U Thant and Tekoah at Odds over Role of UN in New Middle East Crisis

A United Nations spokesman said today that Secretary General U Thant had no official statement on Israeli reports that Russian pilots are flying missions over Egypt. The spokesman said the Secretary General could not comment on press reports. However Mr. Thant did issue “a general view” of the Mideast situation. He said, “So long as the relevant resolutions of the Security Council are not implemented by the parties, the situation in the Middle East will continue to deteriorate with all the dangerous consequences, including outside involvement which will inevitably follow.” The “relevant resolutions” referred to by Mr. Thant included the cease-fire resolutions and the Nov. 22, 1967 resolution which called for Israeli withdrawal, peace undertakings by the Arabs and set up Jarring peace mission to the Mideast.

Ambassador Yosef Tekoah of Israel sharply criticized this statement and declared it was proof that the United Nations could not deal objectively with the Arab-Israeli conflict. “To condone outside military intervention in the Middle East conflict on any grounds whatever is a misguided attitude courting disaster,” Ambassador Tekoah asserted, and added that Mr. Thant’s statement “is further evidence that the United Nations is unable to view objectively the Israel-Arab conflict and to contribute constructively to its resolution.”

ISRAELI VIEW: ROLE OF SOVIET AIR FORCE AGAINST ISRAEL WITHOUT PRECEDENT OR PARALLEL

(In Washington, the Israel Embassy said today that “the Soviet decision to despatch what are to all intents and purposes regular units of the Soviet Air Force against Israel is without precedent and parallel” and “its significance and portent are frankly alarming.” The statement, contained in an Embassy policy background analysis, observed: “It is too early, at this stage, to establish the exact parameters of the Soviet involvement. “What is clear, however, is that it is already tied to a directly correlated escalation of offensive Egyptian action on the ground and in the air.” The analysis said the Soviet Union “will surely know that Israel will defend itself. The degree to which the Soviet Union will be sobered and deterred from escalating its involvement is contingent to a large extent on the degree Israel will have the wherewithal to defend itself with effect.” It added: “We have reached a new crossroads in the Middle East. From this point on the question is whether and how the Soviet Union is to be checked from further escalating tensions in general and its direct involvement in particular. This will be determined by two factors: first, the military strength of democratic Israel. Second, the rallying of the enlightened international community against the emergent Soviet aggression.”)

Diplomatic sources at the United Nations said today it is unlikely that the Big Four will meet in emergency session prior to their scheduled meeting May 5 to discuss the new Middle East crisis. A British source observed that the function of the Big Four talks is “not to consider every situation on the ground but to concentrate on helping (Ambassador Gunner V.) Jarring” resume his Middle East peace mission. The British source said there was no hard or fast rule about meeting between scheduled meetings and that at “two or three” previous meetings of the Big Four the question of arms limitation was discussed. Sources also expressed skepticism that the Big Four deputies would have a memorandum completed by May 5. The deputies met yesterday and will meet again tomorrow. “It is dubious that they will have a completed memorandum by next week,” the British source stated.