The U.N. Security Council today took up the application of the Israeli Government for membership in the United Nations. The discussion will continue tomorrow. Ten of the 22 members of the Council have recognized Israel and all, except Britain and Egypt, are expected to vote favorably on the application.
Immediate approval of the Israeli application was urged at the Council session by U.S, delegate Warren Austin. He emphasized that there is no doubt that Israel constitutes a state within the meaning of that term under international law. He also pointed out that Israel qualifies for U.N. membership under the provisions of the Charter which specify that a state must be peace-loving to qualify for admission.
“The people of Israel,” he said, “have given the world a convincing demons traction of their ability to organize their government and establish a system of administration and law-making under the most difficult conditions.” He especially lauded the armistice agreement reached recently between Israel and Egypt at Rhodes.
French delegate Guy de la Tournelle announced that France would vote in favor of Israel’s admission since the Jewish state was peace-loving and was able and willing to respect the Charter. There is no doubt that Israel is an independent state, he added.
Soviet delegate Yacob Malik said that Russia was in favor of Israel’s admission at the last session of the Council in Paris and would vote in favor of it now. All the legal requirements of the Charter, he said, have been met by Israel and it is Therefore the duty of the Council “to act favorably at once on Israel’s application for U.N. membership.
Austin and Malik strongly contested a Chinese proposal that the application referred to the Membership Committee. The U.S. delegate pointed out that the Membership Committee had dealt with the question in Paris last Docember and that the application required no further discussion. “I do not favor postponement at this time,” he said. The Soviet delegate argued in the sane vein.
Dr. T.F. Tsiang of China said his suggestion was not intended to prejudge the ultimate outcome of the question, or to be a dovice for postponement. China, he declared, had recognized Israel on March 1, and he intended to vote for Israel’s admission when the matter came to the vote.
Mahmoud Fawzi Bey, the Egyptian delegate, in a violent tirade apparently aimed at the home audience in Egypt, said that Israel’s application should be discarded because of Israel’s “long record of disobedience to the Security Council and the United Nations.” The least that could be done, he declared, was to follow the suggestion of the Chinese delegate. Fawzi asked the president of the Council to explain why Israel’s application was moved ahead on the agenda. “How about the territory Israel is still holding in defiance of the Security Council?” he shouted.
He repeatedly warned the Council against over-rating the significance of the armistice agreement Egypt signed at Rhodes. This agreement, he said, is purely “a military one.”
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