YouSaid · the spoken record

AL-SHARA

lines on the record: 233
first: 1985-09-24
most recent: 1995-09-24
sittings or episodes: 10
sources: un-general-debate

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“History does not march backwards and every stage of development and change cannot but be better than the one before. Wars that have flared up in more than one part of the world cannot but recede gradually, then peter out and exist no more. This is our hope. Peace which is not achieved today will dawn tomorrow. This is what we shall try to achieve 17 looking forward to a better life of justice and humaneness in that it will be built on cooperation between our nations in the political, economic and cultural fields, in the interests of all mankind. Let us hope that the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the United Nations will be a bright beacon of change in the history of mankind.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“Syria calls on all the warring factions in Somalia to end the infighting and to overcome their differences in the interests of national reconciliation, which is indispensable for restoring security and stability to that country and for stimulating efforts to reconstruct the country and restore its Arab and international role. My country, Syria, had the honour of participating in the founding of this international Organization, whose fiftieth anniversary is now being celebrated. While the pages of history mention other organizations which did not rise to the expectations of the world’s peoples, the survival of our organization for the past five decades is testimony to the loftiness of the purposes and principles of its Charter. Despite the conflicts and challenges faced by today’s world, we look to the future with optimism.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“Syria calls also for responding to the initiative of the League of Arab States regarding the Lockerbie crisis. This initiative would lead to a solution to the crisis and thereby put an end to the embargo imposed on brotherly Libya. Syria hopes that a peaceful solution will be reached to the three-island crisis between the United Arab Emirates and the Islamic Republic of Iran, through direct dialogue, in the interests of cooperation and good- neighbourliness between the two countries. Settlement of the issue will guarantee the rights of both parties and uphold the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the States of the region.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“The indescribable suffering of the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina makes it necessary for the international community to intensify efforts to achieve a just settlement that would guarantee the unity and territorial integrity of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and safeguard the security and stability of the Balkan region. Syria reaffirms its attachment to safeguarding the unity of the territory and people of Iraq and its rejection of any attempt at dividing Iraq or at interfering in its internal affairs. Syria believes that a speedy implementation by the Iraqi Government of the remaining Security Council resolutions, side by side with resolving the issue of Kuwaiti prisoners, would facilitate working for lifting the embargo and mitigating the suffering of the brotherly Iraqi people.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“All our Syrian citizens know that Arabs, Muslims and all peoples who put their faith in justice and peace stand steadfastly by Syria and its leader in the battle for a just and comprehensive peace, a genuine peace that the people can embrace with dignity. Armed conflicts and devastating wars continue to rage in various parts of the world. Those conflicts which inflict great human and material losses on the peoples of the States they afflict have begun to cast lengthening dark shadows on regional and world peace and stability.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“Israel can fool some people some of the time, but it cannot fool all people all the time. The negotiations between Syria and Israel over the past four years have shown that Israel wishes to negotiate only for the purpose of equivocating and backpedalling from the requirements of peace or for the purpose of using the negotiations as a means of imposing its conditions, which contradict the letter and spirit of the relevant Security Council resolutions. This is the real reason why the negotiations on the Syrian track have faltered. In any case, a false peace will never find its way into any Syrian home, regardless of the challenges and the obstacles created by Israel.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“Syria and the Arab States expect the United States, as a sponsor of the peace process, to fulfil its commitments towards Syria and Lebanon and to seek to eliminate the obstacles that Israel continues to put on the road to a just and comprehensive peace in the region that would lead to Israel’s complete withdrawal from the Golan to the line of 4 June 1967 and also from Southern Lebanon, in implementation of Security Council resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973) and 425 (1978). Syria reaffirms its commitment to peace on the basis of the foundations which launched the peace process and on no other bases or other formulae, whose only aim would be to satisfy Israel’s arrogance and entrench its hegemony and not to bring to the peoples of the region the security, stability and dignity after which they aspire.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“It was on that basis that Syria opened the door of peace in the Madrid Conference. Syria will continue to hold fast to these foundations, which in substance signify a continuing American commitment to Syria’s fundamental rights and interests. The force of this American commitment is not altered by the deviation by some Arab parties from the Madrid formula, whose staunchest advocate ought to be the United States, a sponsor of the Conference. 16 Contrary to Israel’s claims, the Madrid formula and the American initiative did not call for secret negotiations and did not provide for a specified level of negotiators. Had it been otherwise, there would have been no need whatsoever to hold the Madrid Conference.