Jordan, 1982

Mr. President. it gives me great pleasure to

convey to you in the name of the delegation of

the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. our warm

congratulations on your election to your high

office. We have full confidence that your

experience and competence will contribute

effectively towards a successful out-come to this

session. I should also like to pay a tribute to

your predecessor Mr. Kittani who presided over

the proceedings of the thirty-sixth session most

effectively for which we thank him. I wish to pay

a particular tribute to the persistent efforts of

the Secretary-General to increase the

opportunities for peace and to alleviate the

tensions that prevail in many parts of the world.

My delegation takes this opportunity to express

its full support for those efforts and to pledge

its full co-operation with him.

40. A careful study of the agenda of this session

and the grave issues contained therein. which

have serious implications for world peace and

security confirms the bleak foreboding which the

Secretary-General has clearly and forcefully

expressed in his report.

41. Our world today is beset on all sides by

dangers resulting from the predominance of the

policies of the use of force or the threat of the

use of force: instead of having recourse to,

peacefulï means of 'settling problems among

nations. This tendency has been intensified by a

continuing and relentless arms, race. the

development and acquisition of the most

.sophisticated means of mass destruction and the

allocation by many States of vast human and

material resources to those ends. '

42. We also find that the States entrusted by the

Charter of the United Nations with a special

responsibility for maintaining international

peace and security have pursued policies which

are at variance with that responsibility. Some of

them have resorted to the use of force while

others have condoned the fact that States have

committed acts of aggression and intervention in

the affairs of other States.

43. The failure of those States to put an end to

the military option and the use of force and

their condoning of the use of force by others

have led to the prevalence of an aggressive

attitude in relations between States and

encouraged more States to take the same course.

44. As a logical and ineluctable corollary of

this development, the international situation has

deteriorated most seriously. amounting as the

Secretary-General said in his report to have

brought the world perilously near to a' new

international anarchy. As a result of this

development the United Nations has been rendered

incapable of contributing lo the solution of

international conflicts. The Security Council

whose principal duty under the Charter is the

maintenance of international peace and security

has been immobilized and prevented from

performing its -ask. Its functions have been

confined to issuing resolutions which remain

unimplemented.

45. Despite the fact that the Charter has laid

down a system of collective security in the

world.ï we note that the principles enshrined in

the Charter for regulating relations between

States have been flouted. That system has been

subverted by the prevailing tendency to use force

under different pretexts, whether it be a warped

concept of security or alleged' self-defence. All

those pretexts are actually aimed at imposing

hegemony and achieving the parochial interests of

those who have the force and the means of using

it. Thus we see the blatant military occupation,

the colonization of occupied land~. the

destruction of ,property and cities and

interference in .and manipulation of the internal

affairs of other States with a view to serving

the interests and aims of the aggressor.

46. It is profoundly disturbing that instead of

taking immediate and decisive action to deter

aggressors assist their victims and prevent the

fruits of aggression being reaped some of the

major Powers choose to stand idly by. to condone

the aggression or even to obstruct the

application against the aggressor of the

sanctions fm' which the Charter provides.

47. That approach. with its concomitant weakening

of the united Nations has led to the dangerous

situation that the world finds itself in today.

It has also led all those countries that observe

the Charter and support international law to lose

faith and confidence that their legitimate quest

for security and just solutions to their problems

can be pursued within the framework of the

existing international ordering the absence of

such assured security, those Member States have

found themselves impelled to scramble .for' arms

and divert large parts of their limited resources

for the acquisition of the necessary means of

self-defence in confronting the policies of

hegemony and domination being pursued by the more

powerful States. We must state that such a

development would never have taken place if the

major Powers to which the Charter entrusted the

maintenance of world peace and security. ~ad

shouldered their solemn responsibilities and

duties with firmness and sincerity.

48. The most glaring example of what I, have

just described is to be found in the Middle East,

where the situation is characterized by the 'use

of force and the imposition of occupation.

Hegemony and faits accomplis to which Israel has

resorted persistently, without being subjected to

the deterrent action that would force it to

submit to the international will and law..

49. Israel occupied the greater part of

Palestine in 1948 and in 1967 it completed the

occupation of the remainder. in addition to parts

of other Arab lands. In the past few months it

has occupied large areas of the sister country of

Lebanon rendering homeless and displacing scores

of thousands of its civilian population. Israel

has destroyed many of Lebanon's towns and

villages. It laid siege to Beirut devastating

large parts of it with unparalleled barbarism by

incessant land sea and air bombardment. which

claimed thousands of innocent victims in dead and

wounded.

50. One of the most heinous massacres in history

was perpetrated against unarmed civilians.

foremost among whom were women old people and

children. The conscience of humanity is still

overwhelmed with revulsion anger and abhorrence

at dimensions of this barbaric massacre which has

its precedent in earlier Israeli massacres

innocent Palestinians at Deir Yassin, Qibya and

Kafr Qasim.

