As Golda Meir was shaking more than 1,000 hands last night at a reception in her honor, her Israeli government was bracing itself for what authoritative sources called “a very tough job ahead of us” in staving off any anti-Israel resolution in next week’s General Assembly debate on the Middle East. Political circles said that such a resolution, especially if phrased in extreme terms, would be the first act of “tampering” with the provisions of Security Council Resolution 242 of Nov. 22, 1967. The adding of any new “elements” to the terms of Resolution 242 through a new resolution would result at best in an impasse and at worst in a “complete collapse” of United Nations authority in the Mideast, the sources said. Israel realizes, it was understood, that if the Assembly decides to apply a two-thirds vote rule, a resolution could be blocked by one-third plus one; however, the Arab bloc might seek to obtain a simple majority vote. The sources said Egypt proposed the debate apparently in order to be able to show a face of activism on the political front.
Behind the scenes, sources said. Egyptian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Riad has been “going around telling different things to different people.” The sources emphasized that the Egyptian violations were as much American and General Assembly problems as an Israeli problem because the credibility of international agreements is at stake. At the reception in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, the long line of guests shook hands with Mrs. Meir; Yosef Tekoah, Israel’s UN ambassador; and Mrs. Tekoah for two hours. Also on hand was Yitzhak Rabin, ambassador to the U.S. Among the other dignitaries attending were Prime Minister Edward Heath, Foreign Secretary Sir Alec Douglas-Home and UN Ambassador Sir Colin Crowe of Britain; Foreign Minister Maurice Schumann of France; Dr. Ralph J. Bunche, UN Under-Secretary General for Special Political Affairs; U.S. Ambassador Charles W. Yost; Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller, Sen. Charles E. Goodell, Rep. Richard L. Ottinger and gubernatorial candidate Arthur J. Goldberg of New York; labor leader David Dubinsky, American Jewish Congress leader Dore Schary, and officials of virtually all UN member nations, including Africans in flowing robes.
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.
