It is a great pleasure for me to join my colleagues in extending to Sir Leslie Munro my heartiest congratulations on his election as President of the present session of the General Assembly, which we all earnestly hope will be a successful and fruitful one. I would like also to take this opportunity to express my delegation's great appreciation of the services rendered to this Organization by Sir Leslie's predecessor, His Royal Highness, Prince Wan Waithayakon, who presided over the deliberations of the eleventh session with his customary wisdom, charm and impartiality.
196. I wish also to express my delight at the reappointment of Mr. Hammarskjold as Secretary-General for a second period. Mr. Hammarskjold's qualities, as well as his unique gifts of statesmanship, patience and impartiality, have won him universal respect and admiration. It is indeed an honour and a pleasure for me to be able to pay this tribute to him.
197. It is an occasion of satisfaction to me to welcome the two new Member States of Ghana and the Federation of Malaya to this Assembly. We are delighted to have them with us as Members of this great family of nations. At the same time, I wish to express our admiration of the peoples and Governments of those two countries for the way in which they have achieved their independence, and to compliment the Government of the United Kingdom on its wisdom and foresight in extending help and sympathy to them in the fulfilment of their national aims. We hope that the enlightened policy followed by the United Kingdom will be an example to others, who, by emulating it, will then receive equally the acknowledgement and appreciation of the civilized world.
198. We hope that very soon we shall be able to welcome other new Members, such as an independent Algeria and a united Germany.
199. As a Middle Easterner, I feel very flattered that so many speakers at this session have dealt with the question of the Middle East with so much zeal and sympathy. But at the same time I must confess that I find this sudden interest a little disquieting, especially as some of the speakers appeared to be more anxious than the peoples of the Middle East themselves. We wonder to what we owe this fortune or misfortune? To Zionism, to imperialism, or to communism? Perhaps we owe it to them all.
200. Another thing which makes us doubtful and suspicious is the fact that almost none of the distinguished speakers bothered to ask why the situation had deteriorated in the last few years, and none tried to find out the real source of the upheavals in the Arab world. They claimed that communism was now trying to penetrate the Arab countries. If this is true, what is it that made these countries liable to such penetration?
201. We believe that there is no communism in the Arab world. The phenomena we are witnessing is nothing but an expression of bitterness caused by injustices and partialities favouring Israel to the detriment of Arab rights and aspirations.
202. Who brought the danger of so-called communist penetration to the Middle East? The Egyptians? The Syrians? Not at all. The short-sightedness which brought communism to the Danube and the Elbe may now be paving the way for it to the Mediterranean. The international champions of hatred and unconditional surrender who, by securing the division of Germany, have exposed Western Europe to grave dangers, are the same fanatic elements who succeeded in dividing Palestine, and so opened the doors to unrest and instability in the Middle East. But now these same champions and their supporters are biting their fingers and beating their chests in fury against possible communist infiltration, which is being used as a pretext for their infernal designs.
203. I wonder why should one expect the Communists to behave like angels in the face of all these temptations? Communists, after all, have never pretended to believe in God or angels. Why should we blame them, then, if they attempt to exploit their opponents' mistakes and blunders? Is there a greater blindness than what has been happening in Palestine for the last forty years? Or has there been a more malignant stupidity than the aggression in Egypt last year ? Or is there a more barbarous war than the one which is being waged now in Algeria?
204. Colonialism has such a long black list of accumulated mistakes and misdeeds in Asia and Africa that some Powers should be thankful for still having friends and allies in the Middle East. There is an Arabic proverb which says: "An old opponent whom you know is safer than a new friend whom you do not." This perhaps explains our attitude, with the hope that our friends will soon realize the danger of the nineteenth-century games which are still being played here and there.
205. Friendship between nations is guided and regulated by mutual national interests, and it cannot, therefore, be considered as one-sided or unconditional. So it is up to our friends to understand the importance of Arab nationalism and aspirations and to realize the danger of disillusion and despair.
206. To have a clear idea of what is going on in the Arab world today we must know one or two facts. The Arab world is fighting three evils: white traditional imperialism, red communist threat, and black Zionist aggression. We are spending much time and energy and a great part of our resources to cope with this three-cornered danger. We believe that the United Nations can do a great deal to help in this matter, by stopping France in its atrocious adventure in Algeria, by forcing Israel to respect the United Nations resolutions safeguarding Arab rights in Palestine, and by creating a genuine and a practical coexistence which will put an end to interference and subversion.
