The hope that the Security Council debate on the Middle East would continue without acrimony in order to pave the way for the “quiet diplomacy” UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim said he would like to pursue during his trip to the Mideast seemed to flounder here Friday when Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohammed H. el-Zayyat unleashed a blistering attack against the United States and Israel.
Some diplomatic sources here this weekend viewed Zayyat’s warning that “Egyptians will not go crawling on their bellies to Israel no matter how many Phantoms, no matter how many vetoes,” as an effort to air in advance the hard line Egypt is expected to take during Waldheim’s visit to Cairo. Several observers noted that Zayyat’s acrimonious attack was an effort to mollify Libya’s leader Muammar el-Qaddafi who has been pressuring Egypt to take a tougher stand against both the U.S. and Israel. The debate which resumed here Friday after being suspended June 15 will continue Tuesday.
Zayyat, supported by Soviet Ambassador Yakov A. Malik, asserted that there were three options for the Council to consider. The first was “to take the necessary measures to force Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories,” which he termed “the proper course of action.” But, Zayyat added, in an obvious reference to the U.S., “we know, alas and sadly that at least one permanent member of the Council would use its veto power to prevent the Council from taking this course.” He said the second course was inaction, but that such a course would undermine the United Nations. He suggested a third course in which the Council would “pronounce itself” against Israel’s occupation and for the principle of total withdrawal.
U.S. WARNS IT WILL USE VETO
John Scali, U.S. Ambassador to the UN, warned that the U.S. would veto any “one-sided resolution.” He also assailed Zayyat’s charge that U.S. support for Israel blocks Mideast peace. Scali, who did not reply to the Egyptian official on the Council floor, told newsmen after the debate ended for the day that he was “dismayed by this charge.” He said that Zayyat “should look within his own government’s policy to see what blocks the road to peace.” Scali added that the kind of resolution proposed by Zayyat and Malik “would run smack into an American veto.”
The Egyptian reportedly was working with India and Yugoslavia on a resolution embodying his third option, to be submitted Tuesday to the Council. Malik supported Zayyat on the proposed resolution and denounced the U.S. for “refusing” to renew talks among the big powers in support of the long-stalled mission of Ambassador Gunnar V. Jarring. Scali said he hoped a compromise could be worked out over the weekend and warned that the “present harsh lines of debate” could damage Waldheim’s visit to Egypt, Jordan and Israel, tentatively scheduled for late Aug.
TEKOAH REAFFIRMS ISRAEL WANTS TO TALK
Yosef Tekoah, Israel’s Ambassador told the Council that he hoped the cause of peace in the Mideast would emerge unscathed from the confrontation in the Council initiated by Egypt. He asserted that Israel opposed any resolution which would bar border changes as part of a settlement or endorse the 1971 Jarring memorandum which asked Israel to pledge, In advance of talks, a complete withdrawal from all territories. He said that Israel wanted talks, While the Arabs insisted on conditions imposed from outside, ignoring the rights of Israel.
Tekoah said that in all parts of the world except the Mideast conflicts were being resolved by dialogue and negotiation but that “Egypt again sought collision.” He said Egypt and the other Arab states had failed to destroy Israel and now wanted the world to ignore the origins of the 1967 war-the blockade, the expulsion of the UN emergency force, the massing of armies, and the bombardment of Israeli villages.
He said the Arab governments’ demand for a restoration of the old lines was a demand for restoration of “a principal cause”. of the belligerency of the past. He said Egypt sought to single out one principle in Security Council Resolution 242, the non-acquisition of territory by force, but the central element of that resolution, he said, was security and peace.
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.
