UN General Assembly
1993

continue to be inflicted on the Bosnian Muslims. But for the world community in these circumstances to continue to deny them the right to acquire the means with which to protect themselves is incomprehensible. The least that the United Nations can do is to lift the arms embargo on Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to enable the people to defend their families and their country. At long last there are signs of an emerging solution to the long-festering sore of the root cause of the Middle East problem - the question of Palestine - the persistence of which has for 40 years posed a serious moral dilemma for the international community’s sense of justice, fairness and equality. The agreement signed in Washington on 13 September 1993 between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) on mutual recognition, which also provides for limited autonomy for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Jericho, has been rightly hailed as a major breakthrough in the Middle East negotiations. My delegation joins in welcoming this