The Jewish Observer and Middle East Review said today that the United Nations special Middle East envoy, Ambassador Gunnar V. Jarring, sees himself as a successor to UN Secretary General U Thant in the not too distant future and that Rumania’s Foreign Minister, Cornelius Manescu, may succeed to Dr. Jarring’s post as head of the UN’s peace-seeking mission in the Middle East. Mr. Thant’s term of office is due to expire on Dec. 31, 1971.
(A United Nations spokesman today termed the reports about Dr. Jarring and Mr. Manescu “absolutely fantastic” and dismissed them. “So far as Dr. Jarring is concerned, we know he has no such ambitions,” he said.)
The magazine attributed its information to well placed circles not connected with any Middle East country. It viewed the purported reshuffle against the background of the current Soviet-American talks on the Middle East and the possibility that the UN would become the instrument for imposing a settlement on the area in the name of world opinion. In that event, the Jewish Observer said, Mr. Thant’s reputation in Israel would reduce his political authority whereas Dr. Jarring is popular in Israel and in Egypt.
Mr. Manescu is also well regarded in Israel which maintains diplomatic and trade relations with Rumania. The latter is the only Communist bloc country that did not sever diplomatic relations with Israel after the June, 1967 war. Mr. Manescu was president of the General Assembly at the end of 1967 and recently expounded his country’s Middle East policy in the British Journal of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, the Jewish Observer noted.
In the article, the Rumanian Foreign Minister said that disputes between states must be solved through negotiations; that all peoples must be assured their right to exist; that force does not create law and territorial conquests through war should not be admitted. Mr. Manescu wrote: “Since 1967 Rumania has held that in any settlement of the problems of the Middle East, the legitimate interests of all its people should be taken into account on the basis of respect for the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of each country.” He said the Security Council’s Nov. 22, 1967 Mideast resolution was a proper framework for the settlement of the crisis.
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