Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Chaim Herzog, said today that the decision by the UN Economic Commission for Western Asia (ECWA) to accept the Palestine Liberation Organization as a full member “is in flagrant defiance of UN rules and practices governing regional commissions.” The ECWA decision was reported to have been made yesterday at a meeting in Amman, Jordan. It is subject to approval of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) currently in session in New York.
Herzog said that by accepting the PLO, the ECWA “has violated its own charter which specifically states that ‘members of the commission shall consist of member states of the United Nations situated in Western Asia.'” Herzog added, “This transparent, cynical move coupled with the fact that the State of Israel has not been admitted to the ECWA only emphasizes the process of deterioration which has begun to cause the disintegration of the UN as an organization of independent, sovereign states.”
(By Yitzhak Rabi)
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.