The Security Council will resume its debate on Jerusalem tomorrow after an acrimonious weekend meeting involving an argument on whether a Jordanian should be invited to address the Council as an “elected mayor of Jerusalem.”
Lord Caradon of Britain, the current president of the Council, refused consistently to refer to Rouhi El-Khatib as the mayor of Jerusalem, despite demands that he do so by the Soviet Union, Algeria, Hungary and Pakistan. Muhammad el-Farrah, the permanent Jordanian representative, had asked that EI-Khatib be invited under a Council rule under which outside “competent” persons may provide Information to the Council.
Speaking without the mayoral designation, El-Khatib charged that Israel had “occupied buildings, expropriated land, looted” and otherwise allegedly mistreated Arab residents of East Jerusalem to “force” them to leave, Yosef Tekoah, Israel’s permanent representative, replied that El-Khatib had been appointed by the Jordanian Government, not elected, and was a member of the Palestine Liberation Army council.
Mr. Tekoah also said that the areas under urban redevelopment in East Jerusalem, which he said had become a slum under 19 years of Jordanian control, were mostly Jewish property or in the public domain and that Arab private owners were being compensated. Asserting that Jerusalem was “the capital of the Jewish people,” he added that the 19-year Jordanian rule of East Jerusalem had never been recognized by the International community.
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