The Islamic bloc here is demanding that the United Nations take immediate action to curtail Soviet Jewish immigration to Israel, charging that the Jewish state plans to settle Soviet Jews “in the Palestinian and Arab lands under the illegal occupation of Israel since 1967.”
Dr. Hamid Algabid, secretary-general of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, sent a message last week to U.N. Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar asking him and various U.N. bodies “to take urgent and effective action” on the question of Soviet Jewish immigration to Israel.
The Soviet Union on Friday suggested that the subject of Jewish immigration be discussed by the United Nations.
Officials at the Israeli mission, however, said Friday that they did not believe a Security Council session on the issue was imminent.
If a Security Council resolution calling for Israel not to settle Soviet Jews in the territories is formally introduced, it may be difficult for the United States to veto, since the State Department itself has been making such requests to Israel.
Whether or not there is Security Council action, the question will be addressed in Washington later this month by a special Arab League delegation made up of the foreign ministers of Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the Soviet Union.
The delegation plans to lobby both in Washington and the European Community against the huge influx of Soviet Jews expected to arrive in Israel, particularly if they wind up in the administered territories.
In the Islamic Conference’s letter to Perez de Cuellar, Algabid states that Soviet Jewish settlement in the territories “would impede the prospects for the political settlement of the Middle East question and have incalculable consequences for regional peace and stability.”
“The United Nations must take serious cognizance of the Israeli policy of establishing new settlements in the territories under its illegal occupation, coupled with the forceful eviction of the Palestinian people from their homes and lands,” Algabid wrote.
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