The Israeli Government's attitude of open challenge to the standards of international law and the principles of the United Nations Charter is the result of the imperturbability with which the Security Council has witnessed flagrant violations of its own resolutions.

At a time when nuclear stockpiles are growing and being continuously modernized, when the militarization of outer space continues imperturbably, when new, even more deadly weapons are being developed and weapons of mass destruction proliferate on a large scale, leading to worldwide concern, when international disarmament instruments are being violated or repudiated, when nuclear, chemical or biological terrorism pose a global threat and when the expectations of the international community in the area of disarmament are more urgent than ever, our Conference is wallowing in a desperate inability to overcome the differences among its members.