YouSaid · the spoken record

EBAN

lines on the record: 663
first: 1949-09-24
most recent: 1973-09-24
sittings or episodes: 14
sources: un-general-debate

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“We must all agree with the passage in the eloquent address by the Foreign Minister of the Soviet Union in which he declared: “The primary objective in the present circumstances must be recognized as the termination of the armaments race” [520th meeting, para. 131], It is unfortunate that a few days later an armaments race was stimulated in the Middle East. 16. Little is achieved of permanent benefit if tensions are eliminated in one continent only to be aggravated in another. In the name of our region’s threatened security, we are moved to appeal to all peace-loving States to avoid rewarding Arab belligerency with arms; to abstain from disturbing the military balance on which the peace of our region has precariously rested for seven years.”
1955-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 10 (1955)
“The pace of disarmament can thus hardly be more rapid than the general progress of international conciliation. 15. In the meantime, countries which manufacture armaments bear a heavy political and moral responsibility. This responsibility cannot be discharged by supplying armaments on purely “commercial” criteria without reference to their political context; or by using them as currency for the purchase of political influence. The sale or gift of armaments is of course a sovereign right of nations; but like all rights, it can be used with moral discretion, or abused by lack of judgement. Is it not an elementary duty of all Powers to deny armaments to those who proclaim and practice, belligerency, and to shun any policy which, on a local level, would defeat the larger purpose of universal disarmament?”
1955-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 10 (1955)
“We are especially concerned with the criterion for the agency’s composition and with the nature of its link with the United Nations. But the prospects of a stable peace or of a new abundance will not be realized unless the tensions mid burdens of armaments are reduced. In our Disarmament Sub-Committee, the attitudes of the great Powers have now been expressed more clearly than ever before. An objective study of these positions would not give the impression that they are irreconcilable. But the key to disarmament lies not so much in technical devices or the reconciliation of verbal formulae, as in an atmosphere of confidence which, in turn, requires agreement on outstanding political disputes. It is true that heavy armaments cause international tensions; but it is even more true that international tensions cause heavy armaments.”
1955-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 10 (1955)
“In the papers containing Israel’s contributions to applied nuclear research, our physicists helped to prove that the atomic age is not the monopoly of the great continental or imperial Powers. All countries which develop a sound scientific tradition may have something to contribute to the new abundance which science has bequeathed to our universal potentiality. 13. The tenth session should move to consolidate the progress made within the last year in this field of international co-operation. The Assembly may wish to make provision for convening a second scientific conference at a suitable time, and for establishing an international atomic agency. My delegation will make its proposals on this agency when the discussion reaches the Committee stage. 14.”
1955-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 10 (1955)
“In speaking of the world’s interdependence, the writers and thinkers of our generation have usually referred to the menace of destruction which has united us in a common fear. But international cooperation should be something deeper and more affirmative than a defensive reaction to peril. Men and nations can be united not merely by a common dread but, more deeply, by a common hope. This message, proclaimed with splendid dedication by the world’s scientists assembled at Geneva, enriched the technical successes of the Conference, and made it a landmark in the spiritual history of our times. 12. The Israel delegation at Geneva was inspired by its contact with the nuclear scientists of other lands.”
1955-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 10 (1955)
“The sense that the gains of Geneva are in acute need of consolidation impelled the delegations of small Powers, a few weeks ago, to consult on a proposal for expressing the General Assembly’s interest in the success of the forthcoming Foreign Ministers’ Conference. This idea was widely canvassed and supported. It is our hope that the General Assembly will take suitable action at a later stage. 11. It is pleasing to turn to one area of international co-operation in which the months since the Geneva Conference have fulfilled our highest hopes. The International Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy has rewarded the unanimous faith of the General Assembly and the skilful direction of the Secretary-General.”
1955-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 10 (1955)
“Our task in the General Assembly is not to inherit or enjoy assured triumphs, but rather to utilize an improved international climate to secure agreements on specific issues. 9. The general debate in this session has already confirmed the need for a cautious appraisal of the international situation. Improvement has not been complete in measure or universal in scope. Disarmament is still a prospect, not an achievement. The problems of the Far East have not yet advanced towards a solution. Moreover, across the whole expanse of the eastern and central Mediterranean the weeks since Geneva have registered an unmistakable decline. In this area, old conflicts have been sharpened and new ones have arisen. It would not be honest to deny that the international situation is less promising today than it was on the opening day of our session. 10.”