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“Since the Oslo agreement, Syria has made it clear, from this rostrum, that it neither supports nor seeks to obstruct such agreements. Today, while we reiterate this position, we must point out that if such agreements are used to cause harm to Syria’s national and pan-Arab interests and rights, we shall be compelled to reconsider that position. The American initiative, on the basis of which the Madrid Conference was convened, asserted that its aim was to achieve a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East on the basis of Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973) and the principle of land for peace. Furthermore, among the guarantees given to Syria by the United States of America was that the United States would not agree to the annexation by Israel of one single inch of the Golan territory occupied in 1967.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“The latest developments in the peace process have shown that Israel’s rulers are not interested in seeking a genuine, just and comprehensive peace that would put an end to strife, occupation and colonial settlement and guarantee security and stability to all. Their main concern has been to extract from those who negotiate with them signatures on hundreds of pages and maps which shackle the Palestinian people, after all the great sacrifices it has made, and thrust that people on an endless road of loss and agony, not on any road that would lead to liberation and independence. In our view, agreements of this type, which will lead to yet another endless series of negotiations and agreements, will never pass the test of the final solution, simply because each and every one of them carries within it the seeds of tension and conflict.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“We see how it attempts to mislead public opinion into the conviction that its democracy and its laws shall determine the fate of the occupied Arab territories, and not the principles of international law and the resolutions of the United Nations. Those resolutions consider as null and void Israel’s annexation of Al-Quds and the application of its laws to the Golan, and require Israel to withdraw from all the occupied Arab territories in order for a just and comprehensive peace to be achieved in the region. The fact that Israel does not heed the resolutions of the United Nations, regardless of the negotiations that have been going on for four years, is an act of defiance not only vis-à-vis the Arabs, but also of the entire international community and, especially, of the Security Council and its relevant resolutions.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“The changes which the world has been witnessing in the international area since the beginning of the 1990s, no matter how tremendous their impact and their results could be, will never alter the fundamental principles and values that humanity has struggled to attain and adhere to since the dawn of history. Right cannot be turned around overnight to become wrong, just exactly as equality cannot be turned around to become hegemony, racism cannot be made a virtue and the occupation of the land of others by force cannot be legitimized. We live in a region which is the birthplace of the three revealed religions and of human civilizations. Our roots in the region go very deep. We read, hear and, indeed, feel how Israel attempts to falsify the history and geography of this region as well as the achievements of its peoples.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“Top of the list of those needs is the alleviation of the developing countries’ debt burdens, encouraging investments in their economies, opening markets to their products and lifting any restrictions on the transfer to them of sophisticated and nuclear technologies for peaceful purposes. Over and above all this, what the developing countries need is that their political, humanitarian and cultural issues should be dealt with by dialogue on a basis of mutual respect and non-interference in their internal affairs. That indeed would be the most appropriate and correct means of laying the foundations of an international cooperation with a human face, which would guarantee the interests of all and, thereby, lead to a more secure, stable and prosperous world.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“Given such a situation, will it be feasible to introduce meaningful democratic reforms of the United Nations structure that would be acceptable and agreeable to the Organization’s Member States, both large and small, rich and poor, of the North or of the South? Or is 15 it that the democracy of the majority by which national decisions are taken is not valid for decision-making in the United Nations or in international relations? In any case, we do not live in an ideal world, even if we aspire after such a world. We are convinced that it is essential to promote constructive international dialogue and cooperation if we are to achieve the introduction of reforms that, both in substance and in form, would realize the aspirations of Member States and address the issues and needs of developing countries.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“Furthermore, the grave financial crisis afflicting this international Organization is in fact but the reflection of a political crisis fundamentally centred on the identity of the United Nations and its role in the post-cold- war period. The question that arises in this context is: does this international Organization truly represent the aspirations of its Members’ peoples, as stated in the preamble of its Charter, namely, “We the peoples of the United Nations”? Is it not surprising to hear even the State with the largest population and the largest surface area complain, despite its permanent membership in the Security Council, of interference in its internal affairs?”