Summary
Ambassador of Senegal and first Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, who presented the Committee’s 1976 recommendations to the General Assembly and the Security Council (Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem: Part II (1947-1977), lines 1216-1218 approx.).
Details
- Presenting the recommendations to the General Assembly in 1976, Fall said: “Never in the history of nations have the actions of an international organization had such a decisive effect on the destiny of a people than those of the United Nations on that of the Palestinian people” (line 1254; note 107/). The question of Palestine, introduced to the United Nations by the United Kingdom on 2 April 1947, “has borne and still bears the character of a problem of self-determination, which the United Nations to date has not been able to resolve in a just and, therefore, durable manner”, and the Committee’s mandate was “neither to resolve the question of the Middle East nor to reaffirm the rights of Israel, but to define ways and means to ensure recognition of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people” (lines 1254-1270 approx.).
- In the Security Council he stated that the United Nations “must bear a great part of the responsibility for the tragedy which the Arab people of Palestine are now experiencing”, that “Ruthless, blind and unjust force can build nothing which cannot be destroyed by an even greater force based on justice and law”, and quoted M. Mendes-France: “When a people wishes to free itself of an occupier although the occupier may be militarily more powerful, it will always be successful. This was the case in Viet Nam, in Algeria, in Madagascar, in Angola. The same will hold for Palestine” (lines 1272-1276 approx.; note 108/).
- In October 1977 he told the Council the Committee’s task consisted “above all, in righting the basic imbalance which has always characterized the various United Nations approaches to the Palestine question”, and that “Israel’s right to exist is no longer challenged by anyone. But Israel in turn must recognize the legitimate rights of its neighbours.” (lines 1290-1298 approx.; notes 111/, 112/).
Related pages
Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem: Part II (1947-1977), Self-determination