U.N. Body Decides to Hear Members of Palestine Liberation Committee

Emphasizing that its decision does not signify recognition for the militant Palestine Liberation Organization which is composed of Arab refugees preparing for war against Israel, the Special Political Committee of the U.N. General Assembly today decided to grant a hearing on the Arab refugee problem to members of this organization implying that they will be considered as individuals. The text of the decision reads:

“In view of the request submitted by the representatives of Arab states to the effect that during this Committee’s discussion of item 35 (the Arab refugee problem) a hearing should be granted to the members of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the Special Political Committee decides to authorize the persons constituting this delegation to speak in the Committee and to make the statements necessary without this act of authorization signifying recognition of the aforementioned political organization.”

Immediately after this announcement by Carlet Auguste of Haiti, chairman of the committee, Michael S. Comay, Israel’s permanent representative, told the committee that, in his interpretation, the emphasis was on the word “persons” and that, therefore, anyone appearing who claimed to represent the PLO would speak as an individual. On the other hand, Adnan Pachachi, of Iraq, sponsor of the move on behalf of the 13 Arab states here for a hearing for the PLO representatives, insisted that he did not interpret the key word in the way Mr. Comay did.

Ambassador Comay told the committee: “Israel has not accepted this decision and I reserve the position of my Government regarding the decision.” The United States representative in the committee stated that his Government was satisfied to have included in the statement specific mention of the fact that the hearing for the PLO representatives does not signify “recognition” of the PLO.

The debate on whether to include the specific name of the Palestine Liberation Organization in the decision to give a hearing to representatives of the Arab refugees was continued for two hours today after having taken up more than four hours yesterday. The decision, formulated by El Salvador and joined by Costa Rica’s cosponsor ship, seemed to be highly acceptable to the Arab bloc.

ISRAEL SATISFIED DECISION IMPLIES NO P.L.O. RECOGNITION

After the meeting, Mr. Comay told newsmen: “I do not suggest that the decision taken by the committee is satisfactory to us or is unambiguous in its terms but the most important element in it is a positive one. It was unanimously decided that a hearing given to the persons concerned implied no recognition whatever to the Palestine Liberation Organization.

“After laying down this vital principle for the first time in many years this item has been before the Assembly, it was first further decided to invite the ‘persons’ constituting the delegation. This left unclear in what capacity they were being invited and the Israeli delegation put on record that the persons concerned would be invited only as individuals and not as a delegation. This view was supported by the United States, which recorded that the decision taken by the committee meant inviting persons as such in accordance with the practice of previous years.

“The Israeli delegation has never opposed individuals appearing before the committee to speak on the refugee problem. Our sole concern in this case was to insure that the so-called Palestine Liberation Organization should not obtain recognition at the United Nations — and this purpose was achieved.”