Israel Notifies U.N. on Intention to Act Against Arab War Plans

Israel warned the United Nations Security Council this weekend that it “will know how to defend itself and to repel any aggression” if the Arab states should go through with war plans designed at the summit meeting held recently at Alexandria, Egypt, by 13 kings and other rulers of the Arab League states.

The warning came in a letter to Platon Morozov, of the Soviet Union, this month’s president of the Security Council, from Michael Comay, Israel’s permanent representative here. Mr. Comay did not ask for a session of the Council on this issue but requested that the submission be circulated to all members of the Council.

In his letter, Mr. Comay pointed out that the Arab states issued a proclamation, at the end of their Alexandria conference, declaring unanimously that their “national cause” calls for “liberating Palestine from Zionist imperialism” and stating that the Arab states endorsed a decision “to establish the Palestine Liberation Army.”

“The clear purport of this proclamation,” stated Mr. Comay, “is that 13 member states of the United Nations have set themselves the aim of liquidating another member state, have declared that to be a central policy objective guiding their collective actions, and have determined to concentrate all their national potential on the attainment of this aim.”

The Israel representative notified the Security Council that the Alexandria decisions “are without parallel” in that they “stand in conflict with the Charter of the United Nations and with every accepted principle governing relations between states.” He then voiced the warning that Israel would defend itself if necessary, but coupled that caution with a renewed call for peace between Israel and the Arab states. He cautioned the United Nations against acquiescing to “this open challenge to United Nations principles” by the Arab states and against ignoring “the threat to the peace which is involved.”