61.	I should like to express my delegation's sincere congratulations to Ambassador Benites on his accession to his high office. He is a distinguished son of Latin America, and his election therefore constitutes a source of pride to all of us in the third world, particularly the countries of Latin America that are struggling against difficult circumstances to achieve progress for their people. Despite the tragic events in Chile and the overthrow and cruel murder of President Salvador Allende, we are confident that the peoples of Latin America will continue their efforts to make progress and to gain complete control over their national resources.
62.	Permit me also to express our consummate admiration to Ambassador Benites' predecessor, Mr. Trepczynski for his efforts while presiding over the affairs of the last session of this Assembly.
63.	In the name of the Libyan Arab Republic, I should like to welcome from this rostrum the declaration of independence of the State of Guinea-Bissau, a country in Africa that is very close to our hearts. We look forward to the day when that country can take its rightful place in this Organization.
64.	My delegation also takes this occasion to welcome the admission of the German Democratic Republic, the Commonwealth of the Bahamas and the Federal Republic of Germany to membership in this Organization. However, we cannot fail to deplore the policies pursued by the Federal Republic of Germany in maintaining relations with the racist and Nazi regimes in occupied Palestine, South Africa and Rhodesia.
65.	The events that have occurred in the course of the past year still confirm the determination of colonialism and imperialism to pursue policies of threat, domination and extortion. Imperialism still employs all its resources to maintain a grasp over peoples. How else can one interpret the latest criminal aggression by Zionist gangs on 6 October than as one in a series of repeated aggression? within the over-all international imperialist and colonialist plot? The establishment of the puppet Zionist clique in the midst of the Arab nation was directed towards the control of the area and its resources. They also sought to impose on peoples of the area a state of fear and terror in order to prevent them from devoting all their attention to development and progress. This puppet clique was established through an international and colonial conspiracy, and the Arab people of Palestine were and remain today one of its victims. The Arab people of Palestine were expelled from their homes and their country and were dispersed to different parts of the world. They were replaced by hordes assembled from different parts of the world with no common purpose other than blind fanaticism and false slogans not based on any religious, historical, or national foundation.
66.	The Zionist gangs took as their example chapters in United States history to establish the machinery that perpetuates itself through treachery, plunder and mass slaughter. They employed the same criminal methods that were used by the white settlers on this continent in subduing and exterminating the American Indian people. The record of the conduct of this clique and their United States supporters is overflowing with acts of aggression and conspiracy against the Arab nation. The current events in the Arab region illustrate just one further chapter in a series of aggressions oft repeated over the last 25 years.
67.	This Zionist clique would not have been able to continue its aggression and expansion were it not for the material support of the United States of America, its partner in mass murder, extermination, and expulsion of the indigenous people of Palestine.
68.	It has become very clear to the world that the United States of America has placed in the service of the Zionist gangs all its military and material potential, without any limit. Moreover, it has become a matter of fact that the same member of the Security Council has placed its right of veto in the hands of the Zionist gang, challenging the conscience of the world community in defiance of the Charter of the United Nations.
69.	The Zionist gang, with the connivance of the United Stat<. , terrorizes, murders, annexes and expands with the inter, ion of imposing on the Arab nation a policy of defeatism and acquiescence. When the Arab nation defends itself by liberating its territories, the Zionist gangs and their supporters deny us our legitimate rights.
70.	In the context of the latest aggressions against the Arab nation, is it not strange that the partner of the Zionist gangs, in its naked insolence, should demand the withdrawal of the forces to the positions they held prior to the outbreak of hostilities on 6 October 1973? The United States of America, abusing its seat in the Security Council as one of the five permanent members, has the audacity to demand that the Arabs withdraw from their own territories, evacuating them to accommodate Zionist immigrants. It backs up this audacious demand by threatening to use its Sixth Fleet, based in the Mediterranean, in a deliberate attempt to intimidate the Arab nation.
71.	This ugly logic of domineering colonialism is based on deception, treachery and distortion of facts.
72.	With these facts in mind, we can easily understand the motives behind these aggressions and the collaboration of the United States with the Zionist gangs. In plain terms, it is the lust for domination of the area, subjugation of its people and the exploitation of their resources.
73.	The situation in Palestine can be dealt with neither from the approach of who it was who did or did not start the hostilities nor from that of finding superficial temporary Solutions. The problem can be dealt with only in its real essence and historical roots, which are that the Palestinian people have been expelled from their homes and their land and have been deprived of all their legitimate rights. Any solution that ignores this basic fact will be doomed to failure, whatever the magnitude of the Power that seeks to impose it.
74.	The Libyan Arab Republic, which commits all that is in its power to the cause of the Palestinian people, calls upon the international community to support the Palestinian struggle against Zionist and colonialist forces. It is high time for the international community to raise its voice demanding the restoration to the Palestinian people of the inalienable rights of which they have been dispossessed in their usurped land.
75.	It is all too clear that there is a threefold unholy alliance between, first, the forces of the Zionist clique, second, the colonialist regimes and, third, the regimes of apartheid and racial discrimination in Africa. They devise the same conspiracies, practise the same methods and pursue the same objectives, namely, close collaboration with international monopolies, suppression of the aspirations of legitimate indigenous peoples, imposition of alien settlements, and the practice of racial and religious discrimination. The struggle of the peoples of Angola, Guinea- Bissau, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe, the Saquia el Hamra, so-called Spanish Sahara, and Palestine for the liberation of their homelands encounters every day a greater deployment of force and terrorism on the part of the colonialist and racist regimes, supported by all the war machinery of the NATO Powers. The Libyan Arab Republic has stood and always will stand ready to place all its material and moral resources in support of the African and other struggles in the liberation movements in the world.
76.	Colonialism and its agents perpetrate to this day acts of international terrorism. The determination of national liberation movements to achieve their objectives is confronted with even greater use of force and violence on the part of colonialist forces. This use of force has reached an unprecedented level in the practice of organized international terrorism, leading to mass murder and political assassination of such martyrs as Amilcar Cabral, Edouardo Mondelane, Kamal Adwan, Abu Yusuf and Kamal Nasser.
77.	The recent developments in the international relations of the super-Powers, which have resulted in what has been called detente, should not be at the expense of the interests of the small countries. The developing countries have suffered expensively, during the period of international confrontation between the major Powers, from the policies of domination and division of the world as pursued against colonized and small nations alike. We are afraid that this detente is an agreement among the super-Powers to divide the world into permanent spheres of influence and to resolve international disputes among themselves without due regard to the interests of the international community, where the small countries constitute an overwhelming majority. At a time when it is said that the world has entered into a period of detente, we witness the consolidation of the bases of colonialism in Africa and Asia. We also witness conspiracies to exploit the natural resources of developing countries which are becoming increasingly extensive and devious. The methods of monopoly have reached the level of armed attack against the sovereignty of States to undermine the social and political systems of these countries.