51. The main objective of these repeated

massacres has invariably been to terrorize and

uproot the Palestinian people and to silence

them. in the vain hope' that such massacres will

erase from the consciousness of the Palestinian

people their yearning to return to their homeland

in Palestine. and that they will abandon that

homeland to strangers who falsely claim they have

a better right to it than its legitimate owners.

52. Israel's ability to persist in its aggressive

expansionist policies of which the most recent

manifestation is the victimization of Lebanon can

be traced back specifically to the time when the

whole world and particularly those great Powers

upon which devolves the responsibility for

preserving peace and security stood idly by or

ignored Israel's aggression in June 1967. At that

grave moment a fundamental deviation occurred in

the international collective security system.

When the Security Council was prevented from

taking action in conformity with its established

practice of linking a cease-fire with the

imperative demand for complete withdrawal from

all the occupied territories, Israel exploited

that in order to reap the fruits of its

aggression by continuing its occupation of Arab

territories and refusing to withdraw from them.

Moreover, Israel refused to implement Security

Council resolution 242 (1967) which called upon

it to withdraw completely from those territories.

.

53.' Israel 'has persistently sought to cover up

its defiance under the guise of its security. Its

supporters have sought to justify their massive

assistance to it on the ground that a secure

Israel would be more willing to make concessions

in exchange for peace. Events have proved the

fallacy of that claim.

54. We have seen that the greater Israel's military power grows the more obdurate

and inflexible its policies become. It stretches

its concept of security to include aggression

against the neighbouring Arab States. Israel's

doctrine of security has become synonymous with

aggression expansion and occupation. It reached

unprecedented dimensions recently with the

massacre of innocent civilians. The abominable

events in Lebanon have revealed to the whole

world and in particular to the friends of Israel.

Israel's true face and have unmasked the

falsehood of its security pretexts.

55. Israel's definition of its security is but a

slogan which it uses to cover up its continuing

expansion at the expense 'of Arab territories and

rights. Israel expanded since the Partition Plan

of 29 November 1947 going beyond the Armistice

Agreement of 1949 and the cease-fire lines of

1967 to what we see at present in Lebanon shows

that Israel is in no need of security. Israel has

annexed Arab Jerusalem and the Golan Heights; it

has established Israeli settlements; it bombed

Iraqi, peaceful nuclear installations: and, it

has started to build a canal from the Dead Sea to

the Mediterranean. Such an expansionist Israel

which has defined its perceived area of security

as encompassing all the lands from Pakistan in

the East and North Africa in the West is

suffering from an abundance of security, not from

a lack of it. That is all too dear when we take

into account Israel military nuclear capability

which was documented in the Secretary-General's

report at the preceding session.

56. It has been the consistent pattern that

whenever there appear to be indications on the

horizon of efforts by the international community

to achieve a just. comprehensive and lasting

solution to the question of Palestine and the

conflict in the Middle East Israel resorts to a

pre-emptive military strike in order to occupy

more Arab lands in order to thwart any such

international efforts and compel the world to

divert its endeavours towards dealing with the

complexities resulting from the faits accomplish

newly created by Israel's aggression.

57. Hence Israel's invasion of Lebanon and its

attempts to manipulate Lebanon's political

situation and internal affairs in a manner which

would serve its objective of spreading its

hegemony over the region. Israel was encouraged

to launch its invasion by the meek reaction to

its earlier invasion of southern Lebanon in March

1978 and its ability to impose its own conditions

for a partial withdrawal. Those conditions

included the creation of a buffer zone in south

Lebanon under the control of mercenaries

accountable to its will. When Israel saw that

that dangerous precedent had been tolerated by

the inter-national community, it embarked upon

its further invasion of Lebanon, which has

continued for the past several months. At the

beginning of the invasion it declared that its

objective was to secure a cordon sanitaire, the

depth of which it would decide at will, on the

pretext of an alleged need to ensure the security

of its citizens in the northern area.

58. Israel has only been encouraged by the

launching of the two invasions to carry out

further aggression. We warn the international

community of the seriousness of Israel's

premeditated plans and intentions regarding the

Arab States. It is determined to turn its back on

the principles on which a just peace could be

achieved. We also warn it against Israel's

efforts to impose a sham solution of its own

making, the preparations for which have already

been initiated in declarations by its leaders

that a solution to the Palestinian problem lies

outside Palestinian national soil.

59. The international community must take a

firm and decisive stand in confronting these

ominous plans. It most prevents the aggressor

from reaping the fruits of its aggression. The

international community must also compel the

aggressor to respect the principles of

international law and good faith in relations

among nations, if we are truly committed to the

purposes and principles of the Charter and to

safeguarding the region and the world as a whole

from the serious consequences of allowing the

present situation to continue.

