Syria today called upon the United Nations to establish a new Palestine commission composed of the Big Five–United States, USSR, Great Britain, France and Nationalist China. The commission, Syria proposed, should first take up the question of the repatriation of refugees, then the Jerusalem and territorial questions.
“If Israel failed to cooperate, it should face penalties of the Charter–political and economic sanctions and loss of membership were strong enough to compel obedience,” Achmed Shukairi, head of the Syrian delegation, told the UN General Assembly. In a vitriolic attack on Israel he said that Israel has “frustrated” all United Nations efforts to mediate or conciliate the Israeli-Arab conflicts.
Mr. Shukairi touched upon Israel’s most recent grievance against an Arab League member–referring to Israel’s request of yesterday for Security Council re-opening of its complaint against Egypt for blockading Israel-bound shipping through the Suez Canal.
“Members of the Arab League,” said Mr. Shukairi, “have not failed to seize every opportunity to support Egypt” in its negotiations with Great Britain concerning the Suez Canal but, he declared, a “subversive maneuver was begun by Israel to obstruct negotiations. When Israel found negotiations succeeding, Israel discovered that it was necessary to fall upon her last reserve. Israel then decided to disturb the negotiations. Israel decided to disturb the waters and go out fishing, for trouble and dissension.”
PRESENTS EGYPTIAN ARGUMENT FOR SEIZURE OF ISRAEL SHIP
Mr. Shukairi then proceeded to give the Egyptian version of last week’s “Bar Galim” incident, declaring that the Israeli merchant vessel had deliberately opened fire on two Egyptian fishing boats sinking one of those boats and causing the loss of two Egyptian lives. “This is nothing but an act of aggression and lawlessness,” he said.
Referring to Israel’s version of this incident, he said: “I would not for a moment impeach the ability of Israel to put before this Assembly or the Security Council any story, any story she likes.” He was sarcastic about Israel’s contention that her independence was won through “blood, sweat and tears,” and declared that “the tears belonged to Israel, the blood belongs to the mercenary military adventurers of Europe, and the sweat belongs to the American taxpayers.”
Mr. Shukairi told the Assembly that since 1947 a total of 55 resolutions have been adopted dealing with the problem. He charged that Israel has violated UN resolutions calling for internationalization of Jerusalem, making of that city a “second Berlin in the Middle East.” Regarding the territorial aspect of the Palestine problem, he declared “it is a fact that Israel holds 5,000 square kilometers of land in excess of the partition scheme of the United Nations.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