78.	In order that international peace and security based on equity and justice among nations may prevail, the non- aligned countries, in awareness of their responsibility to international society, have consolidated the:- efforts to destroy the monopolies and the political domination of the, major Powers. These efforts are also aimed at rectifying the imbalance prevailing in the international, political, economic and social scene, especially with regard to narrowing the gap between the have and the have-not nations.
79.	Unfortunately, it is a fact that there are among us those who question the right of peoples and nations to exercise full control over their natural resources. This right constitutes an integral element in the exercise of national sovereignty by all States. It is high time for those who still undermine such national sovereignty because of their greed to recognize this legitimate right. The gravity of the situation becomes even more alarming when the States that are incited by international monopolies begin devising conspiracies, threatening to use force, and fabricating reasons in order to enlist other States in defiance of the recognized principle of national sovereignty over natural resources.
80.	The situations in Indo-China, in the Arab region, and in the African continent are a constant reminder that the peace we seek remains elusive. The great victory of the heroic people of Viet-Nam against the forces of aggression and treachery is a triumph for all people struggling against imperialism, colonialism and neo-colonialism. Despite their great victory, the heroic people of Viet-Nam still suffer because of the violation by the United States and by the Saigon administration of the provisions of the Paris agreements, as well as of other international instruments related to the question of Viet-Nam. The situation in Cambodia is no better than that in Viet-Nam. The forces of colonialism remain represented in the puppet regime of Phnom Penh, which, with the support of the United States, still pursues inhuman policies against the people of Cambodia, struggling under the leadership of the Royal Government of Norodom Sihanouk.
81.	One of the results of detente has been the imposition of partition on peoples and nations; and, what is worse, the United Nations has been used to consolidate and give legal status to such partition. Yesterday it was Germany, today it is Korea, and tomorrow it will be Viet-Nam.
82.	The right to self-determination is the inalienable right of all nations, and can be exercised only in a context of free will, devoid of foreign interference and pressure.
83.	International security is indivisible, and any disturbance in one area will result in disturbance of the international peace and security of the whole world. The current attempts of European countries to create in their continent new conditions of peace will not meet with the expected success unless Europe achieves self-reliance and terminates its reliance on foreign force, dismantling all foreign military bases, pacts, alliances and treaties.
84.	In this context the presence of foreign fleets and foreign military bases in the Mediterranean area constitutes in itself a direct threat to the peace and security of the littoral States.
85.	The Libyan Arab Republic, in raising this basic issue, wishes to draw the attention of all peace-loving States to the dangerous situation that resulted from the acts of aggression and provocation perpetrated by the United States of America in order to intimidate the people of the Libyan Arab Republic and prevent them from exercising their legitimate rights over their territorial waters and natural resources. The provocations of the Sixth Fleet and its repeated infringements of our territorial waters are just one further chapter in a long series of American aggressions against our coasts. The first attempt to realize this colonialist dream began in the early years of the nineteenth century and is, in fact, still embodied in the official anthem of the United States Marine Corps, which begins "From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli".
86. The Libyan Arab Republic, in informing the international community of these provocations, assures it that it
reserves its unequivocal right to protect its national sovereignty against all aggressors, however mighty.
87. In conclusion, I should like to hail the heroic people of Egypt, Syria and Palestine, as well as the peoples of the third world, for their struggle to restore their rights and their land. This is an historic, crucial moment that will always be remembered in the annals of human history as one of the most noble missions of mankind in his struggle to achieve  justice and peace on earth.


9.	I am very pleased to be able to associate my delegation with the congratulations that have already been addressed to Ambassador Benites on his election to the presidency of the General Assembly. The fact that an eminent son of Latin America is this year presiding over our deliberations is a fitting tribute to the ever more important role that the countries and peoples of that continent are playing in world affairs.
10.	The prevention of war is the primary task of the United Nations. War means human suffering. The wars in
our time not only affect the men at the battlefront; they are also a threat to the entire civilian population. The longer a war, the greater the risk of ever-escalating violence and of the use of more brutal methods of warfare. There is also an increased risk that the war may spread to other countries. The international community is shocked by what is now happening in the Middle East. The immediate reaction must be a passionate appeal for peace.
11.	The fact that war is now raging in the Middle East represents a failure for the United Nations. The area concerned has for more than 25 years attracted the special attention of the world Organization. The competent United Nations organs have throughout this period sought roads to a durable peace in the Middle East. The point of departure was the creation of the State of Israel, which was based on a decision of the General Assembly [resolution 181 (II)]. The existence of Israel is a long-established fact.
12.	Ever since the founding of Israel the future of the Palestinian Arabs has been uncertain. Israel and its neighbours have lived in a state of permanent tension with repeated outbreaks of violence. The aim must be a settlement which takes account of the legitimate interests of all the peoples concerned and which establishes security for all States in the region within recognized frontiers. No solution to this problem will be found by one party or another demonstrating its military superiority. Whatever the outcome of the present war, the risk of renewed military confrontations will remain as long as the parties are not able to agree on a common political solution.
13.	The guiding principles for such a solution are expressed in Security Council resolution 242 (1967), of November 1967. These principles retain their full validity. But time has been allowed to pass and the possibilities contained in that resolution have not been explored in earnest.
14.	What is now happening in the Middle East was preceded by large-scale acts of warfare and by serious violations of State sovereignty. It was also preceded by a wave of terror and counter-terror, which left no part of the world "untouched. The fact that the United Nations so far has proved unable to solve the serious problems of international terrorism is to a large extent due to the lack of a settlement of the conflict in the Middle East.
15.	The situation in the Middle East places a heavy responsibility on the parties to the conflict. But an important part of the responsibility also falls on the great Powers which for a long time have been deeply involved in the area. Several of them have played important roles in the military build-up. Now that full-scale war has broken out, they must contribute effectively towards a political solution of the conflict. At the same time, it is in the interest of everyone that the involvement of the super-Powers should not lead to a confrontation between them. If one dares discern any encouraging clement in today's sombre picture, it is the attitude of relative restraint that has been shown by the super-Powers during the present conflict. Their wish to pursue the policy of detente might facilitate the efforts to find a solution.
16. There is every reason to welcome the desire of the super-Powers to replace, in their mutual relations, confrontations with dialogue. Their effort towards detente has manifested itself in various parts of the world.
17.	The war that has ravaged Indo-China for so long has deeply engaged world opinion. It must be a source of satisfaction to us all that last January in Paris the parties to the war reached an agreement  leading to the withdrawal of the American forces and creating hopes of peace in all the Indo-Chinese States. Subsequently, the American bombings in Cambodia have also ceased under pressure from strong public opinion within and outside the United States. It has been possible to start reconstruction work in North Viet-Nam after the devastation of the war, and the parties in Laos have agreed to a peaceful settlement; but fighting still goes on in South Viet-Nam and in Cambodia. It is necessary to find a solution to the political problems of South VietNam in accordance with the stipulations of the Paris agreement. In the first instance, the many political prisoners must be released and the hundreds of thousands of refugees must be given the right and the possibility of returning to their homes. The hard-hit people of Cambodia must have the right to shape their own future free from outside interference.
