Syria, 1982

It gives me pleasure to con¬gratulate Mr. Hollai

on his unanimous election as President of the

thirty-seventh session of the General Assembly

and to wish him success in his noble mis¬sion. I

am confident that his ability, experience and

wisdom will lead to the desired success of our

work at this session. My country's delegation

will do its utmost to co-operate with him towards

that end, especially since the development of

cordial relations between our two countries will

render our co-operation closer and more

comprehensive.

189. I wish to laud the achievements of the

out¬going President, Mr. Ismat Kittam, during

whose tenure the General Assembly held several

special and emergency special sessions, in

addition to the regular thirty-sixth session. Mr,

Kittani conducted the work of the various

sessions in an efficient manner that is worthy of

our full appreciation and praise.

190. I also laud the Secretary-General, during

whose term of office we hope that the

Organization will take longer strides towards the

attainment of its purposes and objectives.

191. The present session is being held at a

time when our international community is facing

extremely dif¬ficult circumstances. Danger is

threatening around every comer. Hotbeds of

tension and acts of violence and aggression are

intensifying and expanding, in the Middle East in

particular, but also in Asia, Africa and Latin

America. All these situations pose a major threat

to international peace and security.

192. There is no doubt that the imperialist

camp is directly responsible for the

intensification of tension and aggression in and

against those continents. It wants to use those

countries as a testing ground for its lethal arms

so that those countries will remain helpless, the

victims of ruin and destruction. By the same

token, their peoples will remain backward and

unable to catch up with the achievements of

civ¬ilization. The imperialists wish to keep a

vast domain at their disposal for exploitation,

both political and economic. Needless to say,

neo-colonialism has perfected its methods and

techniques in this field.

193. The imperialist camp is spending hundreds

of billions of dollars on arsenals of war and

destruction. This is at a time when 600 million

human beings on our planet are suffering from

malnutrition, when 1.5 billion people are without

shelter or are living in tragic circumstances,

and when more than one quarter of the world's

children are deprived of education and proper

nutrition. It would have been far better for

those many billions spent on menacing humanity

with a horrible world massacre to have been spent

on meeting the needs of the poor countries and

raising the living standards of their peoples.

194. Most of the statements delivered at the

second special session on disarmament last June

portrayed a tragic picture of today's world. They

urgently and sincerely drew attention to the

dangers facing humanity because of the

uncontrollable armaments problem. They also

pointed to the gloomy fate awaiting all mankind.

They expressed the desire of the non- nuclear

countries—which constitute the great majority of

the world community—to protect themselves against

the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons. They

called for the banning of nuclear tests and for a

halt to the manufacture of chemical and

biological weapons and the destruction of the

present stockpiles. They advocated the

establishment of zones of peace, as well as

nuclear-free zones in the Middle East, Africa,

South-East Asia and other parts of the world.

195. None the less, despite all these sincere

and con¬tinuing calls and appeal, we are in fact

witnessing the transfer to the aggressor

countries of the most sophis¬ticated equipment of

aggression. We can see that internationally

banned weapons are being used. The world has

recently witnessed tens of thousands of

Palestinian and Lebanese citizens—mostly

children, women and elderly people—falling victim

to cluster bombs, vacuum bombs and nerve gases

made in the United States of America, during the

Israeli invasion of Lebanon and its capital,

Beirut.

196. Domination, exploitation, the plundering

of national resources, persecution, aggression

and the protection of the aggressor have become

the rules guiding the conduct of imperialist,

racist and Zionist threes in international

relations. Most States Members of the United

Nations and the world public have declared that

international peace and security cannot be

realized and stabilized until the principles of

the Charter and international law replace the law

of the jungle, and unless injustice, persecution

and oppres-sion are eliminated and all forms of

racism, including Zionism, are uprooted, unless

peoples regain their usurped rights, and unless

colonialism, neo¬colonialism, domination,

hegemony and the plundering of the peoples'

national resources are eradicated root and

branch. We thus consider that the interna¬tional

community must strive to realize the following

objectives if we want to attain a better world,

free from the tragedies and woes of war.

197. First, colonialism and neo-colonialism

and all forms of racism and racial discrimination

must be eliminated.

198. Secondly, in relations among countries,

sover¬eignty and the rule of international law

and the prin-ciples of right, justice and equity,

including respect for the principle of the

peoples' right to self- determination, must be

consolidated. This would eliminate hegemony,

oppression and aggression and remove the

immediate and secondary causes of inter¬national

crises and problems.