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“It is the house under whose roof the representatives of all the world’s States meet each year: friends and foes, adversaries and allies, on the basis of commitment to the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter, foremost among which are: maintenance of international peace and security; respect for the fundamental rights of men and of States, both small and large; affirmation of equality under those rights; non-interference in the internal affairs of States, and standing up to aggression in accordance with the principles of justice and international law. The problem facing the United Nations, in our belief, does not lie in the purposes and principles of the Charter, but rather in the decision-making mechanism in the United Nations and in the selective manner of implementing those decisions.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“On this occasion, we should like to express our appreciation to the Secretary-General of the United Nations for his efforts to enhance the standing and role of the United Nations and to focus the international community’s attention on the most outstanding issues of our times. This session of the General Assembly has great significance in the life of the United Nations, as it coincides with the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of this international Organization which remains, notwithstanding any criticisms, an unequalled organization in the history of international relations.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“It is my pleasure at the outset to express my congratulations to Mr. Freitas do Amaral personally, and to his friendly country, Portugal, upon his election to the presidency of the General Assembly. We are confident that his experience, wisdom and statesmanship will contribute to the success of this session’s deliberations. May I assure him of the cooperation of the Syrian delegation in achieving the desired objectives. May I also extend the expression of our thanks and appreciation to his predecessor, Mr. Amara Essy, for his untiring efforts during his presidency of the previous session.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“Syria will also continue to work with the co-sponsors of the peace process with a view to achieving a genuine, just and comprehensive peace so that the Middle East may indeed become an oasis of peace, stability and prosperity.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“Is it reasonable that a country should continue to claim that it is the victim while it continues to produce and stockpile the most sophisticated of weapons, including all kinds of weapons of mass-destruction, and continues to occupy the lands of others by force, in defiance of United Nations resolutions? My country, Syria, which declares its positions candidly and clearly to the whole world without fear of blame, will not give up an inch of its occupied territories. It is committed to continuing the peace process in earnest and is also committed to doing all that is required of it in compliance with Security Council resolutions 242 (167) and 338 (1973), as well as the "land for peace" formula.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“for the Arab League Council believes that, for peace in the Middle East to be lasting, it has to be just and comprehensive and must be based on Security Council resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973) and 425 (1978) and on international legality." Peace cannot be built on lands under occupation, nor can it be achieved through the usurpation of the rights of others. Those who are trying to make people believe that the Middle East has suddenly been transformed into an oasis of peace and prosperity know better than anyone that peace, stability and prosperity cannot possibly coexist with occupation, arrogance and the denial of the rights of others. It is about time Israel stopped misleading world opinion and portraying itself as a victim.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“In the meantime, the international community, the United States at the fore, has seen the necessity of capitalizing on the momentum generated by this agreement to continue the peace process on other tracks, particularly on the Syrian and Lebanese tracks. The Arab States have also stressed, in the communiqué issued at the meeting of their Foreign Ministers in Cairo on 20 September 1993, that this first step: "must be completed by urgent steps on all tracks and must guarantee the withdrawal of Israel from all the occupied Syrian Golan and from the Lebanese lands ...”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“The judgement of history on the Palestinian-Israeli agreement since the secret Oslo talks has become the responsibility of the Palestinian people and their institutions. No one should think that Syria is going to obstruct this agreement, nor does Syria need to do so. But at the same time, no one should expect that Syria is going to prevent the Palestinians from criticizing the agreement, while the Israeli Prime Minister has not been able to prevent Israeli opposition from doing so despite his repeated assurances that he has made no concession to the Palestinians. Yet in spite of all this, Israel still claims that it needs enough time to digest the Israeli-Palestinian agreement in a blatant attempt to evade the serious follow-up of the peace process launched in Madrid two years ago.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“Forty-eighth session - 4 October 1993 19 Unless serious and urgent efforts are made to achieve substantive and tangible progress on the Syrian and Lebanese tracks, peace might be the weakest of those options. We in Syria do not exaggerate the value of this Palestinian-Israeli agreement because each and every one of its provisions needs new negotiations. At the same time, we do not underestimate its probable repercussions, especially on the Palestinian arena, where it has created sharp divisions. Regardless of all this, however, we think that the most serious threat the peace process faces lies in Israel’s attempts to give the impression that the signing of this agreement has achieved peace in the region, and that the international community, and particularly Arab countries, must behave accordingly.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“The sons and mothers of our martyrs must feel that their dear ones who fell in the battlefields also contributed to establishing this peace on the basis of right and justice, and that with their sacrifices and blood they saved the nation from being forced to capitulate. Syria, which consistently believed in a just and comprehensive peace and demonstrated its earnestness and determination to reach such peace through the Washington talks and the constant coordination with the Arab parties and co-sponsors, is, in fact, more serious and keen in its efforts to achieve peace than those who deviated from the path of Arab coordination and through their unilateral signing opened the doors of the region to all kinds of options.