Nineteen Arab countries and the Palestine Liberation Organization have sent a letter to UN Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar protesting Israel’s membership in the world organization. The letter, written by Libya and signed by all the other Arab nations except Egypt and Jordan, was circulated at the world body on the eve of the scheduled Tuesday vote on an Arab-sponsored resolution to deny Israel’s credentials to the United Nations 42nd General Assembly.
The letter contended that Israel’s “failure” to comply with UN Security Council resolutions on the question of Palestine and the Middle East is grounds for denying the credentials. It also charged that Israel’s continued occupation of Arab land “including Jerusalem and the Syrian Arab Golan Heights,” is another reason to in effect expel Israel from the UN.
In addition, the letter referred to “violation by Israel of human rights in the Palestinian and other occupied Arab territories”; “Israel’s continued aggression against the Arab states and the extension of the area of its aggression to the whole of Lebanon, Iraq and Tunisia”; and “Israel’s continued cooperation with the racist regime in southern Africa, specifically in the nuclear and economic fields.”
Israeli diplomats said they expect the annual assault on Israel’s credentials to be defeated. The vote last year was 86-41, and that majority has grown steadily in recent years.
Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Binyamin Netanyahu, met Monday with the Soviet Ambassador to the UN, Alexander Belonogov, and asked that the Soviet Union change its traditional position in support of the Arab resolution to expel Israel from the UN. Netanyahu reportedly told the Soviet diplomat that Moscow cannot assert that it is interested in improved relations with Jerusalem and call on Israel to agree to an international peace conference under UN sponsorship, while at the same time supporting a move to deny Israel’s membership in the UN. Informed sources said that the Soviet Ambassador remained noncommittal to the Israeli request, but promised to forward it to his government.
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.