199. Thirdly, the United Nations must be

strength¬ened so as to prevent it from becoming

immobilized and so as to affirm the credibility

and effectiveness of its resolutions and enhance

its capabilities to address and solve various

issues, guided by the Charter and the principles

for which it was created.

200. Fourthly, the specter of the cold war and

of international tension must be banished and the

mad race in both conventional and nuclear weapons

halted, and we must persist in our efforts to ban

the produc¬tion, stockpiling and use of nuclear

weapons.

201. Fifthly, an economic world order based on

the relevant General Assembly resolution must be

estab¬lished, in order to bridge the great gap

and remove the major discrepancies between the

advanced and developing countries and to create a

greater balance in relations between the

developed countries and third world countries.

202. A review of the current international

situation shows very clearly the great distance

separating the present status of international

affairs from the status we desire and hope for.

We notice, rather, that problems are increasing

and being further complicated and that sources of

tension in the world are being dangerously

aggravated and becoming a serious threat to

international peace and security.

203. The racist regime in Pretoria, like the

racist Zionist regime in Palestine, has not only

detonated explosive situations of conflict and

tension, but its practices have always been an

affront to humanity and a blot on its history.

The peoples of South Africa and Namibia are still

being made to labour under the yoke of injustice

and colonialism by the racist minority regime.

The Organization must take a firm stand in

confronting the conspiracies and manipu¬lations

of the imperialist forces, in order to save those

peoples from their enslavers and oppressors by

sup¬porting and backing their national liberation

move-ments and by extending to them effective

material aid in their struggle for their rights

to self-deter-mination, independence and national

sovereignty and in order to deter that racist

regime from persisting in its acts of aggression

against neighbouring coun¬tries, particularly

Angola. We appeal to the Security Council to take

the measures provided for in the Charter in order

to put an end to this regime and to its practices

and acts of aggression.

204. The Assembly is still considering an item

on the situation in Afghanistan and its

consequences for international peace and

security. It is our opinion that the Afghan

Government has the right to defend the

independence of Afghanistan against all types of

outside intervention in its internal affairs. We

have close historical and cultural relations with

Afghanistan; moreover it is a member of the

non-aligned movement, and we are keen that it

should always remain so. The Afghan people are

fully entitled to choose their own system of

government. We therefore attach great importance

to the conducting of negotiations between the

Government of the Democratic Republic of

Afghanistan and its neighbors in order to achieve

peaceful solutions that would guarantee the

security and stability of that region and

preserve the unity, independence and

non-alignment of Afghanistan.

205. The question of Cyprus is at a standstill

to this very day despite the number of years that

have passed since it first arose. We sincerely

hope that negotiations between the two Cypriot

communities will resume under the auspices of the

Secretary-General, in accordance with United

Nations resolutions, on the basis of respect for

the sovereignty, independence, territorial

integrity, unity and non-alignment of Cyprus.

206. The problem of the unification of Korea

is still unsolved, despite the new initiative and

proposals submitted by the Government of the

People's Demo¬cratic Republic of Korea. We

support the unification of Korea on the just and

practical bases suggested by the Pyong Yang

Government.

207. A sad and regrettable war took place in

the South Atlantic. The question of the Falkland

Islands (Malvinas) awaits discussion during this

session of the General Assembly. We call for the

resumption of negotiations between the two

parties concerned, namely, Argentina and the

United Kingdom, under the auspices of the United

Nations, in order to find a peaceful settlement

based on the relevant United Nations resolutions

and the principles of the Charter. The efforts of

the Secretary-General in this respect are both

necessary and desirable in order to facilitate

the realization of the desired peaceful

settlement.

208. The dangerous and tragic situation in the

Middle East clearly reflects the disruption which

the interna¬tional community has undergone as a

result of the constant Israeli aggression. The

tragedy of the Pal¬estinian people and the whole

Middle East region dates back to the

establishment of Israel on the soil of Palestine.

Much suffering and bleeding continue as a result

of the plots of world Zionism to establish a

racist empire starting in Palestine and extending

to other parts of the Arab world, defined by the

Zionist doctrine as being from the Nile to the

Eu¬phrates—an empire that would dominate the

Middle East and control the international

situation through such hegemony, because of the

strategic and economic importance of the Middle

East, which is the meeting point for three

continents in the heart of the Arab World,

adjacent to the strategic interests of the great

Powers, in addition to the known huge energy

reserves and revenues of this region.

209. The Zionist peril, with its racialist

nature and expansionist aims, is not confined to

the Arab world. It has, rather, become a growing,

immediate danger jeopardizing the security and

interests of all the peoples of the world.

