Foreign Minister Yigal Allon left for New York today to head Israel’s delegation to the United Nations after warning that Israel faces its most difficult and severe test at the 29th session of the General Assembly. Allon, who took off from Ben Gurion Airport at noon, was referring to the inclusion of the “Palestine Question” on the Assembly’s agenda as a separate item and the presence of the Palestine Liberation Organization at the session.
He said that with the present composition of the UN there was no chance to prevent a discussion of the Palestine Question but that Israel, nevertheless, will make every effort to persuade member nations against it. According to Allon, the PLO’s objective is not to discuss the rights and problems of the Palestinians but to torpedo efforts now under way for a peaceful settlement of the Middle East conflict.
” If the PLO succeeds in bringing about the adoption of anti-Israel resolutions, this can totally undermine the efforts being made now for a political settlement,” Allon said. Allon said that Israel has an interest in solving the Palestinian problem which is both just and in Israel’s interests. But this concerns a genuine Palestinian identity, not the PLO he said.
CONCERN OVER JORDAN’S BOYCOTT
The Foreign Minister, who is also Israel’s Deputy Premier expressed concern that Jordan might carry out its threat to boycott the Geneva peace conference on the Middle East if the Arab summit meeting in Rabat recognizes the PLO as the sole representative of the Palestinian Arabs. Israel and the United States agree that a solution to the Palestine identity should be reached through Israeli-Jordanian negotiations, Allon said.
He stated that the Egyptian and Syrian recognition of the PLO as spokesman for all Palestinians was directed against Jordan and against peace. He said he would raise that problem with Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger when they meet during his visit to the U.S. Allon added that he had no plans to meet Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei A. Gromyko.
King Hussein of Jordan refused yesterday to attend a conference with Egypt, Syria and the PLO in Cairo and froze all of his government’s activities in connection with the Geneva conference. Amman said, however, that the freeze was only temporary and would depend on the outcome of the Rabat meeting Oct. 26.
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