Mr. President, allow me to offer our congratulations to you upon your election. We are very fortunate in having chosen a colleague of such notable experience in United Nations affairs to guide us in our deliberations. In addition to your personal qualifications and the importance of your country, you, Mr. President, represent a group of Member States which have from the very beginning of this Organization been one of its main pillars. The loyalty of the Latin American group to the Organization, and the principles which it has promoted in international affairs, have made fundamental contributions to the work and progress of the United Nations.
79. We jail recall the atmosphere in which we have met in recent years. It seemed at times not only that the existence of the Organization was threatened, but that the human race itself was on the verge of disaster.
80. Over and over again have disarmament and the banning of nuclear tests been the subject of the most heated debates in our Assembly. It often seemed that the more we talked about peace, the nearer we approached war. How different the world situation seems as we meet now. The difference between making speeches at each other and talking with one another is what has made this eighteenth session of the Assembly different from those in the past.
81. In the Moscow Agreement, a most important step has been taken on one aspect of a problem vital to the peace of the world, and a new hope has been raised for other steps to follow. We say this in full realization of the serious obstacles that still have to be overcome before the objectives of total disarmament and guaranteed world peace are realized. But we face these problems now with less fear and greater expectations.
82. We have heard spokesmen for major Powers express here the promise of further negotiation, and it is reassuring to know that contact is being maintained in what has been described as a "continuation of the friendly and constructive spirit on disarmament matters". Encouraged by what has already taken place, we dare to expect, even to demand, of the great Powers that they should continue their talks until the world is freed from the fear of possible destruction.
83. We agree completely with the statement of the President of the United States that: "If the Soviet Union and the United States, with all their global interests and clashing commitments of ideology, and with nuclear weapons still aimed at each other today, can find areas of common interest and agreement,, then surely other nations can do the same —nations caught in regional conflicts, in racial issues, or in the death throes of old colonialism. Chronic disputes which divert precious resources from the needs of the people or drain the energies of both sides serve the interests of no one —and the badge of responsibility in the modern world is a willingness to seek peaceful solutions. "It is never too early to try; it is never too late to talk; and it is high time that many disputes on the agenda of this Assembly were taken off the debating schedule and placed on the negotiating table." [1209th meeting, paras. 41 and 42.] We also agree with the appeal by the Foreign Minister of the Soviet Union, who said: "Let us develop the relations between States so that international disputes shall be settled at the conference table and not on the field of battle, and no State shall be able to use force against another whose internal structure it does not like." [1208th meeting, para. 124.]
84. As President Kennedy, Foreign Minister Gromyko and other distinguished speakers have suggested, what happened in Moscow on the question of nuclear tests can and should happen in various parts of the world where local tension threatens the peace.
85. We too believe that long and bitter debates from this rostrum and in the Assembly Committees, repeated year after year, are not conducive to the solution of problems. The United Nations certainly has a vital part to play in helping to resolve conflict. But if peace is to be assured, it still remains an inescapable necessity that the parties should meet around the conference table.
86. No Member State's expression of satisfaction with the negotiated agreement in Moscow can be taken seriously unless that Member State is prepared to apply the same approach to problems in which it is itself involved. The task of promoting peaceful solutions is the duty of each and all of us, and is the heart of the obligation we undertook on entering this Organization.
87. We speak as a country for which the implementation of these principles is vital. Throughout the years, the region of which Israel is a part has been ridden by tension due not only to the Arab-Israel conflict, but to problems existing among the Arab States themselves. In fact, during the last year the tension has risen in our region mainly through inter-Arab conflicts and struggles.
88. Unfortunately, the basic principles upon which the United Nations exists —the political independence and territorial integrity of every Member State; nonintervention in the internal affairs of any Member State; a ban on the threat or use of force against any State —do not yet guide the normal behaviour of all the States in our area.
89. And whereas, as I have said, this is a situation which affects various Arab States, Israel has been and is the primary target of belligerency. A number of distinguished representatives have spoken from this rostrum of the dangers of the arms race in the Middle East and the necessity for a negotiated solution. We welcome this international awareness of the problem. The Armistice Agreements of 1949 signed between Israel and the four neighbouring Arab States purported to put a final end to hostilities, and to serve as a transition stage to an early peace. Yet, fourteen years later, our Arab neighbours still openly declare themselves to be in a state of war with Israel, and are constantly threatening to attack it. What is more, hostility is becoming heavily armed. A constant stream of weapons, of a more and more modern and lethal character, is being unloaded in the ports of Arab countries at the very moment when their representatives plead from this rostrum for peace and disarmament. Mercenary German scientists and technicians are hired by Egypt to develop non-conventional weapons of mass destruction, and rockets are paraded in the streets of Cairo with public boasts by its President that they can strike at any point In Israel. Simultaneously, a massive military build-up of conventional arms is proceeding. The distinguished Foreign Minister of Uganda very rightly stressed [1216th meeting] the ominous fact that, even while we hail the signature of a partial nuclear test ban, the dangers of a conventional military build-up are evident, especially in a situation of local tension.