18.	In Europe the most important result of detente is that it has made a settlement between the two German States possible. This settlement has in turn been an important contribution to the continued process of detente. The Swedish Government is happy to welcome the entry of the two German States as Members of the world Organization. This event does not affect the right of the German people to achieve reunification by negotiation.
19.	The Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe is an essential element of the continued trend towards detente. The Conference must be seen as a complement to the efforts of the United Nations to safeguard international peace. It is important to stress that the task of the Conference is to solve problems in Europe, not to promote the interests of European States in other parts of the world.
20.	The very fact that 35 States, at the initial stage of that Conference in Helsinki, were able to agree on a programme for the continued work of the Conference is an important step forward. However, patience and hard work will be needed if the Conference is to fulfil what international opinion expects from it.
21.	I At the Conference Sweden has stressed that, in discussions on security in Europe, the question of disarmament cannot reasonably be ignored and that the policy of detente ought to be supported and confirmed by measures in the field of disarmament.
22.	Although they are not directly connected with the Conference, preparations are now under way for negotiations on the reduction of armed forces in Central Europe. The Swedish Government hopes that in this field concrete results will be achieved that will be designed to increase security, not least for the small European States.
23.	As regards the efforts within the framework of the United Nations to reach results in the field of disarmament, the situation is deeply discouraging. For the second consecutive year the Conference of the Committee on Disarmament comes empty-handed to the General Assembly. Ten years ago the partial test-ban Treaty1 was signed. In that Treaty the parties clearly committed themselves to trying, by continued negotiations, to achieve a complete ban on all nuclear tests. In spite of the unequivocal request made by the General Assembly last year, no progress has been made towards a comprehensive test-ban treaty.
24.	The General Assembly should now carefully consider by what methods new impetus could be given to the disarmament work. This is a task in which all Member States must actively involve themselves. It appears more and more absurd that such a large part of the material and scientific resources that should be seen as common to all mankind are now allocated to the arms race.
25.	So long as we are not successful in our endeavours to avoid armed conflicts, it is all the more urgent to use every opportunity of limiting brutality and of protecting non- combatants. The rules of international law have not been adjusted to new types of conflict and new weapons or to new methods of warfare created by an accelerating evolution of military technology. The world conference to be held in Geneva early next year to deal with these matters  is therefore of greatest importance.
26.	The monstrous effects of air warfare on civilians must be limited by a ban on area bombing and on acts of destruction which threaten the survival of the civilian population.
27.	The conference should not content itself with a mere confirmation of the present general ban on the use of conventional weapons which cause unnecessary suffering or of weapons which, by their construction or use, lead to indiscriminate destruction. To be truly effective, such general rules must be supplemented by special bans, for instance on napalm and other incendiary weapons, as well as on the equivalent in our time of the dumdum bullet, namely, high- velocity weapons.
28.	In southern Africa the demands of the peoples for freedom and self-determination are countered by oppression and by an increasingly brutal use of force. There are ever more frequent reports about Portugal's inhuman warfare in Africa. Testimony concerning the massacres in Mozambique last summer caused the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples to demand an international investigation. Consultations are now under way among Member States to prepare for such an investigation to be decided upon by the General Assembly. The pressure of public opinion against the colonial policy of Portugal grows ever stronger. The increased humanitarian assistance to the liberation movements in Africa is an expression of international opposition to the remnants of colonialism.
29.	The General Assembly has before it the report of the International Conference of Experts for the Support of Victims of Colonialism and Apartheid in Southern Africa, held at Oslo from 9 to 14 April 1973 [A/9061], organized by the United Nations and the Organization of African Unity. We are confident that the Assembly will welcome this report as an important contribution to the discussion of how to solve the problem in southern Africa.
30.	Portugal has ignored the request of the Security Council to start negotiations with all parties concerned for the purpose of enabling the African peoples to exercise their right to self-determination and independence. It is now up to the Security Council to decide what attitude to take in the face of this open defiance of its own earlier request.
31.	The situation in southern Africa is particularly serious because of the co-operation between Portugal, Southern Rhodesia and South Africa. This co-operation grows more evident every day in the political, economic and military fields. The sanctions against Southern Rhodesia are being systematically violated by Portugal and South Africa. The people of Namibia is still being denied the right to self- determination, which has been explicitly recognized by the world Organization. In South Africa the policy of apartheid is being pursued and the growing opposition of the majority is met with new acts of violence.
32. All States which are dedicated to human rights, democracy and national independence ought to find it natural to give moral and material support to the realization of these principles in southern Africa.
33.	In recent years world opinion has become increasingly aware of the use of torture in connexion with armed conflicts and internal political conflicts in different countries. The efforts to ban torture must never stop. One of the achievements of the great French Revolution was an explicit ban on torture. Since then, nearly two centuries have passed, but the fact remains that these abominable methods are accepted by Governments in various parts of the world. In its Universal Declaration on Human Rights the United Nations has decreed an absolute ban on torture. This ban has been repeated in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights [see resolution 2200 A (XXI)]. All Members of the United Nations voted in favour of this ban, which, consequently, is now part of common international law. If all States ratify this Covenant, protection against torture will be strengthened, especially if individuals are given the right to appeal to the international body to be established in accordance with the Covenant. And we should also consider whether, in order to make the ban effective, the question of torture should not be discussed also as a separate matter, not only as part of the said Covenant.
34.	Not so many years ago Governments in the East and in the West proudly pointed to the fact that they had abolished capital punishment. Only two years ago the General Assembly adopted a resolution expressing the desirability of the abolition of capital punishment in all countries [resolution 2857 (XXVI)]. The renaissance of capital punishment, which appears to be under way, can only be described as a historic setback. It is important that the United Nations
be instrumental in creating a strong public opinion against superstitious ideas as to the effectiveness of capital punishment and against the contempt for human life of which the application of capital punishment is an expression.
35.	The defence of human rights is clearly linked to the defence of peace. It is therefore a concern of all States. For this Organization, the protection of human rights has been a central issue ever since it was founded. But we can make no progress in this field without the support of a vigilant public opinion which condemns all forms of violence. The strivings for detente must not lead us to refrain from creating such an opinion. When we succeed in crystallizing this opinion in international recommendations or conventions which gain adherence from a significant number of countries, we are then making an important contribution to the long-term stabilization of peace. Essential progress in this area has already been achieved through various United Nations conventions and through the growing number of adhering countries.
