Israel firmly rejected today the United States revision of the American draft resolution on the Arab refugee question and announced to the General Assembly’s Special Political Committee that it would vote against the American draft.
According to Michael S. Comay, Israel’s permanent representative here, the United States revision makes the draft “more acceptable to one party,” meaning the Arabs, “but wholly in acceptable to the other party” meaning Israel. “It is a matter of deep regret to my delegation,” Mr. Comay said, “that it is unable to support the United States draft resolution as revised.”
Frances T.P. Plimpton, United States representative in the committee, had previously introduced the formal revision of the American draft resolution, declaring that he was doing so to clear up “misunderstandings.” “In order to accord more closely with the language of prior resolutions of the General Assembly,” he stated, “his delegation now wanted the central substantive paragraph in the United States draft to read as follows:
“The General Assembly calls on the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine to continue its efforts for the implementation of Paragraph II of resolution 194 (III).”
The previous American draft, already considered weak by many delegations here, including Israel, had not called for implementation of Paragraph II which the Arabs are always citing as the central theme of the 1948 Assembly resolution, allegedly giving the Arab refugees the “right” of repatriation and compensation.
Mr. Comay told the committee that the Israel Government’s position remained today as it was stated by Mrs. Golda Meir, Israel’s Foreign Minister, November 18, that Israel would be willing to continue talks about the refugee problem only “without preconditions as to the nature of the eventual solution of the problem.”
“My delegation does not doubt that the United States Government is motivated by a desire to solve the refugee problem once and for all by the integration of the refugees in the region,” Mr. Comay said. “We are concerned however that this objective will only be frustrated again by reverting to a discarded formula of implementing paragraph II.”
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