210. World Zionism is plotting to become,

through its control of the region and its natural

resources—energy ranking foremost—a force

controlling this basic com¬modity and forcing the

world to deal with the region through it. This

explains the aggressive attitude of world Zionism

and its base, Israel, built on a permanent

callous contempt of the nations, organizations

and international institutions of the world.

211. From the beginning of this year, Israel

has refused to implement the following Security

Council resolutions: 497 (1981), and resolutions

508 (1982), 509 (1982), 511 (1982) to 513 (1982)

and 515 (1982) to 521 (1982). It has also refused

to abide by the reso¬lutions of the General

Assembly passed at its special emergency sessions

this year. AH this should be added to the long

list of United Nations and other interna¬tional

resolutions.

212. The Arab Palestinian people have paid a very dear price for the scandalous

collusion between British imperialism in

Palestine and world Zionism, which led to opening

the gates of Palestine for Jewish immigration and

facilitating the establishment of Israel at the

expense of the Arab Palestinian people and their

homeland. The Palestinians are still being forced

to continue to pay the price in the form of

expulsion and mass murder. They still suffer from

homelessness, deprived of their lands and their

homes. They still aspire, with great yearning and

determi¬nation, to the restoration of the

homeland which has been usurped and the rights

which have been violated. The Arabs have paid

very dearly for the collusion between world

Zionism and the Western countries, which have

renounced all their commitments towards the Arabs

and supported the establishment of the Hebrew

State, extending to it all means of aggression.

213. In 1948 the Israelis introduced the

slogan of "negotiating peace with the Arabs" and

under this false pretext occupied the

demilitarized zone, which was under Arab control

and supervision. In 1967, under the motto of

"security", the Israelis launched the June

aggression and then began to build settlements in

the newly occupied Arab territories. Now they

demand security for these settlements, built on

the occupied Arab lands, contrary to

international instru¬ments, the principles of

international law and United Nations resolutions.

214. Israel has refused to implement all

international resolutions calling for its

withdrawal from the Arab lands that it occupied

in 1967, and it has rejected all peace

initiatives, including the American initiatives.

It rejected and foiled both the Jarring and

Rogers initiatives. AH international efforts to

determine the borders of the State of Israel have

failed. A num¬ber of Israeli leaders have

introduced an insolent, dangerous and arrogant

definition of borders, unpre¬cedented in history,

by declaring that Israel's borders stretch to

wherever the Israeli soldier can reach. Such a

definition simply means continued aggression and

constant expansion until the dreams of world

Zionism are achieved by the establishment of the

Zionist empire in the Arab world. In a notorious

statement, reminiscent of the Nazi concepts which

were de¬nounced by all mankind, the Israeli

Minister of Defense states that he believes that

Israel's lebensranum will stretch to include

Pakistan in the east and North African countries

in the west.

215. On 14 December 1981 Israel's Knesset

enacted a "law" annexing the Syrian Golan

Heights. This annexation was rejected by the

Security Council in its resolution 497 (1981) and

by the General Assembly in resolution ES-9/1 of 5

February 1982 at its ninth emergency special

session. During this year Israel's threats

against the Arab countries and Palestinian people

have escalated. Israel has continued to pursue

its aggressive policy by bombarding Lebanon's

towns and villages, and the whole world knows

about the savagery of Israel's shelling of

Beirut, which killed hundreds of innocent

victims. On 4 June Israel's army launched an

all-out attack on Lebanon, preceded by air and

sea raids on various Lebanese areas.

216. Despite Security Council resolutions 508

(1982) and 509 (1982), the Israeli invaders

continued their advance till they besieged Beirut

and unleashed on it an inferno of bombs from the

air, land and sea in a way unprecedented in the

history of war. In one day the Lebanese capital

was hit by over 250,000 Israeli bombs and

rockets, as reported by the world news agencies

at the time.

217. In this war, the Israelis killed tens of

thousands of people, mostly civilians—women,

children and elderly people. They also displaced

hundreds of thousands and destroyed villages,

towns and civilian installations. Even hospitals

and places of worship were not spared. They used

internationally banned weapons. And all this came

under the title of "Peace for Gallilee".

218. A survey of Israeli decisions, together

with the statements of Israeli leaders, shows us

that the aggres¬sion on Lebanon had the following

objectives: first, to liquidate the PLO and

displace the Palestinians anew; secondly, to

control Lebanon through what they call the

establishment of "a strong Government", as if any

Government installed by foreign occupation can

ever be "strong"; thirdly, to impose a "peace

treaty" on the State of Lebanon; fourthly, to

usurp parts of Lebanon—witness Israel's current

measures in the occupied Lebanese territory,

where attempts are under way to plunder the

waters of the Litani river and to create a new

settlement; and, fifthly, to deal a military blow

to Syria, and weaken it in order to weaken Arab

resistance to Israeli aggression, since Syria is

the base and pivot of this resistance.

