Security Council to Resume Debate Today on Israel-jordan Complaints

The Security Council was scheduled to resume debate tomorrow at the fifth meeting of its current session stemming from Israel’s Aug. 4 air assault on new Jordanian terrorist bases at Salt. The meeting was scheduled to begin at 3 p.m.

The session began last Monday on a complaint from Jordan and a counter-complaint from Israel. The debate has followed a familiar course. The Arab states and their supporters, led by the Soviet Union, have sought a condemnation of Israel and by implication, sanctions. The Soviet delegate, Yakov Malik, demanded on Friday that the Council take “more severe and more decisive” actions against Israel to force it to “comply” with the Council’s Nov. 22, 1967 resolution. The Arab and Soviet blocs interpret that resolution as calling for Israel’s immediate withdrawal from occupied territories. Israel maintained that its counter-measures against terrorists were legitimate acts of self-defense. Ambassador Yosef Tekoah, Israel’s chief representative, told the Friday session that the Arabs’ 20-year-old ambition to “liquidate” Israel was the root cause of the Middle East troubles.

The United States position, as summed up by its chief representative, Ambassador George Ball last week, was one deploring both Arab terrorist acts and Israeli reprisals. Ambassador Ball urged support for the peace-seeking mission of UN envoy Ambassador Gunnar V. Jarring. Jose Araujo Castro, of Brazil, this month’s Security Council President, said Friday that the Council must put its full weight behind Dr. Jarring’s mission. He said that Israel and Jordan were entitled to defend their security by their own means but were also entitled to guarantees of security to be mutually provided by the major powers which had special obligations under the UN charter and “a direct influence” on the level of Mideast armaments. The Council also heard statements Friday from the delegates of Paraguay, China and india.