UN General Assembly
1996

such tragedies and to respond to the aspirations of the peoples of the region as long as the Arab-Israeli conflict continued to prevail in the absence of a just and comprehensive peace. Many people do not know how many international endeavours were made, how many meetings were convened, how many parties contributed, how many letters were sent and assurances given before agreement was reached between the parties on the foundations and rules that made up the terms of reference of the Madrid 8 Peace Conference. It is now five years since the Madrid Conference was convened and, in turn, bilateral negotiations set up. Those negotiations survived various periods of tension, interruption, set-back — and progress. They generated thousands of pages of records. Both Syria and Israel agreed on Israel’s withdrawal from the Golan back to the boundary of 4 June 1967. Negotiations then proceeded to the other elements of peace — all under the supervision of the United States of America, and with its participation. Now, after all those international efforts, which were