Michael Novak, head of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations Human Rights Commission meeting here, forcefully condemned two draft resolutions aimed against Israel today. One of them accused Israel of violating the human rights and right to self-determination of the Palestinian people and the other declared the Camp David accords and Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty to be without validity.
Novak, an appointee of the Reagan Administration who has emerged as the most vigorous American supporter of Israel at any UN forum to date, denounced the resolutions for denying Israel’s right to exist and for condemning a process that has led to a peace treaty.
Nevertheless, both drafts were adopted by the 43-member commission by the automatic Arab-Third World majority although several Third World countries voted against the resolutions or abstained. On the second resolution, which upheld “the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination without external interference and the establishment of a fully independent sovereign state in Palestine, II negative votes were cast and seven countries abstained.
Seventeen countries voted against or abstained on the first resolution which condemned Israel for annexing East Jerusalem and for its colonization of the West Bank and alleged violence against Arab civilians.
DEFENDS RESOLUTION 242
Addressing himself to the resolution, Novak said, “The resolution supports the absolute right of the Palestine Liberation Organization to a state “in Palestine.” There is, however, already a state in Palestine–Israel. This resolution makes no provision for the continued existence of Israel. Worse, it criticizes the essential foundation of peace in that area, put in place by Security Council Resolution 242, which affirms the right of all states in the area to exist and which calls for withdrawal from occupied territories.
“The resolution before us ignores Resolution 242 which lays the ground for a negotiated settlement, except to criticize Resolution 242. My delegation believes it principled and truthful to stand upon Resolution 242 in saying no to the exaggerated and one-sided draft before us.”
INCENSED OVER CRITICISM OF PEACE TREATY
Novak seemed particularly incensed by the resolution’s declaration that the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty and other agreements “have no validity in so far as they purport to determine the future of the Palestinian people and of the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel since 1967.” According to Novak, “This resolution would have us condemn a process of negotiation that resulted in a peace treaty. This Commission cannot really intend to tell the world that peace is a violation of human rights.”
Novak said it was “a deliberate overstatement” by the Commission resolution to condemn Israel for not applying the Fourth Geneva Convention in the occupied areas and that this failure constitutes a threat to world peace.
Israel found another unexpected champion in Portugal whose delegate, Angelo Almeida Ribeiro, denounced the Commission’s proceedings in harsh terms and voted against the anti-Israel resolutions. Other nations voting against or abstaining included Zaire, Costa Rica, Fiji, Greece, Panama, Brazil and Philippines.
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