UVITEDNATIONS

THIRTY-THIRD

YEAR
st

MEETING: 17 MARCH 1978
NEW

YORK

CONTENTS
hr..
Provisional agenda (S/Agenda/207 1) , . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Adoption of the agenda . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1

The situation in the Middle East:
Letter dated 17 March 1978 from the Permanent Representative of Lebanon to
the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council
(S/l 2606);
Letter dated 17 March 1978 from the Permanent Representative of Israel to the
United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council (S/12607) .

1

 NOTE
Symbols of United Nations documents are composed of capital letters combined with
figures. Mention of such a symbol indicates a reference to a United Nations document.
Documents of the Security Council (symbol S/. . .) are normally published in quarterly
Supplements of the Official Records of the Security Council. The date of the document
indicates the supplement in which it appears or in which information about it is given.
The resolutions of the Security Council, numbered in accordance with a system
adopted in 1964, are published in yearly volumes of Resolutions and Decisions of the
Security Council. The new system, which has been applied retroactively to resolutions
adopted before 1 January 1965, became fully operative on that date.

 2071st MEETING
Held in New York on Friday, 17 March 1978, at 4.45 p.m.
President: Mr. Ivor RICHARD
(United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland).
Present: The representatives of the following States:
Bolivia, Canada, China, Czechoslovakia, France, Gabon,
Germany, Federal Republic of, India, Kuwait, Mauritius,
Nigeria, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States
of America, Venezuela.
Provisional agenda (S/Agenda/2071)
1. Adoption of the agenda
2. The situation in the Middle East:
Letter dated 17 March 1978 from the Permanent
Representative of Lebanon to the United Nations
addressed to the President of the Security Council
(S/ 12606);
Letter dated 17 March 1978 from the Permanent
Representative of Israel to the United Nations
addressed to the President of the Security Council
(S/12607)
The meeting was called to order at 5.45 p.m.
Adoption of the agenda
The agenda was adopted.
The situation in the Middle East:
Letter dated 17 March 1978 from the Permanent Representative of Lebanon to the United Nations addressed
to the President of the Security Council (S/12606);
Letter dated 17 March 1978 from the Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations addressed to
the President of the Security Council (S/12607)
1. The PRESIDENT: The representatives of Lebanon,
Israel, Egypt, Jordan, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, the
Syrian Arab Republic and Yemen have addressed letters to
the President of the Security Council in which they request
to be invited to participate in the discussion. I propose,
with the consent of the Council, to invite those representatives to participate in the discussion, without the right
to vote, in conformity with rule 37 of the provisional rules
of procedure,
2. The Security Council has before it document S/12608,
which contains the text of a letter dated 17 March 1978
from the representative of Kuwait in which he requests that
the representatives of the Palestine Liberation Organization

(PLO) should be invited to participate in the debate. This
proposal is not made pursuant to rule 37 or rule 39 of the
provisional rules of procedure but, if approved by the
Council, the invitation to participate in the debate would
confer on the PLO the same rights of participation as those
conferred on a Member State when invited to participate
under rule 37.
3. Does any member of the Security Council wish to speak
on this proposal?
4. Mr. YOUNG (United States of America): The United
States Government is not able to agree to the proposal to
invite the representatives of the Palestine Liberation Organization t,o participate in the debate with the same rights of
participation as those conferred on a Member State. We
thought the terms of the Council’s invitation were inappropriate on past occasions, and we wish to repeat our opinion,
For this reason we want the proposed invitation put to the
vote.
5. The PRESIDENT: As no other member wishes to speak
at this stage, I take it the Council is ready to vote on the
proposed invitation.
A vote was taken by show of hands.
In favour: Bolivia, China, Czechoslovakia, Gabon, India,
Kuwait, Mauritius, Nigeria, Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics, Venezuela.
Against: United States of America.
Abstaining: Canada, France, Germany, Federal Republic
of, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The proposal
4 abstentions.

was adopted by 10 votes to 1, with

At the invitation of the President, Mr. Tu&ni (Lebanon)
and Mr. Herzog (Israel) took places at the Council table.
6. The PRESIDENT: In the course of consultations, a
proposal was made that the representative of the Palestine
Liberation Organization should be seated at the Council
table for the duration of the deliberations on the agenda
item. I intend to put that proposal to the vote now. Does
any member of the Council wish to speak before the vote?
7. Mr. YOUNG (United States of America): Having
opposed representation of the Palestine Liberation Organization in the Council on the ground that only States should
be so represented, my Government would like also to
oppose the seating of the PLO,

 -

8. The PRESIDENT: Since no other member of the
Council wishes to speak at this stage, I shall put to the vote
the proposal that the representative of the Palestine
Liberation Grganization should be seated at the Council
table for the duration of the deliberations on the agenda
item.

displayed, often with great shamelessness, images of death
and destruction spread systematically and with grave
arrogance; and we are made to pay for the crime.
committed over almost 30 Years by each and all of us-each
and all of us except Lebanon, the only country in the
shattered Middle East that has consistently believed in the
rights of nations.

A vote was taken by show of hands.
In favour: Bolivia, China, Czechoslovakia, Gabon, India,
Kuwait, Mauritius, Nigeria, Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics, Venezuela.
Against: United States of America.
Abstaining: Canada, France, Germany, Federal Republic
of, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The proposal was adopted by 10 votes to 1, with
4 abstentions.
At the invitation of the President, Mr. Terzi (Palestine
Liberation afganization) took a place at the Council table.
At the invitation of the President, Mr. Abdel Meguid
(Qvpt), Mr. Nuseibeh (Jordan), Mr. Kikhia (Libyan Arab
Jamahiriya), Mr. Al-Hussamy (Syrian Arab Republic) and
Mr. Al-Haddad (Yemen) took the places reserved for them
at the side of the Council chamber.
9. The PRESIDENT: In addition to the documents listed
in the agenda, I wish to draw the attention of members of
the Council to the following other documents: S/12598,
S/12600, S/12602 and S/12604.
10. The first speaker is the representative of Lebanon, on
whom I now call.
11. Mr. TUENI (Lebanon): These are particularly tragic
days for a country that for the past three years has been
struck by unprecedented tragedy: cities destroyed, tens of
thousands dead, a society disrupted and long, deep bleeding
scars in that most ancient and most pacific land.

15. Now, Mr. President, members of the Council, what do
we ask from you? I shall be very brief, reserving my right
to come forward again with proposals and answers; but now
what we are asking is that we should be permitted to live is
peace and unity, that our sovereignty over our territory
should be restored to us, over all our territory, and that our
people should be protected against international murder,
16. The immediate cessation of hostilities and withdrawal
of the invaders should be the unanimous demand of the
Security Council and of the world community, as much as
it is ours in Lebanon. So, let my people live. Let us
reconstruct not only Lebanon, this ancient land of love, but
let us also re-establish peace and an acceptable international
order in the Middle East whereby every nation will be
entitled to exercise its basic human and national rights,
including the right freely to defend its own borders, to
enforce its own laws and to protect its own citizens andits
own institutions. And let us not allow any party, under any
false pretense, to prevent the Government of the land from
using its own forces and the forces that are or may be at its
disposal in the legitimate defence of its national integrity
and security, and then to make the pretext of an abnormal
situation to destroy and kill and violate the most elementary principles of national and international law.
17. Once more, in the name of Lebanon I say here to the
world: let my people live. Let us have peace, security, a
restoration of confidence in humanity and a better world
order. Let us allow the United Nations to assume hereby its
responsibilities.
18. The PRESIDENT:
Israel,

I now call on the representative of

12. Lebanon, my country, lies bleeding again, the object
of an aggression whereby we are made to pay for having
been so committed to the ideals of peace, liberty and the
international rule of law and order. Indeed, rarely has the
world community shown so little concern over the fate of a
country the world had so much loved, for rarely, if ever,
has such a small country given so much to the world and to
the history of mankind. But enough of this for the present.

19. Mr. HERZOG (Israel): I should like first of all to
congratulate you’, Sir, on your assumption of the presie
dency of the Security Council. It is fitting that you, in your
own right and as the representative of a country that has
been the leading standard-bearer of the principles of law,
justice and parliamentary procedure, should preside over
the Council.

18. The Council is now convened to put an end to one of
the most savage acts of aggression, and I should like to
emphasize that our main concern is that the United Nations
should be enabled to uphold the spirit and letter of the
Charter and prevent Israel from according itself the licence
to take international law into its hands and act as a judge,
jury and executioner at one and the same time, while the
community of nations here assembled watches idly the
agony of a Member State.

20. I am sincerely convinced that this is an unnecessary
debate. Two parties alone are involved in the issue. Both of
us want exactly the same thing-namely,
the complete
restoration of Lebanese sovereignty in the area in question.
It is a sobering reflection on the state of international
affairs and the way the Organization runs its business that,
if left alone without the interference of those who will no
doubt participate in this debate, we-Israel and Lebanoacould probably solve this problem without any difficulty st
all.

14. I shall not indulge in any useless rhetoric, for the facts
of the case are known to all of us. Images have been

21. Israel has asked to participate in this debate without
any expectation that the Council as represented by the

 majority here will evaluate the issue on its merits. Having
failed for 30 years to adopt a single resolution condemning
the murder of innocent Israeli civilians, the Council long
ago forfeited its right to pass judgement on actions
stemming from terrorist outrages.

boy clarinettist of 14; of their parents and brothers and
sisters, doing what millions of families do at the week-end,
bent on nothing more sinister than a happy family
week-end together; of a young girl photographer from a
far-off land who had come to do nothing more than observe
and photograph wildlife.

