Israel is fighting a last ditch diplomatic battle in world capitals to forestall passage of a pro-Arab draft resolution sponsored by 18 Afro-Asian countries which was introduced in the General Assembly Tuesday. Although the draft is slightly less extreme than one circulated by Egypt when the General Assembly opened its annual debate on the Middle East last week, Israel regards it as a distortion of the meaning and intent of Resolution 242.
Israeli officials are refraining from making any declarations in advance of UN action. But the feeling hero is that if the Afro-Asian draft succeeds in mustering the required two-thirds vote in the General Assembly, Resolution 242 can be considered dead.
(A spokesman for the British Foreign Office told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in London today that Britain “will not vote for anything that in our view erodes Resolution 242” which is “still the best deal we can have on the Middle East.” The spokesman said, “If we get an acceptable text with one or two uncomfortable points, we will certainly make sure in an explanatory speech how we interpret those points and why we had decided to accept the text as a whole.”)
The Afro-Asian draft resolution calls for, among other things, the “immediate withdrawal of Israel from the Arab territories occupied since June, 1967” and “invites member states to refrain from providing Israel with assistance, the aims of which are to enable it to sustain its occupation of those occupied territories.” The latter sentence is seen by Israel as an invitation to apply sanctions, although the draft, unlike the original Egyptian version, does not specifically call for sanctions should Israel refuse to comply.
The call for Israel to vacate the Arab territories immediately and unconditionally, without a peace settlement and without negotiations is seen here as an attempt by Egypt and its supporters to have the General Assembly foist a pro-Egyptian interpretation on Resolution 242 which the formulators of that resolution clearly did not intend and did not incorporate in its text. Israeli officials have pointed out that any element of sanctions is abhorrent and dangerous and smacks strongly of an imposed arrangement to which Israel cannot accede.
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