Arthur J. Goldberg, the former U.S. Ambassador to the UN, declared today that the Security Council’s Nov. 22, 1967 Mideast resolution which he helped draft was a clear call for an overall peace settlement between the parties concerned, not for a piecemeal settlement to be carried out before Israel and the Arab states reached a contractual agreement on secure, recognized frontiers and other items contained in the resolution.
Mr. Goldberg, who is president of the American Jewish Committee and is visiting here on its behalf, gave his interpretation of the resolution at a press conference and in an address before the Institute of Jewish Affairs of the World Jewish Congress. On both occasions he stressed that the resolution’s letter and spirit left no doubt that “the parties to the conflict should be the parties to peace. Others can and should help,” he said referring to the proposed Four Power talks, “but their contribution should be to support Ambassador Gunnar V. Jarring’s mission which is to promote agreement and assist efforts for peace.” He said the resolution which established the mission assigned to Dr. Jarring made it clear that his role was to bring the two sides together, not to act as an arbitrator between them.
Mr. Goldberg’s interpretation of the resolution, which most diplomats regard as the cornerstone of peace, carried the authority of a man who was, in large measure, responsible for its text and its unanimous acceptance by the Security Council. He noted that other proposals offered at the time by Russia and Yugoslavia were rejected. “The resolution must be viewed as a whole,” he said. “The idea and proposition on the withdrawal by Israel to the former armistice lines was defeated.”
As for the limits of an Israeli withdrawal, Mr. Goldberg said, “This is covered by the insistence of the resolution on an agreed and accepted settlement on both sides and on secure frontiers.” He said the resolution clearly left the implementation timetable to be worked out by the parties. “It is common sense to assume that some problems such as the opening of the international waterways of the Suez and the Straits of Tiran are bound to take less time in their implementation than others such as the Arab refugees.”
Mr. Goldberg said that in his view diplomacy was the only path to a settlement, which is bound to come sooner or later. “The UN charter requires that each nation in the area must accept the right of the others to live. The Arabs must renounce any state or claim of belligerency which the Security Council has found inconsistent with peace as far back as 1951. The Israeli withdrawal must be within the context of a peace settlement as agreed between the parties.”
He said that Israel’s casualties during the Six-Day War in proportion to its population equalled all the casualties suffered by the U.S. to date in Vietnam and that Israel’s casualties since 1948 amounted to more than 8,000 persons killed and were proportionately greater than U.S. casualties in World War II.
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.
