YouSaid · the spoken record

SHUKAIRY

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192

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1957-09-24

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1961-09-24

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3

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un-general-debate

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1. “We shall do everything in our power to make peace reign again in the land of peace. 143. Peace based on justice is our ultimate goal in Palestine, so that the Holy Land can again become holy for its people and for all the millions of believers all over the world. 144. May God the Almighty extend peace to the land that gave the world the greatest Messenger of Peace.”

   1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

2. “But the Arab nations would not want to have relations with the United States if the United States identifies herself as Greater Israel. 141. I have set out the Arab position on the Palestine question, because particularly at this session of the brink, this rostrum of the United Nations should be employed for what it is intended: to examine the problems that endanger peace and security in. the world. The problem of Palestine is relatively dormant now, but it may explode at any moment. As long as Israel is there, divided. Jerusalem may prove to be more dangerous to world peace and security than divided Berlin. 142. For our part, we shall do everything in our power to help Palestine regain its unity, Jerusalem redeem its integrity and the people rebuild their national entity.”

   1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

3. “A change not to favour the Arabs, but to be just, to be equitable to be impartial, to be neutral, to start a policy of dissociation, and| in plain words, to leave Israel on its own. If we are to stockpile all the resolutions passed by the United States in support of Israel's if we are to add up the grand total of United States economic and military assistance extended to Israel, the conclusion is dreadful—and is dreadfully dreadful. One would then be led to believe that this country is not the United States, it has become a Greater Israel. It is a source of pride—I repeat, it is a source of pride— and satisfaction for the Arab peoples to have the best relations with this great nation of the United States, well known for glorious traditions and values.”

   1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

4. “The United States, through economic and military assistance, has made the existence of Israel possible. Even the very creation of Israel was manipulated by the United States through every form of pressure. Is there no end to this policy on the part of the United States? Is there no end? Should the Arabs wash their hands entirely of the United States? Should they lose all hope of any sense of justice in the United States? I hope the United States will answer these questions in deeds rather than in words. Let the United States answer these questions—before the Arab peoples make the answer—although many of them have already made the answer themselves. 140. The Arab peoples have patiently waited for so long, hoping to see a basic change in the policy of the United States on the question of Palestine.”

   1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

5. “On 6 August 1961, the Legislature of California passed a resolution in support of Israel. On 7 August 1961, the Foreign Relations Committee of the United States Senate passed a resolution in support of Israel. On 8 August 1961, Governor Rockefeller issued a statement in support of Israel. On 9 August 1961, Secretary of State Rusk wrote a letter at the end of which he expressed support for Israel. 138. We should like to ask on behalf of the people of Palestine, and indeed on behalf of all decent citizens of the world, is Israel the sole business of the United States? Is there no other business—useful business- for the United States to do? Is Israel the fiftieth state of the United States across the Mediterranean? Is Israel more vital to the United States than the questions of Germany, Berlin or Soviet test explosions? 139.”

   1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

6. “And, just as many countries in Asia and Africa have been freed from imperialism, so, in the same manner, Palestine shall be freed from Israel. 135. At the present moment we ask nothing of the United Nations. Torn by power politics, the United Nations is too feeble to redeem a country for its people or to repatriate a people. Thus far, the General Assembly has adopted fifteen resolutions urging t repatriation of the refugees, but not a single refugee has been repatriated. 136. What we urge—and this a legitimate demand- is that a policy of dissociation be followed on the question of Palestine. Let Israel alone. If justice for the people of Palestine cannot be supported, let no one support this flagrant injustice called Israel. 137. For four consecutive days the United States identified itself with Israel four times—a per diem exercise.”

   1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

7. “That is why Palestine is, for the Arabs, the problem of all problems. The problem is neither racial, religious nor political. It is the problem of a homeland which has been usurped, invaded, and literally robbed. The United Nations itself has furnished the figure that Israel up to the present moment owns only 5 per cent of Israel—and that is all; this, I repeat, is a United Nations statistic. 134. It is therefore absolutely necessary that the Arab position on the question of Palestine should be fully understood by all, once and for all, Palestine is an Arab homeland, and we are not prepared to surrender one inch of our sacred land. Israel is in Palestine by a military occupation, by the sheer force of arms.”

