First, allow me to congratulate the president on the confidence which has been placed in him by the General Assembly in electing him to this high post. I wish him the fullest measure of success in carrying on the great traditions of his office that have been established by his distinguished predecessors.
69. May I also take this opportunity to congratulate all the new nations on their independence and their admittance to the United Nations. Having won their freedom, may they preserve it forever, and may they prosper and grow strong with every passing year.
70. It is awesome and inspiring to stand before an Assembly of the nations of the world. I pray God that I may be worthy of the time and of the place. I pray that I may also be worthy of the Arab people, that I may in spirit and in word express their aspirations to contribute to peace, and justice in the world. Ours is a land of peace, the cradle of religion and of civilization itself. It was from our country that the first message of universal peace and good will was proclaimed.
71. Also, it was the Prophet of our people who long ago introduced into the world the doctrine that all human beings are equal under God. With such a tradition, we are determined to contribute to the world of the future, as we have to the world of the past.
72. It was our determination to do so, to revive the spirit of our ancestors, that led to the great Arab revolt — a revolt deep-rooted in the principles of peace, equality and freedom that are the very heart of Islam and of Arab nationalism. They are also the foundation upon which the United Nations was built.
73. So, as a representative of the Arab people, I have come to this Assembly to contribute what I can, and to state our position on the issues which are the subject of discussion before this body.
74. More specifically, there are four reasons why I am here today. First, I was deeply concerned over what seemed to be an obvious attempt to wreck the United Nations. Second, I wanted to be sure that there was no mistake about where Jordan stands in the conflict of ideologies that is endangering the peace of the world. Third, as the Head of a small nation, I felt that it was my duty to the other small nations of the world and particularly to the new Members of the United Nations, to share with them our experience in preserving the freedom which we, like they, fought so hard to win. Fourth and finally, I believed it to be my duty also to express my views on three vital problems in the Middle East affecting the peace of the world, namely, the growing tension between Jordan and the United Arab Republic, the independence of Algeria, and the still unsolved problem of Palestine.
75. It is needless to affirm that the United Nations presents the only hope of peace and freedom to humanity. This is of major significance to all the small nations of the world; yet, almost from birth, the Soviet Union has sought to destroy the United Nations, to hamper its deliberations, to block its decisions and, by rowdy tactics and petulant walk-outs, to damage the reputation of the Security Council and the General Assembly. The most recent illustration of this attitude towards the United Nations has been its performance at this session, and the attempt to weaken the powers of the Secretary-General, and the proposal to move the site of the Organization's Headquarters. These are only slightly concealed efforts to destroy the United Nations itself.
76. May I add that I heartily endorse the decision administered to Mr. Khrushchev by the vote of the General Assembly [resolution 1474 (ES-IV)] in its endorsement of the speedy and effective measures taken by the Secretary-General and his staff in handling the tragedy of the Congo.
77. No one who has followed the deliberations in the General Assembly for the past two weeks can fail to be aware of the significance of this session. The problems that confront us are not new problems — but as they have remained unsolved; they have so grown in magnitude that their continued existence threatens not the peace of the world, but its very life. I have no major plan for the solution of these problems. As a country which owns no nuclear weapons and which! can only suffer from nuclear warfare, Jordan merely beseeches the Powers involved to resume their labours and strive even in the face of all the obstacles in their path to find a formula or, better perhaps, a way of thought that will not only save them but save us all.
78. There are other problems, too, and one would indeed be blind if he did not realize that almost on every vital issue that confronts this body the nations of the world are being offered a choice. And there is no secret about what that choice is. It lies between becoming part of the Soviet Empire, subservient ultimately to the dictates of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, or standing as a free nation whose sole external allegiance is to the United Nations itself. That is the choice — and it is there for each and every nation to decide.
79. And may I say at once — and with all the strength and conviction at my command — that Jordan has made its choice. We have given our answer in our actions, and I am here to reaffirm our stand to the nations of the world. We reject communism. The Arab people will never bow to communism, no matter what guise it may seek to use to force itself upon us. Communism will never survive in the Arab world because if it ever did then it would have replaced Arab nationalism. There would then cease to be an Arab nation, an Arab world.
80. I believe that Arab nationalism is too deep-rooted in the love of God, the love of freedom and the concept, of the equality of all before God ever to be supplanted by a system which denies the importance of these ideas.
