The United States described today “International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People” as “confrontational, one-sided and not helpful in the quest for a just regional settlement of the Arab-Israel conflict.”
“We oppose and will not participate in this day,” the State Department’s chief spokesman, Hodding Carter, said. He pointed out that planning for this day “is the responsibility of the United Nations Secretariat special unit for Palestinian rights.” The U.S. opposed the establishment of the unit, the committee, Solidarity Day and all preparations for that day, Carter said.
He gave the Administration’s views at a news briefing after questions had again been raised by a reporter as to when the U.S. would speak out against the program and also about the Administration’s continued silence regarding the written protests by 28 Senators against the U.S. payment of $190,000 of the $500,000 the United Nations is spending for what is in effect a glorification of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
OPPOSES CONTINUATION OF UN UNIT
Carter said today that the Congress, by amendment to the State Department’s authorization bill, had requested President Carter to instruct Andrew Young, United States Ambassador to the UN, to oppose the continuation of both the UN special unit and the committee. The legislation, he pointed out, also asked the President, “to use all means at his disposal to obtain action by the General Assembly to terminate” the committee and the special unit. “We have been doing precisely that,” Carter said. He added that Young has “informed” UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim “that we oppose this and related activities at the UN.”
Reporting that “only the UN office in Geneva and UNESCO headquarters in Paris will observe the day,” outside of New York, the spokesman also said “we have told our missions not to participate in Solidarity Day and to insure that none of their personnel attend the celebrations.” He said that “Ambassador Young and his staff have urged other member states to join us in boycotting Solidarity Day.”
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.
