23. Mr. President, allow me, at the very outset of my statement to extend to you my warmest and most sincere congratulations on your election as President of this twenty-second regular session of the General Assembly. Your election symbolizes the gratifying spirit of justice and understanding, as well as a desire for peaceful co-existence which characterizes this Assembly today. Your election also reinforces the principle of universality in our Organization and the unfolding of a new era for the United Nations, in which the socialist States are coming to play their full part in the attainment of peace and security in this world.
24. I am convinced that under your wise guidance our deliberations will prove to be most fruitful and productive.
25. Nor can I overlook this opportunity of expressing my delegation's warm appreciation and admiration for your predecessor, His Excellency Ambassador Abdul Rahman Pazhwak of Afghanistan, for the able and wise manner in which he guided the deliberations of this body.
26. My delegation wishes to renew its appreciation and admiration of the efforts of the Secretary-General and the efficient and valuable services he has rendered, and continues to render, to this Organization. I should like also to assure you, Mr. President, of our co-operation and support in your difficult and noble task.
27. Our Assembly holds in its hands the hopes of most of the peoples of the world. Thus, as we review the events and the problems, the successes and the failures which confront the United Nations, we must never lose sight of the fact that this is precisely why the most intractable world issues of life and death are brought before this august body. And it is precisely why this Assembly is bound to seek an objective assessment of those issues and, in so doing, resolve them in accordance with the terms of the Charter and the principles of equity and justice to which, as Members, we all have subscribed.
28. It is not my intention to enumerate all these problems at the outset of my address. Yet every one of us carries in the forefront of his mind the awareness that two great crises bear heavily upon us. The one in the Far East has long been threatening world peace. The other is in our area, the Middle East. It too has for a long, long time festered and deepened, sometimes erupting in varying degrees of intensity, and always threatening international peace and security.
29. It is the second crisis which must for obvious reasons concern Jordan first and foremost. And it is this "situation in the Middle East" that this Assembly now has before it for its consideration.
30. The "situation in the Middle East", in the words of the General Assembly’s agenda, is indeed a mild expression for what has transpired. An act of armed aggression has been perpetrated by one Member of this Organization upon other Members. Of that aggression, my country, Jordan, has been a principal victim and bears today the grievous wounds inflicted by it. Almost half the country, including Arab Jerusalem, is under military occupation. Half my people suffer persecution and humiliation under alien rule. Over 10 per cent of the country's population is uprooted and displaced, forced to live in misery and suffering, driven out as new refugees are being stripped of all their possessions.
31. That same act of aggression resulted also in the occupation of sizeable territories belonging to the United Arab Republic and to Syria, and brought about a similar massive human disaster.
32. And all this is the bitter consequence of the pursuit by Israel of a policy of naked force, of territorial aggrandizement and of "peace" through conquest — peace reminiscent of nazi offers of peace in eastern Europe, following each act of criminal and military expansion.
33. Beyond the suffering and the tragic conditions of the inhabitants of these occupied territories lie the fearful questions asked by all the peoples of the Middle East and those of many of the nations of the world. Will the United Nations at this session fail to take a decision on this issue, as it did at the fifth emergency special session of the Assembly? Will the United Nations condemn aggression and occupation and take effective measures for the liquidation of the consequences, by first and foremost obtaining the withdrawal of the forces of aggression from the occupied territories?
34. Once again the attention of the world is drawn to the General Assembly by the convening of this regular session. We must pray, therefore, that this Assembly will not frustrate the world’s expectations and aspirations for peace and justice. For let none doubt that the repeated failure to resolve a grave and serious and urgent matter in a sensitive part of the world weakens this Organization, disfigures its stature and invites a return to the law of the jungle.
35. Also, let none doubt that the choice we have before us now is clear-cut: either an honourable and just solution, or continued war and turmoil.
36. Those whose hearts, for religious reasons, are attached to the area, those who have any interest therein, and those who know the effects of the repercussions of war in this world are all Invited to meditate.
37. I shall not forget at this point, however, to extend my country’s thanks to those Members of the General Assembly who earnestly tried at the emergency special session to reach a decision on our crisis, to condemn aggression, and to order the reparation of the destruction it caused and compensation therefor.
38. There is no need to describe in detail the aggression perpetrated on 5 June 1967. Yet the essential aspect of that deed bears recalling, so that all my respected colleagues and all delegations may recognize it for what it is.
39. On that date Israel launched a simultaneous, wide-scale aerial attack, on the true Hitlerian pattern, against all the airfields of the United Arab Republic.
