Behind the Headlines Mideast Will Be Major Topic at UN General Assembly Session

The Middle East will be a focal point in discussions at the 29th session of the General Assembly which convenes Tuesday for three months of debate. The debate on this issue is expected to be especially acrimonious with the demand by all the 20 Arab delegations and 23 other delegations, including African and Communist countries but not the Soviet Union or the People’s Republic of China or Western countries, that the question of Palestine be considered as a separate item on the Assembly’s agenda. In previous Assembly sessions, the Palestinian issue was either part of the Mideast discussion or came under the heading of “refugees.”

Even before this proposal was submitted this weekend to Secretary General Kurt Waldheim, Israel declared that placing the question of Palestine on the agenda would be a setback to the cause of peace and stability in the Middle East. In addition, other topics on the Assembly agenda, including terrorism, human rights, nuclear power and the future of UN peace-keeping forces in the Mideast, will impinge on and exacerbate debates on the Mideast situation.

CRUCIAL CROSSROAD OF HISTORY

The Assembly begins its session at a crucial crossroad of history: Israeli and Arab leaders have just concluded a series of discussions with U.S. Administration leaders on the next stage in progress toward a Mideast peace, and the upcoming Geneva talks are looming precariously on the horizon. At the same time, war talk from Cairo is becoming more strident and the Syrians are receiving massive supplies of military hardware from the Soviet Union.

The session this year will also provide, in broad outlines, the policy of the U.S. in the Mideast. The American attitude towards Israel, the Arabs and the Palestinians may very well be disclosed Tuesday when Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger addresses the Assembly and when President Ford will deliver a major foreign policy address to the session Wednesday. The role of the USSR and China will also be crucial in view of ongoing relations with the Arab and African states and the Palestinian terrorist movements.

At the opening session tomorrow the delegates will officially close last year’s session and elect Algeria’s Foreign Minister Abdelaziz Bouteflika, leader of the powerful non-aligned bloc, as president of the Assembly. Last year’s session must be officially closed because the Assembly ended its 1973 meeting without adjourning technically staying in session so that it could meet immediately in case of a new Mideast crisis

THE ROLE OF THE PALESTINIANS

Recent reports from Arab capitals, and underscored by the request submitted this weekend, indicate that the Palestinians will wage an all-out drive through various Arab, African, Communist and non-aligned delegations to obtain observer status for the Palestine Liberation Organization as the representative of the Palestinian people. Contacts between Arab diplomats, UN and U.S. officials have been underway for some time.

Recently the State Department indicated that it has been conducting “low level” talks with Palestinian leaders, and Yasir Arafat, head of the PLO, has said that he wants to meet with Kissinger and hinted that he might even come to the Assembly. The Arabs are also determined to press for an Assembly resolution that would recognize the “national rights” of the Palestinians, a euphemism for the creation of a Palestinian State.

It appears inevitable here that the Arabs–with their built-in majority of votes–will gain observer status for the PLO. It has already been granted such status in several UN bodies this year–including ECOSOC and the Law of the Sea Conference in Caracas. Israel can do very little to prevent this development, but is expected to express its objection, as it has in the past, and protest the admission of terrorists in the guise of a “liberation movement.”

Israeli Ambassador Yosef Tekoah observed a few week ago, when returning to Israel for consultations, that “the General Assembly will be a test for the Arabs, and will show if they mean peace or war.” Referring to the Arabs’ intention to establish the PLO at the UN, Tekoah said that in itself is not an act that shows a desire for peace.

Tekoah maintained that the real test of Arab intentions will come when the question of the peace-keeping forces in the Mideast (UNEF in the Sinai and UNDOF on the Golan Heights) is raised in the Security Council. UNEF’s mandate expires Oct. 24 and UNDOF’s Nov. 30. If the mandate is prolonged, the question of funds appropriations will be taken by the Assembly. According to Tekoah, the presence of UN forces in the disengagement zones is an integral part of the disengagement accords as a whole. Once the Arabs try to remove the UN forces, Tekoah said, they annul the accords in their totality.

U.S. MIDEAST POLICY

The growing friendship between the United States and the Arabs, and the gradual shift by the U.S. government toward “even-handedness” in the Mideast, will be watched closely. It will be “tested” during the Assembly when the Palestinian question comes up. The United States previously voted consistently with Israel whenever the Palestinian issue emerged. Israel, on its part, is watching the situation carefully in view of the reports that the PLO is seeking U.S. backing for its endorsement by the Assembly.

RELATED MIDEAST ITEMS ON THE AGENDA

A number of items related to the Mideast is scheduled to be taken up by the Assembly. An Iranian resolution, expected to draw attention to the introduction of nuclear weapons in the Mideast, will reportedly call for the “de-nuclearization” of the Mideast. Egypt is said to be a co-sponsor of this resolution, which would also call for a convention to free the Mideast from nuclear weapons while a nuclear force for peaceful purposes will be permitted.

The controversial issue of international terrorism ended last year in a dead heat due to the pressure by the Arabs and their allies. The Arabs, contending that the atrocities committed by terrorists should be viewed as a “struggle for national liberation,” succeeded in obtaining Third World support for postponing a resolution on terrorism on the pretext that it would restrict liberation movements aimed against colonialism.

As in previous years, Israel is expected to be a target of vilification and accusations by the USSR, the Arabs and Third World countries when the issue of Israel’s occupation of territories is discussed. Last year Israel was condemned by the Assembly on that issue. The Arabs are also ex- pected to condemn Israel again of violating the human rights of the Arabs in the administered territories. Israel has consistently repudiated this charge.

Israel is expected to raise the issue of the Syrian and Soviet Jewry. Though not directly a “Mideast issue,” the plight of Syrian Jewry is a focal point in the conflict. The plight of Soviet Jewry, raised numerous times at various UN bodies by Israel, has been dismissed by the USSR as an attempt by Israel to divert attention away from her own “mistreatment” of her Arab citizens.

ARABS WILL DOMINATE THE SCENE

Whatever the outcome of the Assembly, one thing seems certain: The Arabs will dominate the scene with their political power and their economic clout in terms of oil and petroleum. One observer predicted here recently that the Arabs will probably achieve their goals in the Assembly But the basic question is whether the Assembly will contribute to maintaining the momentum toward a peaceful and stable solution of the Mideast crisis. Will it affect even a small positive step toward the Geneva conference? The urgency of these questions is magnified by what happened last year. When the Assembly was ready to take up the Mideast issue the Yom Kippur War erupted.