UN Officials Rediscover Jarring Proposal to Convene Israel and Egypt

United Nations officials rediscovered today that Ambassador Gunnar V. Jarring had indeed sought to convene Israel and Egypt in peace talks in 1968 but were at a loss to “explain fully” why they were never implemented. This admission came on the heels of denials yesterday that they were aware of such efforts by Dr. Jarring. The contretemps began Tuesday when Israel’s chief representative to the UN, Ambassador Yosef Tekoah, in a letter to Secretary General U Thant, cited the fact that Ambassador Jarring had sought to convene Israel and Egypt but that Egypt had rejected his attempt. A UN spokesman said yesterday that neither Mr. Thant nor Undersecretary General Ralphe Bunche had any knowledge of such a proposal. A spokesman for the Israel Mission however told JTA that such a proposal was contained in a UN document (S-8309) of March 21, 1968.

The UN spokesman explained today that Dr. Bunche did not clearly understand Mr. Tekoah’s reference in his letter to Mr. Thant because he assumed the Israeli ambassador was referring to recent activity by Dr. Jarring. The spokesman said after a telephone conversation between Dr. Bunche and Mr. Tekoah, the Undersecretary realized that Mr. Tekoah was referring to “suggestions Jarring made to the governments of Israel and Jordan and the UAR in the earliest months of his mission more than two years ago for discussions and negotiations under his auspices in Cyprus.” The spokesman said “This suggestion, followed later by others, was in pursuance of his (Jarring’s) mandate” under the Nov. 22, 1967 resolution of the Security Council. The UN spokesman said that Dr. Bunche was “not able to explain in detail why this suggestion, though discussed by Ambassador Jarring with the parties, was never implemented” because only Dr. Jarring himself “has the full Information necessary to do so whenever he decides that the time has come for him to report on substantive matters.”

The UN spokesman added that Dr. Bunche noted that Mr. Tekoah had referred in his letter to “proposals” put forth by Ambassador Jarring. The spokesman said “it has been Dr. Bunche’s understanding that Ambassador Jarring’s right to make ‘proposals’ under his mandate has been questioned.” Asked to explain who had questioned his mandate, the UN spokesman said that “Dr. Bunche does not wish to go beyond this statement.” The document referred to by the Israel Mission spokesman was a report submitted by Mr. Thant to the Security Council in which Mr. Thant reported that Dr. Jarring, in his efforts to promote agreements between the governments, found a basic difference in the “outlook between the governments of the UAR, Republic of Jordan on the one hand and the government of Israel on the other…The efforts of Mr. Jarring have been directed towards obtaining an agreed statement of position concerning the implementation of the resolution (of Nov. 22, 1967), which could then be followed by meetings between the parties under his auspices. So far these efforts have not resulted in agreement…”