Soviets Urge UN Sanctions Against Israel; Talks Start on Draft Resolution

The Security Council resumed debate today on charges and counter-charges of aggression filed by Lebanon and Israel as talks began among the delegates on a draft resolution which was expected to exclude Lebanese demands for sanctions against Israel, a demand strongly supported by the Soviet delegate.

The Soviet delegate. A. V. Zakharov, said the Soviet Union would support any Council measure aimed at “curbing the aggressor,” calling last Monday’s Israeli air raid against commando bases in Lebanon “unprovoked aggression,” which Israel was trying to “slough off” as an act of self-defense. He argued that the way to peace in the Middle East was through implementation of the Council’s Nov. 22.1967 resolution, which he said called for immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from occupied Arab territories.

Yosef Tekoah, Israel’s representative, said it was a basic tenet of international law that governments were responsible for acts directed from their territory against neighboring states. He added that the records of the Security Council were replete with “wanton Soviet abuse” of Israel, delivered in an anti-Semitic spirit and he added that the day would come when the Jewish people would submit to the Soviet Union an account of what Russia had done against Jews.

Charles W. Yost, the United States representative, condemned both Israel and Lebanon for allowing violence to occur and he added that both governments were to blame for the severity of the incidents on which they filed their complaints. Claude Chayet, the French representative, said that Israeli reprisals could only aggravate the situation, adding that “we must disapprove of all acts of violence, regardless of their nature or origin.” He added that France would consider all proposals to be placed before the Council in the light of that principle.