An expected re-examination of Israel’s status in UNESCO at the 96th session of the Executive Committee of UNESCO that opened here Monday; will not take place, Two resolutions concerning Israel were deliberately omitted from the agenda by UNESCO Secretary General Amadou Mokhtar M’Bow. Apparently, M’Bow hopes the issue will have been settled or cooled down before the Committee’s next session in September.
Representatives of 40 member states, presided over by Hector Winter of Jamaica, were to have studied the resolutions on moves made by the UNESCO General Assembly in Paris last November barring Israel from the organization’s regional groupings and condemning it for archaeological excavations and construction in East Jerusalem, Those actions brought a storm of protest from hundreds of prominent world figures having deal- ings with UNESCO in the fields of the arts, letters and science. They also resulted in a out-off of American funds for UNESCO by the U.S. Congress.
The resolutions will not be discussed at the current session unless a member of the Executive Committee requests such discussion, UNESCO sources believe M’Bow has assurances from Arab and Third World leaders that no such requests will be made. The Executive Committee meeting will also send invitations to international government meetings to be held in 1976. M’Bow declared that Israel will continue to be included in such meetings.
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