Israel continued today to press for the right to full membership in the largest United Nations bloc ever organized, the “Group of 77” developing countries, after being denied that right again last Friday through Arab and Moslem tactics which UN Secretariat observers called privately “sheer hooliganism.”
The group held a scheduled meeting Friday after Ambassador Syed Amjad Ali, of Pakistan, temporary chairman of the group, had notified Israel that only signatories to a declaration on developing countries would be admitted to the “private” meeting. That declaration was issued in Geneva last June at the conclusion of a three-month United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. The Arab and Moslem states pushed that declaration through without giving Israel an opportunity to sign it.
As soon as Ambassador Ali opened the meeting Friday, he announced that countries that did not sign the Geneva declaration last June “cannot participate.” Ambassador Michael S. Comay, Israel’s permanent representative at the UN, immediately sought to address the chair on a point of order. Arab representatives and their supporters immediately started pounding their desks, staging an 11-minute noisy demonstration and drowning out all efforts by Mr. Comay to speak.
Evidently showing extreme partisanship to the opponents of Israel’s participation, Ambassador Ali sat silently and did not recognize Israel or rule on Mr. Comay’s point of order. Ambassador Comay, openly accusing the chairman of an “attitude lacking a minimum of fairness,” said he would withdraw from the meeting “under protest.” He made it clear, however, that he was withdrawing only from that particular session and that he would continue to insist on Israel’s full right to membership in the group when the bloc elects a new chairman. Such an election had already been scheduled by the group.
The next chairman of the bloc, it was understood, will be a member of the Latin American bloc. Mr. Comay will pursue the issue further with the next chairman, as soon as he is designated by the Latin American bloc. After Mr. Comay withdrew, a representative of Guatemala protested against the manner in which Israel had been treated.
At the conclusion of the meeting, Mr. Ali told the bloc members that he felt a special meeting should be devoted in the near future to Israel’s insistence on being a full-fledged member of the group. Before making that announcement, Mr. Ali read to the group a letter sent to him just prior to the meeting by Mr. Comay insisting on Israel’s right to be heard on the issue. That action by Mr. Ali was interpreted as an acknowledgment that he had gone too far in permitting the Arab delegations to control his actions.
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