95 Statement in the Knesset by Foreign Minister Shamir on the Situation in Poland- 4 January 1982

Mr. Speaker, Members of the Knesset,

For 16 months, beginning in August 1980, the entire world followed with bated breath, with anxiety and hope, a wondrous, extraordinary and astonishing phenomenon that burgeoned in one of the countries of the Warsaw Pact -Communist Poland - and that attracted the attention of millions in many countries in different parts of the world. Because of its geographical location and political conditions created by the Second World War, Poland has found itself, since the end of that war, in the sphere of Soviet influence and domination. The ruling regime does not express the will of the Polish people. On the contrary, it is a matter of common knowledge that the great majority of the Polish people, close adherents of their religious faith, are far removed from being supporters of the Communist regime, or zealous followers of the Soviet Union. And yet the country is under the exclusive rule of a single party, the members and followers of which constitute, without question, a minority of the Polish people. There is nothing new about this phenomenon of permanent minority rule, which characterizes all the undemocratic countries, and which, unfortunately the world at large has become accustomed to and has accepted.

And then, in the summer of 1980, something happened in Poland. A crack was made in the totalitarian iceberg - a crack that gradually widened. An authentic mass movement began to emerge in the state - in its early stages as a trade union movement - a movement which, though devoid of any party or establishment backing, dared to fight for the rights and the wider and varied interests of the Polish masses. In its vigor and its boldness, in the democratic method of free and direct elections of its committees and leaders, the movement swept up growing masses of men and women, in a great wave engulfing old and young throughout Poland, among all segments of-the population. Within a very short period, it embraced millions who found that it gave expression to their deepest wants and desires. They believed in it, and they were prepared to fight for it.

The Solidarity movement came to number 9.5 million members - a record figure in a country of 36 million inhabitants. These are people who came to the movement of their own free will - pouring out for gatherings and demonstrations, without the classical ideologies or carefully formulated doctrines. It was clear that virtually all of them were under the spell of a single aspiration, their one-and-only desire: freedom - the right to decide their fate by themselves, without the dictates of "political offices" and of edicts handed down by rulers of mighty powers.

There was, in this movement, the enthusiasm of youth and a great deal of naivete. All who witnessed and admired this unusual manifestation in the totalitarian world were surprised anew every day upon discovering that this miracle called Solidarity was still there. In the wake of the experience of Hungary and Czechoslovakia, it was difficult to foster any illusions about Poland. The bitter end appeared inevitable. And yet, Solidarity chalked up one triumph after another. The authorities and the ruling party were compelled to take it into consideration, to conduct negotiations with it, to look for compromises. At times, indeed, it seemed as though something new were in the making, something unexpected, and some people began to believe that, under the constraints of the conditions that had been created, and because of the wish to avoid confrontation and bloodshed, a kind of coexistence was developing between the regime and the democratic will of the masses.

There was a time when hopes were aroused that something had begun to stir even within the ruling party. However, to the anguish of all lovers of liberty in the world, the miracle did not take place, and last December the hopes for a decisive change in Poland were shattered. Solidarity's clear-cut and explicit demands - which had crystallized in the course of its campaigns and confrontations and, in recent months, had been thrust forward without any attempt at camouflage - demands for the holding of democratic elections for state institutions and of a referendum on the totalitarian rule of the Communist party - these demands sealed the fate of the Solidarity movement. A movement that openly calls for the establishment of a democratic pluralistic regime cannot exist side by side with the regime that has been forced upon Poland, a country dominated by Soviet Russia.

And the result was clear - repression and liquidation. The juggernaut of repression, impeccably planned, immediately appeared - the product of dozens of years of experience, without restrictions or restraints, taking full advantage of all the mechanisms available to those in power. There are none who are more experienced and expert in the techniques of imposing the will of minorities on majorities than the Communist regimes. With cruel agility, within a matter of days, the movement of millions that carried the hopes of the Polish people for liberty and democracy was suppressed. Its leaders were cast into prisons, thousands were interned, strikes were viciously crushed. An entire nation was placed under siege. After a brief period of hope, an heroic attempt at cultivating democratic freedoms in a totalitarian wilderness was brought to an end, and many millions - both within and outside of Poland - were left heart-broken and hopeless in the face of this suppression.

Mr. Speaker,

The question may be asked: What do we, citizens of a small country plagued with many problems and threats, have to do with Poland's struggle for freedom and democracy? Indeed, we and the Polish people have deep historical ties, which have continued for over a thousand years, assuming various forms. Many of us were born on Polish soil, were educated there as Zionists, and subsequently came from there to redeem and rebuild our homeland. Many more, however, - millions, in fact - were slaughtered in that country by the Germans, with the active assistance of very many members of the Polish nation. Our account with the Polish people is long and bitter. Even during recent days we have received reports of anti-Semitic propaganda, despite the fact that only a very few Jews are left in that country. But it is not this account which today draws our attention to what is transpiring in Poland.

we are a democratic state. Our people was nourished on the values of democracy from its earliest infancy - from the prophets and the traditions of the sages. We belong to that small group of 35-36 states that are truly democratic - a minority among the 150 member states of the United Nations - a group whose relative weight in the community of nations is diminishing, but whose absolute importance remains substantial and significant. Few are familiar with the deficiencies of democracy as we are, but we are all aware that we could not live and breathe without it. We have many complaints against the democratic nations, which ignore our just positions because of temporary, short-term interests. But, nevertheless, we believe and are convinced that the existence and furthering of democracy is crucially important to the future of humanity and to our future as a nation. It is our opinion that the democratic states must work together to protect and further democracy, and, at this time when Poland is being cruelly crushed because of its quest for freedom, the democratic world must rally to its side.

The unity of the totalitarian world functioning provides its strength and its ability to suppress the Polish struggle for freedom. By contrast, the democratic world is divided, factionalized and split by many different outlooks and conflicting interests. All of these, however, are dwarfed by the wide gap separating the democratic states and those of totalitarian suppression. This gap requires all the democratic states to mobilize themselves and to convene a conference to be headed by the mightiest of democracies, the United States, in order to discuss and to decide upon measures and ways of helping the Polish people in its distress and in this way to assist all of humanity in its struggle for fundamental liberty. This mobilization and conference must provide the impetus for the establishment of that international instrument which today is lacking on the world scene, whose function will be - over and above conflicting outlooks and interests - to protect the existing democratic regimes and to assist nations subject to conditions of suppression and slavery to achieve -their democratic liberty. All states which conduct their political and social affairs in accordance with well-known and accepted criteria of parliamentary or presidential democracy - those same criteria, for example, that are practiced by the Council of Europe, which according to its charter may admit only democratic states - should be both eligible and committed to participate in this framework.

We propose that such a conference be convened and that its first item of business be the mobilization of the entire democratic world on behalf of Poland's struggle for freedom.