1955-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 10 (1955)
“The parties at Geneva disagreed on disarmament, on Germany, and on the role and character of a European security arrangement. Their differences on Far Eastern problems were not even submitted for discussion. Leaving these basic discords unsolved, the four Powers nevertheless were united in their determination that a solution by war must be ruled out of any sane calculation. 8. While this common ground should not be under-estimated, the fact remains that specific discords have not yet been removed. The road towards agreement may be clearer, and a gentler atmosphere pervades part of its course. But in terms of actual movement towards the solution of conflicts, the greater part of the journey still lies ahead.”
1955-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 10 (1955)
“This momentum of agreement drew its motive force from the sentiment that war as an instrument of policy was now obsolete, not only in terms of morality and idealism, but also by the simpler test of utility. The uncontrollable effects of modern weapons had begun to reduce to absurdity the concept of a military solution of major international problems. With the military argument removed as the ultimate arbiter of international relations, the art of conciliation had entered on a new era of challenge. The soldier’s deadlock is the diplomat’s opportunity. 7. The four-Power meeting at Geneva dramatized this central truth. This, indeed, was its main achievement For that reason alone, a conference which reached no accord on any specific item of its agenda could yet be accounted successful.”
1955-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 10 (1955)
“But the knowledge that the ultimate dangers and opportunities are the same for us all has now entered the consciousness of our generation, and given a strong impetus to international conciliation. 5. Thus, as the Conference of the Heads of Government of the four great Powers convened in Geneva, three months ago, its participants could already look back on a period of fruitful diplomacy. In swift succession they had witnessed a settlement of dangerous disputes in Europe and Asia. An armistice had been achieved in Korea. Bloodshed had ceased in Indo-China. The Austrian State Treaty had been signed. The General Assembly had agreed unanimously on a policy for the peaceful use of atomic energy [resolution 810 (IX)]; and. the disarmament question seemed to have moved forward from its previous point of deadlock. 6.”
1955-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 10 (1955)
“Three months have passed since we assembled in San Francisco to commemorate the signature of our Charter and to review the progress of the United Nations in the first decade of its labours. A strong impulse for peace went forth from that meeting and brought a healing touch to international relations. We are following with satisfaction the progress made towards the establishment in San Francisco of a visible memorial to mark an enduring covenant between the United Nations and the city of its birth. 4. The central theme in the work of the United Nations at the threshold of its second decade is the unity of human destiny, in a world where the alternatives of catastrophe and salvation have been massively enlarged by the new potency of science. Nations are still sharply divided in their judgements and outlooks.”
1955-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 10 (1955)
“1. Mr. President, the Members of the United Nations have expressed deep confidence in you and your country by electing you to guide their deliberations in the tenth session of the General Assembly. In congratulating you on this distinction, I gratefully recall the constant and generous sympathy with which the peoples of Latin America have sustained Israel’s struggle for independence and security. 2. The illness which has beset the President of the United States has evoked our profound concern. Few men in our generation have brought such high qualities of leadership to the defence and preservation of freedom. Multitudes of people in every land will attend President Eisenhower's progress with devout wishes for his swift recuperation. 3.”
1955-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 10 (1955)
“If this ninth session marks a stage, however short, in the progress towards that eternal goal, we shall have justified our labours in the eyes of the multitudes of peace-loving peoples whom we are assembled here to serve.”
1954-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 9 (1954)
“I speak for a small people which has striven throughout its history to maintain a universal outlook and tradition, while clinging tenaciously to its own specific values of life and thought. At this moment we are preoccupied with and inspired by the task of reviving a land and moulding the character of a people into the unity of a new national life. We do this amidst many difficulties and in a regional situation close to siege. It is an effort that testifies to the potency of will power and tenacity in human affairs. But much of the will power and tenacity which all the peoples of the United Nations have generated in the most challenging moments of their national history will be needed for the tireless journey towards international peace. 47.”
