1. President, I am happy to see you in the Chair as leader of this session of the General Assembly. On behalf of the delegation of Lebanon, I should like to express to you our warmest congratulations. Your election to the Presidency of the Assembly is significant in many ways. It is a landmark in the history of the United Nations. For the first time a representative of an Eastern European socialist country occupies this high post. The honour as well as the responsibility have fallen to you as a recognition both of your own personal qualifications and of those of your country. It is an excellent choice in which we rejoice, for Romania and Lebanon are two small friendly countries having much in common in their history and culture and their attachment to the United Nations and the cause of world peace.
2. I take this opportunity to pay a well-deserved tribute to our outgoing President, Ambassador Abdul Rahman Pazhwak, of Afghanistan, for his outstanding leadership during the last regular session as well as the two special sessions held this year. He has won the gratitude and admiration of my delegation for his untiring efforts to make a success of the deliberations of the Assembly in one of the most difficult periods of the history of our Organization.
3. This annual general debate provides Member States with an opportunity to express their views on the most important problems of the world and on the main questions inscribed on the agenda of the Assembly. My delegation has had occasion in the past to express its views on some of these questions and it will do so again this year in the appropriate Committees. There is one question, however, which is of overriding importance to my Government and causes great concern to my country. It is the question entitled "The situation in the Middle East" (item 94). It comes to us from the fifth emergency special session recently held at the request of the Soviet Union. To our deep regret, the General Assembly failed to arrive at a decision on the main problem of Israel's aggression and occupation of Arab territory. I should like to concentrate on that subject and will devote most of my statement to it. But before I do so, I should like to make some brief remarks on the state of the world and the state of the United Nations.
4. The state of the world is anything but healthy. On the contrary, it causes all of us great anxiety. Mankind has not known general peace since the end of the Second World War and the establishment of the United Nations. The promise of the Charter has not yet been fulfilled.
5. The war in Viet-Nam continues to grow in intensity with no prospect of an early peaceful settlement. Unfortunately, the United Nations is unable to consider such a settlement because some of the main parties to the conflict are unwilling that it should do so. But the tragedy of Viet-Nam arouses feelings of sorrow and frustration among all of us here and in all our countries. A valiant people has suffered the ravages of war for over a quarter of a century. But the destruction and loss of life continue on an ever-increasing scale. How can this people be saved from whatever it is supposed to be saved by such killing and devastation? Can one save a country by destroying it?
6. We are all agreed on the principles for a peaceful solution to the problem: a recognition of the right of self-determination of the people of Viet-Nam, nonintervention in the internal affairs of the country and a settlement among the interested parties based on the Geneva Agreements. My delegation would welcome any initiative to bring about peace in Viet-Nam on the basis of these generally accepted principles.
7. My delegation is unhappy about the lack of progress in the field of disarmament. No practical advance has been made on the road to general and complete disarmament. On the contrary, the nuclear arms race is proceeding apace. Nuclear weapons are piling up in the arsenals of the great Powers. The interests of peace require that these weapons of mass destruction be reduced and eventually destroyed. Only then would mankind feel safe from the terrible risks of nuclear war. My delegation support, the conclusion of a treaty on non-proliferation of nuclear weapons as a first step towards nuclear disarmament.
8. The growing gap between the rich developed countries and the poor developing countries also causes us great concern. The United Nations Development Decade is drawing to a close with little progress to show in economic growth in the under-developed world. Great expectations arose from the first session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) held at Geneva in 1964 and the establishment of UNCTAD as a new organ of the United Nations. Likewise there is now new hope that the second session of UNCTAD, to be held at New Delhi next February, will achieve concrete results and benefits for the promotion of trade and development of the developing countries. But such results can only be achieved if there is the political will to undertake an all-out effort for world development in the common interest of all nations. It appears that the richer the advanced industrialized countries become, the less inclined they are to give aid to the peoples of the developing world. There is still insufficient consciousness of the interdependence of nations. There is a lack of determination to work for the common good of mankind. Such consciousness and determination are needed in order to meet the great challenge of development facing the world during the remaining third of the twentieth century.
