Israel today straightened out the records of the United Nations anti-bias unit, which completed its yearly, three-week meeting last Friday, by labeling Arab papers previously presented here as “fallacious” and “tendentious” propaganda.
The Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, which had received the Arab propaganda submitted by Salahel Dine Tarazi, the Syrian Ambassador here, had given Israel special permission to file its reply after the session had concluded. The body had ruled also that Syria, which had laid the anti-Israeli propaganda before the UN group, will not be entitled to reply “unless the Israel memorandum attacked Syria or another State.”
The memorandum on Israel’s behalf, filed today by Israel’s permanent representative here, Michael S. Comay, bypassed mention of Syria but attacked the documents backed by Syria, One of those documents had emanated from the so-called “Palestine Arab Delegation, ” a group having no official consultative status here. That paper had dealt with “Jewish immigration to occupied Palestine and the right of Christian and Moslem Arabs of Palestine to return to their country. ” The second paper was a pamphlet issued in 1961 by the Arab Information Center of New York, which, Mr. Comay stressed, is registered with the U.S. State Department as a foreign agency.
In his memorandum, Mr. Comay noted that the manner in which the Subcommission finally allowed Syria to present the two documents did not imply any recognition of either the “Palestine Arab Delegation” or of the Information Center as groups with consultative status here. In regard to the “Palestine Delegation” paper, he said “its blatant purpose is to try to discredit the Israel Government and even to deny the existence of Israel. ” He labeled the statements made by the Arabs regarding Jewish immigration to Israel as “fallacious.”
As for the Arab Information Center pamphlet, Mr. Comay pointed out he had himself answered in the past here allegations by Arabs who claim that Israel violated the human rights of Israeli Arabs. Far from oppressing the Arab minority in Israel, Mr. Comay pointed out, the Arabs in Israel “live as free men” and enjoy full political rights. “In general, ” he said, “the contents of the pamphlet give a distorted and tendentious picture, which is hardly surprising in an anti-Israeli propaganda leaflet printed and distributed by the Arab League.”
The entire record, including the anti-Israel attack and the Israeli answer, now goes with the Subcommission’s archives for further consideration by the Human Rights Commission, the parent body of the anti-bias unit. The Commission is scheduled to meet in Geneva in March.
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