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“By responding positively to the American initiative, Syria, as the whole world has acknowledged, made the convening of a peace Conference possible. In so doing, Syria acted on the basic of its deep conviction that, or order for peace to be acceptable to our peoples, it has to be a just, comprehensive peace that would result in returning return all the Arab occupied territories and ensuring stability and security for the whole region. Without such elements, peace can neither survive nor become a true and stable peace in which and with which the people of the region can coexist. For any peace to receive broad and continued popular support, it must be honourable for us as well as for the others.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“Although many peace initiatives were put forward during the 1970s and 1980s in an attempt to address the Arab-Israeli conflict, Syria objected to those initiatives only because the solutions they proposed lacked comprehensiveness and because they ignored participation by the Palestinians and lacked the guarantees that would safeguard their national rights. Once it received American guarantees for the participation of the Palestinians and a comprehensive solution on all fronts in accordance with Security Council resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973) and 425 (1978) and the land-for-peace formula, Syria has played a positive and fundamental role in the long and arduous negotiations with the United States over the convening of a peace Conference in Madrid.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“It is well known to everyone in the world that the Arab-Israeli conflict is one of the oldest, most complex and most dangerous conflicts in the world. That is why the United Nations has been seized of it since it first started. It is also no secret to anyone who follows developments in the region that Syria, under the leadership of President Hafez al Assad, maintained for 20 years its deeply rooted belief in the necessity of establishing a just and comprehensive peace in the region on the basis of United Nations resolutions and international legality.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“We have the right to wonder about the reasons behind the ongoing unjust campaign against the Arabs and Muslims, who are slandered merely because some individuals have allegedly committed a terrorist act against Western targets, while not a word is uttered against those who are truly responsible for terroristic acts against thousands of Arab victims both in the occupied territories and southern Lebanon. The time has indeed come for an awakening of the Western conscience and for addressing objectively the sensitive issues which affect the dignity of peoples and the sovereignty of States. The objectivity of the strong cannot possibly be interpreted or understood, by any ethical standard, as a concession offered to the other party. Rather it often promotes the strong’s status and prestige.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“This would drain the Organization’s resources and distract it from the many tasks with which it is entrusted. The multifarious feelings of concern prevailing among most peoples in the world, particularly in developing countries, are deeper than might at first be apparent. We, as Arabs and Muslims, might well have become more sensitive than others recently regarding what seems to be designed to undermine our interests and distort our history, which, during its most glorious phase, was never racial or aggressive towards other peoples and religions. Rather, it was humane and civilized, as all objective Western historians attest.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“But how can the majority of Member States expect that such needed reforms of the structure of the United Nations would be introduced at a time when some countries that pride in ending the cold war resort to launching covert and overt cold wars against countries which would preserve their independence and stand up for their national sovereignty? We feel it is our duty to draw attention to the fact that failure to introduce the required reforms will render the United Nations incapable of addressing the regional conflicts that multiply daily. It is to be feared is that the important role of this international Organization might change in the course of time to one of dealing with the problems of tens of thousands of United Nations soldiers entrusted with the mission of preserving a lost peace.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“It is not reasonable, for instance, to allow the United Nations machinery to be manipulated, sometimes, in order to intervene in the internal 18 General Assembly - Forty-eighth session affairs of countries under one pretext or another, before the Member States themselves are given the chance to introduce the necessary reforms that would restructure the United Nations in such a way as to guarantee equitable representation in its main organs and prevent the use of selectivity and double standards in addressing the issues that are of vital importance to Member States.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“Our real aim in describing the post-cold-war international situation is to attempt a serious assessment that, we truly believe, we share with many other countries which aspire to correct the course of international relations in both the political and the economic spheres, in order to make them more democratic and equitable. In this context, we find no better framework than the United Nations to promote international dialogue and cooperation. In order for such dialogue to have positive and fruitful results in the interest of all concerned, it is necessary to introduce democratic reforms that would restructure the decision-making process in the Organization so that it may reflect the views of the majority.