Israel Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett today outlined before the United Nations Political Committee what Israel considers a practical formula for a peaceful settlement in the Far East crisis. Calling for a settlement in stages, he listed these points:
1. An immediate cease-fire; 2. Reaffirmation of the goal of a unified and independent Korea; 3. Holding of free elections; 4. Constitution of a Korean commission with the participation of all directly-concerned parties; 5. Progressive withdrawal of all non-Korean forces within six months; 6. Rehabilitation of the territory under the aegis of the U.N.; 7. A general pledge of non-intervention.
Noting that most of these objectives have appeared in both majority and minority resolutions on Korea previously, Mr. Sharett said that it was a formula for which unanimous support of the Assembly could reasonably be expected. He added that such an implementation of a cease-fire arrangement “would undoubtedly create a favorable atmosphere for the peaceful settlement “of all other outstanding questions affecting the relations of the Communist Chinese government with the United Nations.
Speaking as the delegate of a nation that has been a party to the world organization’s most notable previous cease-fire arrangement, Mr. Sharett revealed for the first time the efforts that the Israel delegation had been making in the search for a Korean settlement through disoussions with other delegations.
SHARETT REVEALS DETAILS OF HIS INFORMAL TALLS WITH THE CHINESE DELEGATION
His most important revelation was that Israel, although regarding the crossing of the 38th parallel as legitimate and vital by U.N. forces, had urged in all its conversations with leading U.N. delegations that “fighting and military advance should be confined to the indispensable minimum and that there should be readiness to forege pressing the advantage to the utmost limit, so as not to invite, or even to appear to be inviting, the intensification or widening of the conflagration.”
He revealed also that in a recent informal meeting with other delegates and Peiping emissary Wu Esiu-chun at the home of Secretary-General Trygve Lie, he had tried to explore the possibility of resolving the crisis by action to be taken in a series of successive stages, with the object of securing an immediate cessation of hostilities, the progressive withdrawal of all non-Korean forces and the interim retention of full authority in Korea by the U.N., with the final solution to be made in association with Communist China.
That meeting, he said, had ended inconclusively. However, he added that he had gone on to consult with other delegations extensively with the object of clarifying the possibility of formulating a policy capable of commanding general support among all U.N. members.
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