A resolution deploring the failure of Israel to comply with a General Assembly resolution on Jerusalem was submitted to the Assembly’s emergency session when it convened today. Pakistan, which had moved the original resolution ordering Israel “to rescind all measures already taken and to desist forthwith from taking any action which would alter the status of Jerusalem,” introduced the new resolution which expressed “the deepest regret and concern” over Israel’s non-compliance. It requested the Security Council to take the necessary measures to secure compliance and called on the Secretary-General to report to the Assembly and the Council on the situation and the implementation of the resolution.
The relatively mild tone of the draft resolution represented a setback for Pakistan and the Arab states which had tried to secure agreement on a much stiffer “condemnation” or “censure.” Their efforts in this direction were unavailing and so they compromised on the milder form in the hope that it would prove acceptable to Latin American and other countries specially interested in the Jerusalem situation.
While the resolution was relatively mild, Ambassador Agha Shahi of Pakistan was bitter in his denunciation of Israel when he introduced the resolution. He was strongly supported by the Soviet representative, Ambassador Nikolai Fedorenko, who denounced Israel’s actions in Jerusalem as “illegal, arbitrary and a provocative defiance of the United Nations and its Charter.”
Referring to the vitriolic attacks against Israel by the Pakistani and Soviet delegates. Israel’s Foreign Minister Abba Eban said that the Assembly had been subjected to “an hour of religious bigotry and political hate” and that the anti-Israel remarks were an illustration of habits, which if pursued, would bring “international discourse to international discord.”
Mr. Eban said that Israel’s position on the City of Jerusalem was “a landmark in international conciliation since it accepted agreed upon arrangements for the holy places” and stressed that talks had already begun with the Vatican with a view to a satisfactory solution, and that other talks are also being held with other religions. The holy places of all the faiths would be placed under the responsibility of the respective religions, he declared.
The Israeli Foreign Minister deplored the fact that dismay was selectively expressed and had not been aimed at Jordan, when, in 1947, Jerusalem was bombed by that country or besieged by it in 1948. He said that Jordan had refused to acknowledge international interest in the holy places, had destroyed ancient synagogues “in an orgy of hate” and had refused access to the Western Wall.
Mr. Eban said that he had recently seen with his own eyes examples of destruction and sacrilege, such as the result of the bombardment of the Church of the Dormition and the uprooting of gravestones from Mount of Olives Cemetery for use in building secular structures.
The emergency Assembly session will be resumed tomorrow.
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