1954-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 9 (1954)
“My delegation will again affirm its support of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) as a remarkable example of international co-operation for humanitarian ends. We note that investments by governments in UNICEF projects have already exceeded the sums made available by the Fund itself. The continuation and expansion of the UNICEF programme would fully conform with some of the most cherished principles of the United Nations. 45. Appreciation is due to the staffs of the United Nations, the specialized agencies and the many nongovernmental organizations which have co-operated so effectively in these economic and social programmes. 46. In thus inaugurating my delegation’s contribution to the work of the ninth session, I desire to reaffirm Israel’s devotion to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.”
1954-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 9 (1954)
“Our appreciation of the assistance which our country has received in the development of its agriculture and industry is now mingled with pride in our ability to contribute, however modestly, to helping other countries in various continents to solve some of their technical problems. This constant interchange of ideas and processes is a valuable international enterprise, and my delegation will support any measure designed to improve its efficacy. 43. We welcome the completion of the draft international covenants on human rights which are before the General Assembly for approval. These covenants express a deep faith in the dignity and worth of the individual. The obligations and responsibilities which they would impose on signatory governments would contribute significantly to the development of peaceful international relations. 44.”
1954-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 9 (1954)
“The creation of a special United Nations fund for economic development has been discussed in the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council for three years, with little result. My delegation hopes that real progress towards the establishment of such a United Nations fund may be achieved at this session. 42. The technical assistance programmes of the United Nations and of the specialized agencies continue to serve as a model for fruitful international co-operation. Israel has participated in the Expanded Programme since its inception — first as a recipient of aid and later as a contributor also.”
1954-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 9 (1954)
“Furthermore, it is important to realize that, in territories containing more than one ethnic or cultural group, the principles of self-determination cannot be applied by satisfying the desires of one group alone and subordinating those of the others. By acting within due limits of prudence and of law the United Nations can continue to advance its role as the liberator of dependent peoples. 41. The ninth session will have many opportunities to promote the economic development of under-developed countries. In many areas the primary condition for such development is the availability of investment capital. It is to be regretted that the United Nations has made such little progress in this field.”
1954-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 9 (1954)
“The advance of dependent communities towards self-determination continues from year to year. Deep satisfaction can be felt at the statesman-like settlement made by the French Government in Tunisia. This event fully confirms the confidence which the majority of the United Nations expressed in the historic French instinct for national freedom. My delegation will continue to sympathize with all proposals for the orderly evolution of dependent peoples towards independence. We should, however, ponder seriously on the distinction between the grant of independence and the transfer of sovereignty from one Member State to another. It is clearly not within the scope of the Charter to ordain such transfers.”
1954-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 9 (1954)
“And we earnestly hope that it is everywhere realized that any tendency to create or sanction security arrangements in the Middle East based on the exclusion of one State — and the most vulnerable State at that — would be contrary to any balanced regional concept within the spirit or letter of the United Nations Charter. 39. The political problems upon our agenda — I have referred to some of them — are difficult and complex, and it is clear that no sudden, drastic transformation is in sight. It is all the more important, therefore, that the United Nations should utilize every possibility of extending the areas of co-operation in the non-political field. 40. We can look back with pride on the progress achieved under United Nations influence in the liberation of dependent territories.”
1954-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 9 (1954)
“Faced by this hostility and vulnerability, are we not entitled to suggest that the precarious balance of our region’s security be scrupulously respected; that all Powers, as a matter of elementary prudence and justice, refrain from weighting the scales against us, for this would inadvertently strengthen the prospect of a renewed assault; and that there is neither prudence nor wisdom in provoking an arms race by premature, and especially by one-sided, military arrangements? We are compelled to express anxiety at the failure so far to devise security guarantees and arrangements or to offer Israel compensating strength in such manner as to prevent the new Egyptian settlement from overthrowing the present equilibrium.”
1954-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 9 (1954)
“Such agreements would include undertakings to respect each other’s territorial integrity and political independence, to refrain from all hostile acts of a military, economic or political character, and to settle all existing and future differences by pacific means. It is our thought that, by allaying mutual suspicion, such undertakings could prepare the ground now for the settlement of outstanding issues, and thus keep open the way to the harnessing of the resources of the area for the general welfare and progress. 38. The grave tension which prevails in the Middle East entitles us to address some earnest reflections to States outside our region which undoubtedly desire to see peace preserved.”