36.	The use of force within States can manifest itself in many forms. Particularly serious are those cases in which brutal military intervention in favour of privileged groups is directed against Governments which strive to bring about a more equitable society. The latest example is Chile, where the fight against the popularly elected Government finally took the form of naked military violence. Economic interests outside the country also contributed to the evolution which led to the coup. Salvador Allende has given his life for the sake of the poor. Members of his government have been arrested, Parliament has been dissolved and political parties have been banned. Resistance-fighters are being persecuted and killed.
37.	Events in Chile have aroused a wave of protest around the world. That this has happened is important. That the protest does not die down is important. This Organization and its Member States are faced with the immediate and pressing obligation to assist the victims of oppression. A large-scale humanitarian endeavour is needed to provide
«. safe haven for refugees of various nationalities. The appeal of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to Member States to receive refugees from Chile should be met by their speedy and positive reaction.
38.	The developing countries, which represent an overwhelming part of the world population, are today struggling with enormous political and economic problems. The readiness of the industrialized countries to support them in their efforts is clearly inadequate. In fact, the policies of the rich countries tend to counteract in important respects the goal of international equality. As long as the deep gulf between the industrialized and the developing countries remains, there will be unrest and tension, which can spark new conflicts. From this point of view too it is urgent that the development strategy of the United Nations be pursued forcefully.
39.	The General Assembly meets at a time when the distribution and utilization of the world's resources confront us with ever more serious problems. Catastrophic famine occurs ever more frequently in certain parts of the world. Support for the World Food Programme must therefore be strengthened. Immediate action is required to create, reserves of foodstuffs. The proposals made by the Director- General of the Food and Agriculture Organization [FAO\ should be fully supported. It is the hope of the Swedish Government that these proposals will be made more concrete at the FAO conference later this autumn. The proposal of the United States Secretary of State for the convening of a global food conference in 1974 under the auspices of the United Nations [2124th meeting] is welcome as part of the efforts to attract world attention to the problem of hunger. The countries and regions hit by famine have in common, besides difficult climatic conditions, underdevelopment and generally low productivity. A long- term solution to the food problem of the developing countries can only be reached through increased production of foodstuffs within these countries. Such increased production is in turn dependent upon fundamental structural reforms combined with social and economic rural development.
40.	There is strongly increasing awareness of the dangers which threaten the human environment. The immediate threats are greatest where industrial development has been most rapid. As environmental standards are raised, industrialization in the developing countries is burdened by a cost factor which today's rich nations did not have to cope with in the corresponding phase of their history. The rising cost of energy creates similar problems. The questions of environment and energy demonstrate the interdependence of nations, but views and interests must inevitably vary according to the particular conditions of each country. In the environmental field the United Nations has already made important contributions towards the formulation of an international policy. This work can now be pursued through the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme. Also in the case of the energy crisis there should be a role for the United Nations in searching for solutions which take account of the interests of the smaller and economically weaker States.
41.	Many of the problems, which I have only been able to outline in my statement, are being studied and discussed very thoroughly within the United Nations family. This takes place against the background of the new possibilities and risks created by rapid technological development. When the world Organization»increasingly devotes itself to those questions, it is the expression of a realistic awareness of the interrelationship between economics and politics,
I between the distribution of wealth and peace, between freedom from hunger and freedom from fear. Perhaps many people regard it as over ambitious when our Organization strives to encompass this entire field. But an Organization whose task it is to represent all mankind cannot but involve itself in all the problems which concern the peoples in the various parts of the world. The solving of these problems is the prerequisite for the realization of the goals which are contained in the Charter of this Organization. The United Nations is to serve man's longing for peace both by efforts to prevent breaches of the peace and by promoting developments which lessen the risk of conflicts. In the settlement of problems which concern the basic living conditions of people everywhere, all States, large and small, have a right to participate. The task of the United Nations is therefore more important than ever.


117.	 Mr. President, it is my privilege to add my voice to those of the speakers who preceded me in congratulating you on your election to the high office of the presidency. I would also wish to express my hope and belief that under your wise stewardship the work of this twenty-eighth session of the Assembly will be carried out with maturity and expedition. I am delighted that a distinguished son of Latin America is now at the helm.
118.	I also wish to pay a tribute to your predecessor, Mr. Trepczynski, for the exemplary manner in which he presided over the work of the twenty-seventh session of the Assembly.
119.	We are meeting today in a situation of ominous gravity. Full-fledged fighting is raging once again in the Middle East, underscoring the enormity of Israeli aggression and its seizure of the national soils of three Member States — Egypt, Syria and Jordan — since the earlier aggression of 5 June 1967.
120.	Precious lives, representing the cream of their countries, are being offered for the national survival in dignity and peace.
121.	It is unnecessary and irrelevant to attempt to refute Israeli allegations as to how the firing started. It started as a culmination of a condition of continuing aggression and occupation. Suffice it here to state that fighting is raging on the national soils of Egypt and Syria and that the sons of these sisterly countries are operating in their own homelands.
122.	The blood of those innocent youths stains the hands of the Israeli leadership, whose motto all along has been, as this Assembly knows all too well, that might is right; that the only measure of justice is the intensity of fire-power and the intricacies of modern mechanical gadgets.
123.	Whatever the fortunes of war might be, the United Nations represented in this Assembly should continue to shoulder the supreme responsibility for ensuring that Israeli aggression shall be terminated and that the territories of Egypt, Syria and Jordan, occupied for well over six years, shall be restored to their rightful owners.
124.	In the meantime, let us all hope and pray that the long ordeal which has been imposed upon our countries by Israel's wanton aggression, will at last come to an end, enabling our peoples to resume their onward march on the road to progress, development, and peaceful existence.
125.	The concerns of the world are also our concerns. What I had intended to speak on in this general debate encompassed the whole spectrum of your Assembly's concerns, political, economic and humanitarian. But the urgency of the events in my area necessitates a departure from the conventional review of international concerns and achievements to a more direct focusing on the present agonies of our peoples at war.
'.26. It is agonizingly hard for us to go on repeating year in and year out the painful story of the aggression to which the peoples of the Middle East have fallen victim since the 1967 conflict. It also must be agonizing to this world body to be reminded constantly of its inability to deal effectively with it. And yet, at the cost of repetition, the facts as they stand today must be reaffirmed in this general debate on the world situation. What I intend to state I will do so without acrimony or rhetoric. It is rather the facts, the bare facts, as they exist today and they are as follows:
127.	First, since June 1967 Israel has been in occupation of the national soil of Jordan, Egypt and Syria, and under its military rule it enslaves over a million of the indigenous inhabitants of the occupied lands. This is in addition to the one and a half million Palestinian Arabs rendered homeless refugees by the gross injustice and convulsions of 1948. It is a sad epilogue to the great chapter of liberation which the United Nations has witnessed and has helped to forge through over the past 25 years.