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“Suffice it to say that the number of conflicts which figure on the agenda of the United Nations is far smaller than those which are queuing up in the wings. When we say this, however, we do not wish to give the impression, by such a graphic objective description of the new international situation, that the past was better than the present. Far from it. For such is not the logic of my country, Syria. Nor is it the logic of life, itself which, we believe, tends to move towards the better, inevitably and as a matter of necessity, even if it sometimes stumbles here and there or appears to be static at certain times.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“On today’s international scene we see little construction and few new breakthroughs; we see many ruins, much chaos and numerous unanswered questions. Has the world of today become more secure and stable? Have the causes of social tension and the many forms of regional conflict receded? Has the number of refugees and displaced persons decreased? And has the life of ordinary people in the South, and even in the North, grown more prosperous or comfortable? These are legitimate questions, but detailing the answers before this Assembly will not be a source of joy or comfort to many of us, especially in view of conflagrations in various parts of the world which warn of increased human suffering, ranging from killing and deportation to "ethnic cleansing", and real hunger. Of such things, world public opinion knows but very little.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“Their reactions have reflected their narrow short-term interests rather than the elements of the new reality which would have served better both their long-term interests and those of other countries - or which, in the very least, would not have done harm to those interests. This is one of the basic reasons which, to date, have prevented the emergence of a new world order. It was not reasonable to expect the countries and peoples of the world to support a system in which they have no say and from which they have no tangible expectations. This might explain why from one day to the next and year after year there has been less talk and lower expectations of the emergence of a new world order on the ruins of the old order.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“It is our hope that they will make a contribution to the work of the United Nations with their active input. The end of the cold war has faced the international community with immense challenges and substantive questions most of which have remained without satisfactory answers while others have been left to the judgement of history and to the vagaries of time. It has become clear to many people in various parts of the world that facing up to these new challenges has not been an easy task for any individual country, regardless of its power or wisdom. The international climate has been rendered yet more complex and difficult by the reactions of those who have considered themselves to be the victors of the cold war.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“It gives me great pleasure on behalf of the delegation of the Syrian Arab Republic to congratulate Ambassador Insanally on his election to the presidency of the General Assembly at its forty-eighth session. I take this opportunity also to commend the role of his friendly country in the Non-Aligned Movement and the positive contribution to the United Nations made by the friendly countries of Latin America. I should also like on this occasion to voice our esteem to the President of the Assembly at its forty-seventh session, Mr. Stoyan Ganev, for the success he achieved during that session. We extend to him and to the friendly country of Bulgaria all best wishes for progress and prosperity. I wish also to welcome the new Member States that have joined our international Organization.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“We believe that, in order to be able to realize the aspirations and hopes of the peoples of the world for instituting a new world order in which there is no aggression or occupation and which is based on international legality and the rules of international law, the United Nations must apply the provisions of its own Charter and implement its resolutions without bias, selectivity or double standards. As we find ourselves on the threshold of the twenty-first century, we hope to be able to reach a world of peace and justice in which stability and prosperity would prevail.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“Concerning the Korean peninsula, we reaffirm our support for the efforts of Democratic Korea to reunite the Korean peninsula peacefully and through negotiations. This would lead to prosperity for the entire Korean people while consolidating peace and stability in North-East Asia. In view of all the issues and problems with which the international community is occupied, some of which I have mentioned in my statement, the peoples and countries of the world are looking to our international Organization to contribute towards the establishment of a world of peace and security.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“While we express our satisfaction over the repeal and amendment of some of the basic laws of apartheid, we would also like to express our deep concern over the persistence of repression and violence that the Government of South Africa continues to perpetrate against the population, at a great cost in victims to that population. Syria strongly supports the demands of the overwhelming majority of the people of South Africa for the establishment of a democratic and non-racial society. Concerning Cyprus, we welcome the efforts of the Secretary-General to find a just and lasting solution to the Cypriot problem based on United Nations resolutions and taking into account the interests of the parties to the conflict.