Return of All Arab Refugees to Israel is Asked by Iraqi Delegate at U.N. Assembly

In a strong attack on the Jews, the Iraqi Foreign Minister, Dr. M. F. Jamali, told the U.N. General Assembly today that “there can be no lasting peace in the Middle East until a just territorial settlement is made in Palestine.” Dr. Jamali, whose speech formed a part of the Assembly’s general debate, made it clear that by a just settlement he meant the return of all Arab refugees to their former homes in Israel.

Declaring that “there is no room for bargaining or haggling,” he called on the U.N. to “enforce its authority on the Jews” to make them “recognize Arabs’ rights to Palestine.” He stressed his conviction that “material help to the suffering refugees, no matter how vital and urgent, can never be a substitute for a just and speedy territorial settlement which must be brought about first.”

Quoting American press reports, Dr. Jamali accused the Jews of having carried out “a reign of terror” and “annihilation of masses of Arabs, including women and children.” He implied that the economic survey mission presently at work in the Middle East might be meant to evade the primary problem of “dispossession” and recalled that his government had not participated in the Lausanne conferences because it did not believe negotiations were possible on the issue of “Arab rights.”

Israel last night became the thirty-third member state of the U.N. to sign the Convention on Privileges and Immunities. Dr. Ivan Kerno, Assistant Secretary-General, accepted Israel’s instrument of accession to the convention from Aubrey S. Eban, permanent Israel representative to the U.N.