   1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

8. “Lastly, Israel is the author of anti-Semitism, for it was the misunderstood philosophy of the "chosen people" which led to self-segregation, self-seclusion and non-assimilation, which, in turn, have led to the reaction of anti-Semitism—the most heinous crime against mankind;. 132. That is Israel —its genesis and its evolution. Its existence in Palestine is no more than the existence of the relics of imperialism in Asia or the vestiges of colonialism in Africa. The problem of Palestine, viewed by Africa, should be regarded as the problem of Algeria, Angola and South Africa multiplied a hundred times. For in Algeria, Angola and South Africa, the people are there—they are at home. But in Palestine the people have been overpowered by imperialism —a million refugees have now been living in exile for the last thirteen years. 133.”

   1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

9. “It was Lord Rothschild, the great financier of British imperialism, who in 1917 received the written pledge of the United Kingdom Government, known as the Balfour Declaration,^ to support the establishment of a Jewish national home. Ever since, all economic help to Israel, as well as all fund-raising campaigns led by the Zionist organization constitute nothing more than capitalist enterprises. At present, the penetration of Israel into Asia and Africa is backed by imperialist financiers from France, the United Kingdom, Belgium and other States. 130. Israel is the founder of racialism, for Israel has created a race of no race, disrupted their loyalty to their mother country, making of Israel a ghetto open only to the Jews, to no one but the Jews. 131.”

   1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

10. “Israel is the embodiment of imperialism, for it was the United Kingdom—in its not so great days of imperialism—that conceived the establishment of a Jewish State in Palestine to serve as a military base to defend the route to India and the Suez Canal. 128. Israel is a symbol of colonialism, for Israel is neither Asian nor African. It is a foreign ingathering of alien people from all parts of the world, bent on the domination and exploitation and the displacement of the native people. 129. Israel is the fruition of capitalism, for Israel's very existence is a capitalist adventure aimed at dominating the economies of Asia and Africa.”

    1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

11. “one, and no one have you robbed; unlike Israel, none have you expelled and none have you dispossessed. Your statehood was a triumph against imperialism. But Israel's emergence was the reverse; although only for a time, it was a triumph of imperialism. 126. When I relate Israel to imperialism, I do so not out of malice or bias. It is a solid fact. Israel is the embodiment of imperialism, the symbol of colonialism, the fruition of capitalism, the founder of racialism and, finally, the author—and do not be surprised when I say this—of anti-Semitism. And this is not an indictment without evidence. 127.”

    1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

12. “In a word, the people of Palestine— now a refugee nation—breathe the very same hopes you breathe, enjoy the very same aspirations you enjoy, love their homeland as you do, live and die for their country as you live and die for yours. 124. But the creation of Israel has made these people homeless. They have been deprived of the sovereignty you exercise. They have been deprived of the liberty in which you glory. And lastly, they have been deprived of what is dearest in human life—of the dear homes you enjoy and the homeland you adore. 125. Thus, the emergence of Israel is not the legitimate established of a legitimate State. All of you have come to the United Nations as a people lawfully rooted in your ancestral homes. Unlike Israel, you have displaced n?”

    1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

13. “The crux of the problem is that Palestine has fallen victim to imperialism, just as did many countries in Asia and Africa. Like all the peoples represented in this Organization, the people of Palestine have national aspirations of their own. They are entitled to the right of self-determination. Like many of your peoples, the people of Palestine have struggled for their liberty. They fought against United Kingdom imperialism for no less than thirty years, leaving on the battlefields thousands of martyrs whose bravery was second to none. And lastly, just as many of you have suffered imprisonment or deportation at the hands of imperialism, so have the leading figures of the Palestine people been put in prisons, detained in concentration camps or deported to distance lands in the heart of Africa.”

    1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

14. “Yet, because at this session the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine is scheduled to report on the question, we deem it necessary that the fundamentals of the Arab position on the Palestine problem, of which the refugee question is only one part, should be set out before the Assembly. 122. At the outset, I must say in the most solemn terms, addressing myself particularly to the newly independent nations of Africa and Asia, that the establishment of Israel in Palestine was not the legitimate emergence of a people in their legitimate homeland. Palestine has been part and parcel of the Arab homeland since time immemorial. It is the ancestral home of its people, its legitimate citizens: the Moslems, the Christians and the Jews—just as any country represented in this august body is the ancestral home of its people. 123.”

