57. Mr. President, I should like first of all to extend to you my sincere congratulations on your election to the Presidency of the General Assembly, The Yugoslav delegation is particularly pleased to see elected the representative of Romania, which is making an important contribution to the cause of international co-operation, and with which my country maintains sincere and friendly relations. It is with equally great satisfaction that we welcome the first election of a representative of a socialist country to the high office of President of the General Assembly.
58. I should also like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to Mr. Pazhwak for the constructive efforts he put forth while presiding over the deliberations of the General Assembly during the past year.
59. The Middle East crisis is certainly not the only problem before us. Nevertheless, owing to its urgent nature, it occupies a central place in our concerns. It is, in addition, a problem with which the United Nations has been directly involved throughout the past twenty years. There is, therefore all the more reason for the United Nations to act at this stage when the crisis has deteriorated into war.
60. Unfortunately, the fifth emergency special session did not fulfil the aims it had set itself. For the first time when faced with an armed conflict, the General Assembly adopted no decision on the withdrawal of troops from territories occupied by force. The crisis has only grown more acute as a result. We are nevertheless convinced that, whatever differences of opinion there may be, there is no lack of common ground which can serve as a basis on which our Organization can, this time, fulfil its mission.
61. It is not my intention to review the history of events, the more so since we all seem to agree on the need to find a solution. The action taken by my Government since the outbreak of hostilities is well known. Yugoslavia has come out against the use of force as a means of settling disputed international questions, and it has lent its support to the victims of aggression in order to help them eradicate the consequences of the war. We did so in the service of peace and independence for all countries, but also because of our direct interest in the maintenance of normal relations among States and in the security of the Mediterranean area.
62. The failure of the emergency special session has been a matter of great concern to the Yugoslav Government and to Yugoslav public opinion. The Yugoslav Head of State, who was convinced of the absolute need to persist in seeking a solution to the crisis, sent personal messages to several Heads of State and Heads of Government in which he set out his Government's views on possible bases for a political solution and put forward the ideas contained in the well-known five points. In so doing, we at no time aspired to the role of mediator. Our aim was to help in overcoming opposition to any progressive action and to assist the efforts being made by interested Governments to reach some solution.
63. We appreciated the attention paid to our initiative by many Governments and the interest it aroused among them. At the current session, the Yugoslav delegation has set itself the same objectives: we are ready to participate in any effort to restore peace and security to the countries of the Middle East.
64. By exacerbating already existing problems and by giving rise to new ones, the Middle East crisis has posed a number of dilemmas. That crisis cannot be confined to the Israeli/Arab conflict alone. What we are concerned with here are the fundamental principles on which, at the present time relations between States are based. Were the international community unable to reaffirm those fundamental principles and ensure their application, the repercussions of such a situation would be felt not only in the Middle East, but would, with ail the dangers inherent in them, threaten international relations as a whole.
65. In the search for a solution to the crisis, the Yugoslav Government favours a just political solution, which alone can provide for the elimination of the results of aggression and for the settlement of the disputes between the countries of the region.
66. The establishment of peace and security in the Middle East is, of course, a long-term task, owing as much to the number of problems that have accumulated as to the unusual circumstances in which their solution is being sought. We are in favour of comprehensive solutions which can restore peace and security to that region. But whatever our wishes may be, we fear that, in the present circumstances, those problems cannot all be solved at once.
67. In our opinion, the first duty is to refuse to condone the results of the conflict and, consequently, to ensure that the Israel forces withdraw to the positions occupied prior to 5 June 1967. Failing that, there can be no conceivable just political solution.
68. It is encouraging to note that the principle of the inadmissibility of territorial changes resulting from the use of force has been so widely reaffirmed in this Assembly and that, with regard to the question of Jerusalem, it has been possible with near unanimity to adopt two resolutions calling upon Israel to rescind its annexation measures.
