UN General Assembly
1967

163. There is on the agenda of the present session an item entitled "The situation in the Middle East" (item 94), which the Assembly decided to consider as a matter of high priority. Yet the other day we heard the Foreign Minister of Israel suggest [1566th meeting] that the United Nations should take no substantive action but merely content itself with a call for direct negotiations between the parties. This approach found no support in the Assembly, and with good reason. The implications of Israel’s proposal are clear. Twenty years of United Nations work and involvement in the region would come to an end, the numerous resolutions adopted by the General Assembly upholding the rights of the refugees would be discarded, the elaborate machinery set up to keep the peace would be dismantled, and all past obligations assumed under the auspices of the United Nations would be nullified. And all this for what purpose? The answer, clearly and simply, is this: to put the stamp of international approval on Israel’s new gains at the expense of the Arabs.