135. Mr. President, allow me to express the sincere congratulations of the Yemen Arab Republic delegation on your unanimous election as President of the United Nations General Assembly at its twenty-second, session. Your election marks a welcome healthy international attitude; it is a special recognition to you and a tribute to your friendly country, as well as a salute to the socialist countries on the fiftieth anniversary of their Great October Revolution.
136. In the same spirit, my delegation wishes to express its appreciation and admiration for Ambassador Abdul Rahman Pazhwak, who presided over the last three General Assembly sessions with resourcefulness, wisdom and impartiality in the most intricate situations. To our Secretary-General, U Thant, the Yemen Arab Republic delegation pays tribute for his tireless efforts to maintain with sincerity and dedication, but most of all with unshakable courage, the integrity of this Organization.
137. Simply stated, the Arab people, whether Jews, Christians or Moslems, have lived peacefully throughout history, and they still do. The racially discriminating theory of world Zionism of creating a State has until now accomplished nothing more than shattering the peace that existed among the indigenous population of the area, and has increasingly cast suspicion on the loyalty of Jewish citizens of other countries all over the world. Zionists have volunteered themselves to deceive, apply pressure and speak for world Jewry. By that they hope to build up the fear and suspicion of the Jews and rally them with their resources to support the Zionist efforts to create a Zionist State.
138. Since Zionists were citizens of various countries, one country had to be first carefully selected, and a campaign to justify their acquisition of such a country had to be waged with all their resources and their world influence. But for the Zionists, in order to ensure the winning-over of Jews all over the worlds that country had to be Palestine, and not any other in the list of several colonies, now independent States. Palestine would offer rich material for a dialogue in which success would be on the side that could command world opinion. And for this dialogue, the Zionists had to invert and fabricate a chain of allegations and false historical justifications. Along with this, a strong and fear-inspiring character had to be maintained for the state while world opinion was being won over for Zionism. It is easy to follow the racially and religiously prejudiced transformation of the Zionist movement from its inception by Herzl in 1897 to the present: the Zionists went begging for mercy until the climax of their blitzkrieg, and in June 1967 there was a criminal, genocidal, imperialistic State in the heart of the Arab homeland.
139. So, on the skulls and skeletons of hundreds of thousands of Arabs the Zionists established what they call a Jewish state. The Arab people of Palestine have until now remained uprooted and robbed of their homes and their land; hundreds of thousands are being scattered in the wilderness, hungry, homeless and exposed to the most ruthless circumstances of man and nature. The Arab people of Palestine who sheltered Jewish refugees through the centuries are today the total victims of Zionism, and, to a great extent, of the United Nations. The Government of Great Britain had no right to give to the transplanted and imported Zionists a part of Palestine, and. neither did the United Nations. Zionists understand this very well, and in their hate and frustration have lost all vision, even common sense in fact, in their drive to establish a legal status. Vicious crimes have been committed against Arab communities by Zionist authorities. Genocidal acts and napalm bombing have occurred not only against the Arabs of Palestine but also against neighbouring Arabs in the United Arab Republic, Jordan and Syria. And we are told by the single-minded minister of aggression, Moshe Dayan, that he will extend his crimes further into densely populated and oil-rich parts of the Arab world.
140. In this context, the Arabs are being urged to accept conditions for peace. This is the demand of the Zionist Foreign Minister, Mr. Eban. What we find in this Zionist "context of peace" is the following.
141. First, the Arab people of Palestine must accept the fait accompli. They must accept slow death and total annihilation. They must not speak, as do other people, about their rights to self-determination and political independence. They must not speak of property or repatriation. They must speak and think only as beggars, in terms of mercy and charity. For this affords the Zionists a feeling of dignity and satisfaction, since the Zionists have had to go through such a humiliating drama in their efforts to win over world public opinion, and it also offers to those who aided the Zionists against the just rights of the Arabs a means for appeasing their conscience by helping those same Arabs in the misery inflicted upon them.
142. And second, the Zionist criminal aggression and occupation of Arab lands beyond the territory of the already-occupied Palestine was planned in advance, to be used to force other neighbouring Arab States to accept that "context of peace".
143. The Arab forces did not, after 1948, cross the armistice lines even once. The Zionists alleged that they heard broadcasts or read references in newspapers concerning what they called an intent to "expel the Zionists" from an Arab homeland. We hear worse than that said against Arabs, but it was good and sufficient justification for the criminal Zionist hordes to bomb our population and wage a full-scale war with such audacious arrogance that the repercussions have not yet ceased. One can read in the United States Press or hear from certain responsible officials that the United States has sufficient power to destroy the whole world, including the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China; but should this provide justification for anyone, or for the whole world, to occupy and destroy the United States? That is a good question.
