Tunisia’s Foreign Minister Habib Bourguiba Jr. has ignored the call issued last summer by his father, President Habib Bourguiba, for peace talks between the Arab states and Israel, and has instead sharply attacked Israel here as “an unscrupulous invader” of Palestine.
The new Tunisian policy became evident today from the official text of a major foreign affairs address delivered to the General Assembly by Tunisia’s Foreign Minister on Monday.
“Almost 18 years after the trials which tore apart the Holy Land of Palestine and substituted for the indigenous population a colony of people who came from the four corners of the world,” Mr. Bourguiba Jr. told the Assembly, “the situation in that region, instead of reaching an equitable settlement, has deteriorated from day to day. The Arab population, despoiled and hunted from the land of its ancestors, is still living in hope, its eyes turned toward its paradise lost. It languishes in misery and continues to eek out an existence only thanks to international charity. Its condition has become worse year by year because of the obstinate refusal of the usurper to abide by the resolutions of our organization on this matter.
“Time cannot eradicate the right of the Arab people of Palestine to their country or justify the aggression and the despoiling of Palestine in the eyes of the world. This tragedy, the story of which is known to all, constitutes an illustration of the primacy of brutal force, aggression and flagrant violation of that legality of the United Nations which we should all like to see prevail,” Mr. Bourguiba Jr. said. Thus far, he has been the only Arab spokesman to address the General Assembly.
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