YouSaid · the spoken record

Nuseibeh

THE RECORD WRITES THIS SPEAKER AS NUSEIBEH

lines on the record
67
first
1962-09-24
most recent
1965-09-24
sittings or episodes
2
sources
un-general-debate

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  1. “This is the crux of the matter and it is truly an act of disrespect to the wisdom, to the intelligence and to the integrity of the United Nations to present the problem in the manner in which the Israelis have been propounding it. 28. After all, the United Nations can only survive if its decisions are based upon the foundations of legality and order. And where do we stop if these foundations are deliberately overlooked and replaced by the fait accompli? The United Nations has ample machinery for handling disputes in a manner conformable to its own Charter and to its own collective sense of justice and fairness. Shall the United Nations abdicate its rights and its obligations in the matter, leaving the victim face to face with the aggressor?”

    1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)

  2. “To those gentlemen who may find themselves enticed by such a proposal, I would say: please ask the Israelis themselves, who are so assiduously preaching the cause of peace, whether they are prepared to surrender the rights unlawfully wrested from the Arabs of Palestine. Are they willing to abide by and implement the United Nations own resolutions — unfair as the Palestinians felt they were — concerning the restoration of territories in Palestine which the Israelis presently occupy in defiance of the United Nations? 26. Are the Israelis willing to accept, in real terms rather than as a tactical token, the repatriation of the refugees to their homeland? Are the Israelis willing to pay just compensation for damages to property suffered by those helpless victims? 27.”

    1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)

  3. “If there should be a continuance of the present attitude of complacency and indifference to the plight of the Arabs of Palestine, can we in all honesty ascribe it to anything but an attitude of inertia, of unwillingness, rather than to an inability to act? 24. A motion was tabled last year calling upon the Arab States and Israel to enter into direct peace talks. It is not unlikely that the Israelis will make a similar attempt this year. To the uninitiated in the sordid record of this problem the proposal may hold some attraction; for, ostensibly at least, what better than to have a dispute settled directly by the disputants? 25.”

    1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)

  4. “At times we are told that this is a recompense to a people who had been persecuted and wronged. But is not the treatment meted out to the people of Palestine like dragging an innocent man taken at random and sending him to the hangman for a crime which he had never committed, in place of the real culprit? Is not this a strange form of justice? 22. At other times we are told that the Zionists are very influential and that it would be futile to bang our heads against the wall. We know only too well how influential they are. But what we cannot believe is that they are more influential than the collective will and the collective conscience of the United Nations, of the community of nations as a whole represented in this hall. 23.”

    1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)

  5. “The truth of the problem is that here is a people — an ancient and homogeneous people — who have in the twentieth century not only been denied the right to self-government or self-determination, but even the right to exist in the homeland in which their forefathers have lived and died from time immemorial. They have been uprooted to make room for a conglomeration of alien peoples from all corners of the earth, having different backgrounds, different traditions, different languages and different races, and claiming to be united on the sole ground of professing the same religious faith. What a disservice to a great religion that its name should be used for such unholy and irreligious ends; for a blatant aggression against the very existence of another people. 21.”

    1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)

  6. “They are suffering morally, psychologically and physically, day in and day out, before the very eyes of the United Nations and, ironically, at a period which we boast to be the era of mankind's greatest emancipation. 18. It would be redundant for me to restate the facts of the case, for there is hardly any other problem which has been discussed as thoroughly or as repeatedly during the past years; and yet, there is hardly any other case where less positive action has been taken. 19. My countrymen, simple honest folks, are somewhat confused and bewildered by the snarls and the tangles with which a seemingly straightforward case has been side-tracked and shrouded, and I would be less than honest to them, or to you, if I did not restore the problem to its true, simple essentials. 20.”

    1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)

  7. “But since these factors are not the exclusive possession of any particular country or group of countries, have we any alternative in hard-boiled, realistic terms than to urge that the United Nations be guided in its decisions by considerations of justice, right, morality and a universally accepted rule of law? 16. I beg your indulgence for having, perhaps, overemphasized this banal point. My excuse is that I am the representative and the son of a country whose people have suffered and continue to suffer grievously because of a denial and a violation of these basic premises. 17. As I address you, my mind irresistibly wanders several thousand miles away to where my countrymen — men, women and children, in town and in village, in refugee camps and in forced dispersal under every sky — have endured their suffering for fourteen long years.”

    1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)

  8. “If this is not recognized and given effect by the moral and the material resources which the United Nations commands, then it is tantamount to an open invitation to the aggrieved and the wronged and the dispossessed to take the law into their own hands, with all the dire consequences that would inevitably flow from such action. 15. We are not oblivious of the overriding considerations of power and influence, the political, the economic, the ideological, and all the other factors which must be reckoned with in every situation and in every decision.”

