Russians, Arabs Renew Attack on Israel As Emergency Assembly Session Concludes

The emergency special session of the General Assembly, which reconvened here today, adopted a resolution to pass the Middle East crisis on to the regular Assembly session which will convene tomorrow. The resolution, sponsored by Austria, Finland and Sweden, called on the regular Assembly to give the debate on the Middle East crisis “high priority.” The measure was passed, as soon as the Assembly opened by a vote of 94 in favor, none against, and two abstentions. Israel voted in favor of the resolution

After the voting, various delegations took the floor to explain their votes, with the Arab states and the Soviet bloc maintaining their intransigent attitude against Israel.

Soviet Ambassador Nikolai Fedorenko repeated his previous accusation that Israel had committed “a criminal conspiracy carefully prepared to ensure changes in the Middle East backed by imperialist powers in order to weaken the Arab regimes in the Middle East.” He said of Israel that “her ruling circles are full of hatred towards anything which is progressive and latest developments have unmasked the plot of Washington, London and Bonn who are her staunch supporters.”

The Soviet representative said that Israel’s leaders do not intend to heed the voice of reason and withdraw from occupied territories. The Secretary-General’s report on Jerusalem is “new proof” of Israel’s defiance of the United Nations, he said. “Israel does not intend to pay attention to resolutions of the General Assembly which were adopted with a decisive majority,” he added. He called Israel’s reply on the question of Jerusalem “in open contempt of the U.N. and mockery of law and the U.N. Charter.” The Soviet ambassador accused the United States and some NATO powers of protecting Israel which “twice in ten years committed aggression in the Middle East.” Mr. Fedorenko concluded by reaffirming his support of the Arab countries in the next General Assembly.

United States Ambassador Arthur Goldberg said he regretted that the Soviet ambassador showed harshness and tried to rewrite U.N. history. “The time has come,” Mr. Goldberg said, “for healing and harmonizing our views on the Middle East and not for harsh words.”

ISRAEL ACCUSES SOVIET ON MIDDLE EAST, CONDEMNS JORDAN RULE OF OLD CITY

Israel Ambassador Gideon Rafael, denounced the Soviet “propaganda assault” saying that it had been rejected twice by the Security Council and the General Assembly. The Soviet representative, he said, was turning a blind eye on the realities of the Middle East and the decisions of the U.N. “Repetition does not convert falsehood to truth.” Mr. Rafael said. He accused the Soviet Union of grave responsibility for the situation in the Middle East, saying that its representative never discussed the question of the belligerency and hostility of its Arab allies towards Israel, but instead it inflamed Arab passions.

Ambassador Rafael said that “certain speakers in the Assembly this morning tried to exploit for political warfare the question of Jerusalem.” He reviewed the actions of Jordan for the last 19 years, which destroyed Jewish places of worship, expelled its Jewish population and prevented access to holy places. He recalled Israel’s call to King Hussein on June 5 to desist from starting a war against Israel, but to no avail.

Mr. Rafael repeated Israel’s position that only an undivided Jerusalem “will assure religious freedom to all.” He mentioned the decisions of the Khartoum Arab summit conference of no peace, no negotiations and no recognition of Israel as the proof for no change in the Arab attitude toward Israel.

The Israeli ambassador concluded by calling on U.N. members to open a new page in the history of the Middle East by urging the Arab countries to negotiate directly with Israel as “the only practical way.”