Israel Approves N.y Peace Talks; Security Council Resumes Today

Israeli sources, commenting on reports that United Nations peace envoy, Dr. Gunnar Jarring, plans to shift the locale of his peace-seeking efforts to New York, said that Israel would continue meetings with Dr. Jarring there but would stick to the principle that matters of substance could be raised only during direct talks with the Arabs.

Israel has Insisted on direct talks with the Arabs in any peace negotiations but the sources explained that if the Arabs insisted on the term “indirect talks” for consultations attended by delegations of both Arabs and Israel under Dr. Jarring’s chairmanship, this was acceptable to Israel. If the Arabs choose to address the chairman only–as, for example–in international bodies or in parliaments, this is a point of diplomatic nicety about which Israel will raise no objections the sources said. The sources stressed, however, that whatever the initial procedures, a peace treaty signed by the parties concerned is the ultimate objective.

(Dr. Jarring will arrive at the United Nations about May 15 to continue his peace-seeking mission and consultations, a spokesman for Secretary General U Thant said at the UN. A meeting of the Security Council, set for Friday afternoon to continue debate on the Jerusalem “situation,” was postponed until Monday, when the session will be resumed at 3:30 p.m.)

(A resolution opposed by Israel at the International Conference on Human Rights in Teheran, which was adopted last Tuesday, and which called on Israel to respect the rights of Arabs in occupied territory, has been transmitted to the president of the UN General Assembly. Cornelius Manescu of Rumania. The resolution, it was disclosed at the UN, asked appointment of a special Assembly committee to investigate alleged violations of human rights in the occupied areas and called on Israel to “desist forthwith from acts of destroying the homes of the Arab civilian population.”)