The Security Council’s Middle East debate that began 10 days ago will close this evening. Consultations will be held among member states tomorrow prior to voting on a resolution. Unless the hard line Arab draft which has been circulated yesterday and today is modified–a highly unlikely prospect according to observers here–it faces virtually certain veto by the United States. A working paper drafted by non-aligned countries, is expected to be ready tonight. There was no immediate information available as to its contents.
The Arab draft resolution calls for Israel’s withdrawal from all occupied Arab territories, the establishment of a Palestinian state and recognition of the Palestine Liberation Organization as a negotiating partner in any future peace forums, including the Geneva conference. In its present form, this resolution appears doomed to veto because it would substantively alter the meaning and intent of Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338. It is expected to draw abstentions from the Western European powers.
PLO, ARAB FAILURE SEEN
Some European diplomats and reportedly, diplomats from some Third World countries, tried in vain to persuade the Arabs to modify their draft It is known that Egypt and Jordan favored a milder text that the U.S. might have found more difficult to veto but the extreme line of the PLO has apparently prevailed.
The PLO and their Arab allies also appear to have failed to gain the propaganda victory they sought and Israel’s decision to boycott the Security Council debate, initially criticized even by some friends of Israel, seems to have been vindicated in the view of some diplomats and observers. Israel’s absence, they said, helped focus attention on the one-sidedness of the debate which from the start was little more than a futile monologue of acrimonious speeches by the Arabs.
Even more significant is the fact that the Security Council’s proceedings began losing their impact and importance as the civil war between Moslems and Christians in Lebanon escalated and world attention turned toward the seemingly endless blood-shedding in that country. Almost all diplomats here believe that the fate of the PLO will be decided on the battleground in Lebanon rather than in the Security Council chamber.
It is believed that the war in Lebanon prompted the Arabs here to rush to produce an extreme draft resolution even though it is certain to be vetoed. The facade of Arab unity that the draft may connote is, however, over-shadowed by the pending failure of the Arab and PLO objective to alter Resolutions 242 and 338.
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