United Nations Secretary-General U Thant, through his spokesman, reminded Israel today that the Nov. 22, 1967 resolution adopted by the Security Council called for the withdrawal of Israel’s armed forces from the territories they occupied in the Six-Day War.
Mr. Thant’s reminder was a reaction to press reports that the Israel Cabinet and the Israel Labor Party had decided to keep substantial portions of the occupied territory including the Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip and enough of the Sinai Peninsula to assure control of the Sharm-el-Sheikh strong point. With regard to the West Bank, the decision was that no foreign armies would be permitted on the west side of the Jordan.
The UN spokesman said that while the Secretary-General “has no comment on this resolution perse, he has frequently emphasized the need for a just and peaceful solution in the Middle East in the context of the Security Council resolution of Nov. 22, 1967.” In response to one question as to whether Mr. Thant had in mind the phrase in the resolution calling for Israeli withdrawal, the spokesman said, “the Secretary-General is taking the resolution as a whole.”
In Washington, State Department spokesman Carl Bartch termed the Israel Labor Party platform pronouncement on Israeli boundaries an internal Israeli political question at this point but asserted that the United States Government nevertheless stands behind the Nov. 22, 1967. United Nations resolution on withdrawal of forces from territories occupied in the Six-Day War.
(Mr. Bartch said the United States has not yet received an official text of the new Labor Party platform. He stressed that the United States could not concern itself with an internal political position because it was not yet established policy of the Israeli Government.)
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