    1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

15. “The Palestine question is as old as colonialism in the Middle East, and the emergence of Israel in 1948 is only on© chapter of the tragedy of imperialism. 120. It is not my desire at this stage to trace the history of the Palestine question, or to track the various efforts of imperialism that led to the partition of Palestine, the creation of Israel, and the expulsion of the people from their homeland. Nor is it my intention to place before you the picture of the present plight of the refugees, now living in exile for thirteen years, away from their homeland and deprived of their property. The records of ,the United Nations are loaded with an avalanche of material on this tragedy—and what a human tragedy indeed. 121.”

    1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

16. “West Irian, we all know, is part and parcel of Indonesia— a great country with a great people led by a great President. It is high time that West Irian be reunited with the mother country. The proposal of the Netherlands to hand over West Irian to the United Nations simply avoids the issue. A child abducted, and for so many years, should be restored to its mother and not to a nursery. We cannot accept the argument that this land of Asia belongs to Europe. Imperialism is finished. Europe stays within Europe and Asia stays within Asia, not in isolation, but on the basis of free and mutual co-operation. 119. I come last to the most dangerous stronghold of imperialism in Asia, and without much guessing, it is Israel.”

    1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

17. “Although seized by the Security Council in 1957, the war for liberty in Oman is as old as British imperialism in Eastern Arabia. In fact, the war in Oman is only a part of a whole liberation movement to free the Arabian Peninsula from British domination. I say British domination in spite of the pious words of the Foreign Minister of the United Kingdom. His statement on self-determination and on freedom was precisely , a sermon from the pulpit. How holy, how saintly, and how angelic are the words of the Foreign Minister of the United Kingdom. Lord Home really deserves to be ordained as His Beatitude, the Archbishop of the United Nations. 118. Then we come to the question of West Man, another vestige of European colonialism in Asia.”

    1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

18. “The question of Angola is a classical example of imperialism—and the problem of South Africa is racial discrimination and segregation in its most ugly form. Our duty, therefore, is to make every effort to extend liberty to Angola, and equality to the people of South Africa. The people of Angola are fighting for their liberty, and the people of South Africa are fighting for their equality. This fight we must recognize as a United Nations fight; and as a United Nations • fight it calls for our support. The principles at stake are the principles of the United Nations. 117. In Asia, colonialism is still holding a few strongholds—mainly in Oman, in West Irian and in Palestine. In Oman; on the eastern fringes of the Arabian Peninsula, a liberation war is being waged by the people of Oman against the United Kingdom forces.”

    1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

19. “That is why, to support the cause of freedom in Algeria, we should extend more support, we should exercise more pressure, we should cast more votes, and let me say, we should supply more arms and more ammunition—for in the long run, France, it seems, will abide only by the force of arms, rather than by the force of the Charter or the pressure of this high and august body of the Assembly. Although geographically at quite a distance from Algeria, there are two related problems: colonialism in Angola and racial discrimination in South Africa. The history of Africa consists of one chapter, and one chapter only—European imperialism. Europe has imported from Africa the best of its wealth and treasure, and Europe has exported to Africa the most obnoxious of its products: colonialism and racial discrimination.”

    1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

20. “France has flouted the wishes of the General Assembly on more than one occasion, and France is still occupying its seat in the Assembly. France had defied the resolution of the Security Council, and France is still seated in the Security Council as a permanent member. If President de Gaulle should heed his own logic, France should unseat itself from the Security Council and from the General Assembly. France would do better to quit this Organization right at this session. Maybe, this Organization would then become a respectable Organization, not a disreputable disorganization. ,115.”

    1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

21. “Recently, in the Belgrade Conference, a number of States declared their recognition of the Algerian Government —and they deserve our admiration. 114. But the Algerian cause, the cause of a gallant people, calls for more and more. If we want negotiations to succeed between France and Algeria, if we are eager to have peace reign in North Africa, if we wish liberty to triumph, we should do more and move. France does not seem to be very much impressed by the Charter as a code of international law, or indeed by the United Nations as an Organization. In the words of President de Gaulle, this is a "United Nations disorganization." These are his words. In a sense, we entirely agree with President de Gaulle that this Organization has become a disorganization. It is France that has made this Organization a disorganization.”

    1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

22. “The unity of its people and the integrity of its land are not negotiable—now or for ever. We wonder whether in any given negotiation, President de Gaulle would be ready to negotiate the unity of France and the territorial integrity of France. In fact, let us recall that General de Gaulle's liberation movement started against French quislings who accepted the negotiating of the liberty and the unity of France. Let us remind President de Gaulle of the glories of General de Gaulle. • 113. The role of the Assembly on the question of Algeria at this session therefore stands abundantly clear. The pressure of the United Nations has been a great help to the cause of Algeria. Material help and various forms of assistance have been extended to the Algerian people in their struggle for freedom.”