69. The international community cannot support solutions wrung from the vanquished by the victor. Apart from the question of their injustice, such solutions could not prevail beyond the day when the party compelled to accept them felt itself strong enough to denounce them. In our opinion, it is in that context that direct negotiations between Israel and each of the Arab States must be considered. As a rule, such negotiations are the best method of resolving disputes, provided that they are carried out on an equal footing. However, where one party, which has conquered territory belonging to another party by armed force, insists on direct negotiations, the support of such a demand by the United Nations would be tantamount to supporting the right of the strongest. The United Nations cannot shirk its obligations to peace and to Member States. For that reason, we place the greatest importance on the near unanimity which has arisen out of the general debate on the duties and responsibilities of the United Nations with regard to the quest for peace in the Middle East.
70. The right of all States to exist is for us an established principle which applies also to the State of Israel, whose existence and whose equality of rights with other States we have never questioned. There is no doubt that recognition of the right to exist and respect for the independence and territorial integrity of all States must of necessity constitute the basic elements of any solution. It is in that spirit that my Government had suggested that guarantees should be provided by the great Powers or the Security Council, ensuring respect for those rights in practice.
71. Yugoslavia is also in favour of respect for and application of the principle of freedom of navigation in international waterways. However, under present conditions, it is essential to take present-day realities into account and, while upholding that principle, to recognize that that question is part of a complex of problems, and that it can be resolved only within that political context and insofar as general progress is made towards a solution in the Middle East.
72. With regard to the refugee problem, which is at the basis of the conflict between Israel and the Arab States and whose solution has up to now eluded all our efforts, it has lost none of its importance on the human and political levels. It will be impossible for the Arab States and Israel to make peace or for the United Nations to fulfil its mission, so long as the vital interests of the Arab population of Palestine are not recognized and met — not by assisting, feeding or caring for them, but by repatriating or compensating them; in short, by giving them justice. For it is through that injustice that the war between the Jews and the Arabs began, and it is by redressing it that that war must be brought to an end if peace is to prevail in the region.
73. My Government attaches great importance to the fact that the Heads of the Arab States, meeting at Khartoum, declared themselves in favour of a political solution to the conflict. Unfortunately, we do not see evidence of a corresponding sense of reality on the other side. Those who declared, in launching that war, that they were in no way waging it to acquire territories, today inform us that they have come to those territories to stay. The fact that the return of populations forced to flee by the war is rendered practically impossible, as well as the expressed intention of replacing them with others, are manifestations of a policy of conquest unacceptable to the international community.
74. At the moment of military triumph, it is hard to hear the voice of reason. Yet that is the moment when it should be heard. Building the future on the basis of an armed raid would be unjust to other peoples and a failure on the part of any Government to fulfil its obligations to its own people.
75. We feel that the general debate and the concomitant consultations are revealing the broad outlines of what could be at this point the framework for a solution. I am thinking particularly of the denunciation of territorial demands, the withdrawal of forces, of the respect for the independence and territorial integrity of States and the guaranteeing of their security. If an agreement reaffirming those principles could he reached, there would surely be fewer difficulties in tackling the solution of other complex problems, such as those of the Palestine refugees and the Suez Canal. In such a context, the help of a special representative of the Secretary-General might be envisaged. We believe that we could count on the acceptance of such a basic premise, followed by an understanding of the steps to be taken, to clear the way for over-all solutions and for peace in the Middle East.
76. Far from being an isolated phenomenon, the events in the Middle East reflect the actual state of international relations, in which force always plays too large a part for us to have confidence in the unstable peace of our era.
77. The elements which make up general progress — especially the peoples' desire for peaceful independence, economic and social development and equal co-operation — conflict with the interests and with the activity of the imperialist forces. In order to protect their privileged positions, those imperialist forces seek to control the policy and development of many States. The policy of coercion and local wars has become an immediate threat to the Independence and security of small countries; it compels them to devote to military expenditure resources that are disproportionate to their capabilities and, as a result, impedes their economic and social progress.
78. Of all the situations where force is now being employed, the war in Viet-Nam is naturally the one which causes most concern throughout the world, owing to the widening scope of military operations in the South and the bombing in the North, as well as to all the hazards inherent in that conflict.