9. I come now to the state of the United Nations as related to peace in the Middle East. Last June and July we took an active part in the debates of the fifth emergency special session, believing that the Assembly would face the challenge of aggression in our region and shoulder its responsibilities under the Charter. It was hard to believe that the United Nations would fail to meet that challenge and would not adopt a basic decision on a peaceful solution to the crisis. The crisis in the Middle East thus became a crisis of the United Nations.
10. There was war in the Middle East in early June. Israel invaded three Arab countries. It occupied the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula, the West Bank of the Jordan and areas in the southern part of Syria. It was a clear case of the use of force prohibited by Article 2, paragraph 4, of the Charter. There was a flagrant violation by one Member State of its obligations under the Charter. Israel committed armed aggression against the United Arab Republic, Jordan and Syria. It did all this at a time when the Security Council was seized of the dispute over navigation in the Gulf of Aqaba and when international diplomacy was seeking a settlement of that dispute. The Charter calls for peaceful settlement of disputes and action by the Security Council. But Israel took the law into its own hands. It chose aggression and war. All these are incontestable facts. Faced with these facts the General Assembly in its emergency special session took no action. It did not condemn Israeli aggression. It did not even call on Israel to withdraw its forces from occupied Arab territories. This is unprecedented in the annals of the United Nations.
11. It would be proper for a future historian to assess the results of the fifth emergency special session. I should like to say only a few words inspired by Lebanon's loyalty to the Charter and our concern for the future of the United Nations.
12. The situation is too serious to allow for any feelings of anger, frustration or complacency. If there is something wrong with the United Nations let us honestly recognize it. And let us try to remedy it. It does no good to anybody to indulge in clever and cynical explanations of the nature and condition of our Organization. We are told that it is an instrument of great Power politics which can only operate effectively when the great Powers are in agreement. Others say that it is nothing but a debating society from which we can expect resolutions finely worded, but difficult to implement. At best it is an international forum for the discussion of world problems and the declaration of national policies. All these explanations are unsatisfactory. It is good to have a world forum and a meeting-place for top diplomats and foreign ministers. But it is not enough. The Charter provides for much more than that. The peoples of the world demand more than debates and an exchange of views between diplomats. They demand action for peace and progress in fulfilment of the high principles and purposes of the Charter. Man's best hope for peace should be preserved and strengthened. The great expectations of all our nations must not be dashed to the ground.
13. In the introduction to his annual report, our Secretary-General spoke of a "'crisis' of confidence" which the United Nations is facing. He said:
"this 'crisis' is in itself an index of the high hopes that Member States have come to place in the Organization, and their faith that these serious problems can and should be solved by determined efforts and a spirit of co-operation on the part of the Governments of Member States" [A/6701/Add.1, para. 169].
He described the United Nations correctly as an instrument of multilateral diplomacy which could be used effectively by Member States, As the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs of the United Kingdom, the Right Honourable George Brown, put it [1567th meeting], our Organization is what we make it. The question is why should we not make it an effective instrument for peace and international co-operation. I would address this question to the great majority of Member States, those small and developing countries which need the United Nations most for their national security and their economic and social development. Perhaps the great and rich Powers can do without it. They can take care of their own national security and progress. But we, the small and developing nations, would suffer a grievous and irreparable loss if the United Nations became ineffective and unable to fulfil the promise of the Charter.
14. We must work together to prevent the withering away of our Organization. To us, the small and developing nations, it is indeed our Organization, and we must do everything in our power to bring it back to health and strength. We cannot afford to let it sicken and fail and fall into disrepute. We cannot tolerate violations of its Charter. We cannot condone aggression. We must rise above our narrow national and regional Interests, and uphold the Charter in the common interest of peace and progress for all the peoples of the world.
15. That leads me to comment on Israel's attitude to the United Nations responsibility for peace in the Middle East. In his statement of 25 September, the Foreign Minister of Israel, Mr. Eban, sought to limit the role of the United Nations in what he called "the Middle Eastern conflict". He said:
"The fact that the United Nations was unable to prevent the war has a direct bearing on the question of its capacity and title to impose a peace. The interests of the parties and of the Organization itself require that United Nations action be realistically adapted to United Nations capacities. A call to Middle Eastern States to negotiate the conditions of their future coexistence is the most constructive course which the General Assembly can take. What the United Nations should strenuously avoid is the tendency to make its existence a substitute for negotiation and a barrier to direct settlement." [1566th meeting, para. 146.]