128.	Secondly, notwithstanding the fundamental principles of the Charter and the multitude of definitive resolutions of the United Nations in opposing conquest, Israel adamantly refuses to withdraw from the occupied territories. In the early years of the occupation, the refusal was based on procedural and mechanical pleas. When these became no longer tenable, Israel came out unrestrained in its penchant for territorial expansion. No longer are the claims for annexation the irresponsible urges of the fanatics and the few. They recently have been incorporated into the official platform of the ruling party, in preparation for the forthcoming elections. If one adds up the territories claimed by the various members of Israel's ruling establishment, they would amount to practically the whole of the occupied lands.
129.	Thirdly, virtually every part of the occupied lands has been earmarked for eventual, if not immediate, annexation and colonization, either on grounds of alleged security or of the Zionist mythology. Although the weight of colonization has fallen more heavily on some parts than on others, it is now generally conceded that the tempo of colonization is less inhibited by considerations of international law than by the absorptive capacity of the new colonial Power.
130.	Within the over-all strategy of colonization, programmed in practical stages, Israel feverishly is engaged in absorbing and settling the occupied lands. Settlements are mushrooming everywhere, whether in occupied Egypt, Syria or Jordan. The national character of these centuries-old Arab lands is being destroyed systematically.
131.	Jerusalem, the city of peace and of eternal history, to which hundreds of millions of people belonging to all religions and denominations look with the reverence which it deserves, is being disfigured beyond recognition, the victim of parochial and heedless fanaticism. And while this blasphemy against civilization continues unabated, the world watches with subdued anger and
helplessness. Even the Security Council's specific resolutions to save the city have remained no more than ink on paper.
132.	The Israelis are carrying out these acts of despoliation, confiscation of lands and property and the eviction of the inhabitants of Jerusalem under one false pretext or the other. It is a situation where the occupying Power is devouring by every means the occupied city and destroying its historical, cultural, physical, and human character. What else can this be but the most naked act of conquest and annexation which heeds nothing but its own brute force and its utter insensitivity to the beliefs and welfare of the world at large?
133.	It should be recalled that immediately after the 1967 conflict one of the first acts of the General Assembly was the adoption of a resolution [2253 (ES-V)] for the preservation of the historic character and the status quo of the City as a trust of civilization. That trust has been totally abused, the resolution callously ignored. Should the United Nations continue to watch in suspended animation while the process of devouring the Holy City and its people continues unchecked? But the suffering of occupation does not end there.
134.	The economies of the occupied territories are being made appendages for the purpose of serving the designs of occupation and the eventual absorption of those territories and their peoples. Large areas of arable land on the west bank of the river Jordan are forcibly made idle by the ever-expanding "military zones" and Israeli armed settlements. The gun is replacing the tractor, and the farmers are left with no alternative but to be herded into Israeli farms and industries, only to be discarded when the time is ripe for their eventual expulsion.
135.	No one knows better the direct destructive effects of the occupation than my own country and countrymen. Jordan is a country torn asunder by occupation. Well over one third of its citizens are the victim, of that occupation. Hundreds of thousands of its own citizens and residents of other occupied Arab lands have formed another category of misery on its eastern bank, under the name of "displaced persons". The economic and social burdens of the occupation are as heavy as the pain of dismemberment is acute: Jordan continues to bear the enormous burden of supporting by every means, economic and otherwise, the determined efforts of its citizens to survive economically, culturally and demo-graphically under an occupation of displacement.

136. Fourthly, less tangible but perhaps psychologically more devastating is the climate of extreme uncertainty that surrounds the lives of the masses of people in their occupied homeland. Noone can be sure when the dual pressure of Zionist xenophobia and massive Israeli immigration will create conditions which will transform the policy of gradual displacement into one of outright expulsion. The perpetual fear of such an occurrence is understandably traumatic. The sense of living on borrowed time can end only with termination of the occupation.

137. Fifthly, it may be argued by those who have not had the opportunity to follow closely the sequence of events that a mere compilation of grievances, no matter how just, does not in itself lead to a solution.  the answer is that in November 1967 Jordan accepted Security Council resolution 242 (1967), which outlines the basis of just settlement in the Middle East. By that resolution, the Arab parties accepting it committed themselves to the establishment of a lasting peace in a framework of Israeli withdrawal, mutual guarantees and a just solution to the tragedy of the first victims of Israeli violence, the homeless and dispossessed Palestine Arabs.

138. Within that context, we extended full cooperation to the sincere and dedicated efforts of Ambassador Gunnar Jarring, the Special representative of the Secretary-General, who has been entrusted with the task of working with the parties the modalities of implementation.

139. When the secretary-general, Kurt Waldheim, undertook his commendable initiative and visited the area recently, Jordan expressed a genuine and unmistaken resolve to work for a just and lasting peace, provided our sovereignty and territorial integrity are not tampered with. But at every juncture in the process of the peace making, the Israeli government obstructed the process. Israel's negativism has been widely revealed to the world at large despite its deliberate obscurantism, as Israel's designs against the occupied lands unfolded in their full ferocity. it is clear now that Israel, in spite of all its claims to the contrary, is not seeking a just and lasting settlement, but territorial expansion and political hegemony in the area.

140. Moreover, it is becoming the adjacent Arab countries that instead of making  amends for the ruthless dismemberment the displacement of its people, Israel is only determined to do more of the same.
141. We listened the other day to the statement of the Foreign Minister of Israel before this assembly, in which he outlined Israel's policies towards the tragic situation prevailing in the Middle East. That statement, of course, contained no new departures and revelations, except for its attempt to use language to conceal real aims. It would be futile exercise to engage in polemics, and equally futile to dismiss lightly a statement so fraught with the most serious policy contents. Let me cite just one examples in the manipulation of semantics to which this Assembly was subjected by Israel's Foreign Minister.
142. The Charter of the aggression against States and the annexation of their national soil. And yet, because Israel occupies the territories of three Member states and has evidently no intention of relinquishing such occupation, the Foreign Minister of Israel declared, using the technique of the double negative, that Israel did not declare that it did not intend to relinquish all or even most of the occupied territories. In plain English it means that Israel does intend to annex portions of the occupied lands and enslave their people. This is the crux of the matter.

143.	That those portions already victims of annexation and colonization include Jerusalem — a continually expanding Jerusalem: to the north, to the south, to the east and to the west, one which practically devours the heartland of the occupied west bank and leaves the rest as virtually isolated pockets — does not seem to evoke much remorse in the Israeli assessment. That the lands annexed or earmarked for annexation include large areas of the fertile Jordan valley, to serve as a security belt, does not seem to impel the Israeli Foreign Minister to ask himself about the hundreds of thousands of human souls for whom such exercises in map-drawing mean a death sentence in the form of displacement, suffering, enslavement and alienation of themselves and of generations yet unborn and the loss of their past, present and future.

144.	The trouble is that, underlying the whole of Israel's statement is an arrogant dismissal of any consideration of humanity or of other people's entitlement to God's grace and justice on this earth. The aggrieved inhabitants are simply impediments to be removed or shuttled around —  not human beings to be accorded the inalienable human rights to which they are entitled, as are other human beings and communities.