22. But it is not merely the Organization’s blatant
partiality that has cast doubts on its credibility. For we are
now witnessing a process far more ominous and far more
sinister than any previous double standard-the
actual
betrayal by the Security Council of its own principles and
purpose. According to Articles 24 and 26 of the Charter,
delineating the “functions and powers” of the Security
Council, this body exists in order to “promote the
establishment and maintenance of international peace and
security”.

26. How can the Organization expect to retain any
prestige or moral standing after inviting to its councils the
observer of an organization which announced that these
horrible acts of inhumanity could be continued every day
and after seating him in a manner which, I submit, is a
violation of the Charter and the rules of procedure? On the
senseless and indiscriminate murder of little children,
women, innocent wayfarers, the observer the Council has
seated had this to say on NBC News last Sunday: “These
operations . . . have been something almost normal. . . . It
happens every now and then. . . . These operations will
continue . . .“.

23. As far as that statement applies to the Middle East, we
have witnessed in the last four months the beginnings of the
first real dialogue towards peace, on the one hand, and an
avowed and open attempt to sabotage and destroy that
process, on the other. Never has the choice been clearer and
it has been for each country to declare itself-for or against
the peace talks. The world Organization showed where it
stood last November when, ignoring President Sadat’s
momentous visit to Jerusalem, it chose instead to continue
indulging in sterile condemnations of Israel. Indeed, neither
the General Assembly nor the Security Council has yet
issued one statement encouraging the peace talks and urging
their extension to Israel’s other neighbours.

27. This betrayal by the Security Council of its very
mandate and function has not been confined to Israel
alone. When tens of thousands-some 50,000 dead and
,IOO,OOO wounded-were
being slaughtered in the bloody
civil war in Lebanon, the Council, as the representative of
Lebanon has just pointed out, did not meet, or even once
during two years of bloodshed address itself to the issue. As
a full-scale war has raged in the Horn of Africa, the Council
has remained silent, not apparently considering large-scale
troop crossings from Somalia into Ethiopia a threat to
peace. In the Western Sahara an ongoing war involving
Mauritania, Morocco and Algeria has not attracted the
attention of the Council despite hundreds of casualties.

24. After all, what can one expect if one recalls that in the
General Assembly hall a gun-toting leader of the Palestine
Liberation Organization, a terrorist organization, was given
a standing ovation by the representatives of the nations?
And this a short while after these so-called freedom
fighters, the only such “liberators”
in the world whose
leadership does not have the courage to live amongst the
people it purports to liberate, had displayed such gallantry
in killing 12 schoolchildren and their teachers in a school
bus near Avivim in 1970, and in shooting down 11 Israeli
athletes in cold blood at the Munich Olympic Games in
1972. This reception occurred one year after that self-same
terrorist had, according to President Nimeiri of the Sudan,
personally given the order to execute in cold blood the
United States Ambassador and his aide and the Belgian
charge d’affaires, bound hand and foot to chairs in the
cellar of the Saudi Arabian Embassy at Khartoum. This,
after a sombre and horrifying record of assassination, death
and destruction which have plagued the world and in which
women and children have been victims time and time again.
This, after he had given the lead to the spread of
indiscriminate
international
terror, affecting innocent
people wherever they may be, in all parts of the world.

28. Israel does not expect the United Nations to change its
spots overnight. But, as one of the staunchest combatants
against international terrorism, Israel has come to this
forum today to reaffirm its refusal to bow to terrorist
demands and its determination to fight that evil until
ordinary men, women and children can live safe from the
fear of indiscriminate attack and murder. It is for that
reason that the Israeli Defence Forces crossed into Lebanon-and for that reason alone. And it is to accuse those
criminals who slaughtered our citizens and those who were
accessories to the crime that Israel has come to the Security
Council today.
29. Since 1968 we have witnessed some 1,500 separate
acts of international terrorism throughout the world. Not
once has the Security Council been jarred into response. An
attempt by the Secretary-General to bring the issue of
terrorism to a resolution in the General Assembly after the
1972 massacre of Israeli athletes at the Olympic Games has
been sabotaged by the supporters of the PLO for some six
years now. An attempt by the Federal Republic of
Germany in 1976 to introduce a convention prohibiting the
taking of hostages has been allowed to sink into the
quicksands of General Assembly committees, from which it
has yet to emerge. In October of last year, some hopeful
expectations arose in the wake of the Mogadiscio hijacking,
when the International Federation of Air Line Pilots
Associations threatened a 48”hour strike unless the United
Nations acted to prevent airborne terrorism. But even this
exercise ended in an inconclusive compromise, and the

25. The Organization has not been able, in six long years
of discussion, prevarication and double-talk, to agree on a
single resolution condemning terrorism, condemning the
brutal murderers of unsuspecting women and children-yes,
of babes in arms. But it has at the same time seen fit to seat
at this table the observer of the organization which openly
and proudly proclaimed its responsibility for the coldblooded assassinations and meticulously planned murder of
small children-three
years old, five years old; of a young
3

/

 President of the United States Airline Pilots Association
told the United States Senate Governmental Affairs Cornmittee just a few weeks ago:

large quantities of arms at Tyre, despite incessant and
urgent requests by the Lebanese authorities that such
shipments should cease.

“We are totally convinced that the United Nations has
neither the will nor the means to effect any meaningful
solution. . . . We have consequently arrived at the inescapable conclusion that strong unilateral and bilateral
action by a few powerful nations is the only practical
path to follow.”

33. The area we are talking about, namely Southern
Lebanon, includes the largest concentration of terrorists in
the world, a force bent on terror, indiscriminate murder,
provocation and assassination with the publicly avowed
intention of fighting any move towards peace in our
war-torn area. We are talking about an area which is a focus
and centre for international terrorist operations against
leaders and moderate Governments in the Middle East and
in the free world. From this centre, let it be recalled, went
forth the assassins who gunned down those Palestinian Arab
leaders in the West Bank who had expressed support for
President Sadat’s moves. From this centre went forth the
assassins of the editor of AZ-Ahram, who was murdered in
cold blood for the crime of endorsing President Sadat’s
initiative and of publishing favourable comments on what
he had seen in Israel. From this centre went forth the PLO
threats to assassinate President Sadat.

Israel long ago arrived at a similar conclusion about the
Organization’s ability and inclination to deal with terror
and terrorists, and it is for that reason that we have crossed
into Lebanon.
30. Israel has fought against terrorism in the past-at
Entebbe and elsewhere-and
we shall not cease to do so
until this cancerous growth that preys on innocent men,
women and children is eliminated. The cynical attitude of
the United Nations up to now is a stab in the back not only
of Israel but of all countries that have chosen resistance
over cowardly submission-the
Netherlands, which just this
week brought about the release of innocent hostages;
Egypt, whose commandos were shot in the back only a few
weeks ago at Larnaca by, amongst others, 16 members of a
PLO squad dispatched especially from Beirut to Cyprus by
Arafat-those
Egyptian soldiers were shot by the same
people who killed Israeli children last week; the Federal
Republic of Germany, whose forces freed hijacked passengers at Mogadiscio; and a handful of other nations.

34. Perhaps, however, it is misleading to put too much
blame an United Nations inaction. The world Organization
is, after all, no more than the intentions, actions and will
power of the nations that comprise it. And if we see the
United Nations engaged in craven submission, cynical
hypocrisy and even outright support of international
terrorism, then it behoves us to examine the conduct of the
individual nations engaged in the same activity.
35. Libya, the principal international sponsor of terrorism,
predictably praised last Saturday’s barbaric outrage as “a
brave raid”. Radio Damascus called the slaughter of 34
innocents, including 13 children and 6 women, “a daring
operation” and “a legendary action [which] opens a new
sphere of Palestinian action”. Echoing the remarks of the
PLO observer to the United Nations, the broadcast stated
that “this act can be repeated daily”. The so-called
moderates responded equally enthusiastically, with Saudi
Arabian radio announcing from Riyadh “the greatest
fedayeen act in the occupied land”. According to this Saudi
Arabian definition, the more innocent civilians murdered,
the ‘greater”, apparently, the terrorist act, With such
support, backed, incidentally, by lavish Saudi Arabian
financing, the assassins need feel no restraint.

31. Even as I speak, at this very moment, a terrifying
drama is unfolding at Rome, as a terrorist organization, a
member of the same Terror International as the PLO,
kidnapped one of the distinguished leaders of Italy in order
to force the Government of Italy to submit to a rule of
anarchy. Some of these terrorists, together with terrorists
from West Germany, Turkey, Iran, Japan and elsewhere, all
of them committed to the overthrow
of the lawful
Governments of their countries, acquired their ugly and
sinister skills in that centre of international terror, the PLO
camps in Lebanon. It is noteworthy that, of the $45 million
granted annually by the Arab League to the PLO terrorist
organization, $34.6 million was made availabIe by Saudi
Arabia. With this money, and money supplied by the
paymaster of international terror, Libya, terrorists from all
over the world are being trained in these camps in order to
spread the scourge of terror everywhere, to strike at the
heart of law and order, to bring chaos and anarchy to the
world and to destroy orderly societies, some of which are
represented here in this chamber.

36. Of special interest was the reaction of Kuwait, at
present a member of the Security Council “to promote
international peace and security”. A Kuwaiti Government
spokesman stated on Sunday:
“It is natural that the Palestinian .revolution will
conduct such operations which will prove its existence
and effectiveness. Kuwait sides with [this] revolution.”

