Israel expressed strong opposition last night to the Legal Committee’s recommendation that the General Assembly postpone debate on international terrorism until next year. But the United States, in a reversal of its previous position, supported postponement. The Israeli representative, Ambassador Shabtai Rosenne, said his government “strenuously opposed” adjournment of the debate on terrorism, especially in view of ongoing terrorist acts. The U.S. representative maintained, however, that circumstances did not permit a useful discussion of the item at this time.
A spokesman for the American delegation said today that the U.S. stand on terrorism was well known but the U.S. nevertheless supported the recommended postponement because debate at this time would be “a useless exercise.” That stand was at variance with the one taken a year ago when the U.S. opposed a similar recommendation by the Legal Committee which resulted in deferring the debate until this year’s General Assembly session.
The agenda item titled, “Measures to Prevent International Terrorism Which Endangers or Takes Innocent Human Lives” had been scheduled for debate during the 1973 fall session of the General Assembly. Debate actually began in the Legal Committee which is comprised of the same membership as the General Assembly, but the item never reached the Assembly floor.
PLO WARNS OF CONTINUED VIOLENCE
Last night’s recommendation, apparently adopted by consensus as no vote was recorded, is almost certain to be adopted by the General Assembly which means that the debate on terrorism will not come up until its 30th session in the fall of 1975. Rosenne noted that while the Legal Committee devoted considerable time to a discussion of parking problems in New York, terrorist acts were occurring frequently and captured terrorists were being handed over to other terrorist gangs for “discipline,”
He was referring to airplane hijackers in. Tunis who murdered one of their hostages and were released to the Palestine Liberation Organization, Uruguay supported Israel’s opposition to postponement and Bolivia expressed “regrets” but no otter statements were made against deferring the item. The Legal Committee was addressed yesterday by a PLO delegate who accused Israel of terrorism and said the PLO would continue to respond by “armed resistance,”
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.
