1. On behalf of the State of Qatar, it gives me great pleasure,
Sir, to express to you warm felicitations on your election as
President of the current session of the General Assembly. I also wish
to pay a tribute to your predecessor, Mr. Kittani, who presided over
the past session and conducted its proceedings with exemplary
competence and objectivity. I should like to avail myself of this
opportunity to extend my sincere congratulations to the Secretary
General. I wish him, on behalf of my country, full success in all his
efforts and activities aimed at increasing the effectiveness of the
Organization in the service of the international community. I also
wish to thank his predecessor, Mr. Kurt Waldheim, for the
praiseworthy and sincere efforts that he made throughout his term of
office as Secretary General.
2. The deteriorating political conditions which have recently
dominated the entire world are a grave indicator of the incompetence
of the Organization in contributing to international peace. It is not
true that the Organization, despite all its great and meritorious
endeavors, has not been able to resolve the problems before it and
has not brought about the peace for which our world longs?
3. I do not believe that we are the only ones that pose this
question. In his report on the work of the Organization the Secretary
General, with commendable candor and objectivity, warns of the
emergence of indications of such a sad state of affairs. Undoubtedly,
the Secretary General reveals the heart of the matter and puts his
finger on the root malaise when he states that, as a result of the
breach of the provisions and principles of the Charter by certain
States, the Security Council clearly all too often finds itself
unable to take decisive action to resolve international conflicts.
This feeling of incompetence is intensified by the fact that Security
Council resolutions, which include resolutions adopted unanimously,
are increasingly defied and ignored by those who feel themselves
strong enough to do so. That strength may be their own or may be
derived from the absolute support given them by a super Power.
4. This phenomenon did not emanate from a vacuum. It is surely the
corollary of certain policies that have recently emerged on the
international scene to resolve conflicts and problems on the basis of
unilateral initiatives outside the effective framework of the United
Nations, which is the only international organ qualified to solve
such conflicts by peaceful means. As such practices and unilateral
initiatives have increased, it is natural that the effectiveness of
the role of the Security Council in the maintenance of international
peace and security not to mention the very credibility of the
Organization, has diminished.
5. The question of Palestine is a genuine embodiment of the
aforementioned fact. Hundreds of resolutions have been adopted on
this question, but Israel, with its customary tyranny and
intransigence, has persistently rejected all those resolutions. It
has gone so far as to violate them daily, cutting the whole world to
the quick by trampling on its most noble human sentiments, propped up
by States that shower it with financial and military aid. This aid is
coupled with the individualistic political stand that opposes all the
peace loving voices concerned with the general good of man and which
seek to impose sanctions on the aggressor in such a way as to
preserve the human rights and dignity of the victim.
6. Israel is an anomalous phenomenon in the international community.
It came into being through oppression and aggression. It murdered and
rendered homeless thousands of Arab Palestinians for its selfish
ends. This is its persistent policy and immutable creed: murder,
murder and more murder. The most recent manifestation of its
barbarism and racism was its genocidal onslaught on the camps of
Sabra and Shatila in Lebanon, which claimed thousands of victims
women and children who had lived in peace in those camps, suffering
from alienation and dispossession. They have been driven there by
Israelitself since 1947.
7. As if the displacement it caused them were not enough and as if
their agonizing plight, living in inhuman conditions in shanty towns,
did not satiate it, Israel did not renounce the principle which
brought it into being that genocidal principle to which it had
previously had recourse in the Palestinian villages of Deir Yassin
and Kafr Qasim, as well as in other massacres of the Palestinian
people. Israel is well aware that wherever the Palestinian people
exists, its right to its homeland and the right to return will remain
unshaken.
A/37/PY.22
8. The fact that Israel ravaged west Beirut and forced its way into
civilian quarters after the forces of the Palestine Liberation
Organization had withdrawn, under a guarantee from the United States
Government that Israel would not intervene or harm the civilian
population there, is irrefutable and is proof of the wanton Israeli
practices that flout all covenants, values and instruments. In this
connation, we affirm to the entire world that fraternal Lebanon, its
territorial integrity and the security of its people should not be
the subject of interpretation and discussions. This issue requires
all of us, as an international community, to take the necessary
effective measures to compel Israel to comply with Security Council
resolutions 508 (1982) and 509 (1982) concerning immediate and
unconditional withdrawal from Lebanese territory.
9. My delegation holds the international community represented in the
Organization responsible for allowing Israel to remain a Member of
the Organization. My delegation calls for the suspension of its
membership and the adoption of stringent measures against it to
compel it to comply with the relevant resolutions of the
Organization, the principal demands of which are total and
unconditional withdrawal from all occupied Arab territories and that
the Palestinian people be enabled to return to its homeland and
establish its independent national entity.
10. The core of what is termed the Middle East question is the
Palestinian question. Unless the international community finds a just
solution for it the situation there will remain unstable and there
will be a state of constant turmoil and the threat of a conflagration
at any moment. A collective Arab resolution was put forward on the
basis of the comprehensive principles approved at the Twelfth Arab
Summit Conference, held at Fez in 1982. The Arabs considered this an
acceptable basis upon which to resolve the Palestinian question
peacefully and permanently, proceeding from the basic principles
contained in United Nations resolutions. These principles provide a
good opportunity to reach a peaceful solution to the question.