79. Our support of the struggle of the Viet-Namese people and the Yugoslav positions on that problem are well-known. I should simply like to reaffirm my Government's conviction that there can be no peace in that region so long as the Viet-Namese people are not allowed freely to determine their future. We have always been of the opinion — and we have repeated it ever since the beginning of the air attacks on the North—that it is for the United States to make the first essential step by declaring an unconditional end to the bombing of the territory of the Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam. Such a step could not but encourage the quest for a political solution in the spirit of the Geneva Agreements with, of course, the participation on an equal footing of the National Front for the Liberation of South Viet-Nam.
80. Owing to their complexity and their repercussions on international relations, the problems facing newly liberated countries and the peoples still under colonial domination extend beyond the bounds of regional activities and interests. We consider it indispensable to ensure more effective and more direct action by the international community both in the preparation of a long-term assistance programme for newly-liberated countries and the adoption of urgent measures for speeding up the process of decolonization.
81. We are convinced tin t the only effective way to combat the policy of force is for all nations to work together for the safeguarding of peace, independence and coexistence, for the furthering of economic development and for the strengthening of the role of the United Nations. Those, in essence, are the principles which inspire the policy of non-alignment. The fact that non-aligned and other countries have decided to intensify their co-operation in this time of crisis is, in our opinion, significant, and an inducement to more sustained action.
82. In speaking of the role of the United Nations, we always regard it as essential that the principle of universality should apply to it and that the legitimate right of the Government of the People's Republic of China to represent that country in this Assembly should be recognized.
83. The improvement of relations between the great Powers and their determination to avoid any direct confrontation are undoubtedly elements of basic importance for the maintenance of world peace. But that alone cannot solve all our troubles or even preclude the possibility of a war. Other measures are needed for solving the major present-day problems.
84. In this connexion, the fact that a reconciliation of views has been achieved between the Soviet Union and the United States on the question of the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons is undoubtedly of great importance. My Government is in favour of a treaty which will reflect in the broadest possible way the interests of all States. We are also prepared to associate ourselves with efforts leading to the adoption of such a treaty and aimed at exploring the General Assembly's opportunities for action on this matter and on disarmament in general.
85. In Europe, the East-West détente and the increasingly important steps being made in the field of European co-operation are, despite certain adverse events, bringing about a new spirit, a new awareness of what that continent may become in the future.
86. We expect this favourable evolution to continue, for it is in keeping with the political and economic interests of the European nations. In it, we see the best way of solving the major problems which have been outstanding for two decades, such as European security and the question of Germany.
87. The action of the group of nine European countries affords a modest but significant example of that new understanding and of those new relationships. Yugoslavia, pursuing an independent policy, is actively participating in the current rapprochement between the countries of our continent, for that is in our immediate interest and, furthermore, we believe it to be the best way for Europe — after overcoming its long-standing differences — to serve world peace and co-operation and to fulfil its obligations in the matter of aid to developing countries.
88. The facts concerning the growing disparity between poor and rich countries and the possible repercussions which economic development problems can have on world peace, are well enough recognized today. Competition among the industrial countries should in no way blind us to that confrontation between the developed and the under-developed worlds, a conflict of vast proportions which is liable to affect our future existence more perhaps than any other present-day problem. It is not enough to recognize the importance and scope of development problems; the international community must also undertake to seek out a solution to those problems. We hope that the second session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, as well as the meeting of the eighty-six developing countries at Algiers, will enable us to record practical results. We believe that those efforts merit our Assembly's fullest support.
89. My country's Government has always considered that it was the duty of our Organization to work towards the resolution of outstanding international problems and, particularly, those problems on which depend the stability and security of nations. Peace and development are the most pressing questions of our time.
90. Whatever difficulties it encounters, the United Nations remains the instrument best suited to universal co-operation. The strengthening of our Organization so keenly desired by the Secretary-General, whose efforts and activities are deeply appreciated by my Government, can be brought about only if all Member States bring to it the full measure of their responsibilities and their capabilities.