Israel today lodged a sharp protest with the chairman of the latest and largest bloc of United Nations members, the so-called “Group of 77” of developing countries, for being excluded from a meeting of the group this morning and for “unworthy stratagems and manipulations” which were employed to keep Israel out of the group.
The protest was sent in a letter from Michael Comay, Israel’s permanent representative here, to Syed Amjad Ali, of Pakistan, chairman of the Group of Developing Countries. The group consists of 77 Afro-Asian delegations, including Arab states, and Latin American representatives.
Mr. Ali had announced last week that a full-scale meeting of the entire group would be held this afternoon. However, upon the insistence of the Arab bloc and fellow-Moslem members. Mr. Ali suddenly called the group to a meeting this morning without inviting Israel. The right of Israel to full membership in the group was to have been on the agenda of the meeting originally scheduled this afternoon.
“I did not attend the meeting which took place this morning,” Mr. Comay wrote to Mr. Ali, “because of the short notice at which the time was changed. However, to avoid any misunderstanding, I wish to state categorically that we shall continue to exercise our right to participate in the work of the group, and I must formally request that we be given full facility to do so, including notification of meetings, and any change in their time and place.
“There can be no bona fide and objective ground for our exclusion from the group,” Mr. Comay continued. “The unworthy strategems and manipulations to which we have been subjected have nothing to do with the merits of our status in the group, but reflect the pursuit of political aims in a context in which they should have no place.
“It is our intention to participate as a matter of course in the next meeting of the group, and I would be obliged if you would inform me in advance when that meeting takes place.”
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