Foreign Minister Shimon Peres has decided to meet with U.N. Undersecretary General Marrack Goulding, who left for Israel Thursday to review the situation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, an Israeli spokesman said here Thursday.
But in Jerusalem, Israel Television reported Thursday night the Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir’s office said that it would try to prevent Goulding from touring the territories.
A U.N. spokesman said that Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar has decided to send Goulding “to Israel and the occupied territories in order to discuss the situation there,” as requested by Security Council Resolution 605, adopted Dec. 22.
The Israel Mission to the United Nations issued a statement on Goulding’s departure Thursday saying it rejects Resolution 605 and particularly the section stipulating the envoy’s mission. The statement said Israel considers the visit “an intervention in internal security matters under the sole jurisdiction of the Israel government.”
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Benjamin Netanyahu, conveyed a similar message to Perez de Cuellar in a meeting Wednesday on Goulding’s mission.
Israeli diplomats said Thursday that Foreign Minister Peres will explain, during his meeting with Goulding, why Israel rejects Resolution 605.
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.
