UN General Assembly
1972

61. France immediately and unconditionally condemned "the acts of terrorism and reprisals which are increasing the numbers of innocent victims", to quote the exact terms of the communique that my friend Mr. Schmelzer, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, read on 12 September on behalf of the Conference of the 10 European Ministers of Foreign Affairs who were meeting near Rome. My country therefore shares the anguish of the Secretary- General and endorses his initiative, which we feel sets an example in two respects: first of all, because it aims at breaking the merciless chain of indiscriminate violence, and secondly, because the man who took this initiative intends to grapple not only with the most tragic consequences but also with the deep-seated causes of the problem, as the most authoritative voice in France again requested him to do some days ago in connexion with the Palestinian problem; that "human and therefore political problem".