King Hussein of Jordan insisted today that “Israel must withdraw from the territories it occupied in June, 1967, must respect the rights of the displaced Palestinians to return to their homeland and must stop its denial of the Palestinians’ right to self-determination, including the right to establish on independent state if they so wish” if the Middle East problem is to be solved.
In a speech to the 34th session of the United Nations General Assembly that some observers called “unyielding,” the Jordanian ruler criticized the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty and the Camp David accords, maintaining that only a comprehensive peace can solve the Middle East problem.
He charged that by making peace with Israel Egypt fell “into the Israeli trap aimed at fragmenting the united Arab front” and claimed that despite the Egyptian-Israeli agreement, peace has become “more elusive than before.” He said that the Camp David agreements had resulted “in what we perceive as contrary to our national interests, to the interests of the Palestinian people and to the interests of the Arab world,”
Hussein conferred with Secretary of State Cyrus Vance here yesterday. Vance termed the 90-minute meeting useful and cordial but indicated that Hussein gave no sign that he would join the peace negotiations now underway between Israel and Egypt. He would not say whether the Jordanian ruler had offered any new suggestions about the peace process.
ATTACKS AUTONOMY PLAN
But in his speech to the General Assembly today. Hussein attacked the Israeli plan for autonomy on the West Bank and Gaza Strip, noting that Israeli leaders said they were willing to grant autonomy for the people in those territories but not for the land. This, he said, is “unacceptable.”
He maintained that “the occupied territories are indivisible…The West Bank and Gaza are no different from the Sinai or the Golan Heights. They are occupied territories and the occupation must end.” He described Jerusalem and the West Bank as “the heart of Palestine” and declared that those territories cannot be subject “to bargaining.”
STRESSES SUPPORT FOR PALESTINIAN PEOPLE
The King stressed throughout his speech his nation’s support for the Palestinian People and referred — but only once — to the Palestine Liberation Organization. “The PLO, through its international activities and announced position in recent months, has proven that it wants to participate in the name of the Palestinian people which it represents in steps leading to a just peace which ensures the liberation of the Palestinian people from occupation and The pursuit of a free and independent existence within their national homeland,” Hussein said.
“We in Jordan are cooperating in good faith with the leadership of the PLO and with the rest of the Arab countries for the good of the brotherly Palestinian people and the Arab world at large.” There was no indication as to whether in his remarks about the PLO, Hussein was conveying a message from PLO chief Yasir Arafat with whom he met in Amman before coming to New York.
Hussein said that “Jordan stands behind the Palestinian people in supporting their freedom and the establishment of their free political entity” and that “it is not prepared to accept from the occupation authorities any vague international formula designed to gain time while planting the land with settlements.”
Hussein made a number of other points in his speech. He said that the displaced Palestinians should have the right “to repatriation or compensation in accordance with successive UN resolutions since 1948.” He advocated the convening of an international conference at which the Arab parties would be represented by a unified delegation under UN auspices to solve the Middle East problem.
The King stated that this could be done within the framework of the Security Council, observing that “We believe that the UN. its Charter, its flag and its successive resolutions is the natural framework for the achievement of the comprehensive peace we all seek.”
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Cyrus Vance and Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan of Israel met for an hour today to discuss arrangements for the supervision of Israel’s withdrawal from Sinai and scheduled lower-level talks on the situation in south Lebanon. Dayan told reporters afterwards that there had been no mention of the aerial dogfight yesterday in which Israeli planes shot down four Syrian MIGs. The withdrawal arrangements were worked out last week in Washington between Vance, Dayan and Egypt’s Defense Minister Kamal Hassan Ali.
(In Washington, the State Department said today that according to information it has received the Israeli planes were “doing photo reconnaissance” when they were attacked. Department spokesman Tom Reston said it was the U. S. impression that the attackers came from Syria and not from bases in Lebanon.)
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.