219. To realize those aims, Israel began its

invasion of Lebanon, in which tens of thousands

of Palestinians and Lebanese were massacred and

towns and villages were destroyed. To realize

those aims, Israel's forces entered Beirut, in

spite of an agreement arranged by President

Reagan's envoy, Mr. Philip Habib, in spite of the

United States guarantees that the Israeli forces,

after the implementation of the agreement, would

never enter Beirut, and although we were

repeatedly in¬formed that the Israeli forces

would start withdrawing from around Beirut as a

first step towards complete withdrawal.

220. Then came the horrible massacre

perpetrated by the Israeli forces of occupation

in the refugee camps of Sabra, Shatila and other

localities. Israeli forces beat burned and

massacred more than 1,400 innocent Palestinian

citizens, mostly women and children, in a

bloodbath reminiscent of the massacre of Deir

Yassin, perpetrated by Begin on 9 April 1947.

This horrible carnage, which exceeds all the

crimes of nazism, confirms that a genocidal war

of extermination is being waged by Israel against

the Palestinian and Lebanese people before the

very eyes of the whole world.

221. The storming of Beirut and the horrible

massacre committed there despite the

aforementioned agree¬ment, and despite American

pledges, calls into ques¬tion the value and

credibility of the guarantees given by a

super-Power like the United States of America. It

also casts grave doubts on the validity of such

guarantees whenever Israel is involved m a

problem.

222. The practices of the leaders of Israel

show that they are indeed a terrorist gang that

has not learned the lessons of history. They have

not learned from past records, nor do they wish

to understand the present or future. Crime has

blotted out their vision, and racism has

completely blurred their perception of the

present and the future.

223. Those leaders must realize that the Arab

masses, which throughout history ha ve gone into

battle for their cause and their dignity, will

not be cowed by Israeli terrorism or by the

crimes of the Israeli leaders. They must realize

that sooner or later they will pay a high price

for the hideous crimes they have committed and

commit still, and that a just punishment will be

inflicted sooner or later. Never in history has a

tyrant escaped punishment. The crimes the

Israelis are committing against the Arab nations

will only strengthen cur determination to resist

aggression and strengthen our commitment to our

cause and to final victory. We are aware that we

have chosen the hard path, the path which is

paved with suffering, blood and sacrifice. But we

shall pursue our march regardless of the

immensity of the sacrifices and the difficulties.

We have no choice but to struggle to liberate our

land and preserve the future of our nation. Our

road is long and agonizing, the road of freedom

is always difficult and bloody, but it is the

road to victory.

224. The international community has rejected

the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, and that

invasion has been condemned by all nations and

peoples of the world, individually and

collectively. But is that enough, in the face of

this perilous situation?

225. The countries which voted in favor of

admitting Israel to membership of the

Organization based their approval on the Israeli

pledge that Israel would be a peace-loving State,

committed to the Charter and the principles of

the United Nations. Are not Israel's racist

crimes, its barbarous acts of aggression, its

invasion of Lebanon and the war of extermination

it is waging against the Palestinian and Lebanese

peoples enough to make those countries reconsider

their attitude to that State, which was

originally founded on aggression and which has

grown and expanded through ag¬gression?

226. Another question is directed specifically

to the United States of America, since it

supplies the ag-gressors with all the means of

aggression, killing and destruction in the form

of the most modem products of the American

arsenal. Are the Israelis committing these

criminal acts to serve their racist Zionist

interests or on behalf of the United States and

its interests?

227. If Israel's crimes against the Arabs are

not com¬mitted on behalf of the United States or

its interests, why does it provide this support

and backing to Israel? Why does it give Israel

the most modem American aircraft and missiles,

and reconnaissance, detection and jamming

equipment? Why does it give Israel cluster bombs

and chemical weapons, which are interna¬tionally

prohibited? Is this consistent with the

responsi¬bilities of the United States, a

permanent member of the Security Council, under

the Charter?

228. Is peace in the region and throughout the

world achieved through wars, by killing tens of

thousands, by rendering millions homeless and by

destroying towns and villages?

229. The United States of America bears a

special responsibility for all Israel's crimes

and acts of aggres¬sion against the Arabs.

Therefore, the United States should immediately

withdraw its political and military protection

from Israel and should pave the way for the

international community to impose sanctions

against that racist aggressor State, to end all

types of assist¬ance, including military and

economic aid, and to suspend the participation of

Israel in the Organization.

