In reply to a Likud motion to debate in the Knesset the resolution inviting the representative of the PLO to address the UN General Assembly, the Foreign Minister warned that the Assembly's decision was likely to encourage extreme elements in the Arab world and especially those who wanted radical decisions to be taken at the forthcoming Arab summit conference in Rabat. Text:
Mr. Speaker, Members of the Knesset,
The United Nations Organization as a whole, and the Assembly in particular, are neither a heavenly tribunal nor an earthly tribunal. The Assembly's disgraceful decision to enable representatives of the terrorist organizations to address the assembly in contrary to the Charter of the United Nations and the Assembly's debating procedures ever since its foundation. Neither this decision, nor decisions that may be expected in the future, are binding or will be binding upon Israel, because they are illegal and incompatible with the basic democratic rights of every nation. Both your obedient servant and Ambassador Yoseph Tekoah made it unmistakably clear before and after the vote - I believe, on behalf of the entire house, or at least the great majority - that we reject this decision without hesitation, and that we will not be bound by it, neither now nor in the future.
At this stage - the discussion on the motion for the agenda - I will not go into the details of the debate at the U.N. The statements of the government's representatives at the U.N. have been brought to the attention of the public. I can only tell you, members of the Knesset, that this majority was the cumulative result of a sorry combination of Israel's enemies on the one hand, and of nations that have lost their backbone on the other hand a combination of hatred, calculation and fear. This deplorable decision amounts to presenting a prize to a band of murderers who have set themselves the liquidation of Israel as their supreme goal.
In any opinion, measures can and should be taken in a constructive manner, as the government has decided, to find a solution that will enable Palestinians and Jordanians to express their identity. Only those who are too blind to see an ethnic phenomenon with a historic significance of its own, and who go on talking as if the situation today is the same as it was 25 or 30 years ago, can ignore such a problem. But the U.N. decision has no connection with our sincere, constructive quest for suitable solutions which will safeguard our national rights and our security interests. I do not understand why it is necessary, when we are trying to unite the Knesset in the face of a brutal external enemy, to try to fish in troubled waters. (interruptions.)
The Assembly's decision is liable to encourage the extreme elements in the Arab world, as well as to encourage extremist tendencies at the Arab summit conference in Rabat, and these extremists are liable to lead the political efforts required for the achievement of a political solution, a solution of peace in the Middle East, into a dead end.
However, we do not depend either on the decisions of the Assembly or on the decisions of the Arab summit conference. And if the extremist elements in the Arab world bring the political efforts to a standstill, we shall find a way, by the exercise of our sovereignty, to safeguard our political and security interests, while also doing justice to the Arab population living in the administered areas. For that, we have no need of any external factors. As you will remember, the government of Israel decided some time ago that this problem can be solved in the process of solving the dispute between Israel and Jordan.
Of course, there is a cumulative weight in repeated negative international decisions, but we are still strong, both here in Israel and among the Jewish communities abroad, and also thanks to a number of countries which support us in a series of just and fundamental concepts.
However, taking into account what may be expected in further debates at the U.N., there is certainly room for a debate in the Knesset plenum. Even if this had not been raised as an urgent motion, the Prime Minister would undoubtedly have referred to this grave question in the statement he is to make next week in the House. I propose that we should support the proposal that the Knesset should discuss the question of the U.N. Assembly vote to invite representatives of the terrorist organizations to appear before it.