32. Indeed, as I look around the Council table, I see
representatives of countries which have suffered from this
curse of international terror and murder, whose security
forces have been shot down and blown up with the
weapons and ammunition paid for by the purveyors of
murder in the world today. As I survey this scene, the
incongruity of it all is brought home to me even more
vividly by the fact that I have before me reports broadcast
by the Lebanese Government and by the Lebanese Broadcasting Service and press to the effect that 12 ships from
the Soviet Union and the Soviet bloc recently unloaded

How quickly the Government of Kuwait seems to have
forgotten its own reaction only last July when Palestinian
terrorists seized a Kuwaiti plane. Let me quote briefly from
the Kuwaiti newspaper AERai al-Amm of 10 July 1977:
“Kuwait will be excused if it reacts violently against
such a reckless movement . . . . The world will excuse us
if we strike a painful blow in defence of ourselves and our
security and stability . . . .
4

 “IS it enough for the PLO and the Fatah movement to
denounce the operation without finding an immediate
way out of this farce? HOW would you then expect the
Kuwaiti people to sympathize with the Palestinian problem? Would YOU blame Kuwait if it turned its back on
this problem, if it continued to be the target of such
shocks? ”

annihilated, if we are to judge by what happened in villages
such as Aichieh, which the PLO captured, had it not been
for the support and protection of Israel aad the creation of
the so-called “good fence” along the Israel-Lebanon border.
40. The utter chaos reigning in the area can be attested to
by the United Nations observers who have suffered considerably from the absence of law and order in the area and
the fact that hold-ups and banditry have become the order
of the day.

37. HOW well the people of Kuwait seemed to understand
the sentiments of the people of Israel. And such an
indignant reaction followed but one minor incident m
which there were no casualties. How many nations assembled here today would be expected to respond quiescently
when made the target of hundreds of such attacks involving
scores of civilian casualties-blown
up, shot down, hijacked
and terrorized?
The solution adopted by Israel is that
suggested by the above-mentioned Kuwaiti article, which
concluded: “The solution should be in the hands of Kuwait
alone-in the use of an iron fist”, Therefore, Israel has
struck against the terrorists, and, in the words of the
Kuwaiti newspaper: “The world will excuse us if we strike a
painful blow in defence of ourselves and our security and
stability”.

41. Last summer Israel tried to impress the Lebanese
Government with the seriousness of the situation, and
negotiations were afoot for the introduction of the reconstituted Lebanese Army into the area, but the situation was
such that senior officers of the Lebanese Army were
unable, for fear of their lives, to travel through the
PLO-held areas in order to reach the border and negotiate
with Israel. Eventually they had to fly to Haifa, in Israel,
and from there be taken to the border for negotiations.
That is the measure of control that the Lebanese central
Government had or has over Southern Lebanon, Nothing
emerged from those negotiations as we waited for a
Lebanese army to move into the area and take rightful and
lawful control.

38. The PLO came in force to Lebanon and proceeded to
use it as a base for operations against Israel after it had
failed to overthrow King Hussein of Jordan and his regime
in September 1970-the so-called Black September-and
after it had been finally banished from Jordan in 1971. The
Israel-Lebanon
border had been quiet and peaceful for
years, with the farmers on both sides living side by side in
amity and with nothing more untoward disturbing the
peace than some quiet smuggling, which has been a
time-honoured tradition along that border. The advent of
the PLO brought misery, murder and disruption to the area
both for the Lebanese and for the Israelis. Since the end of
1973, there have been 1,548 individual acts of aggression
arising out of artillery, Katyusha, mortar and terrorist
attacks mounted against Israel from Lebanon by those
terrorists,
In those attacks, 108 Israeli citizens, mostly
women and children, were killed and 221 wounded. These
figures alone- 1,548 attacks in four years-surely vindicate
Israel’s action in recent days and testify to the incontrovertible fact that Israel has for years exercised a forbearance
and patience which has, alas, produced no results. Last
Saturday’s senseless and brutal massacre on the Haifa-Tel
Aviv road, which only emphasized in lurid and tragic detail
the levels of bestiality to which these murderers have sunk,
was but a further savage link in a diabolical chain of carnage
and death, The Government of Israel has therefore been
faced with the problem of doing its duty, the inherent duty
of every Government to exercise its right of self-defence in
the protection of the inviolability of its territory and its
people.

42. A measure of the unhappy situation in which the
Lebanese Government finds itself was provided by the
peremptory demand only a few weeks ago of the Syrian
occupying force, otherwise known as the Arab Peacekeeping Force, that a Lebanese colonel should be handed
over to it for execution because he had dared to assert
Lebanese authority over a Lebanese army barracks in the
face of Syrian troops. That unfortunate officer, who had
defended the honour and integrity of his flag and country,
was in the end summarily dismissed together with some of
his colleagues from the Lebanese Army for the crime of
behaving as any officer would and should.
43. It is vital to put the events of the last week into a
larger perspective.
44. On 20 November 1977 a great and imaginative event
took place in the Middle East when President Sadat made
his historic visit to Jerusalem. The Government of Israel
reacted to that momentous initiative in a manner commensurate with the greatness of the move, and for the first time
the process of direct negotiations towards peace-a process
which I believe is now irreversible, despite the set-backs- I
was set in motion. At the same time, it should not be
forgotten that, on the day of President Sadat’s historic
arrival in Israel in the cause of peace and to achieve an end
to war and bloodshed in the area, Syria declared a day of
national mourning, Libya severed relations with Egypt, Iraq
branded President Sadat a traitor and certain leaders of the
PLO threatened openly to assassinate the Egyptian President. Two weeks later, at Tripoli, Libya, the capital of
international terror, the rejectionists cemented their
alliance by harsh condemnations of the peace process and
vows to continue their struggle against Israel. The hysterical
reaction of those States merely confirms Israel’s legitimate
concern for its security and the security of its citizens.

39. Following
the inter-Arab blood-bath in Lebanon,
which IiteraIIy tore apart a sovereign State Member of the
United Nations, a blood-bath which the Organization chose
in its inimitable logic to ignore, a state of total chaos
developed in the southern part of Lebanon. Ihe PLO has
been acting just as it did in Jordan in 1970 until it was
thrown out, bringing chaos and destruction and committmg
the most bestial atrocities against the Christian CommunitY
in Southern Lebanon, That community of 50,000 soulsmen, women and children-would
have been completely

45. Even more ominous, running parallel to the development of the peace negotiations between Egypt and Israel,
5

 4

Boutros, then Deputy PrimeMinister of Lebanon,admitted
to the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committeesof the
LebaneseParliament that his Government no longer had
any control over the situation in the south of the country.
That wasexactly a year ago. A few daysago, on 14March
it wasreported by the AssociatedPressthat Boutros,noi
Foreign Minister of Lebanon, had spoken to the United
StatesAmbassadorat Beirut and had againexplainedthat
the Government of Lebanonhad no control over the south
of the country.

has been the sudden massive infusion of arms and Weapons
of war into the area by the Soviet Union, which openly
condemned the process of peace taking root in our region.
Huge quantities of arms flowed into Syria and Iraq and,
most sinister of all, there were definite signs of a major
build-up of PLO forces in Southern Lebanon. Within less
than two months, 12 ships loaded with arms from the
Soviet Union coming either directly from that country or
via Libya unloaded at the port of Tyre. For months now
the Lebanese spokesmen and media have been reporting
these ominous developments and issuing warnings about the
dangers inherent in them for Lebanese sovereignty and the
peace of the country. There has been an incessant demand
in Lebanon by various leaders for the closure of the port of
Tyre to the terrorists.

49. The evidence has been painfully clear. In the early
summerof last year, the LebaneseGovernment tried te
introduce units of the rehabilitated LebaneseArmy into the
area, but to no avail, becauseof the refusal of the PLO
forces to withdraw. During the summerthere wereserious
outbreaks of violence between the PLO and Christian
villagersin the area. The latter were able to hold their own
and savethemselvesfrom annihilation only becauseof the
help which Israel extended to them. In Septembernego.
tiations were once againset in train for the withdrawalef
PLO forces from the area and the re-entry of the
reconstituted LebaneseArmy. These moves were openly
welcomedin an official Israeli statement issuedon 26
September,but onceagainvariouselementswithin the PLO
declaredthemselvesopposedto the cease-firethat hadbeen
announcedand indicated that they would take stepsto
sabotageit. Thoseelements,which apparently includedEl
Fatah, the principal organization in the PLO, and George
Habash’sPopular Front, which is part of the so-called
RejectionistFront, sought to reactivate military actionin
the area not only to prevent the LebaneseArmy from
re-establishing
itself over sovereignLebaneseterritory but
also to prejudice the negotiations then in hand aimedat
reconveningthe GenevaPeaceConference.

46. But the PLO build-up in Southern Lebanon went on
relentlessly, and their presence was recently reinforced by
the arrival of units from As Saiqa, the terrorist group
controlled by Syria, The number of terrorists close to the
Israeli border grew to some 5,000. They took over villages
inhabited by Muslim Shi’ites in the region, exhibiting
marked brutality in the process, and on 22 February-last
month-Yasser Arafat inspected their positions amid considerable fanfare.
47. The PLO’s complete freedom of action is a function of
its total disregard for Lebanese sovereignty and of the
inability of the Government of Lebanon to control part of
its own territory. Which of us has forgotten the heartrending speech made in October 1976 by Ambassador
Ghorra, the former Permanent Representative of Lebanon?
Addressing the General Assembly, he described in detail the
“constant Palestinian intervention in the internal affairs of
Lebanon and [the] intolerable encroachment on its sovereignty”. * He reminded us that, in 1973, President Suleiman
Franjieh had “denounced the illegal occupation of parts of
Lebanese territory by Palestinian elements”.2 He recalled
that the PLO did not respect the many accords that had
been concluded with them over the years to limit their
presence and military activities in Lebanon. And he
continued:

50. For months now, United Nations observerson the
spot have beenawareof the realitiesof the situation evenif
they have not beentoo keen to admit it. The Chief of Staff
of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization
(UNTSO) has treated us to reports, referring somewhat
quaintly to the ‘de facto forces” in the area. Sincethat
periphrasticlanguagewasobviously wearinga bit thin, the
UNTSO report for February actually went sofar asto refer
to “areasassumedto be controlled by Palestinianelements”
and even to “Palestinian-controlled areas” [S/11663/
Add.52, para. 51.

