Move to Bar U.S. Funds for Special UN Unit Dealing with Palestinian Rights

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee began considering today legislation that would bar U.S. funds for a “special unit” in the United Nations to disseminate information about “Palestinian rights.” Sen. J. Harrison Williams (D.NJ) introduced the legislation yesterday with a floor speech in which he declared he was “shocked” by the UN General Assembly’s decision late last year to establish the unit. It is understood that similar legislation will be presented soon in the House.

Williams said he took “special exception to the fact that one of the designated purposes of this organization is to observe an ‘International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people.'” He added “Although the creation of such an entity in the UN whose probable purpose is to propagate hatred against the State of Israel is tragic at any time, this latest action appears even more despicable when viewed in light of the progress toward peace which has been made in recent weeks in the Middle East.”

Williams stressed that “it is essential to look beyond the seemingly innocuous language of the resolution” in the UN which created the unit, because “the newly created group is nothing more than an extension of the so-called Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, 19 of whose 23 member states have no diplomatic relations with Israel. The continuing creation of such vehemently anti-Israel units in the UN can only result in a further erosion in respect for the impartiality of that body.”

Williams noted that “With the United Nations already experiencing a financial emergency of a $100 million deficit, we should not tolerate the use of funds from the United States for an activity which is not only of no practical benefit but actually detrimental to the search for peace in the Middle East.”