text: of the tortured Palestinians. I ask him: who is killing Pales- tinians in the Bekaa? Who is killing them in Tripoli? Who is killing them in Beirut? Who is killing them in Sidon? Who is killing them in Damascus? Yasser Arafat is very specific about that, and at least he deserves to be heard on Syria. He said, as reported in Der Spiegel in July: “In Damascus, in .the Palestinian camp of Yarmuk ‘alone, 22 Palestinians have been killed and more than 80 wounded in recent fighting with government forces. . . . The same thing is happening in the Palestinian camps in Haleb and Darah, also in Syria. Moreover, hundreds have been detained.** The Voice of the PLO from Baghdad is quite specific. It says that “the PLO holds Syrian President Hafez Al-Assad responsible for the bloody incidents”. , 162.‘, I shall be happy to supply the numbers, because what is important is not only who is doing the accusing, but the numbers involved. Medical Aid for the Palestini- ans, a British-based charity whose sympathies are very clear, reported this summer, after a trip to Lebanon, that 14,000 Palestinian Arabs had fled the Syrian carnage to southern Lebanon. It is evidently much safer for Palestini- ans to be closer to Israel than to Syria and Damascus. 163. The representative of Syria evoked, by my count, at. least a dozen times the word “democracy*‘. What kind of democracy is he suggesting-the farcical parliaments of Damascus, perhaps democracy by what is known in our, region by everyone-and by now, surely by the members of the Council-as democracy by Hama rules? He evoked other calls-and I was touched to hear them-about con- cern for Israeli democracy and its future by various Arab representatives: I am’encouraged by that concern, because 
analysis: The text appears to be a political speech or statement discussing the situation of Palestinians in the Middle East, specifically in Syria, Lebanon, and Israel. The author is highlighting the violence and human rights abuses committed against Palestinians, and is criticizing the Syrian government and its president, Hafez Al-Assad. The text also touches on the theme of democracy and the concerns of Arab representatives about Israeli democracy. Overall, the text seems to be focused on international relations, politics, and humanitarian issues.