145.	The Israeli Foreign Minister told this Assembly that the Israelis have their roots deeper in that region, in tongue and in spirit, than all the rest. Do we have to remind Israel that when the Hebrew tribes set foot in Palestine some 2,000 years ago, and for a short interlude, they did not descend upon an empty wasteland? They came to the highly developed land of the forefathers of the present victims of the Israeli onslaught, only to marvel in exhilaration at the land of milk and honey which was the product of the toil of the indigenous inhabitants of the land. Palestine was their homeland ages before those tribes ever came there, and has remained their homeland up to the present day — or remained so at least until the Israelis, by brute force and violence, caused their displacement over the past 25 years.
146.	Jordan and its Arab brethren have been faced since the occupation with a situation which cannot be accepted. They are for a just and lasting peace, but they cannot accept as its price the loss of their national soil or the permanent enslavement of their people. The Charter of the United Nations precludes any such diktat; the resolutions of the United Nations preclude it no less vehemently. And the spirit of the age marching forward to rid humanity of colonial domination and conquest is irrevocably aligned against it.
147.	While we are adamant in our determination to hold on to our rights and national soil, we have a clear vision of how a just settlement can be established. These are its bases: first, Israeli withdrawal from all the territories occupied in June 1967; secondly, action to redress the injustice inflicted upon the Palestinian Arabs who were forced out of their homes in Palestine and dispossessed in 1947-1948 and whose rights have been recognized repeatedly since 1948 by the General Assembly; and thirdly, the enforcement of the principles
of a just peace envisaged in and defined by the provisions of Security Council resolution 242 (1967).
148.	Peace, to be lasting, must be based on justice. Without that no genuine peace can be achieved.
149.	I shall end my statement, as I opened it, by urging the General Assembly, to unite in action to end the tragic ordeal of the peoples of the Middle East. The way to end, it is not by side-tracking the fundamental issues which have given rise to it over the past 25 years, and more specifically over the past six years.
150.	The fundamental principles involved are clear-cut and overwhelming. They are sustained by the Charter which pledges support for every Member State which falls victim to aggression.
151.	Let us, therefore, unite all our efforts and our wills to save the Middle East, which is the cradle of civilization, from the scourge of war and aggression by reaffirming justice, freedom and peace.


210.	 Mr. President, your unanimous election to preside over this new session of the General Assembly is a token of recognition of your qualities as a diplomat, your competence in international affairs, and of the zeal and interest that you have always shown in your participation in dealing with the complex problems that confront our Organization. Thus, I wish my first words before this General Assembly to go beyond the mere ritualistic dictates of the usual courtesy, and serve to pay the tribute of my delegation to one who for so long has been an honour to his country, to Latin America and to the United Nations itself.
211.	This election, futhermore, fills us with personal satisfaction, since we know of the great affection that Mr. Benites — the man of the Pacific — feels for the land of the River Plate, where he served for so long and left the indelible mark of his friendship and his brilliant work. I whole-heartedly trust that success will continue to crown your endeavours in the delicate duties that you have assumed, and I am happy to assure you of the full cooperation of my delegation in your important task.
212.	I am vested with the representation of a Government that is the result of the express will of a people that has recently, and by an overwhelming majority, endorsed the three banners of social justice, economic independence and political sovereignty. That firm determination bespeaks the irreversible commitment to eliminate for all time the socio-political systems of dependency.
213.	My country is going through an unprecedented historic period whose starting point lies in the union of all Argentineans around the objective of national liberation. By means of the effective exercise of representative democracy, the Government and the people of Argentina have set out, at one and together, on the road that is to lead us to the establishment of a social order in which man may fulfil himself wholly, safeguarded by law against any form of exploitation. His rights and aspirations to a happy life will thus merge with those of the community.
214.	All have a place in this great undertaking, from those who resolutely embrace the cause of justicialismo to those who advocate other tendencies, but who, in an atmosphere of peace and legality, are ready to be partners in the common effort.
215.	Argentina is fully aware that respect for the plurality of ideas and obedience to the popular will are indispensable conditions in which to build a community organized on the basis of solid and lasting values.
216.	In this spirit, my Government has decided to carry out a peaceful revolution — one that will profoundly change the Argentine society in order to meet the desires for justice and liberation that imbue our people.
217.	This new orientation which guides the Argentine Government within our borders is also projected beyond
them and will govern our conduct within the framework of our international relations.
218.	Our foreign thoughts, when crossing our borders, must be directed first of all to our own Latin America. We are convinced that in the future, we shall have to unite our forces and our resources in order to confront the difficulties that lie in wait for any who seek to ensure their freedom of action in a world beset by new imperialist threats. That convergence of efforts must logically start with those of us that possess the most obviously similar characteristics; and despite their powerful national personalities, our countries of Latin America do, in fact, possess a significant and real highest common denominator.
219.	Since the very dawn of our emancipation we have been divided by varied outside interests in order that they might more easily obtain supplies of the raw materials so necessary for the progress of more advanced societies. I am most disturbed to have to state here that that quest for profit has not been abandoned and that certain power centres —  Governments and multinational corporations — still have their sights set on the vast region which our countries make up.
220.	For that reason, now more than ever, union is a categorical imperative today. We must labour without flagging with one idea in mind: a single and indissoluble Latin America. We know that that cannot be achieved overnight, but we also know that if that is not our aim the end result will be an even greater splintering and thus a weakening that will render us unable to defend ourselves against any form of ambition on the part of foreign Powers.
221.	Each must play his vital role in this process. It was in Latin America itself that the legal principle of the sovereign equality of States gained the fullest respect, but unfortunately that very principle has far too often been set aside. On the strength of mature awareness we can today reaffirm that all the States of Latin America must contribute to the common cause on a footing of absolute parity.
222.	We share similar needs and identical hopes. Nor are the obstacles to our progress different, We are all players in the same drama: that of living with searing needs unsatisfied in a continent flowing with resources. Thus it is hard to imagine individual solutions, unless we are ready to make do with mere palliatives. Faced by common problems, our solutions must be general and for the whole and framed by the ideas of international social justice to which all the peoples meeting here aspire.
223.	Very possibly some country may alone manage a beginning of liberation. But it can never secure it if it is isolated from the rest. That is why we see the process of Latin American liberation as a joint undertaking intended to benefit all.
224.	No ideological barrier must be allowed to prevail over motives sprung from the very roots of our peoples. We can assume our role in world affairs only through pluralist understanding and union.
225.	There can be no doubt that we are heading towards an international system possessing continental features, and
to reach our goal we must fulfil our responsibilities with faith and optimism and by bringing to bear all the energies and reserves of the Latin American people. It is only thus that we shall all together approach our target, which has been defined for us by our common origin and an inevitable historical imperative. On this road we are prepared to cooperate with those who understand our yearnings and desires and wish to make their open and sincere contribution to the building of a politically, economically and socially just continent.