207. If we intend to help the Middle East, we must completely liquidate the evils of imperialism, find a just and fair solution to the Palestine question and by so doing seal definitely the channel of unrest and subversive activities in the Middle East.
208. My delegation takes special interest in the Algerian question. For the last three years, French forces have been carrying on a war against the Algerian people, whose only fault is their struggle for liberty and independence — rights fully endorsed and upheld by the Charter. The acts committed by French troops in Algeria are, to say the least, in the worst traditions of colonial wars. The atrocities and the mutilations of men, women and children and the looting of Algerian property under the eyes of French authorities have been an almost daily occurrence in that tragedy-stricken country. This has been testified not only by foreign impartial eye-witnesses and journalists, but also by a great many Frenchmen in Algeria and in France, who, as you know, have been exposed to punishment and retaliation for their views.
209. The devastating war in Algeria is the main cause today of unrest in North Africa, a region that needs, above all, peace and security to develop its economy and resources. My country views the developments in Algeria with extreme anxiety and grave concern. We have no doubt that the peace and the security of the whole region will be threatened if events are allowed to continue in their tragic course without bold and effective measures to stop them. If the United Nations intends to live up to the principles in the Charter, the General Assembly will have no other alternative but to take an urgent and unqualified decision to uphold the right of Algeria to freedom and independence, and to open negotiations for a ceasefire.
210. As for the eternal question of Palestine, my delegation need hardly dwell on the plight of the one million Palestinian Arabs who have been denied the right to return to their homes and property since the creation of Israel, which has flouted United Nations resolutions more than once. Enough has been said about this problem, which, if it remains without solution, will leave no hope whatsoever for stability and security in the Middle East.
211. Those Powers which voted for the partition of Palestine ten years ago, and for the creation of Israel, were misled by very shrewd Zionist propaganda. Some of them were given to believe that the State of Israel would be a factor of peace and prosperity in the Middle East. They ignored Arab warnings that this artificial State, imposed arbitrarily, would bring nothing but disaster to the Arabs, the Jews and the free world. Today, the world is reaping the bitter fruit of that mischief and injustice.
212. We cannot save or win the Middle East by guns and dollars. What we really need is justice and fair play, and, unless we frankly and courageously deal with this matter, the chaotic situation will continue and lead one day to a terrific explosion. Then it will be too late to do anything constructive in that area.
213. The twelfth session of the General Assembly faces other challenging problems, such as the questions of disarmament, Kashmir, Hungary, etc., which need the courage and the strong will of the Members of the United Nations if they are to be solved in justice and fairness.
214. We believe that the United Nations, in spite of handicaps and some mistakes in the past, has justified its existence and has a great opportunity to move forward. We are particularly impressed by the United Nations work in the social and economic fields.
215. It is gratifying to note that the United Nations has been giving more and more attention to the plight of the majority of the population of the world, which suffers from ignorance, poverty, and disease. In this field, the Technical Assistance Administration and the specialized agencies deserve special mention for their efforts. We hope that these efforts will increase in scope and importance to deal with the increasing needs of mankind and in fulfilment of one of the most important aims and principles of the Charter.
216. Needless to say, Members of this Organization should do their best to help themselves and improve their economic conditions if we are to look to a better and a brighter world. My own country has been doing all it can for this purpose. We have been using 70 per cent of our oil revenues to modernize and develop our country and so raise the standard of living of the people. This is being done with the help and advice of the United Nations Technical Assistance Administration and the specialized agencies, and also with the co-operation of some friendly and neighbourly nations.
217. In this field, the Baghdad Pact, which was formed as a defensive regional and good-neighbour organization in accordance with the United Nations Charter, is rendering a good service to its members. Through its committees and commissions, they have joined their efforts in the field of economic and social development.
218. Finally, we take this opportunity to pledge our faith in the Charter and our readiness to abide by its principles. My delegation will endeavour to cooperate with other delegations in the work of this Assembly and its various Committees with full energy and devotion, and we hope that this will be a fruitful and successful session.