“The Palestinians acted as if they were a ‘State’ or
‘States’ within the State of Lebanon and flagrantly defied
the laws of the land and abused the hospitality of its
people.“3
And, still worse,

51. We have no need to exhibit such delicacy, for weall
know precisely what the prevailing situation in Southern
Lebanonhas beenfor severalyears. It is one in whichthe
Governmentof Lebanon has lost control and, I daresay,
sovereigntyover a significantpart of its own territory.

“For years, they steadily increased the influx of arms
into Lebanon-arms of all calibres and from various
sources. They transformed most-if not all-of the refugee
Camps into military bastions around our major cities, in
the heart of our commercial and industrial centres, and in
the vicinity of large civilian conglomerations.“4

52. In the light of this situation, in the light of the
unmistakableincreasein PLO presenceandweaponryin the
area,in the light of the build-up which we have observedin
the past few months, in the light of the PLO’s declared
intention to repeat atrocities like the one carried out in
Israel last Saturday, the Government of Israel wasCornpelled to act. The Government of Israel was left withno
alternative. It acted in accordance with its legitimate
national right of self-defence,that inherent right to defend
its territory and population and to ensurethat no mere
barbaricattackswill belaunchedagainstit in the future.

48. On 1 March 1977-that is, about three months after
the civil war in Lebanon was brought to an end-Fouad
1 Official Records of the General Assembly,
Plenary Meetings, 32nd meeting,
pars.61.
2 Ibid., para.62.
3 Ibid., para.63.
4 Ibid.,

Thirty-first

Session,

para.64.
6

 53. What Israel did is what any self-respecting sovereign
State would do in the circumstances. What Israel did is fully
in accordance with the norms of international law and the
Charter of the United Nations. International law is quite
clear on this subject. Thus Bowett states:

DisarmamentConference on 6 February 1933. The Soviet
draft resolution on the definition of aggressionsubmitted
to the Sixth Committeeon 18 October 1954 read:
“lie GeneralAssembly,
...

“Action undertaken for the purpose of, and limited to,
the defence of a state’s political independence, territorial
integrity, the lives and property of its nationals . . .
cannbt by definition involve ii threat or use of force
‘against the territorial integrity or political independence’
of any other state.“5

“Declaresthat:
“1. In an international conflict that State shall be
declared the attacker which first commits one of the
following acts:
. ..

Again, the subject is clearly dealt with by Fawcett:

“‘(f) Support of armed bands organized in its own
territory which invade the territory of another State, or
refusal, on being requestedby the invaded State, to take
in its own territory any action within its power to deny
suchbandsany aid or protection.“s

“where incursion of armed bands is a precursor to an
armed attack, or itself constitutes an attack, and the
authorities in the territory, from which the armed bands
came, are either unable or unwilling to control and
restrain them, then armed intervention, having as its sole
object the removal or destruction of their bases, would-it
is believed-be justifiable under Article 51”.e
54. I do not
by going into
to say that
international
position.

Similar languageis containedin other USSRdocumentstoo
numerousto quote,

wish to presume upon the time of the Council
a lengthy legal discussion on the issue except
the aforementioned legal passages reflect
law on the subject and support Israel’s legal

57. Finally, the aim of the Israeli Defence Forces’ opcration wasnot revengeor retaliation, for there is no way of
avenging the lives of Israeli civilians which were so
pointlessly taken last Saturday. Moreover the aim wasnot
and is not to seizeterritory, It was and is to clearthe PLO
once and for all from the areaborderingon Israel,which it
used mercilessly for repeated aggressionagainst my
country.

55. The United States position on such a case was clearly
reflected in a statement issued by the United States
Secretary of State on 20 June 1916:
“ , , . In view of this increasing menace, of the inactiv-

58. We seekno Lebaneseterritory. Wehonour and respect
the international border with Lebanon.We do not wish to
acquire one inch of Lebanesesoil. Our purposeis solely to
remove the terrorist forces which have brought chaos,
misery and destruction to Southern Lebanon.We wish to
see the official central Lebaneseauthorities, backed by
adequateforce, return to the area and take over control in
such a manner that the terrorist forceswill not be allowed
to return to the area now held by Israeli forces. My
Government has madeit quite clear that it hasno intention
of holding on to or annexing the areanow held by the
Israeli forces in Lebanon, but that it wishesto receive
adequate guaranteesthat the status quo ante will not be
restored.

ity . . ., of the lack of cooperation in the apprehension of
the . . . bands, and of the known encouragement and aid
given. to bandit leaders, it is unreasonable to expect the
United States to withdraw its forces [across the border]
or to prevent their entry again when their presence is the
only check upon further bandit outrages and the only
efficient means of protecting American lives and homes.
....
I‘ . . . The United States Government cannot and will
not allow bands of lawless men to establish themselves
upon its borders with liberty to invade and plunder
American territory with impunity and, when pursued, to
seek safety across the Rio Grande, relying upon the plea
of their Government that the integrity of the soil of the
Mexican Republic must not be violated.“7

59. We have created conditions in which the Government
of Lebanon can restore control over that territory and in
the processre-establishits sovereignright in the area.This is
no smallthing, for we shall have brought about a situation
wherein the ordinary people, of all faiths, living both in
southern Lebanon and in northern Israel need know fear
no more, and in which they can live in harmony, with the
border between them open, as it has been ever since the
height of the civil war in Lebanon. This, surely, is a
situation which men of reasonand goodwill can only look
upon with favour. For the Security Council to criticize it
would only discredit the Council.

56. And to prove that I am not basing myself on the
position of just one of the super-Powers seated at the
Council table, let me assure my Soviet colleague that
international law as interpreted by Soviet legal authority
entirely justifies Israel’s act. This emerges from a perusal of
the draft act based on a Soviet proposal for the definition
of aggression submitted to the General Commission of the
5 D. W. Bowett, Self-Defence in International Law, New York,
Frederick A. Praeger, 1958, p. 185-186.
6 J. E. S. Fawcett, “Intervention in international law, a study of
some recent cases”, Acaddmie de droit international, Recueil des
cows, I961, vol. II, p. 363.
7 Green Haywood Hackworth, Digest of International Law, val. II
(United States Government Printing Office, 1941), p. 296-297.

60. But there is another, wider aspectto what we have
done which goesfar beyond the local considerationwhich I
8 Official Records of the General Assembly, Ninth Session,
Annexes, agenda item 51, document A/C,6/L.332/Rev.l.

7

 “The
murder,
outbreak
Lebanon

have just described. The PLO is totally and irrevocably
opposed to any peace with Israel. This position is deeply
rooted in the PLO’s destructive ideology. It has been
reaffirmed time and again: in the IO-point programme
adopted by the so-called National Council at Cairo in 1974;
in the 15point programme adopted by the National
Council at Cairo in 1977; and again in the statement by the
PLO Central Council at Damascus in August 1977. All this
in addition to the Palestinian National Covenant which
commits the PLO to the destruction of the State of Israel.
That organization is largely discredited in the Middle East.
Indeed, its position in the Middle East, I would say, is in
inverse proportion to the consideration accorded it here at
the United Nations.

Palestinians brought about an escalation of
pillage, kidnapping and looting, leading to the
of civil war-which
actually is a war between
and the Palestinians.

“The Palestinians have deceived Lebanon, and today
they are deceiving the other Arab States, which will suffer
the evils of the Palestinians as Lebanon itself has suffered.
“Syria is now cognizant of Palestinian duplicity, as is
Kuwait. Jordan had preceded both of them, but Lebanon
awoke too late. The rest of the Arab States are still
unaware of the danger,”
64. As the Arab representatives make the inevitable
impassioned speeches on the issue, the members of the
Council would do well to bear in mind what they and their
leaders really think about the PLO.

61. President Sadat has made his views about that organization very clear of late. As he pointed out only a few
weeks ago: “The Palestinians should know that Egypt will
retaliate one blow with 10 blows.” Or, as was rightly
pointed out in AbAhram only last month: “Political terror
is a cancer that must be eradicated’“.

65. The Israeli action in Southern Lebanon has to be seen
in its twin aspects. The first is as part of the war against
international terror which besets the world-a terror that
knows no bounds, a terror that is a danger to orderly
society in every single country in the world. Today the
Italian nation is face to face with the grim expression of
terror at work, No country here can guarantee that it will
not suffer. One cannot be selective about terror; it cannot
be bad for some and excusable for others. It is either a
wicked, dastardly, dangerous menace which threatens
society and must be eradicated by all, or it is something to
be encouraged until it turns on those who encourage it. No
nation is safe from it.

62. The PLO is not permitted to exist in Jordan or to
operate from that country. King Hussein has referred to it
on various occasions as “a bunch of criminals” and only a
few months ago in the United States, in Atlanta, Georgia,
he stated that “the PLO imposes itself on the Palestinian
people”. Syria does not allow the PLO to operate from its
territory either and exercises the tightest control on the
PLO within Syria, The Syrian representative will doubtless
shed crocodile tears here and wax indignant about the
recent events in Lebanon, conveniently forgetting the
slaughter of Palestinians by Syrian troops in the Lebanese
civil war and the massacre of Tel el-Zaatar. As the Syrian
Defence Minister General Mustafa T’lass pointed out not so
long ago in the Syrian Army newspaper Tishrin:

66. This wicked, cowardly, bloodthirsty coalition of terrorists poses today one of the greatest dangers for human
society in the world. Neither the Security Council nor the
United Nations have done anything to discourage it. Let
them at least not stand in the way of those forces which
have committed themselves to struggle against this international scourge and which are not prepared to bow their
heads to terrorism.

