An Israeli delegation made up of six experts in international law, headed by Ambassador Amiel Najjar, political counselor to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, has arrived here to participate in the third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea. All 135 member states of the world organization are attending the ten-week parlay. The conference opened June 20 but has been bogged down in procedural questions. The major issue so far is the 200-mile “exclusive economic zone” which many of the developing countries are advocating in addition to the traditional 12-mile limit on territorial waters.
Israel constitutes a “special case” as it is one of the few participating countries not affiliated with any bloc, a fact the local press has pointed out. The Arab countries, on the other hand, form a strong group with representation among the conference’s 31 vice-presidents (Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia, Iraq and Kuwait) and on the various committees.
Israel has participated in the two previous Law of the Sea conferences in 1958 and 1968 and is a party to existing conventions ratified at those meetings. The Israeli delegation, in addition to Ambassador Najjar, includes Ambassador Shabetai Rosenne, special legal advisor for the conference; Ambassador Jacob Doron, deputy permanent representative of Israel to the UN; E. Haran and G. Orion.
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