Israel withdrew today the draft resolution it introduced Monday to the General Assembly, its first in that body, charging that an Arab-inspired amendment to the resolution distorted “the entire content and purpose of our resolution.”
The Israeli resolution called for the reconvening of the Geneva Middle East peace conference “without delay” with the participation of Israel, Egypt. Syria and Jordan under the co-chairmanship of the United States and the Soviet Union, “to resume negotiations without prior conditions on the establishment of a just and durable peace in the Middle East as called for in Security Council Resolutions 242 of November 22 1967 and 338 of October 22, 1973.”
Shortly after Israel introduced the resolution in the Assembly, an amendment to it was introduced by Sri Lanka, Yugoslavia and India. The amendment called for the participation of the Palestine Liberation Organization in “a United. Nations peace conference” and in addition to Resolutions 242 and 338, cited General Assembly Resolution 9375, which calls for PLO participation in all Mideast peace efforts.
HERZOG: ‘WE HAVE BEEN VINDICATED’
Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Chaim Herzog, explaining Israel’s withdrawal of its resolution, told the Assembly this morning “we did not trust this General Assembly. Now we have been vindicated. We gave you a chance. You could have seized upon it. Had you done so, we might have well been on the eve of the reconvening of the Geneva conference. But no. This would have not been in accordance with the true policy of the Arab states. This would have meant negotiation.”
Herzog also said that the amendment vindicated Israel’s conviction that the General Assembly “is not a body which can be entrusted with an impartial peace-making role.” The Israeli delegate also pointed out that the amendment to the Israeli resolution “is a contradiction in itself.”
He explained that the amendment calls for PLO participation in peace negotiations and reaffirms Council Resolutions 242 and 338, while the PLO is repeatedly rejecting those resolutions. Herzog also said the amendment was introduced for one purpose–to “sabotage Israel’s move toward peace.”
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