UN General Assembly
1982

authority of the Security Council. In this regard the position of the Government of the Gambia remains that resolution 435 (1978) constitutes the sole and immutable basis for the independence of Namibia. The situation in southern Africa is matched only by the grave situation in the Middle East, which has now escalated to critical proportions with dire implications for international peace and security. Here, too, the United Nations faces an important and historic challenge. Although the will of the international community has been clearly articulated in the successive resolutions of the Assembly, recognizing and reaffirming the inalienable rights of the sons and daughters of Palestine to self-determination and independent statehood, no progress has been made towards the achievement of these basic freedoms. In the occupied territories, the Palestinian population remains subjected to a campaign of systematic repression, under which the most peaceful protests are met with brute force. This campaign, which has spared neither school-children nor the elderly, attained epidemic proportions in March of this year. In June of this year the international community witnessed with indignation and