The United Nations-sponsored “International Day of Solidarity With the Palestinian People” opened here this morning amid tight security measures, a snub of the events by the United States and most Western countries and noisy but peaceful demonstrations and counter-demonstrations near UN headquarters. (Related stories P.3.)
President Anwar Sadat of Egypt sent a special message on the occasion of Solidarity Day which was read to the delegations by Egyptian Ambassador Ismat Abdel Meguid. The Egyptian leader declared that the Camp David agreements created the framework which would “open the road to the Palestinian people for the restoration of its rights and the creation of its national authority in its own land.” he said that Egypt is working, at the Washington conference, to translate this framework into concrete steps in order to realize the hopes of the Arab nation “and especially the Palestinian people.”
In what was seen as an attempt at conciliation with the Palestine Liberation Organization, Sadat said that “Egypt’s peace initiative, which was supported by the entire world, came to emphasize the lessons and results of the October (1973) war and to underline that the Egyptian people is determined to shoulder its national responsibilities and to continue steadily on the road of establishing a just, durable and comprehensive settlement” in the Middle East.
Sadat noted that Solidarity Day is celebrated at a time when Egypt is undertaking “one of the most difficult battles, the battle to establish peace in the area, based on justice, the principle of international law and respect for the right of peoples to self-determination.”
Some 2000 people, most of them students, massed in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza opposite the UN headquarters to protest Solidarity Day in a demonstration organized by the North American Jewish Students Network. They denounced the PLO and carried signs reading “Israel Wants Peace — The PLO Wants Israel, “and “Jewish Blood is not Cheap.”
At the lsaiah Wall, four blocks away, about 150 American Palestinians and their supporters, many dressed in traditional Arab headgarb, marched in support of the PLO. They handed pamphlets to passers-by denouncing the Camp David accords and calling for rallies in major American cities to protest “Zionist settlers colonialism.” The pro-PLO rally was sponsored by the Organization of Arab Students in the U.S. and Canada.
WESTERN POWERS SNUB EVENT
The UN events on behalf of the Palestinians included an exhibition of Palestinian posters, screening a PLO-produced film and speeches by the members of various delegations participating in Solidarity Day and by Secretary General Kurt Waldheim.
Although no Western powers were represented, the West German delegation circulated a statement on behalf of the nine member states of the European Economic Community (EEC). The statement recalled the position of the EEC countries as presented by West Germany’s Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher in his speech to the General Assembly last Sept. 26.
It quoted Genscher as saying that “in the establishment of a just and lasting peace, account must be taken of the legitimate rights of the Palestinians” and the “a peace settlement in the Middle East will be possible only if the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to give effective expression to its national identity is translated into fact. This would take into account the need for a homeland for the Palestinian people.”
Waldheim, in his remarks, declared that “however formidable the difficulties, we cannot afford to relax for a moment the efforts to find a peaceful way forward” in the Middle East. He stressed in that connection “the crucial importance of the Palestinian people in any search for a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.”
BACKGROUND OF SOLIDARITY DAY
Solidarity Day, which was opposed by the U.S. and brought a storm of protest against the UN from American Jewish organizations and others, was sponsored by the Committee for the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People which was established by the General Assembly last year. The date coincided with the 31st anniversary of the UN resolution of Nov. 29,1947 to partition Palestine, opening the way to the establishment of Israel’s independence. On the committee’s recommendation, the General Assembly also approved the establishment of the Special Unit for Palestinian Rights in the UN Secretariat which has a $500,000 budget, the sole purpose of which is to advance PLO propaganda goals.
The UN was closed to the public today. The complex of buildings that make up the headquarters of the world organization was surrounded by hundreds of policemen, police cars and barricades and traffic was diverted to other streets. The credentials of all persons entering the building were carefully checked by security guards. According to some reports, a number of anonymous telephone threats were received at UN headquarters.
ANTI-ISRAEL RESOLUTIONS APPROVED
Apart from Solidarity Day, other anti-Israel activities took place at the UN. Yesterday, the General Assembly’s Special Political Committee approved three resolutions protesting alleged practices by Israel in the occupied Arab territories in contravention of international conventions.
One resolution called on Israel to acknowledge that the Geneva Convention on the protection of civilians in time of war applies to all the Arab territories occupied since 1967 including Jerusalem. The vote was 104-1 with Israel casting the only negative ballot. Guatemala, the Soviet Union and all other East European countries except Rumania abstained. Rumania voted for the resolution.
The second draft expressed grave anxiety and concern of Israel’s alleged actions to change the legal status, geographical nature and demographic composition of the occupied territories and declared those actions illegal and “a serious obstruction of efforts aimed at achieving a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.” The resolution was adopted by 110-1. Israel voted against it and the Bahamas, Guatemala and Venezuela abstained. The U.S. and Bolivia joined the abstainers in a separate vote on some provisions in the draft.
The third resolution, commending the work of the three-nation committee on Israeli practices in the occupied territories, was adopted by a vote of 83-3 with 29 abstentions. Israel, the U.S. and Guatemala voted against the draft.
Meanwhile, the General Assembly continued its debate on the “Question of Palestine.” Yesterday, the Jordanian delegate, Hazem Nuseibeh, told the Assembly that there could be no viable peace without a comprehensive settlement, of which, he asserted, the fate of the Palestinian people was the central single issue. A just peace, he said, must include Israeli withdrawal from all the territories occupied in the Six-Day War, foremost of which was what he termed Arab Jerusalem.
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.
