Most United Nations diplomats were of the opinion today that the Security Council’s action of yesterday, when eight members voted an anti-Syrian resolution which failed of official adoption only because of a Soviet veto, was the most serious blow given any Arab state here in exactly 14 years. The opinion was supported by editorials in most of the leading newspapers in this country.
The last time the Council voted an anti-Arab resolution was on September 1, 1951, when Egypt was ordered to stop barring Israeli shipping from the Suez Canal.Since that vote, the Security Council has never been able to agree on Arab censure, due to Soviet vetoes of threats of such negative action by the USSR.Yesterday’s veto by the Soviet Union was the third instance when a negative Soviet vote blocked Council action against an Arab state; it was the 101st time the Soviet had exercised its veto power to frustrate Security Council action.
Anger was high here today against the Soviet Union’s action among nearly all diplomats except those belonging to the Soviet and Arab blocs. At the same time, there was high praise here for the United States and British positions, which persisted in efforts to put through the resolution absolving Israel while by implication condemning Syria for the murder of two young Israeli farmers at Kibbutz Almagor on August 19.
There was almost universal praise–again with the exception of the Soviet and Arab diplomats–for the manner in which Michael S. Comay, Israel’s permanent representative here, handled the entire issue. It was particularly noted that both the U. S. representative, Charles W. Yost, and Mr. Comay had made it clear that the eight-ballot majority for the vetoed draft did not alter the fact that Syria had been found guilty.
“The fact that the resolution was vetoed, ” said Mr. Yost, “does not in any way detract from the judgment of the majority of the Council on these complaints.” The fact that the formal passage of the resolution has bee prevented, ” said Ambassador Comay, “should give Syria very little comfort. No veto cannot wipe out the damning facts which have been so carefully gathered, sifted and set out. The veto cannot delete from the Council’s records the clear view of the matter expressed in this debate by every single member except the Soviet Union– not taking into account Morocco, which would naturally identity itself with the Arab side. My Government regards its complaint as having been vindicated, and Syria as morally condemned. It is our hope that, in their future conduct, the Syrian authorities will not fail to pay heed to the weight of international opinion. “
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.