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“The logical option for all peoples of the world is to ensure security for all through complete disarmament and the elimination of all weapons of mass destruction. The measures adopted by the Conference on Disarmament in relation to the conclusion of a draft convention on the prohibition, development, production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons and their destruction will remain short of realizing the ambitions of the international community so long as they are not coupled with a similar prohibition on nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction. The situation in South Africa continues to be a source of deep concern for my country.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“Syria also signed the non-proliferation Treaty safeguards agreement on 25 February 1992. Syria has signed the Treaty on the prohibition of biological weapons and has consistently supported the initiative to make the Middle East region free of all nuclear weapons. Syria was the first officially to suggest at the 1989 Paris Conference on chemical weapons that the Middle East should be free of all chemical and biological weapons and weapons of mass destruction. At a time when the whole world knows that Israel is the only State in the region to possess nuclear weapons in addition to its possession of other weapons of mass destruction, Israel has to date refused to accede to the non-proliferation Treaty and has also refused for decades to allow inspection of its nuclear installations and continues to do so today.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“If comprehensiveness and justice were observed in arms control it would undoubtedly contribute to the consolidation of the security and stability we all long for. The subject of arms control would come within reach and be more effective in ensuring security and stability in the Middle East if it were based on the elimination of all weapons of mass destruction, with nuclear weapons first and foremost, in accordance with criteria which have no bias in favour of one State at the expense of another and which apply to all countries of the region without exception within the framework of the United Nations and under its auspices. Syria has never spared any effort in supporting United Nations resolutions and conventions relating to disarmament, particularly the non-proliferation Treaty to which Syria has acceded.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“President Hafez Al-Assad, Syria wants an honourable peace which our people would accept, a peace in which not a grain of sand of our land is lost, no concession of any of our rights is made, and without dereliction of the duty of safeguarding the dignity of our nation. We want the peace of the brave, the peace that survives and lasts and guarantees the interests of all. But if there are to be games and ambushes no one could make Syria forsake its patriotic and national stand. There is no place for capitulation in our dictionary. We have already voiced our readiness for a complete peace in return for a complete withdrawal from all the occupied Arab territories and we reaffirm that now. That is our challenge to Israel from this rostrum, a challenge that has found no response to this day.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“Saturating Israel with destructive and sophisticated weaponry cannot guarantee the true security of Israel as long as it continues to occupy the territories of others by force and to violate the rights of the Palestinian people, and as long as it lacks the human compass that may guide it to the shores of peace and security. The road to a comprehensive, just and durable peace is clear and well defined; it remains for Israel to choose to take it. Any manoeuvres of partial withdrawals or interim steps will not bring peace either to the region or to Israel itself. The higher level meetings Israel demands are merely a ploy that is meant to undermine the framework and mechanism within which the Arab and Israeli parties met at the Madrid Peace Conference. As declared by its leader.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“The international community has affirmed that the achievement of peace in the Middle East has always been and continues to be rooted in the inevitability of Israel's withdrawal from all the occupied Arab territories that were occupied by force and war, and in securing the legitimate national rights of the Palestinian people. Those in Israel who believe that total peace can be achieved without a complete Israeli withdrawal from all the occupied Arab territories are gravely mistaken. Those who also believe that the Israeli arsenal of mass destruction and its qualitative military edge can make it immune to the repercussions of the end of the cold war are equally mistaken.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“The fact of the matter is that the great expectations and noticeable momentum which accompanied the latest round of negotiations were a result of the earnest contribution of the Arab side and the great impact of the Syrian document at both the regional and international levels. That comprehensive document contains the bases and principles of a peaceful settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict in conformity with the Charter and resolutions of the United Nations, which were the basis for the convening of the Madrid Conference.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“It is also regrettable that the latest round of peace talks was concluded in Washington without the Israeli side changing the substance of its approach to the question of a full withdrawal from the Golan and the other occupied Arab territories, including Al-Quds, despite the readiness of Syria and the other Arab parties to commit themselves to all that is required of them in conformity with Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973). It appears that the change in policies and priorities claimed by Mr. Rabin's Government in comparison with those of Mr. Shamir's Government to date lacks both credibility and actual application.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“Ten months after the conference, the whole world came to realize that the peace talks between the Arabs and the Israelis were futile, because of the intransigence and the evasiveness of the previous head of the Israeli Government, who admitted publicly after his defeat in the elections that his intention was to go on quibbling and prevaricating with the purpose of prolonging the negotiations for 10 more years.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)