Icao Adopts Israel’s Proposals for Sanctions by Vote of 91-1; Syria Lone Dissenter

The International Civil Aviation Organization, the majority of whose delegations had originally considered Israel’s proposal for sanctions against airline saboteurs too “political” for acceptance, approved the motion today by a vote of 91-1. The “solemn declaration” calls for condemnation of all violent acts against civil aviation and ICAO action against such acts. The dissenting delegation was not identified other than as being “Arab.” (In New York, it was learned that the dissenter was Syria. The Egyptian, Jordanian and other Arab delegations to the ICAO emergency conference voted, however reluctantly, for the Israeli proposal.) Two Arab amendments were defeated. The first would have restricted the authority of the proposed legislation to aircraft and passengers in flight or at airports. The ICAO chose to include, as well, airline terminals and town offices, which have also been the targets of terrorist attacks–notably the strike against the El Al office in Athens. The second Arab amendment would have omitted from ICAO condemnation attacks on planes “carrying arms and war materials.” The convention, called into extraordinary session here in the wake of the Feb. 21 Swissair disaster, called on member ICAO states to adopt by the summer of 1971 a resolution making airline violence an international crime. The proposal adopted today will be taken up formally by international diplomats next December in The Hague.