16. In his intervention on 3 October he repudiated the General Armistice Agreements and called for the conclusion of peace treaties between Israel and the Arab States, asserting that: "Apart from the cease-fire agreement, there are now no valid effective contractual engagements between the States of the Middle East." [1577th meeting, para. 137.] I wish now to make the following observations.
17. Firstly, the United Nations has exercised authority and responsibility for the Palestine question for the last twenty years. In fact, Israel owes its very creation to the United Nations. By its resolution of 29 November 1947 [181 (II)] on the partition of Palestine the General Assembly created a Jewish State, which became Israel in 1948, But the Zionists were able to expand the territory of their State by force beyond the borders assigned to it by the Assembly. Thus from the day of its birth Israel committed aggression against, and occupation of, Arab territory, thus proving beyond any doubt its expansionist nature and ambitions.
18. Secondly, the United Nations was responsible for the conclusion of the General Armistice Agreements which Israel now repudiates. Mr. Eban stands in contradiction to Secretary-General U Thant's statement on the validity of those Agreements in the introduction to his annual report. Our Secretary-General says:
"On the other hand there has been no indication either in the General Assembly or in the Security Council that the validity and applicability of the Armistice Agreements have been changed as a result of the recent hostilities or of the war of 1956; each agreement, in fact, contains a provision that it will remain in force 'until a peaceful settlement between the parties is achieved'. Nor has the Security Council or the General Assembly taken any steps to change the pertinent resolutions of either organ relating to the Armistice Agreements or to the earlier cease-fire demands. The Agreements provide that by mutual consent the signatories can revise or suspend them. There is no provision in them for unilateral termination of their application. This has been the United Nations position all along and will continue to be the position until a competent organ decides otherwise." [A/670l/Add.1, para. 43.]
There can be no more forceful expression or more authorized opinion on the status and validity of the Armistice Agreements.
19. Thirdly, the Arab States have declared their willingness to work for a political settlement through the United Nations. They are supported by the great majority of Member States. Such a settlement should provide for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Arab territories occupied after 5 June, In view of the history of the Palestine question, however, there can be no recognition of Israel, negotiation with Israel, or conclusion of a peace treaty with Israel. The Arab States are all committed to these basic principles of Arab policy. It is up to the United Nations, which has assumed responsibility for the Palestine question and peace in the Middle East during the last twenty years, to work out a peaceful solution to the present conflict.
20. Fourthly, Article 33 of the Charter provides for several different means for the pacific settlement of disputes among States. Negotiation is only one of them. The others are: "enquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, judicial settlement, resort to regional agencies or arrangements, or other peaceful means of their own choice". Article 33 also provides that "The Security Council shall, when it deems necessary, call upon the parties to settle their dispute by such means."
21. Finally, conditions of peace do not always result from diplomatic recognition or negotiations or peace treaties between States. The greatest war in history, the Second World War, ended in 1945, and conditions of peace exist in Central Europe. But there have been no peace negotiations or peace treaties between the States concerned.
22. Israel's attitude to the United Nations and the Armistice Agreements concluded under the authority of the Security Council is not new. Israel denounced the Armistice Agreements with Egypt in 1956 when the Israeli army Invaded Egyptian territory and occupied large areas In the Sinai peninsula. It also refused to participate in the Syrian-Israel Mixed Armistice Commission for many years.
23. In the spring of 1949 Israel and the four Arab States parties to the Armistice Agreements signed the Protocol of Lausanne accepting a peaceful settlement on the basis of United Nations resolutions. That Protocol was negotiated through the Palestine Conciliation Commission. Israel's purpose then was to gain admission to membership of the United Nations. As soon as that purpose was accomplished, it denounced that negotiated agreement which could have resulted in a peaceful settlement of the conflict in the Middle East.
24. Israel's refusal to carry out the Assembly resolution of 11 December 1948 [194 (III)], providing a choice for the Arab refugees between repatriation and compensation, is well known. The lack of implementation of this just solution to the refugee problem was one of the major causes of the instability in the Middle East and the main obstacle to the establishment of peace in the area. Israel always refused to agree to the Assembly decisions of 1947 and 1949 [resolutions 181 (II) and 303 (IV)] on the internationalization of Jerusalem and declared Jerusalem as its capital in contradiction with those decisions.
