The World Jewish Congress successfully blocked a last minute attempt to associate the coordinating body of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) with a UN-sponsored conference on Palestine next year, the WJC reported here today.
The attempt was made at the executive session of the Conference of NGOs at UN headquarters in Geneva to involve them formally in preparations for the International Conference on the Question of Palestine to be convened next year by the UN in Paris.
The Executive Committee of the Conference of NGOs, the umbrella body of non-governmental groups having consultative status with the UN, was concluding its first session since last month’s elections at which the WJC succeeded in attaining a seat.
As the session drew to a close, a surprise motion was introduced urging the NGO grouping “to cooperate in the preparations for the International Conference on the Question of Palestine convened under General Assembly resolution 36/120, to take place at UNESCO in Paris, in August 1983.” The motion specified that NGO cooperation be through “a commission or working group.”
LONE VOICE IN OPPOSITION
Gerhart Riegner, WJC Secretary-General, was the lone voice to speak in opposition. He argued that the Executive should deal with matters that unite NGOs, not divide them. The Executive, he added, had the right to review all UN conferences but was under no obligation to deal with each of them.
Following difficult negotiations behind closed doors, agreement was reached that the NGO Executive would not consider questions relating to NGO participation in the Palestine Conference.
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.