    1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)

  9. “The question now is: How can the United Nations work out a modus vivendi which would bring us as close as possible to a universally acceptable rule of law? 13. It is the firm conviction of my delegation that this can be achieved only if we set as our criteria; in the judgement of every issue, the eternal principles of justice and equity. This demands that our attitudes and judgements be guided by the intrinsic and objective merits of each case, rather than by extraneous considerations of power, vested interests and influence. 14. Our delegation firmly believes that the seriousness of any international issue rests as much in whether it complies with the principles and norms of the United Nations, as in whether it entails a threat to international peace and security.”

    1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)

  10. “But world peace cannot be achieved by pious hopes or even under the compulsion of fear or the instinctive desire for survival. Any such assumption would be a serious misreading not only of history, but of the inner springs of human motivation and behaviour. For there will always be differences and conflicts so long as human beings are what they are. What is imperative is that these conflicts and differences be dealt with and resolved in accordance with norms, procedures and attitudes that are just, equitable and commanding of universal acceptance and respect; it is essentially the rule of law, rather than the unruly whims or interests of any particular group. This has been the function and the achievement of domestic law in national societies. It is our challenge to make it equally applicable in the field of international relations. 12.”

    1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)

  11. “Indeed, we look forward to the day when other nations of the world, including the Arab nations, will have reached a position where their talents could enable them more effectively to join in this marvellous human venture. 10. But of more immediate and lasting significance than exploration and control of outer space is our ability to control our inner selves, to make this planet a place worthy of decent and friendly habitation. And it is here in this hall that we meet in what is the most encompassing parliament of nations, to lay down the foundations for peace, goodwill and co-operation among nations. If we should fail in this pivotal task, then all the efforts which are being expended in various fields will have been of no avail, with the threat of extinction continuing to hover menacingly over our fates. 11.”

    1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)

  12. “It is unthinkable that at the moment of man's greatest triumph the rejoicing at the opening of new and undreamt-of vistas of life should be marred by fears and forebodings that these discoveries should be turned to purposes of destruction. It is equally hard to believe that the great Powers which have achieved these marvellous technological feats should fail to arrive at a formula for pooling their technological and human resources in a common effort towards utilizing these discoveries in the cause of world peace and progress, 9. My Government supports every endeavour with a view to concluding a mutually acceptable agreement, or series of agreements, between the great Powers for co-operation in the exploration and control of outer space.”

    1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)

  13. “It is largely an unchartered and untrod territory, bearing in its womb the seeds of unfathomable progress and change both on the national level and in the relationship amongst nations. 7. We rejoice as we witness in our present age man's brave exploration of outer space. It is a triumph of the human mind and spirit in their ceaseless surging forward to discover the unknown and to rise to even higher plateaus of attainment. Our admiration for those of our human kin who have made these achievements possible is limitless, and it is a great honour for me to pay the deepest tribute to them on behalf of the people of Jordan. 8.”

    1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)

  14. “For in their absence there might well be a situation of lethargy, stagnation and immobility in which the processes of life were little more than self-perpetuating, if not retrogressing. This is the world of the dark ages from which the modern world has only relatively recently emerged. 6. The apprehensions and misgivings, therefore, which beset our minds as we review the grave problems which confront the United Nations should be tempered by the realization that we are living in a uniquely expanding and dynamic world. The immensity and dimensions of the problems involved are such as to put to the severest test the statesmanship, the wisdom, the ingenuity and, above all, the collective goodwill and tolerance of the leaders of the community of nations.”

    1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)

  15. “We are meeting in this seventeenth regular session of the General Assembly to review our achievements and our failures over the past year in our common endeavours in the fields of human progress and world peace and to explore all possible avenues for the attainment of our objectives. 5. I am fully aware of the apprehensions which beset our minds as we take stock of the world situation today — the seemingly never-ending tensions, the conflicts, the fears and all the other instincts and attributes which stem from our human nature, behaviour and motivations. But I would like to venture the thought that these conflicts and tensions — grave as they may seem, in fact, grave as they are — should not cause us to be unduly disheartened.”

    1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)

  16. “As a repository of these shared beliefs and common values, the cardinal objective of the United Nations is to strive to preserve and expand them; and Jordan hereby pledges once more its staunch adherence to them and its readiness to contribute towards their fulfilment. 3. I deem it my privilege at the outset to express the profound congratulations of my Government to our most distinguished President for the confidence which the General Assembly has vested in him, and which he has so richly earned and deserved through long years of association and dedication to the principles and causes of the United Nations. I am confident that with the President's able and single-minded guidance, the General Assembly will make its way through its heavy load of work judiciously and with expedition. 4.”

    1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)

  17. “It is a privilege for me to address this distinguished Assembly on behalf of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, particularly at a juncture in the history of the United Nations which is one of the most crucial, challenging, and indeed, one of the most potentially creative in humankind's eternal struggle to construct a world order anchored in a framework of shared dedication to the cause of world peace, inspired by an inalienable devotion to the principles of justice, and impelled by the divine and inexorable urge in man to achieve a richer and higher life upon this earth. 2. These are not pious or vain expressions but rather a treasured register of man's yearnings throughout the ages. They have oftentimes been brought to fulfilment; they have on occasion been thwarted and compromised.”

    1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)