90. If Israel were to be attacked, it would know how to defend itself effectively, as it has done in the past. But Israel is not seeking a military victory. Our objective is the prevention of war and the preservation of peace. More than ever, as the international community seeks desperately to promote peaceful accommodation between the nations, it cannot remain indifferent to the continuing incitement to and preparation for war against a Member State. The rapidly escalating arms race in the Middle East gravely endangers the peace and stability of the area. At the same time, it consumes the precious and limited resources so urgently needed to lift large parts of its inhabitants from the depths of poverty, illiteracy and disease.
91. The basic theme of this Assembly is that the real alternative to war is peace, and the only road to peace is negotiation. In the Middle East as well, no other view would be compatible with the Charter, with the relevant United Nations resolutions, with the sovereignty of the States concerned, or with present-day realities. The application of United Nations principles must be universal. Israel, whose right to peace and security is not less than that of any other Member State, has repeatedly stressed, and continues to believe, that there are no outstanding differences between it and its Arab neighbours, including the refugee problem, that cannot be solved through direct negotiations.
92. We have been heartened by the growing volume of opinion expressed in the present and past debates, and in United Nations resolutions, that Israel and the Arab States should reconcile their differences at the conference table. The annual repetition of violent public polemics has become a sorry and sterile routine.
93. To lessen existing tensions and to allay the fears of armed conflict, the Government of Israel proposes to all the countries of the Middle East to pledge themselves: (1) To respect the political independence and territorial integrity of all the States of the region; (2) Not to interfere in the internal affairs of any other State; (3) To renounce the threat or use of force; (4) To abandon policies and practices of belligerency, including boycott and blockade; (5) To settle all disputes by peaceful means; (6) To enter into negotiations with the object of achieving complete disarmament with mutual inspection, covering all types of weapons.
94. The Government of Israel reaffirms its adherence to these principles. If they were to be agreed upon by all the countries of the Middle East, not as a proclamation for others, but as policies practised by each and every one of us, my Government is confident that they would serve as a sound foundation for peace, cooperation and prosperity in the Middle East, and would constitute a major contribution to the strengthening of world peace.
95. The concept of such a regional code of conduct has recently received fresh strength and impetus through the signature on 25 May 1963 in Addis Ababa of an historic Charter by the Heads of African States. Article III of that Charter proclaims: "... the sovereign equality of all Member States; non-interference in the internal affairs of States; respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of each State and for its inalienable right to independent existence; peaceful settlement of disputes by negotiation, mediation, conciliation or arbitration ... ." The Addis Ababa Conference represents a historic achievement in the effort of the African States to advance the unity, peace and development of that continent. Its influence must increasingly be felt beyond the boundaries of Africa itself.
96. It is with sorrow and deep concern that we must refer to certain territories in Africa which have not yet been allowed to gain their natural right of independence. I speak in particular of Angola, Mozambique, Portuguese Guinea and Southern Rhodesia. There can be no doubt as to the outcome of this struggle. We are fortunate to live in an age whose outstanding achievement is its refusal to tolerate the domination of one people by another. This achievement is evident in the very composition of our Organization today.
97. We appeal to Portugal to consider whether bloodshed is necessary to pave the way for the inevitable independence of the African people under its administration. It is high time that the last remnants of colonial rule in Africa should be eliminated.
98. As for Southern Rhodesia, we are in whole-hearted agreement with the view of our African friends that independence cannot be bestowed upon that territory under circumstances which do not guarantee equal rights to all its inhabitants.
99. We note with great satisfaction the degree of internal order, stability and cohesion which has been attained in the Congo, after a long period of travail. All those countries which voluntarily contributed to this progress, through the United Nations and directly, deserve the gratitude of the international community. Special recognition must be accorded to the wisdom and realism with which our Secretary-General, U Thant, has dealt with the complex and burdensome responsibility thrust upon his shoulders. We also express our appreciation to the United Nations personnel and to the United Nations forces in the Congo for their devoted service in the cause of peace. Israel salutes the Government of the united Congo, and we look forward to cementing still further the present ties of friendship and co-operation between our two countries.
100. I would express the hope that certain problems which arise at present in Central and South America, and which have their roots in the colonial era, should find peaceful and agreed solutions, with full respect for the above principles.
101. Another extremely serious and tragic question which has not yet been solved, despite the fact that this Assembly has dealt with it for many years, is the problem of the apartheid policy practised by the South African Government. The philosophy that the colour of a person's skin places upon him the stamp of inferiority is opposed to the basic truth that "all men are created equal". It is therefore not to be wondered at that the policy of apartheid evokes universal condemnation.
102. The people of Israel feel deep abhorrence for all forms of discrimination on the grounds of race, colour or religion. This stems from our age-old spiritual values, and from our long and tragic historical experience as a victim of man's inhumanity to man. We therefore naturally oppose policies of apartheid, colonialism and racial or religious discrimination, wherever they exist.
