Arab States Prevented Israel from Attending Conferences of U.N. Bodies, Delegate Says

The Israel delegation indicated here today that it might enter a formal proposal requiring a member state of the U.N. acting as host to a U.N. conference to give “unconditional assurances that it will admit on equal terms all representatives and observers entitled to attend,” or failing such assurances to have the conference transferred to another scone.

This indication came in a statement by Dr. Abraham Katznelson of the Israel delegation, before the Social and Humanitarian Committee during a discussion on freedom of access for the press. Dr. Katznelson charged that in two recent conferences of U.N. specialized bodies member states, by discriminatory action, prevented Israel from attending. This occurred, he said, last month in connection with the Middle Eastern regional conference of the World Health Organization in Alexandria, and in recent weeks with regard to the Food and Agriculture Organization conference to be held at Beirut.

Pointing up the violations of the rights of member states, Dr. Katznelson told the committee that it “should not find it difficult to conclude that these practices are totally out of accord with the principles and purposes of the United Nations.” Declaring that the U.N. would be greatly in danger if host countries were entitled to veto the presence of any representatives at U.N. conferences, he asserted: “My delegation will reserve the right to make a formal proposition to this effect at an appropriate time.”

The Israel delegate went on to say: “Israel’s role in the promotion of public health services is a matter of public knowledge. The successful fight of our medical pioneers against tropical diseases which ravaged so many areas in the Near East cannot fail to be of benefit to our neighbors. Disease knows no national barriers. With respect to the F.A.O. conference, I might point out that the habit of cultivating and consuming food is not a monopoly of any single race or culture in the Near East.”