    1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

23. “Regrettably, however, negotiations between the parties have failed. In as much as we have hailed France's starting the negotiations, we have deplored France's ending of the negotiations. France has bogged down on the question of the Sahara and the unity of Algeria. As a national hero whose record is associated with North Africa, President de Gaulle should know better—better history and better geography. The unity of Algeria is as final as destiny, and the territorial integrity of Algeria, its coasts, its mountains and its Sahara is as decisive as fate. These questions the Algerian Government shall never negotiate, even should the Algerian war become the Hundred Years War. In a national cause, there are many things which stand intact—negotiable, so it is with Algeria.”

    1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

24. “The battlefields are far apart, but it is one single front in the war for human dignity and human liberty. Whether in Algeria or Angola, whether in Palestine or Oman, whether in South Africa or West Irian, the battle is one and the same. It is a fight right at the approaches of the United Nations to force its doors open to all the peoples of the world—and our doors shall be wide open to every race and to every creed. 112. In Africa, the people of Algeria are still fighting for their independence. That war now enters its eighth year. This year, France has started negotiations with the Government of Algeria. We are glad France at last ha/s brushed aside this myth of French Algeria. As for the people of Algeria, their Government has always expressed its readiness to negotiate an honourable settlement.”

    1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

25. “Any payments by the West to the East are, therefore, a repayment in part, a refund in part—indeed, only a fraction of the great fund of the East. 110. It is true, in fairness to history, that the United States has no record of imperialism, as was brilliantly observed by President, Kennedy and brilliantly protested by the Foreign Minister of the United Kingdom, but the United States, I submit, is paying now on behalf of its imperialist partners —and this is the rule of the game. 111. It is true also, as President Kennedy has rightly remarked, that about forty-two nations have achieved their independence since the Second World War, but the tragic fact is that colonialism still remains. Colonialism is still reigning in Africa and Asia, and freedom-loving peoples are still fighting for their freedom.”

    1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

26. “It is wrong to speak of "economic assistance". It is economic restoration- economic indemnification. The people 6f Asia and Africa, and for that matter the people of Latin America, have been robbed of their wealth all through the ages. They were the victims of Western exploitation and Western imperialism. Their lands were markets, their peoples were labourers and their raw materials were a prize. The history of Western imperialism was nothing more than the dispossession of the wealth of the East—its pearls, its gold, its diamonds, its ivory, its rufc' dr, its oil, its cotton, its minerals and all the sources o! wealth, including paintings, pottery, statues and the corpses of slumbering kings and queens. It is the wealth of the East which made the West what it is now.”

    1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

27. “But let us ponder this figure of $6 billion for a moment of comparison. These $6 billion, as stated by Western circles, go to more than half the population of the globe. In a conservative compilation of figures for the same period it has been shown that Israel alone was granted and loaned by the United States no less than $3 billion. Just imagine the contrast or the comparison—whichever you like. If half the population of the world is allotted $6 billion then this tiny Israel deserves no more than $600. But that is the logic of the West which lacks .all the dictates of logic—and lacks also the authenticity of a mathematician, if you please. 109. However, this is an occasion for me to put matters right. Economic assistance has been generally misunderstood and misconceived. "Economic assistance" is a misleading term.”

    1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

28. “In a well- prepared table it was shown that between the Second World War and March 1961 the United States had given and loaned some $6 billion to 24 non-aligned nations. In spite of this assistance, it was contended, the nations of the Belgrade Conference had not supported the policies of the United States. 107. Such a devaluation of our Conference we totally reject. I am sure that I am speaking the mind of all the nations of the Belgrade Conference in expressing deep regret over such discourteous references. The non-aligned nations are satellites to none, and no amount of financial, assistance could make them "stooges" to this bloc or that. Our freedom of thinking and action is our dearest possession which we are not prepared to sell for all the treasures of the earth. 108.”

    1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

29. “Most recently Tunisia has been made a neutral nation by the militancy of France and the arrogance of the West. Should sue1 policies of the West continue the time may not be far off when the neutrals are turned into enemies. This is not a far-fetched possibility. The West is a genius indeed in the art of making enemies of friends and of throwing allies into the lap of enemies. 106. Furthermore, instead of behaving decently, the West has unleashed a campaign of slander against the peoples of the Belgrade Conference. The question of Western financial assistance to the neutrals was raised, but in no honourable context. It was raised in a slanderous context, a libellous context.”

