The United Nations Security Council met in a three hour emergency session yesterday at the urgent request of the Lebanese government which accused Israel of armed aggression and demanded that the Council impose sanctions on Israel. The session which was marked by bitter exchanges between the Israeli and Soviet delegates, adjourned without taking action but discussions on a possible resolution are believed to be taking place behind the scenes. There was no indication when the Council would reconvene.
The charges brought by Lebanon stemmed from Israeli reprisal raids on terrorist strongholds in southern Lebanon carried out Friday and yesterday. The United States delegate did not speak at yesterday’s Security Council meeting. But the session was the occasion for the first participation by the People’s Republic of China in a debate on the Middle East since China was admitted to the UN last fall.
The Chinese Delegate Huang Hua accused Israel of “large wanton aggression” against Lebanon and said the Peking government and Chinese people were “deeply indignant.” He said the Security Council must give “the strongest condemna- tion” to “the aggression of Israel.” But unlike the Soviet delegate, China did not call for sanctions.
The Soviet delegate, Yakov A. Malik, urging sanctions, also accused the US of “abetting” Israeli “aggression” and said the Council should expel Israel from the UN. He called the guerrillas “heroic Arab patriots” and claimed that their “struggle” to “free their land from the racist Israeli aggressors” was “just and Justifiable.”
“MURDEROUS ACTS” ENCOURAGED
In one of the heated Soviet-Israeli exchanges, the Israeli delegate, Jacob Doron, accused the Soviet spokesman of encouraging the “murderous acts” of the terrorists. Yesterday’s debate was opened by the Lebanese delegate Najati Kabbani who claimed that his government had done its best to control the terrorists but that it could not be responsible for Israel’s security. The Israeli delegate said the Lebanese government not only permitted the terrorists to operate from Lebanese bases but also allowed them to open headquarters in Beirut.
Doron quoted two statements by the Lebanese Premier supporting terrorist attacks on Israel. The Israeli delegate stated that there had been more than 200 terrorist attacks on Israel from Lebanese bases with great loss of life and property. The British, Japanese, Italian and Belgian delegates each deplored the terrorist acts but called Israeli counter-measures unjustifiable.
(The terrorist attacks on Israel and the Israeli retaliation were described by the US State Department as a “most unfortunate part of a familiar pattern.” Department spokesman Charles Bray said the US government had not yet expressed its regrets over the incidents to Israel and Lebanon. “They cannot come as a surprise to them in view of that pattern,” Bray said.)
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