1954-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 9 (1954)
“We cannot avoid the apprehension lest arms now to be supplied to Arab countries be used by the recipient States for renewing the onslaught against us. 36. On the other hand, it is sometimes alleged that the Arab States, which exercise their sovereignty over a vast and under-populated subcontinent, are nevertheless seized with fear of a small and lonely Israel embarking upon expansionist adventures against them all. 37. The only conceivable way of allaying such fears, in so far as human fears can be allayed at all, is the conclusion of peace treaties placing the relationship between neighbouring States on a permanently normal footing. However, as a preliminary or transitory stage toward this end, it might be useful to conclude agreements committing the parties to policies of non-aggression and pacific settlement.”
1954-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 9 (1954)
“To that end, my Government authorizes me now to present the following suggestion to the attention of those directly concerned. 35. It is clear that there is a deep crisis of confidence between Israel and its neighbours. The existing tension, which increases dangerously from time to time, is basically due to the refusal of neighbouring Governments to make peace and their persistence in maintaining a state of war, conducting hostile propaganda, imposing boycotts and blockades, and continuing to resort to acts of armed aggression by land and sea. This state of affairs results in deep anxiety on Israel’s part. We frankly fear lest the main trend of Arab policy be directed toward the resumption, at some suitable stage in the future, of the war of aggression against Israel halted in 1948.”
1954-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 9 (1954)
“Surely there is a universal interest in applying to international life, and even to international disputes, the ancient doctrine forbidding men to bear false witness against their neighbours. 33. My Government is convinced that all nations for which free navigation upon and between the high seas is a condition of their welfare or security wish to see the observance of international law in this international waterway joining two seas. We appreciate the solidarity and support which have come to us from many maritime countries and which have encouraged us in our pursuit, for several years, of this vital principle of free navigation. 34. It is not easy to plan for peace amongst such hostilities. Yet we continue to cast about in an effort to effect some transition toward the emergence of peaceful relations.”
1954-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 9 (1954)
“The Security Council has now been convened for next week to review the problem again, with special reference to the latest act of flagrant seizure affecting an unarmed Israel merchant vessel proceeding on its peaceful course from Massawa to Haifa. Our concern at this grave breach of international law is reinforced by indignation at the absurd charge that this vessel, which carried no weapons of any kind except the master’s pistol, had fired and caused casualties in an Egyptian coastal post. On second thought, confronted by the absence of visible evidence on shore, the Egyptian propaganda ministry transferred the non-existent casualties from dry land to the open sea, in whose depths this unworthy fiction has been swallowed up. The incident would have been grave enough without this misrepresentation.”
1954-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 9 (1954)
“The verdict of the Security Council in favour of unconditional freedom of passage for the ships of all nations, wherever bound, has been reinforced by the representations and protests of the leading maritime powers, including the signatories of the Suez Canal Convention, signed in Constantinople in 1888. Yet these restrictions continue in unabated force and, as a result, more than 90 per cent of the traffic which would normally pass to and from Israel through the Suez Canal has been effectively deterred, while the ships of several nations exercising their right of innocent passage have been subjected to seizure, confiscation or other interference. 32.”
1954-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 9 (1954)
“To this end we have made repeated attempts to bring the situation in the Suez Canal waterway into conformity with international law, with existing conventions, and with the Egypt-Israel Armistice Agreement. Three years ago, the Security Council [558th meeting] called upon Egypt to terminate all restrictions upon international commercial shipping in the Suez Canal, wherever bound, and rejected the doctrine of belligerent rights on which Egypt based its discriminatory restrictions and active intervention against shipping bound to or from Israel. 31. It is profoundly disappointing that Egypt, which enjoys the high privilege of propinquity to this historic maritime route, should continue to maintain these hostile and wasteful practices.”
1954-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 9 (1954)
“Some of these acts and gestures over the past years have admittedly been of relatively modest scope, but we hoped that in their aggregate they would do something to evoke a gentler atmosphere than that which now prevails. The Arab Governments have also been made aware of other ways in which Israel would be able and willing to contribute to regional co-operation and intercommunication in the Middle East if only our neighbours would join us in constructive and conciliatory thought. 30. Let us hope that these approaches will evoke a due response. But in the meantime it is essential to keep vigilant watch over the armistice system and to avoid its degeneration into attitudes of hostility incompatible with its letter and spirit.”