226.	Our concern over the future of Latin America fits squarely within the wider concept of the third world.
227.	We are deeply convinced that the peoples of Africa, Asia and Latin America are basically facing the same problems.
228.	"Nations rich or poor"; "developed or developing countries"; "advanced or backward nations"; "the haves and the have-nots" — all are similar ways of disguising a single, crude and dramatic reality: domination or dependency.
229.	But to shatter that alternative and obtain more just and equitable conditions the third world does possess a powerful instrument — solidarity. Numerically we are many, and we are imbued with principles that arm us with unchallengeable moral strength. But we must counteract our own lack of individual power by bringing to bear the vitality of our unity.
230.	That process is already under way. It must now be extended and consolidated in all fields. But the struggle is not and will not be simple. Powerful interests will continue to fan futile divisions and to create artificial antagonisms.
231.	It would be paradoxical for our countries to lose their united stand precisely at the time when the great Powers are strengthening their understandings to preserve their privileges.
232.	To think exclusively in terms of individual interests would be to open the way to the designs of those who oppose our progress. It would be even worse to conspire against the common interest, preservation of which is our sole guarantee of survival as truly independent States.
233.	The profound changes taking place in the political, economic and social structures of nations point, to the threshold of a new stage in the development of mankind.
234.	To be worthy of the evolution that is altering the concept of modern life to its very foundations, we must muster all our energies to create the kind of society that our national, regional and cultural idiosyncrasies require, rejecting the foreign patterns foisted on us from outside, which are nothing but the refurbished attempts of certain Powers to fulfil their own desires of economic or ideological domination.
235.	That possibility was foreseen by the leader of justicialismo, Lieutenant-General Juan Peron, when, three decades ahead of today's reality, he defined the humanistic and revolutionary doctrine of the "third position", which,
apart from depicting a special plan for the organization of the Argentine community, represented the first open confrontation on an international level of the imperialisms of the left and of the right.
236.	Fortunately, today, a number of nations share this viewpoint, and proof was clearly given at the historic meeting recently held in Algiers, the Fourth Conference of Heads of State and Government of Non-Aligned Countries, where the non-aligned nations reiterated their unwavering determination to continue and to strengthen that movement, based on principles that are very comparable to those of the "third position".
237.	The Government of the people of Argentina did not want to remain outside that undertaking which constitutes one of the greatest joint movements for liberation, cooperation and solidarity of this century. And so it brought the Argentine Republic into the movement of the non-aligned nations as a full member, and pledged all its efforts to contribute to the triumph of its objectives.
238.	This is a good opportunity to reiterate our appreciation for the warm welcome given and the many signs of friendship shown to the Argentine delegation on the occasion of its admission to the movement. We should also like to place on record our thanks for the unanimous understanding and support shown on a number of questions which my country raised for examination by that great gathering.
239.	In the field of shared natural resources and the human environment, to which my country attaches special importance, that support was particularly significant. Guided by noble motives of solidarity and co-operation, while it reaffirmed the principle of sovereignty over nations' own natural resources, the Conference recognized the principle of solidarity and of co-ordinated and joint action in the exploitation and use of the natural resources shared by two or more States. Thus the Algiers Declaration  sets forth the principle that co-operation between countries in the exploitation of their common resources shall be on the basis of a system of information and prior consultation, all within the framework of the normal relations existing between the States concerned.
240.	The spirit of Algiers led also to the establishment of the rights of the coastal State to the exploitation of the natural resources of its seas and the protection of other related interests to a distance of 200 miles. For the first time, a group composed of the majority of the international community has proclaimed this important root of an agreement, which is in turn complemented by the recognition of the need to legislate on the regime of the continental shelf beyond the 200-mile limit in accordance with existing international law.
241.	In Algiers, Argentina felt it was among brothers. But even more, it felt that it was understood, and in turn felt that it understood, in their diversity, the aspirations of all the other non-aligned nations. And yet, above even that, Argentina felt that it was a partner in an integrating current that was destined to change the future of the world.
242. But, to conclude these pleasant reminiscences, may I publicly express our thanks to the Government and the people of Algeria for the generous hospitality they showed us and for their untiring efforts to ensure the success of that outstanding Conference.
,243. The bipolar world, which was the main characteristic of the last decades, ceased to exist with the appearance of new centres of power in Europe and Asia. The agreements recently concluded among the great Powers are further positive elements that have contributed greatly to clarifying the world picture. We were among the first to welcome those events that put an end once and for all to the cold war, charged as it was with so many threats to mankind, and mark the beginning of a new and constructive era in the life of peoples. Convergence and co-operation among those who until yesterday had seemed irreconcilable antagonists are doubtless an indispensable condition for the reduction of tensions in the world.
244.	However, for the atmosphere of peace to be stable and to benefit all, this convergence must not be achieved behind the backs or at the expense of the other countries. World opinion today could not tolerate it if, under the guise of a sound policy of detente, the great Powers were to be hammering out an up-to-date version of Yalta — in other words, if they were readying themselves for a new distribution of spheres of influence over which to wield their respective hegemonies.
245.	The third world cannot be left out when the great Powers adopt their decisions, for those decisions must, obviously, affect it either directly or indirectly. In order to clarify the doubts and disquiet felt by many Governments it is essential to allow them to play their true role in the search for solutions to various problems.
246.	And this participation can best be played out within the United Nations. But it must be a United Nations that is revitalized and strengthened in order fully to carry out its noble and worthy objectives. It is an irrefutable fact that the body created in 1945 does not meet the needs of the present day. And this can be clearly understood from the excellent introduction to the report of the Secretary-General on the work of the Organization submitted by the Secretary-General. This outstanding document also makes clear that the Organization can be improved in many of its aspects, so that it may achieve, in the words of Mr. Waldheim, "a potential unmatched by any human institution which has existed before".
247.	Personally, we consider that very soon it will be necessary to make certain changes in order to achieve a true democratization that will be more consonant with its growing universality. Among others, there is the basic change of eliminating the privileges that the five great Powers assumed in San Francisco.
248.	This desire to democratize and update the Organization is particularly timely when the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany have just joined our ranks — surely a significant event that is a source of satisfaction to those of us who have always advocated the universality of the United Nations.
249.	We most cordially welcome the two representatives of the German people, with whom we are tied by a deep and traditional friendship. I also wish to welcome among us the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, a new independent State that is now added to our Latin American family.
250.	We have asserted that we are now entering on a stage of international relations that is lit with the sign of cooperation and understanding. We are gratified at the promising atmosphere thus engendered and would hope that it might be extended to all corners of the earth. Yet we are very much afraid that the continuation of certain existing conflicts may jeopardize the encouraging prospects before us.
