Qatar, 1982

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.