The Foreign Ministry charged tonight that President Tito of Yugoslavia was interfering with the efforts of United Nations agencies to promote a permanent peace in the Middle East and warned that his “one-sided” initiatives may have just the opposite effect.
The Foreign Ministry statement, in reply to questions here, referred to Marshal Tito’s recent visits to India, Egypt and other countries where he is reportedly attempting to promote support for a Middle East peace formula that was rejected by the United Nations last June. It calls for Israeli withdrawal to the pre-June 5, 1967, frontiers in return for an Arab declaration of non-belligerency.
Marshal Tito has no authority in this matter, the Foreign Ministry said, because he has no international status. The United Nations interests in the Middle East situation have been entrusted by the Security Council to Ambassador Jarring and other U.N. agencies charged with promoting a permanent peace based on secure and recognized boundaries. Nor has Tito any authority as a conciliator because he is one-sided and supports Arab interests but has no contact with the Israel Government’s views the Foreign Ministry said. Yugoslavia’s proposals have been repeatedly discarded because of their one-sided nature. If Tito arrogates to himself the right to intervene in the efforts of approved international bodies to promote an agreement in the Middle East, he will be doing no service whatsoever to international peace or the will of the international community, the Foreign Ministry stated.
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