The representatives of Syria and the Soviet Union challenged charges made by Ambassador Joel Barromi of Israel in the General Assembly’s Third Committee yesterday that the Syrian government was systematically persecuting Jews in Syria. Ambassador B.A. Solomatin of the USSR said today that “instead of a correct application of the rules on human rights in armed conflict.” the subject under discussion by the Third Committee, “the representative of Israel has made his usual insinuations about the Arab states.”
Barromi had charged among other things that Syria suspended its general laws insofar as its Jewish citizens were concerned, thus depriving them of legal recourse against persecution and arbitrary restrictions. The Syrian Ambassador Dia Aliah el-Fattal called the charge “entirely without basis.” He contended that it was “irrelevant” inasmuch as the Third Committee was discussing human rights in armed conflict and the United Nations has ruled that Syria is not “an occupied territory.” According to the Syrian’s interpretation, the discussion is limited to the human rights of occupied populations. Barromi was interrupted repeatedly yesterday by some of the Arab delegates in an effort to halt his presentation.
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