    1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

30. “One nation after another had to battle for liberty against the United Kingdom and France, the two giant architects of imperialism in this world. Contrary to what was Said by the United Kingdom Foreign Minister, it was not a peaceful evolution but a bloody revolution. The non-aligned nations have made their freedom, but it is the West which has made something else. The West Ms made their neutrality. 105. It is an historic fact that most of the neutrals were parts of the French or United Kingdom empires. To the West they were allies, and they have fought its battles. But Western policies have alienated their sentiments. From allies these nations were converted to friends, and from friends they were made neutrals. That explains the present relations between the Arab nations and the Western Powers.”

    1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

31. “Knowing what the United Kingdom wanted the Conference to do, or not to do, we are glad the Conference has met with failure, A failure to meet the desires of the United Kingdom's no doubt a glorious success. 104. Here in the United States the Belgrade Conference was received with discourtesy. Former President Truman, in a statement to the Press, has asked the neutrals to take sides with the free world. "They are free now," he said, "because we made them free." This statement, or to be more accurate, this misstatement, we flatly reject. The neutrals have not been made free by the free world. Precisely, they have been freed from the free world. This so-called free world was their captor and exploiter. It was through tears, sweat and blood in liberation wars that the neutrals achieved their freedom.”

    1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

32. “It was in order to find a way out of this disastrous crisis that the non-aligned nations meeting in their historic conference in Belgrade dedicated a great deal of their deliberations to this matter. Like the Bandung Conference, the Belgrade Conference ushered in a new epoch in international life. The non- aligned leaders who met in Belgrade have not only represented their peoples, but have in fact represented the mind and the conscience of the whole world. Like Bandung, Belgrade will go down in history as a; seat— a great seat—of peace-making effort on behalf of mankind and for the survival of mankind. 103. It is regrettable, however, and rather deplorable that the efforts of the Belgrade Conference have been blemished. In the United Kingdom the Belgrade Conference was portrayed as a failure.”

    1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

33. “In describing the situation in Berlin, President Kennedy recalled the order of the Czar in Pushkin's Boris Godunov: "Take steps at this very hour that our frontiers be fenced in by barriers... that not a single soul pass over the border, that not a hare be able to run o7? a crow to fly" [1013th plenary meeting]. 101. The world is deeply indebted to President Kennedy for this moving simile. But if there is any place, where this simile of President Kennedy's is applicable, Palestine, no doubt, ranks first and foremost. It is on the soil of Palestine where the orders of the Czar are put in force—except that in Tel Aviv it is a "petit" Czar, and not the Czar of President Kennedy. 102.”

    1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

34. “The barbed wire in Jerusalem has partitioned a hospital, one part on the Jordan side, the other part on the Israel side. This is. a humanitarian cause for those who shed their tears on humanitarian questions with regard to students and labourers who are groaning under their hardships in East Berlin. In the same area, barbed wire has separated students from their school buildings- students on the side of Jordan go to their school on, the side of Israel. Students have been experiencing this hardship for thirteen years—for 4,745 school days. Yet the Foreign Minister of the United Kingdom has never referred to these matters from this rostrum. Never has he shed his tears over these hardships. 100. To portray the tragic situation in Palestine, we can do no better than to borrow the masterly words of a great leader of a great people.”

    1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

35. “Day after day, Arabs are shot down by Israel soldiers only because they attempt to cross to their homes or their fields on the other side; of the barbed wire. Barbed wire is wire—it could not be wire in Berlin and diamonds in Jerusalem. 99. The Foreign Minister of the United Kingdom spoke with passion and emotion—and this is the first time I had heard a United Kingdom representative speak with passion and emotion, but passion was there—on the hardships with regard to the labourers and university students of East Berlin. Let me remind the Foreign Minister of the United Kingdom that barbed wire has separated thousands upon thousands of Arab farmers from their farms, Arab labourers from their factories, Arab owners from their properties, and Arab students from their schools.”

