Israelis Rap Thant on Peace Talks, Say He is Misinformed on 1949 Rhodes Parley

Israeli circles today criticized Secretary General U Thant for his apparent support of the Arab position against direct negotiations with Israel. The basis of their criticism was Mr. Thant’s introduction to his report to the 23rd General Assembly on United Nations activities between June 16, 1967 and June 15, 1968. In that document, the Secretary-General implicitly chided Israel for its insistence on direct negotiations. The Israelis also took issue with Mr. Thant’s version of the 1949 armistice talks between Israel and the Arab states which he cited as an example of indirect negotiations leading to substantive results.

Mr. Thant said in the introduction to his report that “Ambassador Gunnar V.) Jarring’s efforts to promote agreement among the parties to the Middle East dispute have been impeded by the disagreement among them thus far on the procedure to be employed in taking up substantive questions.” He said one side (Israel) insists on a face-to-face confrontation while the other side (Arabs) has rejected direct approach “but has been willing to carry on substantive talks concerning the implementation of the (Nov. 22, 1967) resolution with Ambassador Jarring as the intermediary.” Mr. Thant said that “such a dialogue cannot be fruitful if it is substantive on one side but only procedural on the other.” He added that “It would seem to me that as a general rule the emphasis should be on the results rather than on the procedure.” The Israeli circles agreed with Mr. Thant’s assertion that Dr. Jarring’s efforts “must be discreet and confidential.” They added, in an apparent allusion to the Thant report, that “this of course should apply to all forms of publicity and official reports.”

Mr. Thant said that in 1949 “at the Rhodes negotiations…the respective parties” were “brought together in meetings under the chairmanship of the acting mediator (Dr. Ralph Bunche) to formalize agreements reached by indirect talks through him.” The Israeli circles said that Mr. Thant had been “misinformed.” “The 1949 negotiations took place not only at Rhodes,” they said. “The agreement with Syria was negotiated in Switzerland and the agreement with Lebanon at Rosh Hanikrah (Israel). In all these cases, the negotiations were held in formal conferences and official protocols were kept. As in any other conference, understandings were sometimes reached informally but at all times this was done in joint meetings between official representatives of the parties. In any case, the refusal of the Arab states to negotiate with Israel is by no means a matter of procedure but reflects their negative position of substance.”