See Israel-lebanon Wrangle in Icao Session Called As Result of Beirut Raid

An Israel-Lebanon wrangle was expected today in the second meeting of a special session of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) called by Lebanon as a result of Israel’s Dec. 28 commando raid on Beirut Airport. The session was called unprecedented by observers here.

The Lebanese delegate to the 27-member council, Dr. Assad Kotaite, demanded yesterday that Israel be punished by sanctions– he did not specify what kind–for the attack, which destroyed 13 commercial airliners. Dr. Shabtai Rosenne, representing Israel, asked that the agenda also include the Dec. 26 attack on an El Al airliner in Athens by Arab terrorists, which triggered the reprisal attack, and the hijacking of an El Al Boeing 707 airliner to Algeria by terrorists last year. His move was opposed by Dr. Kotaite. The Israeli delegate’s motion, supported by the United States, Britain, the Scandinavian countries and The Netherlands, was defeated, having failed by two to get the necessary 14 votes.

The Lebanese also demanded that Israel be expelled from the ICAO which has a membership of 116 nations and is based here. It is a special agency of the United Nations. He contended that Israel should be “drummed out” of the agency for jeopardizing civil aviation. In his presentation, Dr. Rosenne argued that the ICAO should concern itself with questions of safety and security of aviation in all countries and not turn those questions into a political debate here. The safety of all civil airlines is in danger, and definite measures to stop terrorist attacks should be taken at once, he said.