Foreign Minister Abba Eban said last night that yesterday’s Security Council vote was a major setback for the Arabs and should have convinced them “that peace will not be advanced by international polemics but by negotiations between the parties.” The Foreign Minister was lavish in his praise of the United States which he credited with bringing about the least one-sided resolution on the Middle East in the Security Council’s history.
While the resolution–adopted by a vote of 11-0 with the U.S., Soviet Union, China and Guinea abstaining–condemned Israel for its April 10 commando raids on Lebanon, it also for the first time condemned Arab acts of terrorism, Eban noted. Other officials here said they could not recall such a weak condemnation, of Israel after a military action against one of its neighbors. (See P. 3 for full story of Security Council meeting.)
Eban said that during the week of debate that preceded the vote, only the U.S. “showed consistency” in its principles; that it was due only to the U.S. that “threats and warnings against Israel for daring not to surrender to the plague of terrorism, were avoided.” The U.S. had informed Israel several days ago that it would veto any draft resolution which did not contain a condemnation of Arab terrorism.
The Foreign Minister said Egypt and Lebanon had suffered a serious setback after having made strenuous efforts to get the Security Council to adopt a resolution, containing unequivocal condemnation of Israel with no mention of Arab terrorism. He said the Egyptians wanted to force a U.S. veto to strengthen their propaganda arsenal against Washington.
Eban said the fact that the USSR, China and Guinea abstained proved that this time “the Arab arguments were not accepted in their entirety,” even by their allies. “It must be hoped that when the Arab states see the meager results of this debate they will understand that such events are not a substitute for serious negotiations upon which Israel is ready to embark at any time.” Eban said.
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