U.N. Assembly Opens Today; Golda Meir Arriving to Address Session

The 17th session of the General Assembly of the United Nations opens here tomorrow with a number of problems on the agenda affecting Israel. Mrs. Golda Meir, Israel’s Foreign Minister, will arrive tomorrow morning to participate in the opening session and to deliver before the delegates the views of the Israel Government on major issues which will come up for deliberation at the parley.

The issues affecting Israel directly are not expected to come up for discussion before some time in November. Mrs. Meir will return to Israel after delivering her major address at the General Assembly this month. But she will return in November to participate in the debates that will arise in connection with the Arab-Israel situation. Ambassador Michael S. Comay, permanent representative of the Israeli delegation at the UN, will head the Israel diplomatic corps here during Mrs. Meir’s absence.

The major issues affecting Israel at this Assembly, all of which are expected to develop considerable debate, include:

1. The Arab refugee issue–centered about the fact that this year’s Assembly must decide on what to do further in connection with relief activities for the Arab refugees, aided since 1950 by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees. UNRWA’s current mandate expires next June 30, and this year’s Assembly is the last to face that deadline.

2. The annual report on the Arab refugee situation and the activities of UNRWA by the agency’s Commissioner-General, Dr. John H. Davis. Dr. Davis’ report is expected again to reflect the strong pressures by Arab governments for “repatriation” of the refugees to Israel. In that connection it is expected that, once more, a so-called “Palestine Delegation” will press for a hearing before the Assembly as quasi-diplomatic representatives of the refugees.

3. The report by Joseph E. Johnson, special envoy of the Palestine Conciliation Commission who, for the second successive year, has been attempting to find means for easing the refugee problem, in consultation with Arab and Israeli leaders. Dr. Johnson, president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, visited all the Middle East capitals this summer as a representative of the PCC.

4. A resolution is expected to be introduced by a number of members, requesting that the Arab states and Israel meet in direct, face-to-face talks to negotiate possible peace. Such a resolution was presented last year by 16 members, Africans and Latin Americans, with The Netherlands the only European co-sponsor. The draft was defeated in the Assembly by a vote of 44 against, 34 in favor and 20 abstentions. It is believed that there will be more sponsors for such a resolution this year.

Another item concerning Israel will be the debate on financing the United Nations Emergency Force. The Soviet bloc and several other countries have refused to pay their UNEF assessments. The International Court of Justice, a UN organ, has rendered an advisory opinion, holding that all members must pay special assessments like those levied for the UN peace machinery embodied in UNEF and in the UN Force in the Congo.

One of the items on the Assembly agenda deals with a draft resolution proposing outlawing of “manifestations of racial prejudice and national and religious intolerance.” The resolution, originally proposed by the United Nations Economic and Social Council, grew out of debates by a UN Subcommission of anti-Semitic manifestations in various parts of the world, following a spate of swastika-smearings of synagogues in Germany several years ago.

Not on the Assembly agenda, but a possibility for debate in the next few weeks, is the fact that Syrian attacks have occurred along the Syrian-Israeli border with increasing frequency during the last three months. Mr. Comay conferred on that issue with Acting Secretary General U Thant today.