“The resolution adopted here is one-sided and hostile and reflects the well-known obsession and fixation that many states in this organization have displayed in their approach towards my country,” Yehuda Blum, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations declared at the Security Council last night after the Council voted 14-0, with the United. States abstaining, to ensure Israel for its “Basic Law” on Jerusalem and urged all states that have embassies in the holy city to withdraw them.
“This Council can no doubt adopt whatever resolutions it likes for whatever reason it chooses,” Blum said. “The fact remains that they cannot and will not further the cause of peace, not are they calculated to further that cause. But whatever their purpose, they cannot and will not after the fundamental reality that united Jerusalem has been and will remain the capital of Israel.”
MUSKIE SITS ON BOTH SIDES OF THE FENCE
Secretary of State Edmund Muskie, who interrupted his vocation in Maine to appear before the Council to explain the U.S. abstention on the anti-Israel resolution, said the resolution, which was drown up by West European members, “fails to serve the goal of all faiths that look to Jerusalem as holy.” Muskie said that the future of Jerusalem cannot be determined “by unilateral actions nor by narrow resolutions in this Jorum. Rather, the question of Jerusalem must be addressed in the context of negotiations for a comprehensive, just and lasting Middle East peace.”
He added: “The status of Jerusalem cannot simply be declared; it must be agreed to by the parties. That is a practical reality, it will remain so despite this resolution or a hundred more like it. We have encouraged all parties to refrain from unilateral actions which seek to change the character or status of Jerusalem. In line with this position we will not vote against the resolution as presently written.”
Muskie’s unexpected appearance before the Council surprised the diplomatic community here Diplomats and observers here said they believed the Secretary of State personally made the trip to New York to cast a U.S. abstention in order to assure the American Jewish community that the Carter Administration is even-handed in its Mideast policy.
The tough speech, which sharply rebuked the UN for its treatment of Israel and declared the Jerusalem resolution “unbalanced and flawed,” was in contrast to the U.S. abstention and the refusal of the U.S. to use its veto power, as urged by the Jewish community. The tough speech was “to balance” the abstention vote, diplomats said.
In his speech, Muskie strongly criticized the UN for its preoccupation with Israel. He said that the U.S. could not support the resolution on Jerusalem because it omitted any mention of Resolution 242. and did not mention at all “violence against Israel or of efforts that undermine Israel’s legitimate security needs.”
Last night’s resolution, which calls “upon those states that have established diplomatic missions in Jerusalem to withdraw such missions from the holy city,” is expected to affect Holland and II Latin American countries which still have their embassies in Jerusalem.
The Council meeting and the resolution come in the woke of the Israeli Knesset affirmation of “united Jerusalem” as a “Basic Law.” The Council meeting was requested Aug. I by Pakistan on behalf of the Islamic Conference States.
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.