“My Palestinian comrades, the Muslims of Lebanon
have begun to hate you because you are interfering in
their daily life and their personal liberty. What then is the
aim of your liberation? Is your sublime target the
massacre of the Lebanese? Or perhaps your grand design
was to slaughter the residents of the Serniramis Hotel at
Damascus? You are mistaken, Palestinian comrades,
because you arouse nothing but disgust among all honest
Arab citizens.

67. I repeat again that we have no designs whatsoever on
Lebanese territory, We want Lebanon to be controlled by
the Lebanese, and by nobody else. In this representatives
may be aware that we have very considerable support for
our action from a large section of the Lebanese population,
I have here cables of support which I have received from
prominent Lebanese, including the 24,000 Lebanese
Christians of Damur in Lebanon whose brothers and sisters
were brutally massacred by the PLO in the civil war and
from which town the PLO operation last Saturday was
mounted.

“The PLO sacrificed hundreds of people in vain at Tel
el-Zaatar. What do these revolutionaries know of liberation, after having brought such evil to Jordan and
Lebanon? ”
63. And what shall I say about the behaviour of the PLO
in Lebanon? Perhaps President Franjieh’s remarks in a
farewell broadcast on Radio Beirut in September a year ago
best expressed the situation:

68. It is noteworthy that the representative of Lebanon, in
his letter to the Security Council, explicitly links the
evacuation of Israeli forces with the ability of the Lebanese
authorities themselves to “exercise their functions fully” in
Southern Lebanon [S/12600]. Why, then, does he now
peremptorily demand the unilateral withdrawal of Israeli
troops knowing that this would merely plunge the southern
part of his country once again into utter chaos and would
seriously prejudice any move towards achieving the goal of
full Lebanese sovereignty over Southern Lebanon. In the

“Lebanon is suffering today from a war launched
against it by the Palestinians and their supporters-Arabs
and foreigners.
“The Palestinians tried to rule Lebanon from behind
the scenes, through puppet leaders. When their plot
failed, they changed their tactics and worked to establish
their own State in Southern Lebanon.
8

 final analysis, as I said at the outset, the aims of Israel and
Lebanon are identical. The only issue is how those aims are
to be achieved.

with what amounts to total impunity. The denial of the
most elemental rights of the Palestinianswho the Israeli
leaders claim, with callousindifference, do not exist and
have never existed.

69. Furthermore, let us not for one moment forget that in
struggling against the terrorist forces we are struggling
against an element that is sworn and committed to
destroying the peace process in the Middle East. It is no
coincidence that, as Egypt and Israel face up to the very
difficult problems of negotiating a peaceful future in the
Middle East, Egyptian and Israeli blood has been spilled by
the cowardly attacks of those terrorists and Egyptian and
Israeli soldiers have laid down their lives in the past weeks
in this struggle against terrorism.

77. Without indulging in an argument over fundamental
issueswhich are still unresolvedafter 30 years of inaction
amounting to tacit acquiescence,I feel constrained to
confine myself to commentingon a presentand continuing
conflagration, namely, a massiveIsraeli armed aggression
against the territorial integrity and independence of a
contiguous sovereignindependent State, Lebanon, one of
the earliest States Membersof the United Nations. I would
also comment on the indiscriminate and cold-blooded
slaughter of its civilian inhabitants and the Palestinian
refugees residing there and awaiting repatriation and
redemption without even a ray of hope.

70. Let the Council at least ensure by its behaviour and
reaction to those events that the forces of terror will not
receive encouragement and that the sacrifices made by
Israel in the last few weeks will not have been in vain.

78. My delegation demandsthat the Security Council
should take immediate action to ensurea cessationof the
armed aggressionby regular Israeli troops by land, seaand
air. My delegation,likewise, urgesthe Council to order the
prompt withdrawal of the Israeliforceswhich are at present
in occupation of sizeableterritories in Southern Lebanon,

71. The PRESIDENT:
the next speaker is the representative of Jordan, I invite him to take a place at the Council
table and to make his statement.
72. Mr, NUSEIBEH
(Jordan): Allow me, at mid-term, to
congratulate you, Mr. President, for presiding most ably
over a burdened Security Council this month and to wish
you every success for the duration and beyond.
73. The toys of mass and indiscriminate destruction with
which Israel has been flooded over the past five years have
once again surfaced and a pretext has been found to
demonstrate their prowess, primarily against hapless civilians and refugees who have died or suffered grievous
injuries in their hundreds. Congratulations for that act of
perverted heroism!
And, as if that were not enough, a
lengthy shopping list of even more lethal weapons for the
destruction of people, property and the good earth of
Southern Lebanon is being passionately solicited in the
masquerade of security-that
is the security of the grave in
which their victims are laid to rest.
74. If the F4s do not kill enough people or destroy more
effectively the simple little huts in which their victims and
adversariesdwell, then why not the FlSs-I wastold today
that F15s are already being deployed-and the F16s and
whatever sophisticated technology is able to innovate. All
that in the name of security.
75. It is a pattern of violence, destruction and a further
swelling of the refugee ranks-Lebanese, Palestinians,
Syrians, Egyptians and Jordanians-which we have had to
endure for more than three decades;and the end is by no
meansin sight. It is a pattern which is by no means
surprisingand can never be daunting or capableof achieving
its allegedclaim of security.
76. All that, and much more to come, in a vicious circle
masqueradingunder the name of security. The occupation
of territories of three, now four, sovereignindependent
States.There is always a causeand an effect. The causeis
Israel’srefusal to pay the slightestheed to the Charter of
the United Nations and innumerable resolutions of the
GeneralAssembly, aswell asSecurity Council resolutions,
9

79. I have strained myself to fmd a substitute word for
“immediate”, in the light of our sordidexperience that the
term “immediate” might be construed by the Israeli
aggressorsas permitting 11 years of occupation, or even
indefinite occupation, asis the casein other occupiedArab
territories. Perhapsthe Security Council might be more
specific, by saying “within 12 hours”, for example. If the
Council fails to act decisively, we should soon be hearing
about the establishmentof settlements,and then additional
settlementsto provide security for the earlier ones,with the
whole processculminating in a claim that an Israeli or a
group of Israelishad, some3,000 yearsago, madea visit to
Tyre or Sidon and therefore establishedthose cities aspart
of their Biblical homeland.We know that asfar back as50
years ago, if not more, the Zionist leadershipcastcovetous
eyes on the waters of the Litani river, upon which hundreds
of thousandsof Lebanesecitizens dependfor sheersurvival.
But the lives of @rosepeople, not fortunate enough by the
accident of birth to belong to the “chosen race”, are of
little importance to insatiableIsraelor its supporters.After
all, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and it cannot be
stretched to encompassthe irrelevant constituency of
humankind, regardlessof race, colour or creed. We believe
that all men are created equal, but unfortunately the
Israelisdo not.
80. This will be a very brief statement, because the
situation is so seriousand so urgent that I shouldnot wish
to waste the Council’s time by going into it at length.
However, I do wish to state that what really is at stake is
the role of the Security Council, the highest lawenforcement organ of the United Nations system. Its
authority has, over the years, been gradually and systematically eroded by permissivenessand a tolerance of
international illegality, There areenoughorgans,suchasthe
Economic and Social Council, the United Nations Development Programme,the United Nations Children’s Fund and
many others, that are doing a very fine and effective job in
their fields. But we have only one Security Council, whose

 --_

~-,’

i
I

and scores of Lebanese villages and towns, as well as
Palestinian refugee camps, have been systematically destroyed. Hundreds of thousands of new refugees have been
uprooted from their homes and villages and hundreds of
women and children, innocent civilian inhabitants, have
been killed or wounded.

sacred duty it .is to safeguard peace and security in the
world and the integrity of Member States as defined in the
Charter, Will it permit its duty to go down the drain
through ill-advised, indecisive action? That is the question-it is the crux of the question-an answer to which the
whole world is anxiously awaiting. Let US hope that the
world will not be let down again.

89. Israel shamelessly unleashed its military might, using
six mechanized brigades and more than 25,000 soldiers to
conquer the territory of a State Member of the United
Nations on the pretext of a response to the fedayeen
operation carried out a few days before in Palestine. Yet
the scope of their invasion of Lebanese territory and the
manner in which the Zionists carried it out, using land, sea
and air forces, prove beyond any doubt the premeditated
nature of the Israeli aggression and show that the real
objective of the Zionist regime is to expand and to occupy
more Arab territory.

81. Internal security within every country is the ‘prerogative of the security forces within every State. If they are
delinquent or clumsy, it is hardly a green light for violation
of the inherent inviolability of neighbouring independent
States. After all, as Ambassador Herzog has mentioned,
there are situations all over the world where we do witness
incursions into other territories. But that does not give a
green light to the Dutch to invade Indonesian or Moluccan
territory,
82. Finally, Israel should at long last realize that the
enslavement or dispersal of peoples, or aggression against
their territories, is not the answer to security. Israel might
wish to, expand ad infinitum,
but such expansion will
ultimately be counter-productive
and result merely in an
augmentation of the area of insecurity. Security can only
be achieved by a just, comprehensive and real peace in
which all peoples in the area can participate and which all
can enjoy in freedom and dignity. There can be no
discrimination when it comes to the survival of nations and
people.

