despite Security Council resolutions calling for a cease-fire, a lifting of the blockade and the withdrawal of all forces. “What is now needed is an act of deliverance, It is asked from each and all, particularly from the United Nations in accordance with its principles, as our last resort. “The people of Lebanon is today the victim of an unprecedented tragedy. Lebanon has been for se long the arena of various regional and international confrontations. Let Lebanon’s case be today a victory for rights and a vindication of human values and the worth of human lives.” The appeal is signed by Chafik Al-Wazzan, Prime Minister, President of the Council of Ministers of the Lebanese Republic. 13. I think that this appeal has already been heard -at least in part. There is a cease-fire, and we have a resolution.

I assure the representative of Lebanon that I shall always be ready during my

Allow me first of all, Mr. President, to congratulate you most warmly and sincerely on your accession to the presidency of the Council for the month of August. Being personally acquainted with your outstanding qualities as a diplomat and a statesman, and knowing the devotion and sense of responsibility with which you discharge your functions as a Council member, I have not the slightest doubt that the work of the Council under your presidency will be effective and responsible in these turbulent times, when appeals to the irrational are unfortunately matched by intoxication with violence and destruction throughout the world. .18. Today, Sunday, I August, two months after the adoption of Council resolution 508 (1982), we again have a new resolution before us in which it is stated, in the third paragraph, that the Council is alarmed by the continuation and intensification of military activities in and around Beirut, and, in paragraph I, that the Council “confirms its previous resolutions and demands an immediate cease-fire, and a cessation of all military activities within Lebanon and across the Lebanese-Israeli border”, because apparently all appeals to reason continue to fall on deaf ears, which is most distressing indeed. 16. Allow me next, Mr. President, to pay a deserved tribute to your predecessor, Mr. Sinclair, of Guyana, for the competence, devotion and seriousness he showed during the conduct of the Council’s work during July of this year. 19. Lately, the proclamations of cease-fires-unobserved-have been alternating dramaticahy with breaches of the cease-fire, which tends to create the impression that we are confronted by a routine matter that we can go along with and should, in fact, get accustomed to. The delegation of Zaire rejects that notion: this is no routine matter and, precisely because of its huge responsibility, the Council cannot go along with it. That is why we particularly appreciate the insertion in resolution 516 (1982) of paragraph 2, which authorizes the Secretary-General to deploy immediately, on the request of the Government of Lebanon, United Nations observers to monitor the situation in and around Beirut. 17. Is there anyone with a heart and common sense -indeed, anyone at all-who would not be moved by the situation now prevailing in Beirut and in Lebanon, or by the political, socio-economic and humanitarian problems resulting from it? So tragic is the situation that it has already obliged us, the members of the Council-first of all, in humanitarian terms-to call for respect for the humanitarian principles of the Geneva Conventions of 19492 and the obligations arising from the regulation annexed to the Hague Convention of 1907$ to ask that the rights of the civilian populations be respected without any discrimination and to condemn the acts of violence against those populations; to demand that the Israeli Government immediately lift its siege of Beirut so as to make it possible to send in supplies to meet the urgent needs of the civilian populations and to allow the distribution of relief assistance by United Nations bodies and non-governmental organizations-in particular, the International Red Cross; to ask for restoration of the normal supply of such essential services as water, electricity, food and medical provisions; to appeal to Member States to continue to provide the broadest possible humanitarian assistance; and, finally, to emphasize the special humanitarian responsibilities of the United Nations and its agencies towards the civilian populations and to call on all parties to the conflict not to hinder the exercise of those responsibilities but to contribute to the humanitarian efforts being undertaken. Secondly, in basic political terms and in view of the breach of peace, we were obliged to call upon all parties to the conflict to cease immediately and simultaneously all military activities within Lebanon and across the Lebanese-Israeli border and no later than 0600 hours, local time, on Sunday, 6 June 1982; to demand that Israel withdraw 20. Council members having been unanimous in considering that as the only concrete measure which we can take at this stage in order to cope with the emergency, we went along with that opinion, and we wish to believe that it will be a positive step towards ending the cycle of intoxication with violence in and around Beirut, a step which will contribute to creating favourable conditions in which to continue the negotiations under way. I have told the President that that is the spirit in which the delegation of Zaire gave its agreement to the draft resolution we havejust adopted.

