Carter Urged to Resist Pressure to Reverse U.S. Rejection of Program Adopted in Copenhagen

President Carter has been urged to stand fast against pressure to reverse U.S. rejection of the program adopted at the World Conference of the UN Decade for Women in Copenhagen last July. Howard Squadron, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, declared:

“The Copenhagen program calls for the eradication of the ‘evils of Zionism,’ which are linked directly with racism, imperialism, and neo-colonialism. At Copenhagen, the Arab-Soviet bloc also jammed through a call for economic assistance to Palestinian women, inside and outside the territory taken by Israel during the Six-Day War. This assistance would be carried out in consultation and cooperation with the terrorist Palestine Liberation Organization.

“Our country properly voted against the Copenhagen program because of its reference to Zionism and its support of the PLO. Now a nationwide campaign is underway to reverse the U.S. vote.”

Pro-Arab forces are seeking to convey the argument that by supporting Israel in Copenhagen the U.S. “sold out” the women’s rights movement around the world, Squadron said. “In fact, it was the PLO which sold out the women’s movement by diverting attention from the real needs of women — including subjugating women in Arab lands — to the propaganda needs of the PLO.”

Squadron cited reports that the Copenhagen vote is being discussed by local chapters of the United Nations Association in New York, New Haven, Conn. and other cities. “It is no small irony that the very countries which are most oppressive to women in their own populations are now seeking to use the UNA to pressure the U.S. into joining the denunciation of Zionism and the legitimization of the PLO,” Squadron said. “I am confident that the leadership of UNA will recognize and resist this effort to misuse that organization.” He added: “I am confident too that President Carter will resist all pressure of this kind and reiterate our country’s identification with our ally Israel and our commitment to combat the efforts to make Israel a pariah state.”