1954-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 9 (1954)
“My Government acceded to this suggestion, and considerable foreign exchange was thus transferred from Israel to territories from which active hostilities were maintained against us. In its report to the General Assembly [A/2629 and Corr.1, para. 5], the Palestine Conciliation Commission welcomed this action as “an important-step toward the settlement of the differences existing between Israel and her neighbours”. In recent days we have extended the scope of these agreements in such manner as to provide for the total liquidation of all such accounts held in Israel banks, thus making considerable progress beyond the achievements hailed by the Conciliation Commission a year ago. We have similarly agreed to release the contents of deposit boxes. 29.”
1954-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 9 (1954)
“In the summer of this year we attempted to solve the frontier problem by recourse to the Security Council, in its role as a centre for conciliation. We wished to exchange with Jordan the undertakings for pacific settlement prescribed in Articles 35 and 37 of the Charter. The undertaking was refused. 27. In its 1953 report, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency refers appreciatively to my Government’s action in effecting the reintegration of some 40,000 refugees at that time in United Nations camps into Israel’s economy. 28. In 1952, the Palestine Conciliation Commission expressed the view that the atmosphere would be improved by a liberal gesture such as the release to absentee Arab depositors of accounts held in Israel banks.”
1954-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 9 (1954)
“Two years ago, during the seventh session, we suggested a blueprint for extending each of the present Armistice Agreements into peace treaties, thereby establishing a broad pattern of regional co-operation in security, economic progress, social and technical development and freedom of intercommunication. 26. In the same spirit, though on a more restricted scale, we took the initiative a year ago in asking the Secretary-General of the United Nations to convene a conference between Israel and Jordan for the purpose of reviewing the security of our frontier, which had been the scene of so many perilous events. Although the text of our agreement makes attendance at such a conference obligatory, the Government of Jordan unfortunately rejected the Secretary-General’s call.”
1954-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 9 (1954)
“But this is no reason for ceasing to articulate the objective of an Arab-Israel peace negotiation as a most important international aim. I seriously doubt the wisdom of an excessive realism which would invite the United Nations to “recognize” an Arab-Israel peace settlement as an impossibility, or which would fail to emphasize the unconditional and immediate desirability of such a settlement. For our part we shall not be responsible for surrendering this vision or despairing of its fulfilment. 25. But if the vision is to be kept alive, it must be nourished by some evidence of faith. So far such evidence has come, I fear, from one side alone.”
1954-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 9 (1954)
“129-130] : “The Charter does not contain any provision which obliges one Member State to cede its territory to another in any circumstances . . . Consequently, when a treaty lays down a definite frontier, or places territory under the jurisdiction of a Member State, the provisions of that treaty must necessarily prevail.” 24. There can be no doubt at all — and I believe that this was proved two years ago — that the majority of the Members of the United Nations ardently desire to see the Arab States and Israel extend their existing agreements by free negotiation into a more durable system of relationships. The United Nations may not be able, despite its deepest wish, to overcome the inhibitions which impel our neighbours to adopt a position of ostracism and boycott.”
1954-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 9 (1954)
“In the respect I have mentioned the current relations between Israel and its neighbours are juridically identical with all other international relationships based upon treaties or contracts. There is nothing special or unusual about them. The principle involved is precisely that outlined in another context by the representative of Colombia when he spoke here on 24 September [477th meeting], namely, that existing treaties cannot be revised except by the consent of their signatories. In our case such a stipulation is explicitly included in each of the four Armistice Agreements. The leader of the United Kingdom delegation, Mr. Lloyd, expressed the same idea when, in another context, he stated as a general thesis last week [477th meeting, paras.”
1954-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 9 (1954)
“I never cease to be astonished at the annual spectacle of Governments which once deemed themselves entitled to overthrow a United Nations recommendation by armed force, now invoking that recommendation as a sacred thing possessing supernatural validity. There is probably no other example in international history of such a cynical jurisprudence as that which kills a certain policy by violence — one year — and then claims its resurrection seven years later. The obligation of Israel and the Arab States towards each other are exclusively defined by the contracts on which they have agreed, and not by the previous recommendations which were the subject of their disagreement. Israel intends to uphold all its rights to territorial integrity and sovereignty, and in particular to resist any intimidation by violent words and deeds. 23.”