I call now on the representative of Israel.

Permit me, Sir, to congratulate you on your assumption some hours ago of the presidency of the Council for this month of August. We feel confident that you will discharge your onerous task with your customary skill, responsibility and devotion. 24. In the course of yesterday, there occurred a number of cease-fire violations by the terrorists in the Beirut area. At first, the Israel Defence Forces did not respond to these provocations. Later in the day, according to reports of news agencies from Beirut, the terrorist chieftain in west Beirut told his followers to prepare for an all-out Israel attack, which, he maintained, was imminent. 25. It thus became clear that the terrorists were deliberately escalating the situation in the Beirut sector. And, in fact, at 2 a.m., local time, last night, they started a heavy shelling of the area held by the Israel Defence Forces. 26. Since the terrorists had thus again ignored our repeated warnings that there would be no one-sided cease-fire, the Israel Defence Forces were instructed to respond firmly to the terrorist violations of the cease-fire. There was no intention-and there is none at this time-for the Israel Defence Forces to move into west Beirut. The Israel Defence Forces were not advancing into west Beirut: they were merely responding to the terrorist violations and provocations. 27. Several hours ago, my Government proposed a new cease-fire to go into effect at 5 p.m., local time, corresponding to I I a.m., New York time, provided that such cease-fire would be absolute and mutual, However, should the terrorists or any other party violate the cease-fire, the Israel Defence Forces will return the fire directed at them. 28. According to the information that reached me from Jerusalem one hour ago, a cease-fire had in fact gone into effect in the Beirut sector at 5 p.m., local time, corresponding to I I a.m., New York time.

The next speaker is the representative of Egypt. I invite him to take a place at the Council table and to make his statement.

Mr. President, it was with deep appreciation that we learned of your response to the request to convene an urgent meeting of the Council to consider the serious situation in Beirut. Your prompt action and wise reaction reflect your deep sense of duty and the efficiency for which YOU are known. We wish you success as President of the Council for the month of August. 32. While intensive Arab and international efforts are being conducted with a view to dealing objectively and positively with the dangerous situation in Reirut. and amid some positive developments engendered by the decisions of the Arab Foreign Ministers’ meeting at Jeddah on 29 July [src S/1532Y, rrn/~j.u], Israel has chosen to resort again to its policy of foiling whatever options have been offered and closing doors about to be opened. 33. It is upon instructions from my Government that I speak here today to condemn in the strongest terms the new aggression by Israel against west Beirut and its civilian population, and against the PLO. Pal-adoxically, this aggression took place after the PLO leadership announced in the clearest possible terms its readiness to co-operate towards solving the current situation in west Beirut; it is a party to the Jeddah communiquk. We wonder why Israel chose to embark upon its all-out attack against the Palestinian and Lebanese people in west Beirut at this very moment. Was it because a glimmer of hope was emerging? Or was it because the leadership of the PLO has succeeded in its efforts and struggle to focus on the central point of the whole problem: Palestinian national rights and the unquestionable right of the Palestinians to self-determination? 34. In any case, we call upon the Council to take n firm stand against the Israeli policies of aggression and to give a firm warning that if such practices continue the Council will take the necessary steps. WC firmly support the demand of the Council for an immediate cease-fire. We support the Council’s decision to request the Secretary-General to make immediate contact with all the parties to the conflict to arrange immediate and sustained compliance with the ceasefire, and to report to the Council today, and preferably on an hourly basis. We support the Council’s authorizing the Secretary-General to use United Nations machinery to help supervise the situation and the implementation of the cease-fire that has been ordered. 35. The hour is grave: the situation is serious. It calls for action, not words. I am confident that the action to be taken by the Council at this hour will be supported by all peoples and Governments which are ready to shoulder their responsibilities to peace and security in the world.

