A draft treaty between the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the Arab League was deferred for further study this week-end, after a heated Israeli-Arab debate before the FAO Council, the organization’s ruling body, in session at FAO headquarters here.
A proposal that the FAO enter an agreement with the Arab League was brought before the Council last fall, and referred to the organization’s legal and constitutional committee. That unit has since brought in a report proposing that kind of treaty.
Israel protested the proposal, first by mail, and during this session through debate led by the chief of its representation, Michael Comay, deputy director general of the Israel Foreign Ministry. Mr. Comay told the Council that the Arab League has a record of organized economic warfare against Israel, a member of the United Nations. Among the charges brought by Mr. Comay against the League was its blocking of a regional agreement on the use of the Jordan River waters, and its placement of obstacles in the efforts to control the plague of locusts.
Samir Safouat, head of the United Arab Republic delegation to the Council meeting, debated the issue with Mr. Comay for three hours, often interrupting the Israeli delegate, Mr. Safouat maintained there is no difference between the Arab League and other regional organizations with which the FAO has agreements, like the Council of Europe and the Organization of American States.
In reply, Mr. Comay pointed out that those organizations are genuine regional groupings and not, like the Arab League, formed “on a purely racial” basis. Following the bitter debate, the Council voted to refer the matter back to the legal and constitutional committee.
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