1954-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 9 (1954)
“The General Assembly is aware that its original recommendation affecting our region seven years ago was rejected and violently opposed by our neighbours: that, as a result, it was frustrated and set aside; that subsequently the Arab States and Israel, responding to a United Nations call, reached their own agreements setting out the limits of their jurisdiction and the definition of their mutual obligations; that these agreements, and no others, now prevail, and that nothing in them can be changed without mutual consent. 22. There is therefore not the slightest moral or juridical force in the contention that Israel is under some obligation to renounce its rights under existing agreements, in an attempt to restore the arrangements which Arab violence overthrew seven years ago.”
1954-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 9 (1954)
“20. The original decision to make war and the subsequent refusal to make peace — these are the two basic causes of the present Middle Eastern tension. Every other disturbance in our immediate region goes back ultimately to one or the other of those two primary facts. Accordingly, Israel has every reason to await with confidence the verdict which history will pronounce on the epic story of its modern resurgence. 21. It is important, however, that we do understand the present political and legal position which has, I fear, been misrepresented in constant Arab references to previous recommendations of the United Nations.”
1954-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 9 (1954)
“Those records tell how Arab Governments took up arms to destroy the State of Israel by force; how this was the first attempt in post-war international history to overthrow a legitimate international situation by armed aggression; how those Governments conducted military operations outside their frontiers against a small neighbour in disregard of successive cease-fire orders by the Security Council; how a heavy burden of sacrifice and suffering, of bereavement and anguish, of flight and panic, was thus imposed upon the peoples of our region; how Israel, though hard-pressed and heavily out-numbered, resisted the onslaught and vindicated its nationhood; how those who once decided to launch the war have, unfortunately, since refused to make a peace; how a fierce and purposeful hostility is still directed against Israel by political attacks, armed marauding, constant harassment of embattled frontiers, a stringent boycott and an illegitimate blockade; and how, alone among the Members of the United Nations involved in any dispute, the Arab Governments refuse to apply to their dispute the processes of negotiation which are universally practised among sovereign States.”
1954-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 9 (1954)
“The efforts of our pioneering community to build an independent State and a free society on its ancient soil, within the shelter of democratic institutions and under the inspiration of the Hebrew past, has evoked a world reaction far different from that to which the Iraqi and Syrian spokesmen have given such immoderate expression. 19. The General Assembly, I feel sure, will hardly accept this version of Arab nationalism with its eight new States, its two and one-half million square miles of territory, its countless riches, and its 40 million of people, harbouring a just grievance because another people has won its freedom in a hallowed little strip of land less than one two-hundredth of the Arab domain. The memory of the events which led to our present crisis is envisaged in the records of the United Nations.”
1954-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 9 (1954)
“The speeches of the representative of Iraq [479th meeting] and Syria [489th meeting] appeared to us, quite frankly, as a deplorable example of the negative result achieved when governments use the United Nations as a forum for intemperate denunciation, while refusing to employ it as a centre for conciliation and agreement. 18. I doubt the necessity or wisdom of a detailed reply to the picture presented by Mr. Al-Jamali and Mr. Shukairi of shining Arab virtue and indelible Israeli guilt. The Syrian suggestion of setting up a five-Power commission to resurrect past recommendations and to impose the Arab will upon Israel is really too frivolous for me to occupy the General Assembly with its refutation. Nor, I think, will the pride of Israel’s modern rebirth be tarnished by words of abuse.”
1954-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 9 (1954)
“Processes of pacific settlement have left their mark also in the Middle East, where problems affecting Iran and the defence of the Suez Canal zone have advanced towards a solution. Against this background of general advance towards the pacific settlement of disputes, the refusal of Arab Governments to bring their relations with Israel under any process of negotiation, review or settlement stands out in unique isolation. It is an attitude out of accord with the prevailing mood and spirit of contemporary international life.”
1954-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 9 (1954)
“The greatest anomaly in this respect is the unresolved controversy concerning the representation of China. My Government could not oppose the view that little useful purpose could have been served in discussing this question in circumstances which were bound to lead only to bitterness and to failure. The question of untimeliness, however, does not affect the ultimate issue of principle. The interests of the United Nations would be best served by the participation of the Central People’s Government of China in its membership and its work. The postponement which we have voted should be used not to lay this burning question aside, but rather to prepare for its serious and orderly discussion in conditions likely to bring about a positive result. 17.”