103. There is one large Jewish community today that is not permitted freely to practise its religion, to attend to its spiritual needs, or to develop its cultural Life —whose observance of traditions carries with it punishment and suffering— and that must witness our Holy Scriptures and the language in which they were handed on through the generations, abused and suppressed.
104. All of us will shortly be celebrating the fifteenth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. May we all pledge ourselves anew to the ideals of this Declaration. Let us at this time pay homage to a great human being, the late Eleanor Roosevelt, who was rightly called the First Lady of the World, and who was so instrumental in the formulation of this most important Declaration. This historic document was not intended to be filed away in the archives of the United Nations, but to serve as a guide to all of us in our attitude to each other. May we not only make speeches about it, but live by it,
105. My delegation believes that this anniversary should express itself in some concrete fashion. We suggest that UNESCO be requested to urge upon all Member States to make obligatory the teaching in elementary and secondary schools of the principles of this Declaration, so as to impress upon our children the evils of discrimination of any kind, and inspire them with the ideal of brotherhood of all men.
106. Freedom, justice and peace are indivisible. The world cannot be free as long as anyone nation is dominated by a foreign Power; it cannot be right as long as one group oppresses, persecutes and discriminates against another; and it cannot be secure as long as the existence of one nation is threatened by another.
107. Although much is being said about the need to promote the progress of less developed countries, and much has been done by the United Nations agencies as well as individual Member States, the gap still remains tragically and disastrously wide between the many millions who go without food, schools and medical care, and those who have the best of advantages in all these fields.
108. This, next to the preservation of peace and indeed co-ordinate with it, is the greatest challenge of our time. It admits of no single answer but has to be tackled on a very broad front: capital, export trade, manpower training, agricultural reform, industrial development and improved social services, particularly education and health. The attention of international agencies is more and more being focused on these multiple needs.
109. Let us hope that the men now assembled in Washington at the annual meeting of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Monetary Fund will devise fresh means for making urgently needed capital available to developing countries, on terms which are feasible for them.
110. The conventional trade patterns have proved themselves to be ill suited to the needs of less developed countries, since they tend to hold their economies in thrall, to inhibit diversification, and expose them without effective defence to the uncertainties and fluctuations of world prices for their primary products by the production of which they live.
111. The forthcoming United Nations Conference on Trade and Development will have to face up to this problem, and should initiate a new and imaginative policy, aimed at promoting the exports from new countries, assuring them stable prices, and giving them a chance to develop local industry.
112. Whatever funds may be accessible to these countries, their progress will depend on the technical skills and scientific techniques that can be harnessed to their development. In 1960 a large international conference on science and technology in new countries was held in Israel at the Weizmann Institute at Rehoboth. This was the forerunner for the United Nations conference in Geneva, on the same theme. These gatherings served to bring about a truer understanding of the problems. It became clear, however, that a more detailed examination was needed at meetings concentrating on specific fields.
113. A few weeks ago, another conference took place at Rehoboth on the special topic of agricultural planning. It was attended by eighty delegates, some of them of Cabinet rank, drawn from twenty-nine countries in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and Europe. The Conference brought together economic planners, political leaders, sociologists and agricultural experts from both advanced and less developed countries, as well as representatives of international organizations. Detailed discussions took place on the practical problems of agrarian reform and methods for increasing the production of food for the world's hungry millions.
114. Israel, a small and semi-arid country, lacking in natural wealth, has absorbed over a million refugee immigrants in the last fifteen years. We have had to develop our own techniques and skills, as well as cooperative methods for the solution of our problems. It is a source of great satisfaction to us that our own experience in development and in nation-building can be of some service to other countries. Within our modest capacity we have been able in recent years to provide large numbers of experts for these countries and to receive thousands of students and trainees from them, as well as to promote joint economic enterprises in such fields as construction, shipping, and land and water development. This is one of the examples of how small and developing countries can themselves usefully assist each other, and pool their experience and know-how, even though the more advanced industrial nations must at the same time continue to be the major suppliers of capital and skills. We are firm believers in the value of such fruitful and friendly co-operation, in a spirit of complete equality, of respect for the sovereignty of each country over its own natural resources, and of non-intervention in each other's political affairs.
115. With the rapid increase of the membership of this Organization, it becomes imperative that the various bodies of the United Nations, such as the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council, be enlarged so that the new Member States may be adequately represented. Israel has always supported the need for their proper representation and my delegation believes that action in this direction is overdue. We shall give our earnest and sympathetic consideration to any proposals which may be put forward to serve this purpose.
116. In conclusion, nobody in this Assembly would underrate the deep-rooted feelings and fears which might make progress slow and difficult on many of the world's problems. The very existence of the United Nations symbolizes a faith in human reason and sanity, and in the capacity and willingness of nations, large and small, to coexist peacefully. We stand at a moment in history when this faith is being renewed and when the threat of war has somewhat receded. Let us at this moment embark again on a genuine search for agreed solutions to the differences which still beset and divide us. We should like to think that the first step in the direction of peace has been made. May the world, and every part of it, now proceed unhaltingly on this path.