UN General Assembly
1980

99. I should also like to state that, faithful to our policy of dialogue for the establishment of peace, we believe that any initiative likely to promote or consolidate peace is commendable, as long as it makes it possible to alleviate hardship in our world. That is precisely why we intend to support any initiative taken, in particular by our Organization, with a view to restoring peace wherever armed conflicts have arisen and wherever the freedom and dignity of man are trampled underfoot and existing tension has degenerated into or might become open conflict. The list of such conflicts is very long: from Africa to the Far East, via the Middle East where the Arab people of Palestine continues to be denied its right to self-determination and to existence as a nation and where it sees its cultural and religious values trampled on, as is borne out by the attempts of the Zionist State to annex the eastern part of Jerusalem. We cannot remain insensitive to its cry of despair. That is why we condemn Israel and urge it to understand that it is in its own interest to work towards the restoration of peace in the region.