40. It has been said in defence of Israel that its attack was in answer to earlier alleged provocations. Nothing could be further from the truth. There was no provocation to justify a war. The issue itself — Sharm-El-Sheikh, the Strait of Tiran - was not commensurate with any war. The President of the United Arab Republic declared very clearly on 22 May that the United Arab Republic would not initiate a war. The Egyptian air force, as later became evident, was not on a war footing.
41. Only after Israel had made sure of the success of its sudden and rapid three-hour aerial attack on the air force of the United Arab Republic was the war started by Israel on the Jordanian frontier. Only then and not a minute before. Yet Israel has had the audacity to tell the world that Jordan initiated the hostilities, despite the many hours which elapsed after the Israel attack was launched on the United Arab Republic, and before any fighting had taken place on the Jordanian front. And the same applies to the Syrian front.
42. If these Israeli tactics seem hard to believe, I suggest that we go back to the record of the Israeli aggressions of 1948 and 1956, and to the violations, down through the years, of the Armistice Agreements between Jordan and Israel. The attack on the As Samu village, for which Israel was censured by the Security Council [resolution 228 (1966) of 25 November 1966], stands out as a prime example of such behaviour.
43. It is only necessary to count the number of incidents for which this Organization has condemned or censured Israel and to compare that total with the number of incidents for which the Arab States were condemned. Then, gentlemen, you may judge for yourselves who is the guilty party and who is the aggrieved. Those of you who had anything to do with this subject, or with the deliberations of this Assembly, will no doubt bear me out on this point. And to complete the record, let us state here that Israel itself has admitted that it initiated the surprise air and ground attacks upon the Arab States.
44. A recurring theme in Israel's symphony of justification for its aggression is that even if Sharm-El-Sheikh did not offer sufficient provocation to justify a war, then Arab threats to wipe Israel off the map served as sufficient excuse for this wanton attack. But how does this sophistry stand up to the cold light of reality when the facts are examined? The truth is that there is no place whatsoever for mass murder and genocidal war in Arab history, religion or traditions — absolutely none. There is not a single incident of persecution of Jews by Arabs to be found in Arab history, whether ancient or modern. Historically, the persecution of Jews started in those same countries from which they emigrated to Arab lands. The most recent and terrible instance was practised by the Nazi leader in the heart of Europe. The hideous irony cannot cease to amaze all of us that Israel, in turn, should have proved so apt a pupil of his methods, learning from him, not only the sneak attack known as the "blitzkrieg", but the application of the Nazis' "final solutions", faits accomplis and methods of persecution in order to drive out innocent Arab populations from their homes and lands and replace them with Jewish immigrants.
45. The consequences of the unleashing by the Israelis of the vast potential for death and destruction which they have built up over the last twenty years, are now the subject of this Assembly's attention. The aggression that occurred on 5 June last has resulted, inter alia, in the disruption, with world-wide repercussions, of navigation in the Suez Canal, paralysis of the economy and of the process of economic development, including that of tourism, which has been almost completely interrupted.
46. And how am I, in the same breath, to mention the untold suffering and anguish which has befallen the innocent people of our area?
47. In the Gaza Strip the policies of the occupying authorities have paralysed life and subjected the people to starvation, forcing many inhabitants to seek refuge in Jordan and other neighbouring Arab countries.
48. On the West Bank of the Jordan the once prosperous and well-developed life, in town and village, of one million Jordanians has been shattered. A life of unemployment, misery and degradation is now their lot. Twenty per cent of the inhabitants of the West Bank have been forced to leave their homes and Israel is now endeavouring to coerce and incite the rest of the inhabitants to submit to its rule. The one million Arab Jordanians on the West Bank, despite the continued Israeli policy of coercion and oppression, have continued to manifest in every possible way their resistance to Israel’s occupation. They have also refused to co-operate with the Israel authorities to derogate from Jordan sovereignty over the occupied territory, Many of the Arab Jordanian leaders and dignitaries are in custody or under arrest simply because they have declared their loyalty to Jordan. Their stand is not only in keeping with their attachment to their mother country, but it also stems from their recognition of the harsh conditions in which their brethren have lived as second-class citizens for the past twenty years under the Israelis.
49. In Jerusalem, Israel has already demolished an entire Arab quarter, rendering homeless about 700 Arabs in order to level the area in front of the Wailing Wall, and both Moslem and Christian religious leaders have protested against interference in their religious and municipal affairs by the occupation authorities.
50. Even if we overlook the undoubted rights and demands of the residents of Jerusalem, we cannot overlook the well-known differentiations in Israel's religious and racial policies, nor its lack of respect for the beliefs of others. These alone would disqualify Israel for guardianship of the Holy Places of the Moslems and Christians.