90. The Tsraeli pretext cannot fool the international
community or world public opinion. Israel cannot ensure
its security by occupying more territories belonging to
others, creating additional masses of desperate refugees and
destroying the towns and villages of other peoples. No
country has the right to take the law into its own hands or
to resort to the use of brutal force in order to fulfil its
political and military objectives.
91. The new Israeli act of aggression is taking place at a
time when the international community is still endeavouring to liquidate the sequels of previous Israeli acts of
aggression and to ensure the withdrawal of Israel from
previously occupied Arab territories in Sinai, the Golan
Heights, the West Bank and Gaza. Now, by its new act of
aGgression Israel has created, in fact, a fifth occupied Arab
territory and has proceeded one step further in its policy of
expansion and occupation of Arab territories.

83. The most important and immediate step for the
Council is to draw the line between legality and illegality,
to act decisively and prove that organized violence and
aggression do not pay. That can only be expressed by
action to end the aggression and ensure the immediate
withdrawal of the occupation forces from Lebanon.
84. I reserve the right to make further comments at some
later meeting, but because of the urgency of the situation,
as I have said, I shall stop right here.

92. Israel declares shamelessly that the objectives of its
aggression are to establish a “security belt” and to eliminate
“terrorist strongholds”. Yet, it is clear that 99 per cent of
the victims who fell as the result of the brutal Israeli
bombardments, raids and attacks were innocent and help
less women, children and other civilians. We do not need to
refute the theory of a “security belt” because it has been
proved beyond any doubt that security cannot be based on
the usurpation of more territory. As a matter of fact, the
incident that Israel has this time used in order to justify its
aggression did not emanate from the territory that Israel is
attacking.

85. The PRESIDENT: The next speaker is the representative of the Syrian Arab Republic, whom I invite to take a
place at the Council table and to make his statement,
86. Mr. ALHUSSAMY
(Syrian Arab Republic): Mr, President, first of all I should like to congratulate you on your
assumption of the presidency of this august body. I am sure
that thanks to your esteemed personality and your great
experience in international affairs, the Council will be able
to express itself as the guardian of peace and security in the
world.

93. No pretext can justify aggression against and occupation of the territory of others, and the only means of
ensuring one’s own security is by respecting the security
and sovereignty of others. It is Israel itself which bears the
greatest responsibility for the tragedy and hardships
through which Lebanon has lived in recent years. Lebanon
has been the target of repeated acts of Israeli aggression-air
and commando raids-during the last nine years, and it is
not the first time that Israel has violated the sovereignty
and territorial integrity of Lebanon, although this is the
gravest violation.

87. This is not the time to indulge in lengthy speeches and
elaborate statements about the origins of the Middle East
conflict or the roots of the tragedy of the Pale&an
people, for at this very moment and as a result of a new act
of naked Israeli aggression that conflict of more than 30
years is taking a new turn for the worse and that same
Palestinian people is being further subjected, together with
their courageous Lebanese brethren, to the ugliest forms of
aggression, destruction and mass killing.
88. Once again the tiny peace-loving country of Lebanon
is the target of a premeditated Israeli aggression. The whole
of the southern part of Lebanese territory has been invaded

94. The Israeli aggression against Lebanon would not have
been possible without the huge arsenal of sophisticated
10

 weaponry and war machinery with which the United States
has flooded Israel in recent years. It is most unfortunate
that the amount of United States military supplies to Israel
has increased in parallel to the increase of Israeli aggressions
against Arab countries and to the Zionist expansion into
and settlement of Arab territories. According to recent
reports, the United States has supplied Israel with what
.amounts to $4.2 billion in arms, the bulk of which was
granted to Israel over the last four years. It is clear that it
would have been very difficult for Israel to continue its
policy of expansion and aggression on this scale were it not
for this huge and unprecedented amount of military and
fmancial aid granted to Israel by the United States. This
clearly constitutes an encouragement by the United States
Government of the Israeli policy of expansion and aggression.
95. As I said at the beginning of my statement, this is not
the time to elaborate on the details of the Middle East
tragedy. But what I should like to stress now is that, by its
latest act of aggression, Israel has proved that it does not
deserve peace, because by that action it has destroyed
whatever chances remained to establish a just and lasting
peace in the region.
96. In the face of this new deterioration, the United
Nations and its organ most responsible for the preservation
of international peace and security, namely, the Security
Council, must take urgent measures in order to stop the
Israeli aggression against Lebanon and the Palestinian
people and to ensure the immediate and total withdrawal of
the Israeli forces of invasion.
97. The aggressor must not be permitted to reap the fruit
of its aggression, for if Israel were permitted to gain any
advantage or profit from its naked aggression and invasion
of the territory of others it would be a clear encouragement
to the aggressors and would constitute a very dangerous
precedent after which other aggressors might find it
profitable to resort to the use of force and aggression in
order to obtain concessions or to secure political and
military interests. If we were to permit the Zionist regime
to impose conditions for its withdrawal from the territory
that it has invaded and occupied in flagrant violation of the
Charter and the principles of international law, what would
prevent a similar regime, such as, for example, the illegal
Rhodesian regime, from tomorrow occupying a part of
Zambian territory and refusing to withdraw unless Zambia
accepted prior conditions affecting its sovereignty and
integrity?
98. The Security Council is therefore called upon speedily
to adopt a resolution affirming the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lebanon and ensuring the immediate and
total withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanese territory.
Such respect for Lebanon’s sovereignty and such a call for
the immediate withdrawal of the Israeli forces of aggression
must not be linked or subjected to any preconditions or
so-called “arrangements”, because that would amount to a
flagrant violation of the principles of the Charter itself.
99. In his statement on 15 March, following
aggression, the Secretary-General stated:

the Israeli

“Whatever the motivations for this [Israeli] action may
have been, I can only deplore the violation of the

boundaries of a sovereign State and the massive use of
force.”
My delegation supports that statement and wishes to
express its gratitude for the concern which the Secretary
General has shown in this respect, as well as for the efforts
he has continuously been making, since the beginning of
the Israeli aggression, to contain the situation. The Secretary-General’s concern is manifested once again-and perhaps more urgently-in his letter of yesterday to the
President of the Security Council issued as document
S/12604.
100. The Syrian Arab Government stated its position
clearly during the very first hours of the Israeli aggression.
It called on all the members of the Security Council, and in
particular the five permanent members, to shoulder their
responsibilities under the Charter, The Syrian statement is
published in full in annex II of the above-mentioned letter
from the Secretary-General. I wish to quote only the last
paragraph of the statement:
“In view of the foregoing, the Government of the
Syrian Arab Republic is deeply concerned at events in
Southern Lebanon and calls on States members of the
Security Council to shoulder their responsibilities as laid
down in the Charter and to intervene promptly to halt
the aggression against a State Member of the United
Nations and take~immediately the necessary steps for the
immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanese
territory.”
101. The situation in the Middle East was explosive
enough before this latest Israeli act of aggression. The
countries and the peoples of the region look to the Council
today in the hope that it will put an immediate end to the
Israeli aggression and ensure the immediate withdrawal of
the Israeli forces.
102. The Syrian Arab Republic pledges its unconditional
solidarity with brother Lebanon and with the Palestinian
people, and we are convinced that we are joined in this by
the overwhelming majority of the Member States.
103. It is about time that the Security Council fulfilled its
responsibilities; it is about time that this body said halt to
the aggression and the aggressor.
104. In conclusion, I should like to say a few words
concerning the allegations made just now by the Zionist
representative. We have become very used to the Zionist
representative’s attempts to divert the attention of international bodies from the questions under consideration. In
his statement today, the Israeli representative made allegations concerning the relationship between Syria and the
Palestine Liberation Organization, and the role of the
Syrian forces in Lebanon. I need hardly say that the facts
refute those allegations, It is well known that the Syrian
forces constitute a part of the Arab peace force, which is
acting legally on Lebanese territory.
105. The PRESIDENT: The next speaker is the representative of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. I invite him to take a
place at the Council table and to make his statement.

 4

Mr, KIKHIA (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya) (in@rPretution from French): I shouldlike to extend my Congratulations and those of the Libyan delegationto YOU,Sir, on
your assumptionof the presidencyof the Council for the
month of March. I amsurethat a man of your calibreand
experience will be able to guide the discussions
in the
Council to a successfulconclusion.I shouldlike alsoto
express to you and to the membersof the Council mY
delegation’sthanks for the opportunity to participate in
this very important debate.
106.

incident can indeed occur at any time. In order to prepare
the international and local atmospherefor the elimination
of the Palestiniancause,they know that they haveto put
an end to the Palestinian. struggle, to eliminatethe
Palestinianpeople. The Israehshad indeed beenpreparing
for this for sometime, and, as I said, the incident of l1
March wasbut an excuse.But, even SO, it wasnot a valid
excuse.