25. The aggressive character of Israel has been proved time and again during the last twenty years, Israeli armed forces committed aggression at least a dozen times against the United Arab Republic, Jordan and Syria by large-scale attacks across the Armistice demarcation lines. Not once — I repeat not once — did the armed forces of any Arab State cross the Armistice lines and attack Israeli territory.
26. The true image of Israel is beginning to be seen clearly in spite of clever Zionist propaganda and influence over the media of information. The myth of Israel as a small peace-loving country surrounded by powerful neighbours bent on its destruction has been exploded. The reality is just the opposite. The true nature of Israel as an expansionist, racialist, militaristic State is clear for all to see. The blitzkrieg launched by Israel against three Arab States on 5 June and its declared intention to annex Arab territory are sufficient proof of its militarism and expansionism.
27. The Arabs of Palestine were driven from their homeland by force and became homeless refugees living in misery and degradation. Their expulsion from their country made room for a million Jewish immigrants gathered from all over the world. General Dayan said recently that a million Jews have taken the place of the Arabs in the conquered territories, and whether it is moral or not there is no more room. Since the Israeli aggression of 5 June, 350,000 new refugees have been forced to leave their homes in the occupied territories of Jordan, Syria and the Sinai Peninsula. Israel has refused to implement resolution 237 of the Security Council calling on it to facilitate the return of the refugees to their homes in the occupied areas.
28. Can anyone explain why Israel does not allow homeless Arab refugees facing the hardships of the coming winter to go back to their own empty homes in strictly Arab territories? Can anyone explain why Israel has annexed the purely Arab old city of Jerusalem? Can anyone justify the refusal of Israel to accept General Assembly resolutions 2253 and 2254 (ES-V) of 4 and 14 July 1967 regarding Jerusalem? Those two resolutions call on Israel to desist from taking any action which would alter the status of Jerusalem. The Holy City is of concern to all Christians, Moslems and Jews and to the whole of mankind. But Israel insists on defying the United Nations and the whole world by taking unilateral action amounting to annexation of the Arab old city of Jerusalem. Whether it is called integration or annexation, it means the same thing. The Israeli answer to the two Assembly resolutions is given clearly in the Secretary-General's report of 12 September 1967, The report states: "The Israel authorities stated unequivocally that the process of integration was irreversible and not negotiable."
29. Here at the United Nations we hear eloquent words about peace from Israeli representatives. There, in ,the Gaza strip, in the Sinai Peninsula, on the Suez Canal, in the West Bank of Jordan and on the Syrian hills, Israeli deeds are more eloquent. They speak loudly of annexation, the establishment of new Israeli settlements in Arab areas, the denial of the right of Arab refugees to return to their homes and oppression of 1.5 million Arab inhabitants in the occupied territories.
30. When colonialism is coming to an end almost everywhere, a new colonialism is appearing in the Middle East, Israel is the new colonial Power, it has established its colonial rule over the Arab peoples of the occupied territories. A new Arab struggle against that oppressive rule is beginning. The lessons of recent history are clear. The result of this struggle cannot be in doubt. It can end only in liberation from colonialism in all its forms and manifestations.
31. The United Nations now has a real opportunity to achieve peace in the Middle East. The conditions are favourable for a peaceful settlement of the present crisis. The withdrawal of Israeli forces can be followed by the establishment of peaceful conditions guaranteeing the renunciation of the use of force and the security of all States in the region. If this opportunity is missed it may never come again.
32. The condition of the refugees and that of the inhabitants of the Arab areas occupied by Israel is an explosive element In the situation. Fighting on the Suez Canal may erupt at any time. We have heard threats from Israel of further military action. On the other hand no self-respecting country can tolerate for long the foreign occupation of parts of its territory. If peace is not achieved now, war will break out sooner or later.
33. Time is not on the side of peace in the Middle East. The United Nations, either in the Security Council or in the General Assembly, must act now. It must arrest the drift towards renewed war. The responsibility of the United Nations for the Palestine question is not in doubt. Its responsibility for peace stems from its own Charter. It must face the challenge confronting it. It must act for peace in the Middle East.