81. Moreover, it is my firm belief that all nations which believe in God should meet in counter-attack against the common challenge to their very existence presented by communism. Not even the emotional power that comes from love of country, or the material resistance offered by material well-being, or the spiritual strength to be drawn from the concept of freedom — none of these, singly or alone, can meet the threat to peace presented by the totalitarian ambitions of communism. Not until those who honestly, believe in God and in His dictates of love, equality and social justice unite to translate those ideals into I action will communism be defeated and peace restored to the world. In the great struggle between communism and freedom there can be no neutrality. How then can we be neutral in our attitude toward two systems of government, two philosophies; one of which cherishes these concepts, while the other denies and stifles them.
82. In taking our stand with the free world, however, we do not forget our long struggle for liberation, nor could we support existing injustices being committed by some members of the free world. But in the setting sun of the old imperialism we are not blinded to the new imperialism of communism — one far more brutal, far more tyrannical and far more dangerous to the ideals of free people, to the concept of nationalism, than this world has ever known.
83. While we reject the doctrine of neutralism for ourselves, we respect the right of any nation to choose its own course of action; but we are wary of what appears in some instances to be the use of neutralism to exploit the division between communism and the free world. And we are also wary of the danger in some cases of communist expansion under the guise of neutralism.
84. I come now to the problem of the Middle East, so vital to the peace of the world, and hence of major concern to the United Nations. In our part of the world, added to the problems of Algeria and of Palestine, there now exists a situation of which the General Assembly should be aware. I will not dwell upon it in unhappy detail, for to do so might increase rather than decrease the danger of intense conflict. Yet to let it smoulder, unnoticed by the United Nations, would be equally dangerous.
85. I feel, therefore, that I must discuss the tensions which exist between Jordan and the United Arab Republic. With other and more world-wide problems facing the General Assembly, it may seem to some rather presumptuous to introduce what may appear to be a local issue into its crowded schedule. However, no issue is entirely local; and as the world has now learned, no conflict of ideas or threat of physical conflict stops at the borders of those directly involved. Moreover, the principles which underlie it, as well as those which must be used to solve it, are applicable throughout the world. And as new independent nations find their freedom in increasing numbers, the effective application of these principles becomes of ever-increasing importance.
86. For me to remain silent, then, would be to encourage the continuance of a situation that could destroy the Arab nation and, in the process, lead to the involvement of the major Powers, and thus produce a world conflict.
87. It all began several years ago and at a time when Jordan, having just completely achieved its independence, sensed a new and most formidable threat to its freedom in the form of communist penetration into our area. Our warning to the people of Jordan of the threat to ourselves and to the Arab nation as a whole was the cause of Jordan being subjected to abuse, subversion and external pressure of many kinds. They grew in intensity — to the extent that we can only believe that the aim of our sister Arab State is our destruction.
88. Its Government, one would have supposed, would be as strongly dedicated to the goal of Arab unity as Jordan is. In fact, so menacing was the United Arab Republic's attitude towards Jordan and so constant were its attacks upon us, that on 21 August 1958, the General Assembly of the United Nations, in its third emergency special session, endorsed an Arab League resolution by which the United Arab Republic pledged itself to cease its campaign against us. Unhappily, it did not honour its pledge.
89. The attacks were resumed; incitements to overthrow our Government and assassinate our leaders were broadcast daily over their Government radio; borders between us were closed to damage bur economy; and convicted traitors to Jordan were encouraged, or at least permitted, to engage in subversive acts against us.
90. The situation once again became so grave that the Council of the Arab League, of which the United Arab Republic and Jordan are members, adopted at one of its sessions a resolution calling upon its members to refrain from all activities that would disturb "fraternal relations". The day following the close of that session, Jordan's Prime Minister, Hazza al-Majali, along with eleven others, including a child of ten, was killed by a bomb placed in his desk.
91. I will restrain myself — and it is with great difficulty that I do so — from saying any more on this subject. I should like only to add that I find considerable significance in the fact that our troubles with the United Arab Republic date from the time that I denounced the growing menace of communism in the Arab world. Moreover, I detect a significant parallel between the tactics that have been used against Jordan and those employed by communism all over the world.
92. It is no secret that the policy of the Soviet Union is to split friend from friend, to divide nation from nation in order to achieve its goal of total world domination. The United Arab Republic, in seeking to dominate our part of the world, has adopted, as part of its policy of "neutralism", some of the methods of the country of which it is most fondly neutral. Should it succeed, either as a neutral or as an openly avowed communist ally, it will destroy the very basic aims of the Arab nation.