230. Those who have not helped in the past to

isolate Israel and impose sanctions against it

are today required to translate their

condemnation of the aggres¬sion into punishment

of the aggressor.

231. The history of the First and Second World

Wars proves that condoning aggression has always

encouraged the commission of further aggression.

The lenient attitude towards the Nazis during the

invasion of Austria and Czechoslovakia encouraged

them to invade Poland, an act which led to the

eruption of the Second World War. Taking a

lenient attitude towards the aggressor on the

pretext of leaving the possibility open of

persuading it to desist from its aggressive

policies can lead only to more acts of

aggression, more crimes and more disregard of the

will of the international community.

232. No country in the world—either in the

ancient or in the modem world—has a record as

dark as Israel's. It is a record abounding in

racist crimes, acts of aggression, wars and

crimes against humanity. Israel has thus exceeded

all the crimes perpetrated by the Nazis and the

Fascist forces during the first half of this

century. Recent history has not seen another

aggressor like Israel, which has shelled houses

with bombs of a type never before used in war,

thereby killing countless innocent women,

children and elderly people. A look at the

destroyed, burnt and bereaved city of Beirut is

proof enough of the nature of Israel and of its

aims.

233. In spite of all this the Israelis still

claim that they want peace. Is that any different

from what the Nazis used to say when they were

destroying towns and villages and killing the

innocent population, including women and

children? Israelis claim they want peace; what

they want is the peace of the grave.

234. Peace cannot be bused on aggression,

oppres¬sion, killing and destruction; nor can it

be based on racist and aggressive doctrines. The

Arabs believe in the importance of establishing a

just and lasting peace in the region. They also

understand the repercussions of events in the

region on the interests and the future of the

peoples of the world. But they should not have to

pay a price for their belief in peace, justice

and right.

235. Despite all the tragedies suffered by the

Arabs as a result of the aggressive presence of

the Israelis in the region, and in spite of the

wars waged by Israeli troops in Lebanon against

the Arab nation, at the recent Twelfth Arab

Summit Conference, held at Fez, a peace plan was

announced based on the following principles:

first, complete Israeli withdrawal from all the

occupied Arab territories; secondly, recognition

of the inalienable national rights of the

Palestinian Arab people, including their right to

return, to self-determination and to establish

their own inde¬pendent State under the leadership

of the PLO, their sole legitimate representative;

and, thirdly, the formulation by the Security

Council of the guarantees of peace. The Security

Council would guarantee the implementation of

these principles, which are based on two things:

the relevant United Nations resolutions and the

Charter, and the Arabs' conviction that peace is

important and necessary for the international

com¬munity.

236. In announcing these principles, which are

recog¬nized by the United Nations and by most

countries of the world, the Arabs are well aware

that Israel is seeking not peace based on right

and justice, but rather to impose capitulation by

force, aggression and oppression.

237. Today more than ever before we are

confident that the Arabs will defeat the

aggressor. They will struggle by all means

possible to recover their rights and resist

aggression, for in doing this they will be

defending not only their rights, interests and

dignity, but those of all other nations as well.

238. The night of the aggressor shall not

weaken our struggle against aggression; it will

only strengthen and consolidate this struggle. We

are confident that our Arab nation, despite its

present state of affairs, will concert its

efforts and potential to repel aggression and

injustice and to fight humiliation and

subjugation.

239. The States Members of the United Nations

are required today to take a clear and specific

stand to protect international peace and security

and to safeguard the Charter. Such a stand

requires a reso¬lution that provides for, first,

ceasing all kinds of dealings between the Members

of the Organization and Israel; secondly, asking

the United States of America to stop all forms of

military, economic and political assistance to

Israel; thirdly, adopting a resolution abrogating

General Assembly resolu¬tion 273 (III) of 1949

under which Israel was admitted to United Nations

membership; fourthly, extending all forms of

assistance and backing to the Arab coun¬tries to

resist and confront the aggression.

240. A resolution to that effect would not

only repel the aggression but would consolidate

the role of the Organization and prevent the

threat to peace and security not only in the

Middle East region but also throughout the world.

It is high time that the Organiza¬tion adopted a

practical position to face the series of Israeli

acts of aggression; otherwise one would be

skeptical about the usefulness of the

Organization.

241. While asking all countries of the world

to back up and support Arab rights, which are the

victim of Israeli aggression, we renew our

determination to continue the struggle by all

means to defend our threatened existence and to

restore our usurped rights, no matter how

difficult, arduous and long our path may be.

Difficulties and hardships will never hinder or

restrict the struggle of the people for their

liberty and dignity.