144. Zionism has gone too far in inflicting untold misery on innocent people. Zionism has tightened its grasp, has strangled goodwill in every country where it can do so, and has directed its immense resources into a campaign of defamation and cut down every attempt at justice and equity. It scarcely even hesitated to bring the world's greatest powers to a test of confrontation in pursuit of its self-centred, hateful, racial and colonial aims.
145. Zionism is represented by the State of "Israel", a name invented by the Zionists in their convention of 14 May 1947 in New York. Just what does it take to satisfy the Zionist State of "Israel"? What is the real concept of that "State"? What is the next demand the Zionists will ask this world to accept? Who can give any guarantee against the arrogance and defiance of the Zionists? What did the nations of the world do in connexion with the Jerusalem resolutions [2253 (ES-V) and 2254 (ES-V)]? These are questions we all must ask.
146. Since Arabs are committed to the principle of peaceful coexistence, we believe we can solve our problems by peaceful means, provided others believe in the same principle and cherish goodwill. Zionism, a racial and political theory, since it had no land of its own, had to acquire some other nation's homeland. It was decided that Arab Palestine should serve the purpose.
147. Those who are remote from the smell and the ugly scenes of the June war can not well understand the real problem of the Middle East. But no doubt, many colleagues here have felt the influence of Zionism on world Jewry and have seen how the goodwill of some traditionally friendly countries was at times abused in violation of the sense of integrity and the will of those nations. It is truly ironic to see the Arabs, who always gave shelter to Jews in their times of distress over the centuries, today become the first victims of Zionism acting in the name of the Jews. What the Zionists have done to the Arab people in the last twenty years has by far exceeded their complaints against Nazism.
148. It has become crystal-clear now that the fundamental causes of the crises and the tragedy of the Middle East arise from the following: First, the occupation of 90 per cent of Palestine in 1948 through brutal force by transplanted Zionist immigrants; the systematic and continuous expulsion of the civilian population from their homes so as to thoroughly uproot them; the desecration of Christian and Moslem Holy Places so as to firmly establish an enmity between Christians and Moslems, on the one hand, and Jews, on the other, so that the Jews would have to stand with Zionism; the continuous arrests; the brutal torture, mutilation and banishment of leaders in order to break the people's morale in resisting aggression - something in which the Zionists failed; in short, the declaration of a Zionist state in an Arab country, representing colonialism in its ugliest form, colonialism which must be treated as such. And second, the systematically continuous policy of aggression and expansion pursued by the Zionist state.
149. The position of the Soviet Union and of all the socialist countries, and that of all peace-loving, law-abiding Member States of this Organization, is clear: a resolute resistance to aggression and territorial aggrandizement, and support for all those who struggle for freedom and self-determination.
150. The position of the United States of America in a similar situation on 20 February 1957, was clearly stated by the then President, Dwight D. Eisenhower:
"It [Israel] insists on firm guarantees as a condition to withdrawing its forces of invasion.... If we agree that armed attack can properly achieve the purposes of the assailant, then I fear we will have turned back the clock of international order. We will,.. have countenanced the use of force as a means of settling international differences and ... gaining rational advantages. ... If the United Nations once admits that international disputes can be settled by using force, then we will have destroyed the very foundation of the Organization and our best hope of establishing a world order."
Since 1957 there has been a tremendous effort to strangle American thinking so that it should not be as free and objective in 1967 as it was ten years ago.
151. It is in the context of justice that peace will prevail in the Middle East. The Arab countries continue to be burdened by perfidious full-scale military aggression and occupation as a result of political deceit, a new phenomenon in international behaviour but one which has been closely associated with Zionist behaviour since 1897.
152. The Zionist State, in the usual manner, wanted to impose peace by a costly military venture and threat of destruction and total occupation of vast Arab lands and resources; but peace cannot be imposed. We must eliminate the threat of war and seek just solutions to the basic problem of the Palestine question, a national political problem, and put an end to the colonial aggression of the Zionists against other Arab countries; and Zionists must now learn that peace cannot come through aggression and intimidation. Equally, they must not conveniently overlook the rights of the Arab nation of Palestine.
153. This is the hope of the Arab people as it must be the will of all Member States of this Organization, which depend on the validity of a system of collective security; if that structure is shattered it will mean that all men must accept the agonizing existence of living in the shadow of a thermo-nuclear war where annihilation of the human race is a matter of fact.
154. The underlying currents dominating the trends of the Middle East crisis can only be well understood in the light of the existing struggle between the peace-loving nations seeking freedom and progress, on the one hand, and on the other the forces of remnant colonialism and imperialism. Socio-political evolution of the masses has brought them to confrontation with their classical enemy in a most critical test in the area's modern history. Never before have all the elements of the enemy collaborated in such a tight and co-ordinated manner.