Allow me to welcome you, Sir, to the post of President of the Council for the month of August and to wish You 38. The Council has been convened today in an urgent meeting in connection with the new massive aggressive action by Israel in Lebanon. In recent hours, the Israeli forces have broken the eighth ceasefire agreement, have subjected to harsh bombardment the city of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, to which they have laid siege, and have carried out attacks on that city from many directions. According to information we have received, the Israeli occupiers again made extensive use during this latest operation of the most barbarous types of modern American weaponry: cluster and phosphorous bombs. Once again, completely innocent people are dying. The blood of women and children and old people is being shed. “The criminal acts of the Israeli militarists in Lebanon, which are being carried out with the complicity of the United States, arouse indignation and anger throughout the world, sow new seeds of hatred and enmity in the Middle East, and deepen Ihe gulf between Israel and the Arab Governments and peoples. “The conscience of mankind, of all who cannot remain indifferent to the grief and suffering of people, demands the immediate halting of the mass murders being committed by the savage aggressor on Lebanese soil. Israel, through its crimes, is in fact placing itself outside the international community, whose will and demands it blatantly and insolently defies. 39. ’ Israel’s actions constitute another, extremely crude, violation of all the resolutions which have been adopted by the Council from the moment the Israeli forces invaded Lebanon. The ink on resolution 515 ( l982), demanding that Israel lift the siege of Beirut, had not yet dried when the Israeli war machine began r7 new stage in its bloody war in Lebanon. That fact speaks eloquently for itself. It is testimony to Tel Aviv’s determination to continue by any means its “The leading circles of the Soviet Union consider that it is no longer possible to postpone taking effective measures to halt the aggression. The Security Council must urgently consider and take with regard to the aggressor all the coercive measures provided for in the Charter of the United Nations. Policy of genocide against the Lebanese and Palestinian populations and physically to destroy the PLO. It goes without saying that Ihe Zionist leadership of Israel would not behave so brazenly and provocatively if its protectors from abroad, from here in the United States, had so much as lifted their little finger to prevent new Israeli aggression. “The aggression must be halted.” [+S/1.5346, c1nncJ.v. ] 40. I should like to read out a statement from TASS that has just been received by the Mission of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics to the United Nations: 41. The Soviet delegation supported the draft resolution that the Council has just adopted, which calls for the adoption of immediate measures to prevent the further escalation of Israel’s aggressive actions in Lebanon, including the sending of United Nations military observers to monitor the situation in and around Beirut. The Council will have to ensure implementation of the resolution and its earlier decisions by making use of the means available to it under Chapter VII of the Charter. “Israeli forces have begun a large-scale attack against besieged west Beirut. The assault forces of the Israeli army-tanks, aircraft, artillery, warships-have been launched against the courageous defenders of the city, The number of victims among the peaceful population of the city is increasing, apartment blocks are being destroyed, even hospitals are being subjected to the criminal attack. Artillery fire is being directed at the areas where foreign embassies are located. The Israeli barbarians in Beirut are now committing veritable genocide with regard to the Lebanese and Palestinian peoples. 42, The PRESIDENT: I now call upon the representative of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Mr. President, early this morning, almost I2 hours ago, we were awakened-as I am sure you were-and deeply concerned and alarmed by news received from Beirut about the situation in that city. That happened only 2 hours after you had assumed the responsibility of presiding over the Council for the month of August. “The destruction of the capital of Lebanon is the latest monstrous crime of the Israeli militarists, which is being committed with cynical disregard for the resolution recently adopted by the Security 44. On 29 July, the Council adopted a resolution calling for the lifting of the siege of Beirut [~solr/lion 515 t/982)]. The Council was informed of an agreement reached in Jeddah [WC S/1533/, WWWS]. We were all optimistic: we hoped that peace would again reign in the area. But apparently the developments in Jeddah, which observers considered to be very positive, were answered by the neo-Nazis with some savage attacks which caught unaware scores of Beirut civilians who had hoped to benefit from the relative calm to secure basic needs. As a result of that mad attack, undertaken with the blessing and support of the United States, tens and maybe hundreds of Beirut civilians were killed and wounded. 