Resolutions adopted by the General Assembly today to finance the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) were blasted by Israeli representatives. Ambassador Jacob Doron, speaking before the vote, focussed his attack on one of four resolutions that urged Israel to take immediate steps for the “return of the displaced inhabitants” and “to desist from further removal of refugees and destruction of their shelters.”
Doron said this resolution contained untruths and made unreasonable demands on Israel. It did not, he said, reflect the real situation because the all-pervading enmity Arab countries have shown toward Israel did not allow for the full return of the refugees. He said that construction was being undertaken by the Israeli government to provide proper housing for the refugees and Israel was not destroying the “shelters” mentioned in the resolution.
The measure was adopted by an 84-3 vote with 18 abstentions. The United States, Israel and Swaziland cast the dissenting votes.
Speaking to reporters outside the Assembly hall, Israel’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Chaim Herzog, said of the UNRWA resolution, “Eight hundred thousand Jewish refugees left Arab lands over the past 28 years and were absorbed, housed and educated by the Jewish people in Israel and elsewhere. Would it not be appropriate for the Arab sheikhs to take some time off from the gaming tables at Las Vegas and Monte Carlo and allot one-half percent of their petrodollars to alleviate the position of their own refugees instead of relying on the charity of others.”
Israel abstained from another of the resolutions which was adopted by a 121-0 vote. It called for all governments as a matter of urgency to make the most generous effort possible to meet the anticipated need of UNRWA, particularly in the light of the budgetary deficit. Resolutions appealing to governments, organizations and individuals to contribute to UNRWA and commending the working group on the UNRWA finances were adopted without a vote.
SECURITY COUNCIL BOYCOTTED BY ISRAEL
In another development, the Security Council adjourned until late this afternoon after a one hour debate this morning on Israel’s air attacks on terrorist strongholds in Lebanon last Tuesday, Israel boycotted the session to which the Palestine Liberation Organization was invited. A vote was expected this evening on the Council’s draft resolution submitted last Friday which condemns the Israeli raids and warns that their repetition would bring “appropriate steps” by the Council.
By late afternoon no amendments had been offered to the original draft that would make the language acceptable to the United States, U.S. Ambassador Daniel P. Moynihan said Friday that the Security Council must condemn not only the Israeli air attacks but terrorist assaults on Israel that preceded them.
Interviewed yesterday on ABC-TV “issues and Answers,” Moynihan declared that the United States fully accepted Israel’s explanation that its Dec. 2 air attack on terrorist strongholds in Lebanon was “a response in kind” in no way linked to anti-Zionist and pro-Arab resolutions adopted recently at the UN. Moynihan stated: “I absolutely believe” what the Israelis “have indicated to us–that in no sense did these raids respond to actions here (at the UN). They responded to terrorist actions inside Israel. It was a response in kind, I cannot imagine that the Israeli government, a democratic society, a humans society, would strike out in that manner because of resolutions taken here or speeches made there. They would again respond in kind with speeches of their own and resolutions of their own. Let us he clear on that score, it is not events at the UN that caused this situation.”
During this morning’s debate in the Security Council, the Swedish representative Olof Redbeek, said that Israel’s air attacks on camps in Lebanon must be condemned but PLO violence should be condemned as well. He said that violence in the Middle East only increased suffering in the area. He said peace in the Middle East required Palestinian statehood as well as recognition of Israel’s right to exist. He expressed hope that Israel would reverse its position and agree to participate, along with the PLO, in the Security Council’s Middle East debate set for January 12.
Another speaker this morning was the French representative, Louis de Guiringaud, who noted that Israel described its attack on Lebanon as a preventive measure but warned that neither reprisals nor preventive attacks were acceptable.
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