The six Arab League states that are members of the United Nations complained today to the world body against decisions by the American and British Governments to have their new envoys to Israel present their credentials to the Israel Chief of State in Jerusalem.
The chairman of the six delegations, in a three-page letter to Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold, expressed their “deep concern and regret” over the instructions to the two envoys to present their credentials in Jerusalem, and not in Tel Aviv.
The letter summarized the history of the status of Jerusalem vis-a-vis the United Nations. It declared that the Arab states “considered the decision of the governments of the United States of America and of the United Kingdom to have their ambassadors present their credentials in Jerusalem to be in flagrant violation of the decisions of the international community embodied in the resolutions of the General Assembly.”
The Arab delegations contended that “Israel possesses no right of sovereignty over Jerusalem” and declared that the very presence of Israel ministries in Jerusalem “constitutes a defiance of the will of the civilized world.” They held that the American and British decision on this issue “is bound to impair the authority and prestige of the United Nations… and will contribute to the aggravation of the state of tension which exists in the Near East.”
The letter was signed by the heads of the delegations of Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Yemen. The signers requested the secretary-general not only to circulate the letter among all member states of the United Nations but also to bring it to the attention of the Palestine Conciliation Commission “for action.” The Arab bloc also moved to secure support of the Latin American states and their intervention to forestall the quasi-recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, The Lebanese delegation reportedly asked the Colombian delegation to intervene with the other Latin American states, but a number of these indicated that they did not wish to be involved.
Meanwhile, 24 nations sponsored a resolution in the General Assembly’s Administrative and Budgetary Committee requiring the secretary-general to translate many of the Assembly’s official documents into the Arabic language, Arabic is not one of the five official languages of the United Nations, and the pressure by the Arab States for this resolution is largely for prestige purposes.
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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.