113. Mr. Herzog spoke of international law. He spokeof
theoriesthat would be dangerouswere they to be adopted
in international law. We all knOWfull well that pretextsof
107. We have listenedattentively to representatives
who
this kind have long been used in wars of aggression
have spokenhere,includingour brothersthe representatives throughout the world.
of Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. The representativeof the
PalestineLiberation Organization-the representative
of the
114. Mr. President, your country could make useof
Palestinianpeople-will certainly speak also. He and the
similarexcusesto invade Ireland. Indeed, there are organi.
representativeof Lebanon are, of course,more qualified zationsin Northern Ireland that arehaving difficultieswith
than I to provide the Council with details.Hence,I shall your Government. There are situations throughout the
not speakat length.
world which could justify the invasion of a country,
infiltration for example. But, in this particular case,evenif
108. We have listened,too, to the representativeOf the infiltration did occur, it did not come acrossfrontiersbut
Zionist entity. We have heard his repetitions. We are from the sea.The problem is that the Zionist entity wishes
accustomedto this languageof falsehoodsand lies spoken to hide a scandal,in view of the fact that their alleged
by the Zionist entity and its representativeat the United security has been revealed to the whole world asa bluff,
Nations,
There is no security for Israel in the region. I am not
speakingof the incident itself; in this kind of war a good
109. Indeed,it is not a questionmerely of falsehoods
and many things can happen. But the fact that smallrubber
lies; it is a question also of arrogance,this languageof
craft were able to get through and to land on the Israeli
arrogancewhich has beentypical of Israelileaders,espe- coast-in spiteof all the mysterioustalk about the potential
cially in recent times.WehaveheardMenachemBegin,we
effectivenessof Israeli security and Israeli forces-wastoo
have heardMr. Herzog,andthey usethe samelanguage
that
muchfor the group ruling at Tel Aviv.
we heardin Europesome40 yearsago, It is a languageof
threats and arrogance,it is the languageof force, it is
115. That could have the effect of encouragingthe Arabs,
nazism.Nazismhasbeenborn againand hasbeeninstalled becausefor 30 years the Arab countries havenot beenable
in our region by personswho say that they were perse- to put an end to Zionist aggression,not becausewe have
cuted, that they were the victims of the Nazis. If indeed been powerlessbut, unfortunately, becausewe havein a
these personswere victims of the Nazis,then they have sense
beenbrainwashedby Israelipropagandathat it cannot
certainly learnt from the Nazis.They are followersof the
be vanquished,that Israeli security is in the realmof the
schoolof Europeannazism.
superhuman.Mr. Begin, who has tried to poseasa tough
individual and a hawk, was shown up and he tried to do
110. This extraordinary arrogancehas already begunto
what he could to cover up the incident. Everybody knows
disturb everyone, even their friends and supporters,even that even if there had been just any incident-not necesthe forces which createdIsrael,which havesupportedthe
sarily this one-they would have gone to Lebanonanyway
Zionist entity and which imposedit on the region,in the
becausethat waspart andparcel of their plansandstrategy.
very heart of the Arab nation, eventhe forceswhich have But perhapsthey did not know that they would comeby
given this group of adventurersthe financial,economicand sea and that it would occur along the Haifa-Tel Aviv
political meansto imposethemselves
on the region andto
highway.
massacreand assassinate
the Palestinian
people,to continue
their policy of genocide.
116. Mr. Herzog spoke of international law, but evenin
internationallaw there are rules that have beenestablished.
111. The representativeof the Zionist entity said that
There is the inalienableright of peoplesto fight for their
Israelhad not committedaggression,
that this wasanact of
independenceand to exercise their inalienable right tc
defence againstan aggression-allegedly
a terrorist aggres- self-determination.When he speaksof international law,
sion.
whereare the rights of the Palestinianpeople? He saysthat
the Palestinianpeople are terrorists, but can an entire
112. We know, and everyoneknows,that the aim of the
people be a gang of terrorists? And now he wishestc
Zionists in the area is territorial expansion.They have attack terrorism throughout the world, And he blames
the
sought and,indeed,they will continueto seekexcuses.This United Nations for not doing anything againstterrorism
time the incident of 11 March wasusedas an excuseto
while knowing full well that the original sin of the United
continue that policy of genocideand expansionism.
It is
Nations was that it created the State of Israel out of a
Clear that preparationswere already under way in Israel group of terrorists who imposed their will on the PaleF
well before 11 March. They know perfectly well that such tinian people through terrorism. Now that racist terrorist
incidentsCNI occur, that the Palestinianpeoplearefighting entity is beingled by a terrorist, who, asyou, Mr. Presidents
for their independence,for their survival, and that an
know,
was once sought by the British police. So, please,
12

 Mr. Herzog, do not come here to complain about terrorism
and say that the United Nations is not doing anything
against terrorism when your terrorist entity was created by
the United Nations and when, as I said, the original sin of
the United Nations was having made it possible for that
racist, colonialist entity to impose its will on the Arab and
Palestinian people.

120. Why come here and quote Arab presidents and
leaders?We have our conflicts, we evenexchangeinsultsat
times. But we never lose sight of the fact that the fight
between us and the Zionists is a matter of life and death.
The fight of the Palestinian people will continue. The
Zionists can strike at the Palestinianbasesin Lebanon; they
can attack part of the PalestineLiberation Organization.
But there are 3 million Palestiniansleft who are preparedto
117. I shall not speak much longer for I shall have another
die and they will fight on againstthe Zionist occupation
chance to address the Council, But Mr. Herzog devoted a
and colonization. And they will be supported by the Arab
good portion of his statement to my country, Libya, and I
people.There is no other way out. There will be no peace,
shall reply briefly.
no salvation for the areaif a solution is not produced to the
problem of the Palestinian people. And such a solution
118. He said something about our being a paradise for
cannot be brought about by the useof force for, in the long
terrorists or the world capital of terrorism. If in his
run, the Zionists will lose. They cannot exterminate a
language terrorism and movements of national liberation
nation of 150 million people. At the end of this century,
are identical, well, perhaps it is true that we are the “capital
Syria alone will have 20 million inhabitants and Egypt 75
of terrorism”. We have never hidden the fact that we
million, so logic andhistorical evolution arenot on the side
support national liberation movements in Africa and
of the Zionists. The Zionists can continue with their cynical
Palestine. We support the national liberation movements
policiesand go on creating problemsfor Jewseverywhere in
fighting against racism in black Africa and those fighting
the world, all the way to Argentina now; they can help to
against Zionist racism in Palestine, because we are a people
finance Nazi partiesto intimidate the Jewsso that they will
who have experienced racism; our people fought fascism for
come and pledge allegianceto their flag, as they already
40 years and we lost 45 per cent of our population in the
havedone. The Zionists persecutedJewsin Iraq to get them
struggle against fascism and racism. We have never conto leave their country; they killed someof them; they can
cealed the fact that we provide national liberation movedo that sort of thing. Even here, in the United States,they
ments with our support, and we stand firm with them both
are playing with fire, for it is a proven fact that the Zionists
in Africa and in the Middle East. We know that for two or
wish to create problemshere for the Jews,in the hopethat
three years now, especiallyin the United States, there has an American Hitler may be born in 10 or 1.5years, in order
been a campaign against Libya in the pro-Zionist mass that millions of Jewswill emigrateto Palestineand that it
media,in the American Senate and among the represen- will be we againwho pay the pricejust aswe had to pay the
tativesof the Zionist entity. It is the sameold tune, but we
price for the Nazi policies. But those tactics will not work.
are not going to be intimidated. We shall not changeour
It is a very dangerousgame.,
views. We know it is a matter of life and death. Our
solidaritywith the Palestinianpeoplewill continue forever.
121. As for us, we have nothing against the Jews. We
respectJudaism. We are even prepared to welcome the 17
119, There is one more point. As usual, Mr. Herzog or 18 million Jewsinto the Arab nation, We want the Jews
to have peace, here or elsewhere. We do not want
referred to Arab problems, and he quoted an Arab
anti-Semitesto drive them out so that they come to us.
presidentand used that authority against another Arab
Since the events of 11 March there hasbeen nothing but
authority. Well, such problemscan arisein an Arab nation
propaganda;all the massmediaherehave talked about that
of 150 million people which extends from the Atlantic to
“Arab atrocity”, with photographsof children. As if the
the Gulf, a nation of 22 or 23 States occupying a very
strategic part of the world. It is true; we do have people here knew nothing about atrocities and terrorism!
But the memory of the Viet-Nam war is still fresh.
problems-socialand economic problems. We have had to
suffer the after-effects of foreign occupation. Wehavebeen
122. And after the attack on Lebanoneverything goeson
occupiedby various forces. We have been the victims of
French, Italian and British occupation. Yes, we have asthough nothing had happenedthere. There are prayers
problems,and we have not had a civil war. If you compare for one or two people, but thousandshave been extermiall that is taking placein the Arab world with, for instance, nated in Lebanon and nobody prays for them. Yesterday,
on television, the mayor of New York and Mr, Carey, the
what happenedin France before it becamea united nation,
governor of the State of New York, put on the yarmulkayou will seethat it is not much; and if you compareit with
the civil war in the United States, it is nothing at all. The that is an electoral tradition, we know that-and beganto
struggles
in the Arab world are fratricidal strugglesbetween weepover the fate of the Jewsasthough they had become
forceswhich hold power in certain Arab countriesbut are auoppressedminority in Palestine.
not necessarilythe real representativesof the Arab masses.
On television, membershave seen how the Arab masses 123. Mr. Koch said that the Jewshad goneinto Lebanon
to help to save the Christiancommunity there. I would ask
have responded: the young Lebaneseor Palestinianmay
Mr. Koch what the Israelis,the Zionists,have done with the
havebeenvery nearly dead, but his fingers were raisedin
Christian Arabs in Palestine. A Christian Arab refugee,
the victory sign, thus showing the real spirit of the Arab
Mr. Terzi, is the representative of the PalestineLiberation
masses.
An old Arab woman in a Beirut hospital, who had
Organization here. He is a refugee, Let the Zionists tell the
seenhersonkilled, torn apart by the Zionist bombs,turned
to representativesof the press and said “Tell them”.-- world what they have done for the Christiansin Palestine,
meaning
the whole world-“that I still have two sonsleft”.
what they have done to Jerusalem,the cradle of ChristianThat isthe kind of spirit we find amongthe Arab masses.
ity. They are liars, and the world knows it, but unfor13

 refugees live. But the uprooting of the Palestinians is
nothing new. It wasplanned by Herzl all the way back in
1895. Herzl wrote on 12 June 1895:

tunately they have power, particularly here in this great
country.
124. I shall not be much longer, I have nearly finished. I
would only say that I reserve my right to speak again if
necessary. My country asks the Security Council to
discharge its responsibilities by ordering the immediate
withdrawal from Lebanon of the Zionist occupation forces.

