[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 101 (Wednesday, July 10, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7668-S7669]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          PACTA SUNT SERVANDA

  Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, today, Israeli Prime Minister Bingamin 
Netanyahu delivered an important address to Congress in which he 
outlined his vision of continued close ties between our two democracies

[[Page S7669]]

and of the peace process between Israel and her neighbors. A process 
with which we have been so closely involved.
  His address had many important elements, none more so than when he 
deviated from his prepared statement to pronounce the ancient Roman 
maxim: Pacta sunt servanda--agreements must be honored. It should not 
come as a surprise that the disciple of the disciple of Vladimir 
Jabotinsky speaks of the importance of international law when 
addressing the U.S. Congress.
  Jabotinsky found the Revisionist party--the forerunner of the present 
Likud party--in 1925 which had as its goal the establishment of a 
Jewish state in Palestine under the protection of international law. 
When Prime Minister Netanyahu asserts that agreements must be honored, 
he aligns himself with a principle that was of vital importance in 
international affairs at the beginning of this century but which 
suffered neglect during the cold war.
  From its earliest days the leaders of the Soviet Union had asserted, 
in the words of Maxim Litvinov, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, 
in 1922 that ``there was not one world but two--a Soviet world and a 
non-Soviet world * * * there was no third world to arbitrate. * * *'' 
Which is to say there was no common law against which to measure 
conduct.
  This was the Soviet view until Mikhail Gorbachev came before the 
General Assembly of the United Nations on December 7, 1988, to remind 
the General Assembly of the political, juridical and moral importance 
of Pacta sunt servanda. Mr. Gorbachev went on:

       While championing demilitarization of international 
     relations, we would like political and legal methods to reign 
     supreme in all attempts to solve the arising problems.
       Our ideal is a world community of states with political 
     systems and foreign policies based on law.
       This could be achieved with the help of an accord within 
     the framework of the U.N. on a uniform understanding of the 
     principles and norms of international law; their codification 
     with new conditions taken into consideration; and the 
     elaboration of legislation for new areas of cooperation.
       In the nuclear era, the effectiveness of international law 
     must be based on norms reflecting a balance of interests of 
     states, rather than on coercion.
       As the awareness of our common fate grows, every state 
     would be genuinely interested in confining itself within the 
     limits of international law.

  The chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet had come to New 
York and offered terms of surrender. Gorbachev knew what it meant for 
the Soviets to assert that they would be bound by norms of 
international law. Quite simply, official Washington did not, for it no 
longer actively felt that the United States was bound by such norms. 
Passively, yes; if pressed. But this was not something we pressed on 
others in general or thought much about. I wrote:

       In the annals of forgetfulness there is nothing quite to 
     compare with the fading from the American mind of the idea of 
     the law of nations. In the beginning this law was set forth 
     as the foundation of our national existence. By all means 
     wash this proposition with cynical acid and see how it 
     shrinks.

  Prime Minister Netanyahu has raised the possibility that we may one 
day close that chapter in the annals of forgetfulness. I hope that my 
colleagues and those in the administration have taken note.
  Mr. Netanyahu stresses that the peace agreements that Israel has made 
with her neighbors will be followed and that future agreements will be 
based on law. As he stated, ``we seek to broaden the circle of peace to 
the whole Arab world and the rest of the Middle East.''
  This is an important day for both our countries. I congratulate Mr. 
Netanyahu for his address and wish him well as he embarks on his term 
as Prime Minister.

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