The Governing Council of the UN Development Program (UNDP) today approved Israel’s Country Program and granted her assistance of $5 million. The approval was given despite strong Arab insistence that Israel was not entitled to UNDP funds because it holds Arab territories and because the Israeli project would be implemented in the Arab territories seized in the Six-Day-War. The Country Program consists of aid for industrial and agricultural development.
Israeli Ambassador Yosef Tekoah said today that the Arab opposition to UNDP aid for Israel “springs from Israel’s success in repelling Arab aggression and thwarting Arab designs on Israel’s independence.” Referring to the “absurdity” of the Arabs’ arguments Tekoah cited the fact that “the Arab governments are engaged in a campaign of terror and savage atrocities which constitutes an international menace.”
According to Tekoah the Arab governments are receiving a total of $172.5 million as UNDP assistance for the period of 1972-1976 but “at the same time spend more than twice as much on their terrorist organization.”
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