45. Israel’s response to the agreement in Jeddah was demonstrated when Israeli forces around Beirut launched their most vicious and murderous bombardment of the city’s western sector. The whole array of United States weaponry at the disposal of the Israeli forces was employed in attacks from land, sea and air. 46. The preliminary estimate of the number of bombs and shells of various calibres poured into west Beirut on 30 and 31 July is in the order of 80,000, and that clearly tallies with the scenes of destruction wrought by Israel and witnessed in Beirut. Fires raged out of control in many areas, and fire-fighters were paralysed by the lack of water imposed on Beirut by Israeli forces. We all know that on 29 July the Council demanded the lifting of the siege. Yet the fire-fighters had no water to fight those fires. 47. It was in the light of this attack and of further information that Chairman Yasser Arafat convened the Palestinian and Lebanese freedom fighters and defenders of the city of Beirut and told them of the information and reports received from various world capitals. Orders were issued to all commanders of the military sectors to reinforce and consolidate the defences of west Beirut, and that was a critical step with far-reaching implications. Thus the meeting of the supreme command was not in preparation fat aggression but to confront aggression, 48. The Beirut sector has been, and still is, constantly under fire and threat by the Israeli forces. This morning the reports received by the leadership of the PLO and the joint command that they would have to defend Beirut proved to be true. Israeli forces around Beirut broke the cease-fire again at 3 o’clock this morning. Beirut time, and escalated their aggression at 5 a.m., when enemy aeroplanes-Israeli planes, American planes piloted by Israelis-began air strikes against a number of areas, all of them civilian areas, in Beirut. At 7.30 a.m. the Israeli attacking forces stepped up their pressure against Beirut again. At Litho in United Nations, New York 00300 X8-6098Y-June IYHY--2850 49. So it can be seen that the Israeli plan, design and policy to burn out Beirut and to massacre in cold blood hundreds of civilians there is continuing. 50. It seems that in our discussions here we are completely forgetting the resolutions adopted by the Council calling for the complete and unconditional withdrawal of Israel from Lebanon. Again I wish to repeat that the issue-the main, real issue-is the presence of 120,000 Israeli troops, forces of inv&ion, on Lebanese territory. One really should not be misled into concentrating only on Beirut but should be aware, for certain, that there are 120,000 Israeli troops in Lebanon. As I said the other day, the issue is their wishdrawal and the sovereignty and independence of Lebanon. In the final analysis, the issue is the future of the Palestinian and Lebanese peoples. 5 I. The PRESIDENT: I call on the representative of Israel, who wishes to speak in exercise of the right of reply.

I was profoundly impressed with the fact that the representative of the Soviet Union was good enough to read out a press statement from TASS, which is well known for its independence. That was indeed a very substantial contribution, which added significantly to his statement, I wish to assure the representative of the Soviet Union that his statement and the TASS statement carry the same weight and credibility.

I should like again to thank members of the Council for their prompt response to my call for a meeting in the early hours of this morning and for their co-operation earlier this morning here in the effort to agree quickly on a response by the Council to a serious and urgent situation. I should also like to thank again, on my own behalf and on their behalf, the Secretariat and the staff of the various services associated with our work here for their co-operation in coming here on short notice and helping to enable our meeting to take place. NOTES ’ General Assembly resolution 217 A (111). 2 United Nations, T~trry SL&S, vol. 75, Nos. 970-973. ’ Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, T/Ic~ HtrW C'ow~r~tionr trnd t.kc/ortrtion.~ qf IRYY md 16~07 (New York, Oxford University Press, 1915).