Salim Ahmed Salim of Tanzania, the president of the 34th General Assembly, began this session’s proceedings yesterday by denouncing Israel’s “senseless bombings of civilian targets” in south Lebanon and declared that the Palestinians have a right to self-determination and an independent state.
The 37-year-old Ambassador also referred to the Palestine Liberation Organization as “the representative” of the Palestinian people. “The core of the Middle East problem is the continued denial of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination, including the right to establish an independent state,” he said.
The “necessary conditions” for peace in the Mideast are “the realization of that right, the refusal to give legitimacy to the fruits of conquest, the respect of the right of all states in the area to an independent existence,” Salim said.
His statement following his election by acclamation, focussed attention of the world body’s preoccupation with the Mideast and was a foretaste of the attacks which Israel will find itself under during the scheduled 13-week session. Salim, who is also the Tanzanian Ambassador to Cuba and who attended the recent conference of non-aligned nations in Havana, praised what he termed the fresh and dynamic impetus generated by that gathering. President Fidel Castro of Cuba, the new leader of the non-aligned nations, is due to address the General Assembly.
At a press conference today, Salim reiterated that the PLO, as the representative of the Palestinian people, must be brought into the negotiating process if there is to be a lasting peace. He told a reporter that he was prepared to ask the PLO to accept Israel’s existence. “But I must also be equally prepared to ask the Israelis to accept” the PLO, he added.
Absent from yesterday’s proceedings was U.S. Ambassador Andrew Young who resigned last month following the furor aroused by his meeting with the PLO observer at the UN, Zehadi Labib Terzi. Technically, Young remains the U.S. envoy until his successor, Donald McHenry, presents his credentials. Young is currently visiting Africa as the head of a U.S. trade mission.
TANZANIA REJECTS RENEWING TIES WITH ISRAEL
Meanwhile, according to reports reaching here today, President Julius Nyerere of Tanzania said his country was not going to resume diplomatic negotiations with Israel, severed after the Yom Kippur War. Addressing a press conference with Young in Dar Es Salaam, Nyerere reportedly said that Tanzania recognized the existence of Israel but that is not now the issue in the Middle East.
“The real problem is whether the Palestinians are going to have a home of their own and whether the international community is going to regard this as a serious matter,” Nyerere was quoted as saying. He asked, “Are the Palestinians going to remain homeless forever? Are we going to continue talking solely about the security of Israel forever? Is that the issue in the Middle East?”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
