Israel will remain in the Gaza and Akaba areas until she receives adequate guarantees that her demands for security and freedom of passage of the Gulf of Akaba will be met, Israel delegate Abba Eban indicated here. is morning after a post-midnight vote of the General Assembly called on Israel to evacuate the Gaza and Sinai east coast Strips.
In a late night session, the Assembly passed another “immediate withdrawal” resolution by a vote of 74 to two, with two abstentions. Israel and France voted in the negative and Holland and Luxemburg abstained.
The Assembly then passed a second resolution, by 56 to 0, with the Soviet and Arab blocs abstaining, broadening the functions of the United Nations Emergency Force aid placing it on the demarcation line between Israel and Egypt until conditions had been achieved conducive to the maintenance of peace in the area.
Both resolutions were introduced by a seven-state bloc: the United States, India, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Norway and Yugoslavia. Canada, which had taken a leading role in efforts to satisfy Israel’s demands for security guarantees, refused to sponsor the resolutions because the U. S. had insisted on deleting clear language proposed by Canada.
ISRAELIS FIND U. N RESOLUTION FAULTY; STRESS RECOGNITION OF PRINCIPLE
Israeli circles here expressed the view today that unanimous passage of the second resolution despite its faultiness, represented a clear victory for the principle of withdrawal plus related measures upon which Israel insisted and which has now become established UN policy. Israel wants the UN Emergency Force to remain in the Sharm el Sheikh area as well as on the Gaza-Sinai line.
During the early part of last evening, Egypt surprised the General Assembly by declaring it would not agree to an expanded role for UNEF. Egyptian Foreign Minister Dr Mahmoud Fawzi declared that UNEF was not in Egypt “to resolve any question or to settle any problem. “but to “put an end to the aggression” and to secure “the withdrawal of Israel behind the armistice demarcation line. ” The Egyptian spokesman stated that UNEF is not in Egypt to infringe upon Egyptian sovereignty in any fashion He added that Egypt’s consent to the entry, stationing and deployment of the force was an indispensable prerequisite “
United States delegate Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. told the Assembly that UNEF should serve as a restraint” in the maintenance of peace between Israel and Egypt. Mr. Lodge added that the “restraint” should be exercised against “any attempt to exercise belligerent rights or to engage in hostile actions contrary to the armistice agreement, the decisions of the Security Council and the resolutions of the General Assembly.”
Mr. Lodge insisted on an Israeli withdrawal “forthwith”–and said that Israel had no right to exact a price” for compliance with Assembly resolutions. He emphasized also that it would be necessary after the withdrawal to prevent the return of the conditions that prevailed prior to the hostilities. ” This was interpreted by Western observers to mean that the U.S was placing on Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold responsibility for making up the recognized inadequacy of the second resolution.
The American delegate indicated that under this resolution Israel would not retain the administration of the Gaza Strip after withdrawal, but did not clarify whether he meant that the Israelis should be replaced by Egyptian or United Nations administration. United States sources later admitted that he had implied that Egypt would move in.
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.