60. The international community, both within

the United Nations and outside it, has defined

the necessary bases for the achievement of a

just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the

region. These include the withdrawal of Israel

from all the Arab territories occupied since the

June 1967 aggression, the return of the Arab City

of Jerusalem to Arab sovereignty, and recognition

of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian Arab

people, including its right to self-determination

in conditions of total freedom on Palestinian

national soil. Israel has subverted all the

international efforts aimed at the attainment of

this goal. The most recent example of this was

its outright rejection of the ideas put forward

by President Reagan although they could not

possibly be considered as prejudicing Israel's

security.

61. In contradistinction to these Israeli

policies, which are based on the rejection of

peace and attempts to achieve hegemony over the

region, there is sincere Jordanian and Arab

determination to achieve a just peace which would

guarantee rights and ensure security and

stability in the region. Jordan accepted Security

Council resolution 242 (1967) and has used its

influence to persuade others to accept it and

support its implementation. Jordan has also

supported efforts and initiatives formulated both

within and outside the United Nations to ensure

the implementation of that resolution and the

achievement of a comprehensive settlement, in

accordance with universally agreed principles.

62. Furthermore, Jordan's role was actively

pursued in co-operation with sister Arab States,

at the Twelfth Arab Summit Conference held in Fez

in September, in the formulation of a collect e

Arab peace initiative compatible with what the

international community has resolved should be

the framework for peace. We call upon the

international community to support this

initiative and to strive resolutely to give

effect to it since it offers an historical

opportunity which has gained world-wide

acceptable, with only Israel dissenting. It is a

unique opportunity which must be seized by

everyone in order to ensure a just peace and a

comprehensive settlement of this whose question,

which has threatened international security and

the security of the region for the pas: 34 years.

63. There is another conflict threatening the

stability and security of the region in which we

live, namely, the Iraqi-Iranian war that has been

raging for about two years. This causes Jordan

pain and grief because it involves two Islamic

States. Jordan, which respects the Charter and

international law and accepts its national

responsibilities, supports its sister Iraq in its

defence of its national territory and its

legitimate rights on its land and waters. Jordan

adds its voice to that of the international

community in asking the Islamic Republic of Iran

to respond positively to Security Council

resolutions 479 (1980), 514 (1982) and 522

(1982), as well as to the many mediation efforts

aimed at ending the war between the two

neighbouring countries. Jordan has also welcomed

with satisfaction the initiative taken

unilaterally by Iraq for the observance of a

cease-fire and withdrawal of its troops to within

its international borders in order to open the

way for a just settlement that would prevent

further bloodshed and destruction. Such a

settlement would give each party what rightfully

belongs to it and lead to the establishment of

good-neighbourly relations between the two

countries which would undertake not to interfere

in each other's internal affairs.

64. Several other parts of the world have been

afflicted in the same way as the Middle East

region. The racist government of South Africa

continues to practise its hateful apartheid

policies, to occupy Namibia and to commit acts of

aggression against neighbouring African States.

65. The international community is duty-bound to

take a firm stand against the practices of this

racist regime and to apply all the means of

pressure available to it, including the sanctions

provided for inthe Charter, to compel South

Africa to comply with international resolutions.

66. We also call for the implementation of

United Nations resolutions pertaining to

Afghanistan and Eritrea and for respect for the

right of all peoples to self-determination and to

express their national will in conditions of

total freedom.

67. Jordan also calls for the peaceful

solution of the problem of Cyprus through the

intercommunal talks under the auspices of the

United Nations and within a framework which would

preserve the unity, independence and non-aligned

status of that country. .

68. We support the solution of the problem of

Korea by peaceful means through negotiations

between the two parts of Korea, in accordance

with the joint communique issued in July 1972.

69. It is impossible to separate the gloomy

climate pervading the world today, which is based

on the use of the military option to solve

international issues, from the overall thrust of

the arms race. The race to develop or acquire the

most modem weapons of destruction, conventional

as well as nuclear, has intensified the tendency

to use or threaten to use force and hag compelled

many States, particularly the developing nations,

to seek to acquire arms for their legitimate

self-defence at the expense of the satisfaction

of their pressing economic and social needs. It

is incumbent upon the major Powers to set an

example by showing the political will to curb the

arms race and to work, guided by the principles

of the Charter, to averting aggression, providing

an atmosphere of confidence and security for all

States that respect international law. It is also

imperative to transfer the enormous human and

financial resources devoured by the arms race to

the task of reforming the international economic

order, which is exposed to huge strains and is

suffering from a structural disequilibrium. This

state of affairs had led many countries,

particularly developing countries, into a serious

situation, made them incapable of servicing their

foreign debts and brought them to the verge of

disaster.

70. In this statement I have reviewed some of

the gravest problems facing our world today and

threatening its resent and future. The family of

nations, individually and collectively, must

exert serious and sincere efforts to deal with

the crises. We must not continue to pursue the

policies that have brought the world to the state

of degeneration which we are witnessing today and

which the Secretary-General has strongly

emphasized in his report. It is our earnest hope

that the imminence of the danger will increase

our awareness of the responsibilities incumbent

upon the international community so that it may

rise to the challenges confronting it and the

world may become a better place to live in.