“When we occupy the land, we shall bring immediate
benefits to the State that receives us. We must expropriate gently the private property on the estatesassigned
to us. We shall try to spirit the penniless population
across the border by procuring employment for it in the
transit countries, while denying it any employment in our
own country.”

125. The PRESIDENT: The final speaker is the representative of the Palestine Liberation Organization, on whom I
now call.

One of those “transit countries” happens to be Lebanon,
But transit to where? To extermination and annihilation.

126. Mr. TERZI (Palestine Liberation Organization): Once
again the Security Council meets to consider the situation
in the Middle East, a situation that threatens world peace
and security. Owing to the gravity of the situation in the
area and the escalation of the fighting, I shall be very
concise and precise.

132. As for the real aim of that operation, it is the
occupation and annexation of the territory south of the
Lit’ani. I have just a few remarks to make on this. In 1919
the Zionist organization drew up its future aim for this
Jewish homeland, and said that in the north the border of
the Jewish homeland would be “at a point on the
Mediterranean Sea in the vicinity of Sidon and following
the watersheds of the foothills of the Lebanon asfar as Jisr
El Karaon, thence to El Bire, . . .“, and so on. That is
exactly the territory where Israeli operations have been
conducted during the last few days. Or perhaps I should
show representatives a map that was designed in 1916 and
presented to the PeaceConference. This map showsexactly
the declared frontiers where the Zionist ambition may end
temporarily.

127. We trust that under your prudent and experienced
guidance, Mr. President, the Council wilI take adequate
measures to ensure the immediate cessation of the Israeli
aggression and to put an end to continuing bloodshed.
128. Hundreds of innocent civilians, both Lebanese and
Palestinian, are being killed by Israeli air strikes against
civilian villages and towns. Israel, equipped with the most
sophisticated weaponry supplied gratis by the Government
of the United States, is only trying to realize a dream of
many years. It is our sincere hope and aspiration that the
Council will order the immediate and complete withdrawal
of the invasion troops from the territory of a Member
State.

133. On 9 November 1977, Israeli aircraft-and again I say
supplied and provided gratis or almost gratis by the United
States-struck and levelled a village. The result was more
than 100 children killed-and nobody seems then to have
raised a voice.

129. The Palestinians happen to be in Lebanon; it is
because they were driven there. They did not go there by
their own choice. They were expelled at bayonet point and
as a result of a criminally conceived campaign of terror. I
am referring to the criminal acts committed in 1947 and
1948 by the so-called Jewish armed gangs. In particular, I
recall-and that was during the British Mandate-the massacre at Deir Yassin in April 1948, the massacre in cold
blood of 254 Arab children and women. It is ironic that the
racist criminal who planned the Deir Yassin massacre
should be none other than the current Prime Minister of
Israel, Menachem Begin.

134. We have been told in the Council that the Palestine
Liberation Organization is a group of terrorists and gang
sters opposed to peace. We have said before, and we repeat
here, that the Palestine National Council, in positive
response to the plan approved by the General Assembly to
hold a peace conference with all the parties concerned on
an equal footing, endorsed that Assembly plan. But who is
obstructing peace? I think the disgraceful coup de gr&e for
the peace efforts and for a resolution drawn up and
adopted in this body-1 am referring to resolution
242 (1967)-a resolution that has suffered in a labyrinth
of misinterpretations, came when the final rnisinterpretation was made of it and Menachem Begin gave his own
interpretation, saying of Jerusalem, Nablus, Hebron and
that area that it was“liberated” land, not “occupied” land.
Could anything be more drastic and more fatal to the
prospects of peace? It is Begin and what he represents that
is obstructing peace,

130. On 13 March of this year, Begin told the Knesset:
“Innocent blood will not be shed with impunity”. We say,
let there be no shedding of innocent blood. Menachem
Begin said on the same occasion: “We will root out the
prospect of an evil hand being raised against our children”.
I must assure the members of the Council that we, too,
have children who are dear to us, we, too, could no longer
see our children die when they picked up those dolls that
were in reality booby-traps dropped by Israeli aircraftaircraft, I repeat, supplied by the United States.

135. It is odd that in the Council we are told that the
Zionist regime is out there in the defence of Christianity. I
do not want to speak as a Christian, nor asan Arab nor as a
Palestinian, but as a human being. I shall read from a draft
law passed by the Knesset, No. 1313:

131. Ezer Weizmann and Mordechai Cur took pride the
other day in saying that the mission of the operation wasto
annihilate and root out terrorist concentrations in Southern
Lebanon-mark that, annihilate. And what are the terrorist
concentrations? They are the camps where Palestinian

“1le who gives or promises to give money, an equivalent
of money or another benefit in order to entice a person
14

 to change his religion or in order to entice a person to
bring about the change of another’s religion, his sentence
will be five years’ imprisonment or a fine of $1 50,oOo.

and the provocative remarkshurled at the Security Council
couldnot be allowedto passwithout comment.

“He who receives . . . the sentence due to him is three
years’ imprisonment, or a fine of 5130,000.”

143. I have read the letter that the representativeof Israel
hasaddressed
to the Presidentof the Council in document
S/12607 in which he said “I . . . requestyou to convenea
meeting of the Security Council”. I cannot reconcile the
fact of insulting the Council, underminingits authority and
castingslurson its integrity with the requestto convenea
meetingurgently to considerthe questionthat we arenow
debating.

And someone comes here and speaks about “defending
Christians in Lebanon”. That is one of the greatest insults
to the intelligence of the Council.
136. This afternoon the non-aligned countries made
known their position on the Israeli criminal attack as
follows:

144. There is a hugegulf whichlogic cannotreally bridge:
the incompatibility of insultswith the requestfor a meeting
of the Council to considerthe issue.I sharewith him the
view that there is a decline in the moral authority of the
United Nations. Yes, it is true, but why? Becauseof
countrieslike Israel and South Africa, Israelis enjoying a
Roman holiday in the territories it occupiedforcibly in
1967-and more than a Roman holiday: it is, rather,
enjoying a feast in the West Bank and in Gaza, building
Jewishsettlementsin contravention of the Charter of the
United Nations, United Nations resolutionsand international law. This, of course,addsa great dealof strengthto
the argumentabout the declineof United Nationsmoral
authority. However, the declinestemsfrom the presenceof
countries like his, which has flouted the Charter and
trampledits principlesunderfoot.

“The Co-ordinating Bureau unanimously condemned
this latest act of blatant aggression by Israel against the
sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lebanon, as well as
its expansionist policy. The aggression has caused a
considerable number of deaths in Lebanese territory and
enormous damage to property, as well as large-scale
refugee migrations from the southern Lebanese region.
“The Coordinating Bureau considers that the latest
brutal armed Israeli attack also aims at bringing into
jeopardy the very existence of the Palestinian people who
live in the territory of Lebanon and eliminating the
Palestinians and the Palestine Liberation Organization as
one of the key factors in the settlement of the question
of Palestine and the conflict in the Middle East.”
[S/12609, annex.]

14.5. My third point is about terrorism. That was a
macabresection of his statement,in which there wasa lot
of hot air about terrorism. Israelis the only country in the
world in which the premiershipand an unblemished,
impeccableterrorist record are combined;it is the only
country which is directed andgovernedby a PrimeMinister
who prideshimself on an impeccablerecord of terrorism.
So I find it rather incongruous,laughableandunacceptable
that he should have dwelt at suchlength on the issueof
terrorism, representing,ashe does,a country governedby
none other than Prime Minister Begin, who takes great
satisfactionand pride in his terrorist past.

137. My brother from Lebanon said: “Let my people
live”. I say: let my people live; let them return to their
homes and feel human again.
138. In conclusion, I can only repeat the words of my
brother from Lebanon. The immediate cessation of hostilities and the immediate withdrawal of the invaders should
be the unanimous demand of the Council and of the world
community, as much as it is ours in Lebanon.
139. The PRESIDENT: I call on the representative of
Kuwait, who wishes to speak at this point.

146. My final point is about the role of Kuwait in
supportingthe Palestinians,asmentionedby the representative of Israel.Yes, we do supportthe Palestinians,
it is no
secret. He must have thought that he was “spilling the
beans”,asthe Americanssay,by bringingup this issue.We
do support the right of the people of Palestine to
self-determination;we do soin accordancewith the Charter
and in accordancewith pilesof United Nationsresolutions
that point to that right. Wearepromoting the Charter and
complying with the injunctionsand directivesof the United
Nations by supporting the Palestinians.We will not run
away from our responsibility: it is aresponsibilityin which
we take pride andsatisfaction.

140. Mr. BISHARA (Kuwait): I wish the representative of
Israel were here; he was here earlier but has left. I have
some observations to make on his statement, He made some
references to my country and to the Security Council. In
fact, he invited me to give him an answer and I am doing SO
very willingly.
141. First of all, I note with satisfaction that the Kuwaiti
pressinterestshim and that he and his Governmentare avid
readersof the Kuwaiti press.We areproud of our press;it is
a free press and everybody is entitled to his opinion.
Quoting from the Kuwaiti pressdoesnot help; it detracts
from his statementrather than the contrary. Really, I find
great pleasurein listening to some quotations from the
Kuwaiti press.

147. Those are only my preliminary remarksfor this
evening;they werein fact provokedby the statementof the
representativeof Israel.

14’2. My secondremark is that from his lengthy statemem
it wasobvious that the barrageof insults, the pile of abuses

15

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