UN General Assembly
1968

88. While two of the Arab nations involved in the June 1967 war have announced their acceptance of Security Council resolution 242 (1967) of 22 November 1967, Israel’s response has been the imposition of conditions which are deliberately calculated to defeat the purposes of the Security Council resolution, to avoid compliance with it and to thwart its fulfilment. The patient efforts of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General have been foiled and frustrated by Israel’s insistence on direct negotiations with the Arabs. 89. I should like to reiterate the position we took on the occasion of the general debate last year that the recognition that Israel seeks must be the culmination and not the commencement of the process of reconciliation. The United Nations came into being to establish new forms of settlement in conflicts between nations, forms that cannot be reconciled with the claim of a victorious army to dictate terms. Likewise, the right to recognition cannot be asserted through force of arms.