Japanese Prime Minister Takeo Miki, declaring that Israel’s sovereignty “should be respected,” said here yesterday his government will oppose a resolution for “suspension” from the UN General Assembly “We will be opposed to that kind of resolution.” he said.
Miki was responding to a question in an interview on ABC-TV’s “Issues and Answers” on “perhaps the most pressing issue coming up in the near future” in the General Assembly. The Arab states have been campaigning among the Third World and Communist countries to expel or suspend Israel from the UN when it meets in special session on economic issues in September in New York.
A transcript of the program was made available to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency and showed that Miki was asked if he has “experienced any pressure from the Arab governments” regarding the Arab move to oust Israel. Miki replied: “Of course, the national sovereignty of Israel should be respected and unless the national sovereignty of Israel is respected we will not be able to realize permanent peace in the Middle East.”
Miki then went on to say that no pressure was exercised by the Arab states upon Japan. He also said President Ford and he did not discuss whether Japan could depend on the U.S. for oil if there were another Arab oil embargo.
Sheikh Mohammed Ali Al Jaabari, Hebron’s mayor, called for the meeting following a demonstration outside the tomb Friday night. Jaabari was attacked during prayers by young Moslems who shouted that he was not a true Moslem leader.
When the young Moslems failed to provoke the mayor or to convince others to start a sit-down strike at the tomb, they went outside and threw stones at a truck belonging to a Kiryat Arba resident and hit the driver, Ephraim Rosenberg, with a stick. Israeli army units did not intervene but tried to persuade the Arab demonstrators to leave. They did after an hour. Gen. Yona Efrat, commander of the central region, visited the area later and promised Kiryat Arba residents to investigate the incident.
The new regulations announced by Peres set aside the large “Isaac and Rebecca” hall for Moslem prayers and the smaller “Abraham and Sarah” and “Jacob and Leah” halls for Jewish prayers. On Fridays, the Moslem Sabbath, the tomb is restricted to Moslem prayers.
Meanwhile, Defense Ministry sources said the new regulations were shown to Jaabari by Peres before they were announced. The sources claimed that the Hebron mayor and other Arabs who met with Peres understood the aims of the new regulations and expressed their gratitude that Moslem feelings were taken into consideration. The new regulations followed an attempt by Kiryat Arba residents to force their way into the tomb during the time reserved for Moslem prayers.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