11. However, there are other issues that produce permanent hotbeds of
tension, including the security of the Arab Gulf and the war between
Iraq and the Islamic Republic of Iran. The State of Qatar firmly
believes that ensuring the security of the Gulf area is the task of
the States of the area. This will be possible only when the big
Powers refrain from interfering in their affairs.
12. The Iraqi Iranian war constitutes a disturbing situation for and
causes apprehension to all the States of the area and the whole
world, because of its brutality, the time it has lasted and the act
that it is raging in a strategic and important location for all
States of the world. My country supports and sees a good omen in the
Iraqi initiative under which Iraqi troops were withdrawn to the
international borders, and Iraq indicated continued willingness to
negotiate on a cessation of hostilities. We sincerely hope that the
Government of Iran will respond to this good initiative to avert
Moslem bloodshed and to allow these two brother peoples to apply
themselves to the task of reconstruction and rehabilitation in order
to repair the havoc wreaked in that fierce war.
13. The establishment of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States
of the Gulf, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and
that of the League of Arab States, reflected the will of six Gulf States.
They envisaged it as a prime necessity to achieve political, economic
and security complementarity and coordination. It is a testimony to
the desire of those six States to achieve peace and prosperity for
their region. We pledge that the member States of this Council will
exert all possible efforts through it to maintain the security and
peace of that strategic region of the world.
14. My country views with concern the present situation in
Afghanistan because it is an Islamic country with which we are linked
by bonds of brotherhood and religion and because it is one of the
hotbeds of tension in our area.
15. We earnestly hope that the Soviet Union will heed the calls of
the international community and withdraw all its forces from Afghan
territory so that the Afghan refugees may return to their homeland
and the Afghan people may choose their own political system and forge
their destiny in freedom.
16. We have pinned high hopes on the holding of an international
conference to consider the issue of the Indian Ocean as a zone of
peace, since this is one of our repeated demands. We hope that this
will take place as soon as possible so as to contribute to world
peace and stability.
17. The situation on the African continent is also one of our
concerns. We sincerely hope that appropriate solutions will be
reached concerning the areas of tension there. We affirm our support
for and solidarity with the people of Namibia in its just struggle
under the leadership of the South West Africa People's Organization
and the national majority in South Africa in the struggle being waged
against the policies of and racial discrimination pursued by the
white minority Government. We call on all peace loving States to
exercise all forms of pressure on the Government of South Africa to
compel it to respond to international good offices aimed at achieving
a comprehensive and just settlement of the situation there and
nullifying South Africa's designs and stratagems to prevent agreement
on a peaceful settlement.
18. The whole world was bitterly disappointed when the second special
session devoted to disarmament resulted in failure. That was clear
evidence of the desire of certain parties to continue to develop
means of destruction and place the entire world under constant fear
and anxiety as a result. This effort should have been directed
towards the achievement of tranquility and a peaceful life for all.
The astronomical sums involved should be spent on developing and
improving man's life everywhere on this planet.
19. It has become clear to the international community that the
establishment of a new international economic order is indispensable
if we are to prevent the crises and problems that may occur in the
future if international economic relations remain unchanged.
20. The economy of each State in our world today is, in varying
degrees, in constant interaction with the economies of other States.
We are fully convinced that the sooner we determine the effects of
this the greater will be our chance of averting exacerbation of the
negative implications. We can then draw up national policies taking
into account their implications for the international economy.
21. Our target is stability for the international economy which is
the cornerstone of the achievement of international economic
progress. We maintain that the efforts being made to this end at
present by various international organizations and agencies should be
supported.
22. If economic stability is jeopardized that creates a threat to
international peace and security. Developing countries cannot
overcome poverty and food problems, as well as their other economic
problems, without concrete aid from the international community. This
should be directed essentially to effecting structural changes in the
economies of these countries to enable them to advance the wheel of
development in such a way as to realize their ambition to achieve a
proper degree of economic growth.
23. The State of Qatar wishes to stress in this international forum
its conviction that the task of grappling with and resolving the
economic problems of the developing countries rests, in the first
place, with the Governments and individuals of those countries.
However, as we are all well aware, because of their nature the
solution of these problems requires, in addition to the efforts of
the developing countries, the consistent and collective efforts of
the international community with regard to debts, the flow of
financial and technical aid and the laying of the foundations of
modem technology.
24. We look forward to a sincere and constructive international
dialogue in which all nations of the world participate to consider
solutions for current international economic problems: world
recession, currency fluctuations, deterioration of the terms of
trade, increased indebtedness in the developing countries and chronic
disequilibrium in the balance of payments of the least developed
countries.
25. As a Member of the United Nations, the State of Qatar pledges
that it will cooperate fully with the rest of the Member States,
sparing no effort to preserve the principles of the Organization,
which are aimed at achieving dignity, security and stability for all
mankind.