51. The General Assembly, at its fifth emergency special session, adopted resolution 2253 (S-V) on 4 July 1967 by 99 votes in favour to none against. That resolution stated that the Assembly considered as invalid the measures taken by Israel to change the status of the City of Jerusalem. The Assembly called on Israel to rescind all measures already taken and to desist forthwith from taking any action which would alter the City's status. I repeat: that resolution was adopted by 99 votes in favour to none against. On 14 July 1967, the Assembly reiterated its call to Israel to respond to the decisions of the overwhelming majority of the Members of this world body.
52. But what do we find? Israel flouts and mocks those decisions and the obligations of membership in the United Nations as blithely and recklessly as it has always done. And now something new is added: a systematic Israeli campaign to entice the inhabitants, the civil servants and the religious personalities of Jerusalem, to declare loyalty to Israel. That campaign is failing as miserably as have earlier efforts by other invaders throughout history.
53. One further thought on Jerusalem. I wonder if my colleagues here realize that the greater part of the western portion of Jerusalem controlled by Israel prior to 5 June 1967 is Arab property forcibly occupied by Zionist terrorists in 1948. And now Israel wants to remain in the eastern Jordanian half of Jerusalem, which has not a single Jew in it and in which all the Holy Places and shrines, sacred to half of the world's non-Jewish population, are situated.
54. And what of the refugees, the human debris from the construction of the new Zion? If we add the new refugees totalling 350,000 in Jordan, Syria and the United Arab Republic, to the total of old refugees, they will add up to approximately two million people. Two million people: almost the same as the population of Israel.
55. In Jordan, 20 per cent of the inhabitants of the West Bank, or about 200,000 people, representing 10 per cent of the total population of Jordan, have fled to the East Bank because of the behaviour of the occupying forces. The Secretary-General has distributed a report prepared by his personal representative, Mr. Gussing, on their conditions. Here may I refer to the terms of the Security Council resolution [237 (1967)] calling on Israel "to ensure the safety, welfare and security of the inhabitants of the area where military operations have taken place and to facilitate the return of those inhabitants who have fled the areas since the outbreak of hostilities".
56. We all know Israel's response to that decision of the world community. It has ignored the simplest concepts of humanity and international conventions and, for various reasons of its own, Israel has permitted no more than 13,000 refugees to return. Instead, the Prime Minister of Israel declared a new programme for the resettlement of an additional one million Jewish immigrants in the occupied Arab territories. The homes of the Arab refugees recently expelled stand empty, awaiting their return. The weeks and months pass. The cold of winter approaches. Only a refugee or perhaps an eye-witness observer can fully understand and feel the suffering and anguish of these people.
57. And what is this world body going to do? There is the practical provision of the Charter: if Israel persists in its present disregard for the United Nations, the Security Council must apply sanctions aimed at securing compliance by Israel with the resolutions adopted by this Organization.
58. On the one hand, you have heard Israeli leaders saying that all that they had undertaken was purely for self-defence. Yet we have also heard them declaring that they will not withdraw from Jerusalem and will continue their occupation of the West Bank and that they intend to share with the United Arab Republic the shores of the Suez Canal. Does a war of self-defence lead to invasion, occupation, expansion and usurpation? Israel is now, after having occupied the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, inciting and intimidating the Arab inhabitants to declare their separation from the rest of the Arab peoples and to join the Israelis instead. Does a war of self-defence mean that Israel should prevent the return of the Arab refugees to their homes and properties?
59. Yet Israel does not stop at the adamant and belligerent refusal to comply with your decisions regarding Jerusalem and the refugees. No, Israel has the arrogance to declare beforehand, through its leaders, that it will not be affected by any resolution adopted by the United Nations of which it does not approve.
60. I do not wish to take any more of your time with this tragic record or the history and evidence of the other aspects of the case. I must look now into the position which Jordan can take in order to help this Organization adopt a clear resolution to resolve this unprecedented crisis.
61. There is one basic point that seems to be central in this regard. It was at the core of the failure of the General Assembly to take a decision in the crisis at its emergency special session. Surprisingly, that central point related to the legal and natural demand for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Arab territories which they have occupied.
62. Some Powers mobilized all their efforts to prevent such a simple decision from being adopted by the General Assembly. Not only did that stand openly encourage Israel in its public posture of justifying territorial aggrandizement and acquisition by military conquest but also it was in contradiction to the specific declarations by those same Powers about respect for the territorial integrity and political independence of the countries of the Middle East.
