UN General Assembly
1957

101. Last, but not least, I come to deal with the Palestine problem, a question that has been referred to and dealt with by many representatives in their speeches. On this issue we have a radical approach to place before the Assembly. We must strike at, and not around, the bush. We do not mean to be offensive, but the Palestine problem, which has been described by many delegations as the keg of powder for a global conflict, should not be treated in sugar-coated, and sweet expressions. The Palestine question is the centre of gravity in the whole situation of the Middle East, with its resources, its strategic position and its location in the heart of this troubled world. By this year, the Palestine question enters its second decade since it was first seized by the United Nations. With Israel’s defiance, it was made a decade of fruitless conciliation and fruitless mediation, a decade of mounting tension characterized by military raids, violations of the armistice agreements and breaches of the Charter. These are matters of record in the books of the General Assembly or the Security Council. It is no use denying these facts; they are the facts and we must face them.