Tekoah Scores Israelis Testifying Before UN Committee Probing Condition of Arabs

An Israeli citizen, identified only as a member of the Israeli League for Human and Civil Rights, will be a star witness before a special United Nations committee investigating the condition of Arab civilians in the Israel-occupied territories when it resumes hearings here June 14-21. Keith Beavan, an official of the UN Office of Public Information who accompanied the inquiry committee during its month-long tour of European and Middle East cities, told a press briefing that the Israeli had responded to an advertisement which the committee placed in several newspapers asking for witnesses. The Israeli League for Human and Civil Rights was described as an affiliate of the League of the Rights of Man in New York.

Ambassador Yosef Tekoah, Israel’s chief representative to the UN claimed in a statement issued following the press briefing that “the Israelis who have chosen to appear before the committee belong to an insignificant group supporting the Arab aim of Israel’s destruction as a sovereign state.” Mr. Tekoah’s statement added that “This type of schizophrenics is not unknown in the history of nations, including the Jewish people.” He added, “The press briefing was another example of Arab propaganda of which the committee is a tool. No one who seeks an objective evaluation of the situation would attack any credence or significance to the committee’s work. The fact that the world press almost completely ignores it is the best proof of that.” Mr. Tekoah said, “Israel is not prepared to cooperate with this instrument of Arab belligerency.” The Israel government has barred the committee from its territory because it refuses to conduct a parallel investigation of the condition of Jews in Arab countries.

Mr. Beavan said the committee expected to have its report ready some time in August when it will be presented to UN Secretary General U Thant. Mr. Thant is expected to forward it to the General Assembly for discussion. The report will contain the testimony of witnesses heard between March 30 and May I and the additional testimony to be taken in June. Many of the witnesses who testified did not give direct evidence but related what they had heard from second parties. Some witnesses, were discredited as paid propagandists of the Arabs or as members of Matzpen, an ultra left-wing anti-Zionist movement in Israel. A document charging Israeli maltreatment of Arabs was presented by a Syrian witness in the name of the World Council of Churches. It was promptly repudiated by the WCC.