63. The outward justification for that peculiar position taken at the United Nations by those Powers — and which now, I am afraid, may be repeated by them — is that the withdrawal of occupying forces should be linked up with peace and with the settlement of other issues. We are asked, it seems, to reward aggression in one way or another. That, however, is not the road to peace, because it is unjust and therefore unacceptable. When any Power champions such an unfair course and states that it supports withdrawal only in that way, it is violating the United Nations Charter and distorting the issue of peace.
64. In their conflict with Israel, the Arab countries have not been opposing peace. They have really been objecting to solutions tantamount to acquiescence in the series of invasions and faits accomplis imposed militarily upon the Arab countries and peoples and infringing their legitimate rights and interests.
65. May I repeat: to link up the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Arab territory with Arab acceptance of such a distorted concept of peace is neither fair nor wise nor morally defensible.
66. First and foremost, this Assembly must insist on an immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from Arab territories. The consideration of peace is, and has been, our purpose. The consideration of the various aspects of the immediate or original problem is also possible, and indeed necessary. That should take place, and within the framework of this Organization, but only after Israel withdraws from our land. Nor is it defensible legally, in the terms of the United Nations Charter, to obstruct or delay a clear and unequivocal pronouncement by this Assembly on the withdrawal of the occupying forces and on the urgency and immediacy of that withdrawal. It must not be subject to any bargaining, territorial or otherwise.
67. In the past, some decisions have been taken in this Assembly contrary to the fundamental interests of the Palestinian, Jordanian and other Arab peoples of the Middle East. The most important of them was the partition of Palestine. The objection of the people then was ignored. Now we suffer from that and similar mistakes committed in the past. The result has always been the aggravation of the situation. If the same policy is now followed, I am sure more disastrous results will ensue, not only to the Arab peoples but also to those Powers interested in the area, and not least to Israel itself.
68. From this rostrum, I ask you most earnestly to examine these matters very, very carefully at this session. Otherwise, an explosion of the Middle East situation again will most probably be the result. As a matter of fact, we can see the beginnings of it taking place at the present moment.
69. In expressing the sincere hope that this Organization will take the initiative to settle the crisis with firmness and urgency, I am convinced that all of you share the opinion that another failure to settle the crisis in the Middle East on the basis of justice is very likely to reduce to a great extent the hopes of the peoples of the world in this Organization, if not really to threaten its existence.
70. Permit me to point out in this regard that the resolution of the Fourth Arab Summit Conference has united and consolidated Arab efforts in this direction. It represents a positive attitude which, we hope, will evoke the appropriate and necessary reaction. Otherwise, the Arab peoples will draw the lesson of extremism and violence. Time and justice are on the side of the Arabs, and the Arabs are patient — let there be no mistake about that — even if Israel could bring in thousands of Jewish immigrants to replace the Arab inhabitants and make them into refugees.
71. It will be observed that I have dedicated most of my statement to the Middle East. That is quite natural in view of the fact that we are from the Middle East, which has suffered in general from Israeli aggression, and from Jordan which has suffered in particular. Yet, in spite of our grievous problem, we still support the efforts of this Assembly to advance the cause of humanity as a whole and the realization of justice and peace.
72. The other major issue plaguing our world is the Viet-Nam crisis, which is in many ways similar to the Middle East crisis. We are convinced that the withdrawal of foreign forces and elements from Viet- Nam will eventually result in peace. The same element of withdrawal applies to the Middle East, for the problem is linked with an important concept, the successful observance of which is essential to this Organization. I refer to non-intervention by any State in the internal affairs of other States. This must be accompanied by the liquidation of foreign military bases. Some of those bases are in the Arab countries, and the Arab Summit Conference has decided that they should be removed. We hope that that will be accomplished quickly.
73. I am certain that there is general agreement that special attention and care must be devoted to expanding the programmes in the economic and technical assistance fields. The programmes provide the solid basis for the advancement of world peace and security, and the developing countries must be given special attention in this field.
74. In the Special Committee on the Situation with Regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, we hope to see every effort made by all peace-loving nations to eliminate from our world all imperialism, in forms both old and new.
75. We call for a halt to the arms race and the reduction of world tension. We call for the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and support a treaty to this effect. We call upon all nations to support this Organization financially in all its activities.
76. Despite the dark clouds shadowing our world, despite the failures of this Organization in recent times, we still see some rays of hope penetrating the gloom. Some of those modest glimmers of light stem from our Organization which, we trust, will come to have more strength based on the principles embodied in its Charter.
77. For the sake of all the peoples of the United Nations let us hope and let us work to the end that we shall be capable of fulfilling its duties with the fairness and justice for which the Organization was created so that it may achieve its ultimate goals of peace, prosperity and stability.