Twenty Arab countries submitted a motion to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) requesting that the ICAO’s General Assembly meeting here this week odd to its agenda a discussion on boycotting the Atarot Airport in Jerusalem. It was adopted by a vote of 55-13 with 28 abstentions.
Following a heated discussion on the issue the Assembly voted again on the substance of the Arabs resolution and only Israel and the United States voted against it, while 54 countries voted in favor and 32 countries abstained. France, Greece and Spain were the only European countries voting in favor.
The resolution declared that “whereas Jerusalem is under Arab sovereignty the General Assembly (should) take the necessary steps to reinforce the resolution adopted in 1974 which states that no states be permitted to fly their planes to Jerusalem.”
Although the Atarot Airport serves only local Israeli planes and is not used for any international service, observers noted that the resolution was an attempt to forestall any international flights landing at the airport in the future should the airport expand its facilities.
However, Yitzhak Maier, the Israel Consul General who headed the Israeli delegation to the Assembly, pointed out that the real intent of the resolution was to establish on record that “Jerusalem is under Arab sovereignty.” He told the Assembly that “there is no such thing as Arab sovereignty and this expression has been introduced for the first time in the ICAO vocabulary.”
THREATS BY LIBYA DENOUNCED
The delegate from Libya warned that his country “will take into account those who voted against or abstained (on the resolution) and those countries will have to expect resulting consequences.” Maier denounced this statement “and the vile philosophy underlying it.” He declared, further: “The Libyan delegate threatens to hold free nations at ransom and nobody can remain indifferent because indifference to such threats often is punished by tragedy.”
In another development, the General Assembly accepted the credentials of the Palestine Liberation Organization giving it observer status. This move was denounced by Maier who said that “the so-called PLO is a terrorist organization, an illegal body, unfit and unqualified to participate in any international agency.”
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