Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar on Monday strongly criticized the 1975 U.N. General Assembly resolution denigrating Zionism as a form of racism but said the United Nations still has to play a role in the Middle East peace process.
Speaking to reporters as he entered the U.N. building, Perez de Cuellar said his position had always been that the resolution “was a wrong and unfair interpretation of what Zionism is.”
Officials at the Israeli Mission to the United Nations said they believed it was the first time the secretary-general had publicly condemned the resolution, which Israel is trying to have rescinded.
Perez de Cuellar also said “it would be wrong” to exclude Syria from peace negotiations, according to a transcript of his remarks provided by the Israeli Mission.
“I think it would be wrong to exclude any Arab country, particularly a country which is so important in the context of the Near East situation,” he said when asked about Syria’s participation.
Syria has demanded that the United Nations play a role in Middle East negotiations, something Israel categorically rejects because of the world body’s perceived hostility toward the Jewish state.
U.S. Secretary of State James Baker, on his fourth swing through the Middle East in two months, tried unsuccessfully over the weekend to persuade Syria to soften its position. There are unconfirmed reports that Baker is now considering arranging a peace conference without Syrian participation to circumvent the problem.
Harris Schoenberg, director of U.N. affairs for B’nai B’rith International, said the secretary general’s statement on the Zionism resolution “takes on particular significance at this time” with-Baker in the Middle East.
He said the United Nations wants to play a role in the peace process and knows that the Zionism resolution is an obstacle. He interpreted the secretary-general’s statement as a “confi- dence-building measure” and a signal that “the U.N. itself is interested in seeking the repeal” of the resolution.
Schoenberg also reported that U.S. and Israeli government officials dealing with U.N. affairs met in Washington a few weeks ago and decided to press for a vote to repeal the 1975 resolution during the next General Assembly session this fall.
The officials included John Bolton, U.S. assistant secretary of state for international organization affairs; his Israeli counterpart, Jochanan Bein; and Yoram Aridor, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations.
In his remarks on the resolution, Perez de Cuellar compared the Jews with the Basques in Spain or the Kurds, and said that demands for statehood should not be mixed up with racism.
“Zionism was first of all the need of the Jewish people to preserve their identity and at the same time to try and get a state for their nation,” the secretary-general said.
“You cannot say that trying to get a territory for your nation is racism. For instance, the Kurds or the Basques in Spain are not racists. These are two different things which should not be mixed up,” he said.
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