93. These aims may be difficult to understand for those outside our Arab world, possibly because we are inept at defining them clearly to others. Or perhaps it is because our ideals, as yet unattained by us in our world, and having been attained by others in theirs, have been forgotten by them. Nevertheless, we have set forth our ideas in a joint effort. They were partly embodied in the resolution of 1958 [1237 (ES-III)], adopted on the proposal of the Arab States, and in a resolution of the Arab League adopted at the meetings at Shtoura. To both of them the Republic was a party, and both of them have been consistently violated by it.
94. The point which I wish to make is this. If, as the creation of the United Nations suggests, our hope for more freedom, more co-operation, and what we often refer to as a better world, and even survival, lies in adherence to mutually agreed ways of dealing with one another, then we must find better ways than we now have to bring our combined weight of opinion quickly and effectively to bear upon whatever nation transgresses these agreed inter-relationships. I do not suggest that there is anything new in this idea; it is simply the idea of government by law applied to the actions of sovereign States. Yet to me, as the leader of a small nation much beset by outside pressures, it is a concept which is worthy of reemphasis at this time, for I believe that it is in the successful application of this idea that the survival and progress of my country and so many other small nations will in the end be decided.
95. The United Nations is the only instrument which is capable of applying this idea successfully, and should it fail in general to fulfil this responsibility, the small nations will perforce have to solve their problems in their own way. This would be the worst kind of retrogression towards the kind of "might makes right" world which we have for so long struggled to leave behind us.
96. Before I go on to the subjects of Algeria and Palestine, a final word about the United Arab Republic. While Jordan would naturally welcome evidence of United Nations support of its position, which it believes to be based upon the principles on which progress towards better relations between nations must rest, Jordan does not expect or request any special or immediate response from the United Nations to what I have said. If we can collectively devise and carry out better means than we now have to ensure the integrity of smaller nations and to guarantee their ability to improve their lot, free from outside interference, then I believe we shall have progressed. If what I have said contributes to this end, then it will have been worth saying.
97: The tragedy of Algeria remains grave and shows signs of becoming graver. Here again, the problem is that of refusing to recognize the right of the people to determine their own future. This is the very essence of freedom. The United Nations cannot afford to take a passive position in this matter any more than it was passive about Korea or about Hungary.
98. In one sense, the problem is far more serious because a party to it is a member of the free world. The appeal to France to uphold what it seems to have neglected, its own tradition of liberty, freedom and equality, must be no less vigorous because it is a member of the free world; in fact, it must be more so because of that.
99. There is no doubt that a large and impressive number of the French people is wholeheartedly in favour of permitting our Algerian brothers the choice of their future. May the French Government soon reflect by its actions the same belief, and extend to the Algerians the right of self-determination promised by the President of France. By such action, France will win back its place among the nations which will fight for freedom. There will never be a better world if principles continue to be compromised. We must put an end to useless bloodshed. Enough wrong has been done and the road of ignoring the continuation of wrong is a dangerous one. The people of Algeria are entitled to their right of self-determination.
100. The third of the three problems in the Middle East is Palestine. The world's conscience seems to have closed its eyes in a rather shameful manner, and for far too long, on a tragedy of humanity so serious in its magnitude that over a million Arabs of Palestine have lived for twelve years ignored by a world that has not as yet seriously attempted to help them to return to the most essential and sacred right in life — human dignity.
101. The original failure of the United Nations to permit a people the right of self-determination in 1947 has left in its wake this still sorrowfully unresolved situation. There is no question in the mind of any just and impartial observer that the Arab people of Palestine were wronged by the partitioning of Palestine and by the subsequent establishment of the State of Israel. It was morally wrong and politically unjust then; it is no less so today. The world is too prone to accept a "fait accompli" as a basis of policy.
102. Jordan, which has borne the brunt of the Palestine problem, stands at the forefront of those who demand that the rights of the Palestinians be restored to them without fail. As everyone here is well aware, there still exist various resolutions, those of 1948 [194 (III)] and 1959 [1456 (XIV)], for example. Yet nothing has been done to persuade Israel to live up to them. Here again, the United Nations must enforce its will upon a Member which refuses to abide by its decisions. There will be no real peace in the Middle East without an honourable, just solution to the Palestine tragedy and the complete restoration of the rights of the Arab people of Palestine.
103. I said earlier that we in Jordan are not neutral between right and wrong, or on our belief in God, and I ask that the God in whom we believe will send down on this General Assembly His blessing and that from? it we may have the courage to decide wisely and fearlessly the questions that lie before us.