1954-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 9 (1954)
“One problem which arises is whether public debate, with all its evident advantages, should remain, in effect, the only technique available to the United Nations in its work. There is nothing in our Charter which confines us to public debate as the only authentic United Nations process. My question is whether the facilities of contact available in the United Nations are sufficiently used for bringing disputing parties together for serious bilateral negotiation. Such a role would be fully in accord with the purpose of our Organization as “a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of . . . common ends”. 16. It is clear that the United Nations would be more effective in the discharge of its functions if its composition were more fully representative.”
1954-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 9 (1954)
“Like other countries not directly involved, Israel was merely a spectator of these momentous discussions. Nevertheless, the people of Israel have a passionate interest in any measures or arrangements which may be devised with the, purpose and effect of preventing any recurrence of the eternally unforgettable horrors of the Nazi decade in Europe. 15. Would it not be a strange irony if the United Nations were to be left behind by this momentum of negotiated agreements, and to become the only place in which quiet negotiation was precluded by the strident echoes of public denunciation? The danger that negotiated agreements will be driven outside the United Nations, while vehement propaganda warfare prevails within it, is not an unreal danger. It is a prospect worthy of our deep preoccupation.”
1954-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 9 (1954)
“The need for the United Nations to regard pacific settlement by negotiation as its chief function is well illustrated by recent events outside our Organization. The only successes in international relations in the past decade have arisen from processes of direct negotiation. Such procedures of negotiated agreement by the parties directly concerned terminated the hostilities in Korea last summer. A year later, at Geneva, an end was brought to the fighting in Indo-China, which had laid such heavy burdens on that country and upon the people of France. At Colombo and at Manila groups of Asian States have consulted together on their common problems and mutual interests. 14. In London last week, the Governments of Western Europe negotiated earnestly and arduously on the intricate problems of European security.”
1954-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 9 (1954)
“71-72]: “Over the years there has been an increasing tendency to substitute voting for negotiation, obviously on the assumption that a resolution adopted by a majority is tantamount to a solution of the particular problem under consideration. It is hardly necessary to stress that this very often is a fallacious assumption. With the exception of Security Council resolutions in certain specifically defined cases, no resolutions of any United Nations body can obligate Member Governments . . . the very limitations of the obligations of Member Governments constitute a challenge to their willingness and ability to seek solutions, not through the adoption of resolutions by varying majorities, but through sincere and patient negotiation.” 13.”
1954-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 9 (1954)
“But in any case, the United Nations lacks any effective capacity of enforcement at the present time. 12. We thus become by necessity what we should be by choice — an agency to promote agreed settlements. To fulfil this mission, the United Nations must be on constant guard against the temptations of an excessively authoritarian approach, against a disrespect for sovereign equality, against any tendency to seek rapid resolutions instead of gradual solutions. Such attitudes can only lead our Organization into failures and disillusionments which its prestige can little afford. Therefore, nothing more sagacious has been said in this general debate than the prudent warnings of the eminent Minister for Foreign Affairs of Norway, Mr. Lange, when he said [476th meeting, paras.”
1954-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 9 (1954)
“The agenda contains many items, old and new, which reflect political and territorial disputes between Member States. We are not required to determine our specific attitude to these questions in the general debate. It would, however, be salutary to define the main principle of United Nations responsibility and action in such controversies. Surely the role of the United Nations is not the waging of verbal warfare, but the promotion of negotiated agreements. 11. Even if the enforcement provisions of our Charter were fully applied, there would be a strong case for the view that pacific settlement is the primary objective of the United Nations system. A settlement based on agreement would always be preferable even to a settlement successfully enforced.”
1954-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 9 (1954)
“Dulles on 23 September [475th meeting] will have my delegation’s cordial support. It is our hope that the item inscribed on our agenda by the United States will lead to the establishment of organs and processes in which all Members of the United Nations will agree to participate. The peaceful use of atomic power opens out exciting vistas for countries, such as mine, which face heavy tasks of development without abundant sources of conventional power. Some of our leading scientists in Israel have given much serious thought to the problems implicit in the applied use of atomic power; and they will be glad to learn much, and perhaps to contribute something, in a United Nations scientific conference such as that envisaged in Mr. Dulles’ proposals. 10.”
1954-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 9 (1954)