Two Arab inspired resolutions on the Middle East sponsored by a group of non-aligned countries were overwhelmingly adopted by the General Assembly today. They were declared unacceptable by Israel and forcefully rejected by the United States. (Earlier in the day Israeli Ambassador Chaim Herzog withdrew the draft resolution he had introduced in the Assembly Monday and explained the reasons for the move. See separate story P.3.)
The first and more extreme of the resolutions, L-26: approved by a vote of 91-11 with 29 abstentions, called for resumption of the peace conference on the Middle East with the participation of the Palestine Liberation Organization, demanded Israel’s withdrawal from all Arab territories and declared that the fulfillment of Palestinian rights is essential to achieve peace in the Middle East.
The second resolution, L-27, was described by many delegates as “moderate” and, like the first, did not mention the Geneva conference. It was approved 122-2 with eight abstentions. Only the U.S. and Israel cast negative ballots. The resolution called for convening a Middle East peace conference under United Nations auspices by the end of March, 1977.
Israel’s UN Ambassador, Chaim Herzog, explaining his objections to the second resolution before the voting, said that while it indicated a “softening” of attitudes and a move toward Israel’s position, regrettably the delegates of Egypt and Syria had pointed out that the two resolutions must be taken as a whole and this made them completely unacceptable. He charged that the two resolutions changed the ground rules of the Geneva conference proposed a dictated settlement and were “one-sided, biased and hostile to Israel.”
In voting against the first resolution, Israel and the U.S. were joined by Denmark, Iceland, Canada, Costa Rica, West Germany, United Kingdom. Norway, Nicaragua and The Netherlands. The countries abstaining included Sweden, Mexico, Venezuela, Luxembourg, Belgium, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, France and Finland.
MEASURES TERMED ONE-SIDED, ARTIFICIAL
U.S. Ambassador William Scranton denounced the first resolution as unbalanced “in its references to the potential elements of a peace.” He declared that “One side cannot be expected to give everything and gain nothing.” He noted that the draft does not refer to the end of the state of war in the Middle East but refers only to the interests of the Palestinians while ignoring the security of Israel and the right of a “free, Independent Israel” to exist in the region.
Scranton said the U.S. was “compelled to vote against” the second resolution because it sets “an artificial deadline for reconvening the Geneva conference.” Elaborating on that later in his remarks. Scranton said that with a new Administration soon to take office in Washington the U.S. does “not consider it appropriate to Join now in a definition or detailed options or time limits governing valuation of this crucial negotiating process” toward reconvening the Geneva-conference.
He said that timing the resumption of the Geneva conference and its procedure must be determined by the parties themselves and by the co-chairmen, the U.S. and USSR. “This is obviously a question that will be addressed by the new American Administration,” he said.
REJECTS IMPLIED ROLE OF PLO
Cranston said the U.S. also objected to the request contained in the second resolution to UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim to resume his contacts with the parties to the conflict because “it is phrased in such a way as to imply that the PLO should be one of the parties consulted in preparation for reconvening the Geneva conference.” In that connection, the American envoy stressed that the U.S. believes that additional participants in the Geneva conference is a question “which can only be addressed by the original parties themselves.”
Referring to the general situation in the Middle East, Scranton said that conditions in the area “are now conducive” to the resumption of efforts to solve the problems of the area. He said the U.S. therefore welcomes the recent statements by President Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Israeli Premier Yitzhak Rabin.
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