    1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

36. “For the last thirteen years the holiest city, held in veneration by the three religions of the world, Jerusalem, has been breathing day and night in an atmosphere of hardship a thousand times more monstrous than the hardships created in divided Berlin. Ye;, to the Western Powers, divided Berlin is everything, and Jerusalem, the holy, is nothing. The hundreds of Arabs who are machine-gunned yearly by Israel forces have found no sympathy in the hearts of the Western Powers. Just when this session of the Assembly had started, Israel forces shot down a number of Arabs on their way to Gaza. The incident led to bitter Arab demonstrations in Haifa, Nazareth and Acre in protest against these brutalities of Israel.”

    1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

37. “I stood with the peasants and looked across the barbed wire to their neglected fields and orchards on the other side; I stood on a balcony in old Jerusalem with an Arab lawyer pointing to his house in Israel—which he had not been able to visit in five years. This hair-raising situation, as described by Mr. Stevenson, a great and able man—I do not know whether he is in a position now to restate these words and views from this rostrum—has not raised one single hair of those who are now bemoaning the situation in Berlin. If you are to cry, and to cry genuinely, this is a case where you should really cry and shed your tears before this august body. 98.”

    1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

38. “In Palestine, as a result of the barbed wire set up by Israel, the inhabitants of no less than 120 Arab towns and villages have been separated from their lands, from their orange groves, vineyards, olive fields, pasture lands, and even from the wells to water their animals. Still the Western Powers have not been moved. It was only Mr. Adlai Stevenson—I wonder whether we are honoured by his presence at the moment—then without any official capacity, who, after his visit to the Middle East in August 1953, wrote the following about the barbed wire in Palestine: "... you find villages chopped in two"—what an eloquent term was this used by the eloquent Mr. Stevenson—"Arab farmers with their land in Israel and their homes in Jordan—even houses and outhouses separated—and Jerusalem itself divided...”

    1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

39. “This, as well as similar tragic incidents, is most alarming and moving. They provoke our resentment and indignation. But these tears of the Western circles cannot impress the non-aligned nations, or indeed any justice-loving peoples anywhere. How on earth could we be impressed by the tears of some Western Powers which have become the crocodiles of the Western nations? The Berlin hardships can be found multiplied a thousand times in Palestine, while the Western Powers remain silent, indifferent and adamant. For Palestine, no tears are shed, not even eyebrows are. raised, simply because, on the question of Palestine, the eyes of the Western Powers are covered by the fingers of Israel. 97.”

    1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

40. “The wall in Berlin, it was claimed- and these are Western words—stood as a monstrous guillotine that slashed the arteries and nerves of Berlin, that it cut through sewers, subways, bridges and thoroughfares, that it divides a cemetery—what a catastrophe, that it divides a cemetery—shears of churches and dwellings, that it has separated sons from mother and wives from husbands, friends from friends, and that Berliners on both sides of the wall exchange greetings, newspapers and foodstuffs, and even wave handkerchiefs. 95. This is the grim picture of the division of Berlin as portrayed by the Western Powers. Recently there was a moving story, which has been publicized, of a young East German who was riddled with machine pistol fire when he leaped into the water in an attempt to cross to West Berlin. 96.”

    1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

41. “But because this question has become a subject matter of exploitation by Western circles, we refuse to be a party to such an exploitation of human sufferings. 94. In the last few weeks Western circles have unleashed a campaign of lamentation over Berlin—and I would say a literal lamentation over Berlin. It seemed as though the walls set up in Berlin have become the wailing walls of Jerusalem where the Western Powers bewail the destinies of Berlin and the miseries of the people of Berlin.”

    1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

42. “I respectfully submit that neither the East nor the West has a legitimate right in one single inch in Germany, either East or West. This ado about the right of the West in Berlin and its approaches in the sky is groundless. Berlin does not belong to the East or the West. Berlin, with its land, its water and its skies, is the sovereign possession of Germany and Germany alone. 93. I have also refrained from dealing with the hardships now experienced by the people of Berlin as a result of the recent restrictions imposed by East Germany. This position of ours is not because of indifference or lack of sympathy. On the contrary, as victims of affliction, the people of East Berlin do command our sympathies.”

    1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

43. “Germany, we must recall has given the world the classical examples of confederate, federate and unitary systems of government; The German people, whether in the East or the West, know how to do it, can do it and must do it. The German people have done it in the past. They can do it at present. In fact Berlin itself is the union of two cities that existed in the mediaeval age. Thus, unity in theory and practice is not a novelty to Germany, nor is Germany a freshman in the field of unity. Let us take the existence of West and East Germany—of West and East Berlin—as a starting point, and unity-shall be the end, for this is the beginning to that end. 93. In outlining this approach to the question of Berlin, we have not taken cognisance of the so-called rights of the East and the West in Germany.”