251.	Our first concern is over the continued existence of anachronistic colonial issues that still upset world peace. The situation is particularly serious in the African continent where, in some areas, colonial oppression at its worst is still being practised. The eradication of colonialism — to use Mr. Waldheim's words again — is "painfully slow" [ibid., p. 4].
252.	In the Territories under Portuguese domination, the obstinacy of the colonial Power has created an arena for a harsh war — gestated over many years because of the unyielding attitude of those possessing the duty to assist those peoples to achieve their destiny of independence and sovereign integration in the community of nations.
253.	This same picture is seen in Southern Rhodesia and in Namibia, where the minorities refuse to yield to the legitimate rights of the subjected peoples.
254.	At a time when man is working under the sign of a spirit of liberation, the peoples of those Territories must be guaranteed the unconditional exercise of their right to self-determination in order to put an end to a cruelly anachronistic situation, whose anti-historic subsistence is an affront to the very essence of all human beings.
255.	The practices of apartheid in southern Africa add one of the most reprehensible aspects to colonialism: that of an inhuman racism that is obsolete and yet has been raised to the level of an institution. In this way the Government of South Africa is showing utter contempt for the most basic human rights that this world Organization has advocated since its very inception.
256.	The doctrine of justicialismo of my Government, interpreting the deepest essence of the Argentine community, most vehemently rejects any type of discrimination which, although always unacceptable, becomes inconceivable when made the official policy of the State, to the detriment of the majority of the population.
257.	The Argentine Government sympathizes with all the millions of victims of apartheid and with those who fight to eradicate it. We shall take every appropriate opportunity to give proof of our will to co-operate actively in the international effort to put an end to such a situation.
258.	Our concern ranges over the entire gamut of colonial situations that still persist in the world and overshadow relations among States. Within this context, the attention of the Argentine Republic is centred on the question of the Malvinas Islands.
259.	In a note addressed to the Secretary-General by the Argentine Government on 15 August 1973 [A/9121 and Corr.11, we described the prevailing state of the question and the stagnation in which the matter finds itself due to the stand adopted by the British Government on the negotiations urged by General Assembly resolution 2065 (XX) between the Argentine Republic and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, in order that they might settle the dispute between our two countries over the sovereignty of the islands. Those negotiations, for whose renewal we have always been ready, must take into account the special nature of the problem and the unique characteristics of the issue which make it impossible for generalizations or for analogies to be invoked.
260.	When a country sees its territorial integrity dismembered by an act of pure aggression typically imperialist in style, when the authorities of a Territory first, and then the population itself, are ousted and the State to which the Territory belongs has never at any moment accepted that usurpation, then it becomes impossible for anyone to tolerate the subsistence, at a time when the United Nations is in full spate, of a remnant of the nineteenth century power-politics as typical as is that of the Malvinas Islands.
261.	No one is unaware of the subterfuge indulged in to pretend to consolidate the colonial aggression by evicting the original population and replacing them by others brought in by the imperialist Power. The tragic experience of the past and what is today taking place in southern Africa and the Middle East are present-day examples of those reprehensible practices,
262.	It is thus paradoxical for the Government of the United Kingdom, after its criticisms of resolution 1514 (XV), which spelt the culmination of the process of the elimination of colonialism, today to invoke it in part and with ulterior motives, for no other purpose than to support one of the many episodes of colonial expansion of that country.
263.	Despite the obstacles that the United Kingdom may try to place in the road to the decolonization of the Malvinas Islands, our position towards the population of the islands has not varied and is always fully consonant with the decisions of the United Nations. The interests of the persons at present inhabiting the islands will be fully taken into account, according to the spirit and the letter of General Assembly resolution 2065 (XX), as well as of the recent resolution unanimously adopted by the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples on 21 August 1973 [see A/9023/Rev.l, chap. XXVII, sect. E], The Argentine Government has already given valid proof of its policy by means of a series of measures that ease the communications and contribute to the welfare of the settlers on the Islands, and reiterates, from this rostrum, its desire to give wide and adequate guarantees for the interests of those settlers once the islands have been returned to the national heritage of the Argentine Republic.
264.	My country has adhered — and continues to adhere —  to the path of negotiation with the occupying Power, but is forced to state that the procedure cannot be indefinitely
prolonged, thus serving as a means of maintaining the present situation. If the negative stance of the United Kingdom leads us into a stalemate, the Argentine Government will be forced to re-examine the policy which thus far has been based on goodwill and on respect for the principles of the Charter and of the resolutions of our Organization. If that be the case, it will be up to the United Nations to determine the way in which the terms of resolution 2065 (XX) have been vitiated due to the lack of real willingness on the part of one of the parties to negotiate.
265.	Once again it is my duty to state that the Argentine Government and people, more at one in this than ever before, will not retreat in their determination to recover that part of our national territory that was wrested from us in an act of imperialism by the United Kingdom, an act that history has condemned. The survival of such a situation at this stage of the twentieth century, when the process of decolonization is reaching its end, is both inexplicable and indefensible. To put an end to such an intolerable anachronism is a matter that brooks no delay, and it can be achieved only through the full restoration of the islands to the land from which they were torn and of which they are and always will be an integral part.
266.	Another source of concern to us is the continuation of the crisis in the Middle East, which continues to be the most serious threat to international peace and security.
267.	We believe it to be indispensable that, within the next few months, and in connexion with the visit of the Secretary-General to the countries in the region, efforts should be redoubled to solve this delicate question. We have often stated before, and reiterate now, that in this case time is not the best ally for a peaceful settlement.
268.	On the contrary, the lack of a solution to a conflict can at any moment generate frustration that may, in turn, light the fuse of a new armed conflict.
269.	We have stated and reaffirmed our conviction that Security Council resolution 242 (1967) offers the best means of an honourable settlement for both parties. We continue to hold that same view. Yet, quite frankly and impartially, we believe that Israel must understand that the balance that that resolution advocated cannot be achieved while the Arab territories are still occupied by force.
270.	Seven years after the adoption of that resolution, it is not a matter of trying further to interpret its meaning or to analyse its terms, it is a question of opting between establishing the just and lasting peace it advocates or maintaining an unyielding stand which, sooner or later, must lead to another armed confrontation.
271.	We trust that common sense will prevail. And common sense clearly indicates that it is far better to achieve today an agreement acceptable to all parties than to count on indefinitely retaining the fruits of a military conquest.
272.	During the debate on the important question of Korea, the Argentine delegation will make known its views in detail. However, I do feel constrained to state in advance that we shall not support any resolution of this Assembly
which, directly or indirectly, may affect the territorial integrity of that country or that may deprive the Korean people of its right to self-determination — in other words, to decide on its destiny for itself and without any form of outside interference.
273.	I could not conclude my statement without reaffirming our faith in the permanent values of man, our hopes for the establishment of a just human society and our determination to work with dedication so that the United Nations will be able to play its role today on the road to the universalist world of tomorrow.