Diplomatic sources here said today that the anti-Israel forces in the UN would persist in their vendetta despite the apparent breakdown of their campaign to have Israel ousted from the current session of the General Assembly. The sources said the anti-Israel tactics would consist of resolutions condemning Israel, especially in the Third Committee which deals with social development and humanitarian affairs; questioning the moral basis of Israel’s existence by equating Zionism with colonialism and imperialism; and demanding the imposition of sanctions against Israel.
The sources noted that the General Assembly does not have the authority to impose sanctions but only to recommend them to the Security Council and that such demands by the anti-Israel forces would be simply a form of harassment.
The diplomatic sources also suggested that Secretary of State Henry A, Kissinger’s recent proposal for informal multi-lateral consultations on the Middle East was intended to “bring the Soviets back-into the picture.” The sources observed that the fact that Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko did not reject Kissinger’s idea in his speech to the General Assembly last week could be construed as tacit Soviet approval of that approach.
According to the sources, the influence of the Soviet Union has waned considerably in the Middle East and even those countries identified as strongly pro-Moscow do not altogether accept Soviet dictates. The sources said that Gromyko’s meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Yigal Allon here last week could be understood as a Soviet ploy to demonstrate to the Arabs that there “are other alternatives,” One Western diplomat remarked that “the Soviets have realized that when they don’t have access to both sides in the Israeli-Arab dispute they lose influence.”
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.