    1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

44. “Yet, we cannot be blind to the fact that as a legacy of the war there are now two Germanies and two Berlins. We cannot ignore the existence of an existing situation, particularly when it refers to a people and their homeland. The people in Germany, East and West, are Germans and not aliens; and the people in Berlin, in the East or the West, are not aliens, they are Germans. 90. The two Germanies cannot be eliminated by our moving appeals, and the two Berlins cannot be ignored by our pious prayers. But we can create the necessary atmosphere for the two Germanies and the two Berlins to be united under one system or another. 91.”

    1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

45. “Failing to reach a just and equitable solution to the question of Berlin, we are afraid the bombs of the Second World War, compared to modern weapons, would prove to be as primitive as the bows and arrows of primitive man in the primitive age. So let us ponder before it is too late to ponder. 87. The remedy, therefore, should be related to the cause and not the symptom. If the division of Germany is the cause, if the partition of Berlin is the cause, then unity is the remedy—the unity of Berlin and the unity of Germany. 88. This is the only solution, and we see no other solution. Berlin should belong to Germany and Germany should belong to its people. This is what the Charter offers to all peoples, large and small, and Germany is no exception and should not be made an exception. 89.”

    1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

46. “In the last two years of the war the city suffered no less than 1,000 bomber raids by the United States and the United Kingdom. It has been estimated that Berlin was blasted with 76,652 tons of explosives and incendiary bombs delivered by the United Kingdom and the United States Air Forces. Within the span of a few days the Soviet artillery concentrated about 40,000 tons of shells on the city. Yet, I would say that the division of Berlin is more devastating than the raids of the Soviet Union, the United States and the United Kingdom, not only to Berlin or to Germany, but to the peoples of the whole world.”

    1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

47. “Succeeding events have shown how fallacious was this fallacy. We find now it is not the peace of Europe which is at stake. What is at stake at present is the peace of the whole world. You need only hear—and I ask you to lend your ears, gentlemen, to this—the breathing of the rockets on both sides of Berlin. 85. Germany is a great country. The contributions of Germany in all fields of science are of the highest order. It would be waging war against nature to humiliate such a people, to divide their capital, and partition their land. And here lies the biggest blunder, which is bound to breed the greatest danger. 86. At the present moment the nucleus of danger lies in Berlin simply because Berlin is divided between East and West. We will recall what great devastation has taken place in that great city.”

    1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

48. “And what humiliation is most degrading to Germany—the great Germany of industry—than to find itself compelled to buy small weapons for self-defence. And to buy from whom? From Israel. And we. all know what Israel is to Germany. 83. What is more degrading to the German people than this illustration of humiliation, to compel Germany to buy weapons of self-defence. And from whom? From Israel. 84. And here we hear the Western Powers lamenting the destiny of Germany. It cannot be denied that military operations,, by their nature, have necessitated that Germany be occupied, administered under different zones. That was quite understandable; but what is not understandable, and indeed unthinkable, is that Germany should be partitioned, its capital divided. It was claimed that such an arrangement was designed to keep the peace of Europe.”

    1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

49. “Behind the Second World War, let us also remember, there was the German question suffering again from a bad settlement. I am not here to justify war, but we should not fail to remember the causes, the roots and the reasons „ for war. 81. The driving forces behind the two world wars are to be found in the post-war settlement of the German problems. The grains of war have been ingrained, so to speak, by the policies of the allied Powers. 82. History, however, did not seem to be instructive enough to those who should, abide by the lessons of history After the Second World War, Germany was partitioned, Berlin was divided and the German people were humiliated. They were humiliated in every respect.”

    1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)

50. “We must set aside the claims of all the major Powers to Berlin and more so to Germany as a whole. In the United Nations age no conquest, no military occupation should give rise to any right whatsoever. As the Second World War is over, so its legacies are over. Germany was conquered, it is true, but no conquest can deny a nation its nationhood, its sovereignty and its inherent right to its homeland. This should be the basic ground for any settlement of the question of Germany. Let us not make a mistake about it, lest the question of Germany again become the battleground of a third world war. 80. Germany reminds us of many things which we should always remember. Behind the First World War, let us remember, there had been German grievances that were met with a bad settlement.”

    1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)