Daniel P. Moynihan, the American Ambassador to the United Nations, indicated today that the United States will veto a resolution in the Security Council tomorrow affirming the “right” of the Palestinians to an independent state and calling for Israel to withdraw from all Arab territories held since the 1967 Six-Day War.
Appearing at the final session of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy’s four-day symposium on “The Middle East–Critical Choices for America,” Moynihan said it would be improper for him to state how the U.S. will vote before tomorrow’s session. But when asked directly for a statement, he replied, “the United States will act forthrightly and correctly and we hope not alone.”
The U.S. had been expected to veto the resolution introduced Friday by six Security Council members since it changes Resolution 242 by calling for a Palestinian state and a total withdrawal by Israel. The proposed resolution also advocates security guarantees for all nations in the area, although it does not mention Israel specifically. Israel is expected to find unacceptable a clause affirming the right of Palestinians to either repatriation, meaning to Israel, or compensation to those who choose not to return.
In his prepared address today, Moynihan explained why the U.S. had not vetoed the presence of the Palestine Liberation Organization at the Security Council debate on the Middle East. He said there was no way to prevent the PLO from appearing because it had been the long-standing policy of the U.S. and the other permanent members of the Council that a procedural matter cannot be made substantive–and thus subject to a veto–if the majority of the Council is against such a move.
“We would have ignored long-standing and recorded American tradition (in the Security Council) and there would have been no support for us on our attitude,” he said.
PLO PRESENCE MAY HAVE HELPED
Prof. Thomas M. Franck, of the New York University Law School, said that the PLO presence in the debate may have been beneficial because in the long run it may convince Israel it must negotiate with the PLO and it may convince the PLO that paper victories are useless and it must come to an accommodation with Israel.
Although Franck urged negotiations with the PLO most of the speakers during the previous sessions, including the symposium’s chairman, former Undersecretary of State Eugene V. Rostow, denounced the PLO and said the Palestinian question must be solved in the context of Israeli-Jordanian negotiations.
The National Committee, which was formed after the Yom Kippur War, said it convoked the symposium in response to Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger’s call for a serious public debate on his policies. Speakers over the weekend denounced Kissinger’s policies and accused him of misleading the American public on detente and on what they said was the United States’ declining power position.
Prof. Gil Carl AlRoy, of Hunter College, said that the American attitude on the Middle East was shaped by people who know little about the area and have disregarded the enormous studies by American Orientalists. He said in dealing with the Mideast, “We are projecting our own awareness of the world” on the Mideast. He said Americans ignore the centrality of religion in the Mideast and also deny that the Arabs mean what they say. He said the Arabs want armistice not peace in the Mideast and seek to destroy the State of Israel, differing only as to the method.
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