Despite Israel’s strong opposition, the Security Council decided last night to let the mandate of the United Nanons Emergency Force (UNEF) in Sinai expire, thereby accepting the Soviet-American compromise for the UN Truce Supervisory Organization (UNTSO) to take over the duties of UNEF. The decision of the 15-member Council to discontinue the 4000-troop force in the Sinai was reached during a 45-minute closed-door, informal meeting.
Secretary General Kurt Waldheim, following the Council decision, announced last night that UNEF will be disbanded and declared that “It is my intention to make, in accordance with existing decisions of the Security Council, the necessary arrangements to insure the further functioning of UNTSO.”
The Israel Mission to the United Nations issued today the following statement: “UNTSO does not fulfill the provisions as stipulated in the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty. It does not have a clear mandate and is not under the jurisdiction of the Security Council. The experience of 1967 shows that Israel cannot trust a UN force that is subordinate to the Secretary General. Last night’s decision by the Security Council is unacceptable to Israel.
“The Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty stipulates that a UN force in the Sinai will be ordered to pull out only as a result of an agreement by the permanent members of the Security Council. The new situation does not follow this stipulation.”
According to sources here, Waldheim informed the Council last night that UNEF’s withdrawal would take about six weeks while the removal of UNEF’s logistic material and equipment would take about six months. UNEF was established by the Security Council in 1973 to supervise the disengagement agreements between Israel and Egypt after the Yom Kippur War. UNTSO was created to monitor the truce lines and agreements between Israel and its neighbors after the War of Independence in 1948.
The decision to discontinue UNEF followed a Soviet refusal to extend the force and a threat that it would use its veto if the renewal came to a vote at the Council. The Soviet Union has sided with the rest of the Arab world against the Egyptian-Israeli treaty.
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