Israels air raid on Palestinian terrorist targets in Tunisia was denounced by Syria in the General Assembly today as “aggression” that violated Tunisia’s sovereignty and inflicted loss of lives. Saudi Arabia also condemned the air attack and demanded sanctions against Israel.
Syria’s Foreign Minister, Farouk Al-Shara, charged that Israel had violated international air space and endangered international aviation. It was not the first time, he said, that Israel attacked other states in the region.
Prince Sultan Bin Abdel Aziz Al-Saud, special envoy of King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, expressed solidarity with Tunisia. Prince Sultan, who is also Defense Minister and a deputy Prime Minister, departed from the prepared text of his General Assembly address, saying his country “calls on all peace-loving countries and this organization, with all its bodies, to impose deterring sanctions against Israel.”
SYRIA REJECTS HUSSEIN’S INITIATIVE
Both the Saudi and Syrian ministers devoted much of their remarks to the Middle East conflict in general. Al-Shara said his country rejects the initiative taken by King Hussein of Jordan last February II to negotiate with Israel through a joint Jordanian-Palestinian delegation. He said the Jordanian plan was “tantamount to the liquidation of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people.”
The Syrian Foreign Minister said his country supports all UN resolutions and the Fez (Morocco) plan adopted in 1982 which calls for Israel to withdraw from all occupied Arab territories and the restoration of Palestinian rights. He said Syria strongly condemned all separate solutions in the Middle East, such as the Camp David accords and the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty.
The Syrian minister was also critical of Israel’s “security belt” in south Lebanon which he charged was a ruse to keep Israeli forces in Lebanon. He commended what he called the “heroic” resistance acts against Israel in Lebanon and the occupied territories. The Saudi Arabian envoy charged that Israel has been working against peace in the Middle East since 1947. He said Israel was in fact “immune” to UN resolutions because they are not enforceable and are subject to veto in the Security Council.
Peace in the Middle East will be achieved only when Israel withdraws from all of the occupied territories and recognizes the rights of the Palestinian people, Prince Sultan said. He maintained that the problem of the Palestinian people was the core of the Middle East conflict. No solution will be reached unless that problem is solved, he said and no solution will be possible unless the Palestine Liberation Organization is a party to the discussions. He also endorsed the Fez conference.
The General Assembly will be addressed tomorrow by Yitzhak Shamir, Foreign Minister and Deputy Premier of Israel.
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.