155. To realize the Arab aspirations and goals of establishing a single powerful State in such a vast area with great present and potential resources and markets would only jeopardize any further enslavement of people and resources in Africa and Asia; for the Arab struggle in its human aspects has been an important catalyst in the winning of freedom in many areas in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Thus the Arab people's classical enemy is always interfering in its internal affairs and seeking means and ways to ensure the status quo of an Arab world divided and underdeveloped, to mention only the host of military bases suffocating Arab will and freedom, and the establishment in a most persistent manner of the sole colonial agent, "Israel", in the heart of the Arabs' homeland and against their will, let alone the intrigues, propaganda and a varied chain of direct and indirect pressures.
156. The Arab people, realizing their common destiny, have risen above their circumstances and have begun to face together the forces of destruction when the means and ends have become clear and when friends and foes have shown their real faces.
157. On 26 September 1962 the Arab people of Yemen succeeded in eliminating one of the most totalitarian and backward régimes in their history. For a long time that régime kept them enslaved in utter poverty and disease — not to mention life under a cruel and atrocious rule of tyranny. The success of the 1962 September revolution was the climactic result of a quarter of a century of efforts by the Arab people of Yemen to rid their future generations of a most intricate collaboration and timely design to further the enslavement of the people and a total usurpation of their resources by neo-colonial interests and their agents.
158. Before the revolution there was no written law of any kind to state clearly the rights and duties of citizens and their government. There were no institutions of any kind — no schools or hospitals for the public — and public service was unknown. The former Government sought every possible means to divide the people and to promote all possible feuds in order to rule them easily. Corruption in its utmost form was the dominating character of the Government. Today, the revolutionary Government, in adherence to democratic principles and loyalty to the goals of the revolution, has succeeded for the first time in establishing the rule of law.
159. With aid from friendly countries, the present Government has gone a long way in building a nation from nothing. Government organization and development plans have been initiated. A considerable pace has been established in building schools, hospitals and roads; water and research surveys and projects are under way. Much has been done for the individual since September 1962; and the present plan of the revolutionary Government is a total development of the country’s society and resources.
160. As early as 1948 the Arab people of Yemen took arms against a despotic rule. They were the first with the United Arab Republic to initiate practical steps in the reunification of the Arab homeland since its dissection by former Arab allies immediately after the First World War. The Coordination Treaty and later the Joint Defence Treaty between the United Arab Republic and the Yemen Arab Republic after the September 1962 Yemen revolution further strengthened the loose pre-revolution union. Such steps are a true manifestation of Arab aspirations towards eventual reunification. The deep Yemeni conviction of total Arab unity is based on the fact that Arabs can no longer maintain their homeland in security for future generations while they remain divided.
161. It is a rewarding feeling that the Yemen delegation finds in the great strides the United Nations and its subsidiary bodies have made in various fields. My country has great hope in the future work of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization; such human endeavour would lay deep the foundations of peace in this world. The work of the United Nations at the grass roots level cannot be overlooked or underestimated. Hot political issues must not overcome human wisdom and patience; but we must guard collectively against any abuse of patience and goodwill.
162. My country’s policy with respect to all international relations is strict adherence to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations, a policy of non- alignment and peaceful coexistence, and a true, friendly co-operation with other nations based on mutual respect and non-interference. In adhering to the Charter, the Yemen Arab Republic denounces aggression and the use of force in settling international disputes and will continue to support the just struggle of peoples for freedom and progress and the attainment of national independence. The Yemeni Government and people cannot conceive of any justification for the presence of American troops in Viet-Nam and join with all peace-loving nations in condemning its aggressive war and in demanding the immediate halt of the bombing of North Viet-Nam and the withdrawal of American military forces from South Viet-Nam.
163. The Yemen Arab Republic delegation would like to express from this rostrum its deep gratitude to every peace-loving representative who has taken a stand against aggression and injustice; to all those who have resisted pressures and threats; to all those who of their own free will have supported the cause of peace and justice in the Middle East. Our people will not forget the genuine assistance and support of the friendly socialist countries whose attitude was one of understanding and world co-operation.
164. The delegation of the Yemen Arab Republic regrets very much the absence of the true representatives of the Chinese people; the People's Republic of China. That great and populous nation must take its place and assume its responsibility in this international Organization whose existence symbolizes the noble character of man.
165. In conclusion, if the fifth emergency special session of the General Assembly did not fulfil the expectations of the Arab people by deterring aggression, it is not too late to hope that the twenty-second session will indeed fulfil those expectations.