1968_4_arabisraelwar

178 / AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK, 1968
Premier Kosygin then introduced the Soviet resolution which charged
Israel with "premeditated and previously prepared aggression against the
United Arab Republic, Syria and Jordan." It asked the Security Council
resolutely to condemn Israel's acts of aggression; demand that Israel "immediately
and without any condition withdraw all its forces" to the pre-June 5
armistice lines; demand that Israel pay in full and within the shortest possible
time for "all the damage inflicted" on the neighboring Arab states and their
nationals, and to return all seized property; in short, to undertake "immediate
effective measures in order to eliminate all consequences" of the Israeli
aggression.
In the following weeks these themes were to be repeated countless times
in the Assembly debates by Soviet bloc and Arab representatives. Almost
buried under the avalanche of anti-Israel invective in Premier Kosygin's
lengthy speech was one potentially significant point that set apart the Soviet
position from that of the Arabs. In the midst of his tirade the Soviet Premier
paused to note that "the Soviet Union is not against Israel—it is against the
aggressive policy pursued by the ruling circles of that state." He then cited
as one of the fundamental principles of Soviet policy the right of "every people
. . to establish an independent national state of its own." It was this
principle, he said, that moved the Soviet Union to support the 1947 UN
plan to partition Palestine and to create two independent states, one Jewish
and one Arab. "Guided by this fundamental policy," the Soviet Union recognized
Israel and established diplomatic relations with it.
It soon became clear that neither the American nor the Soviet resolution
could command the two-thirds majority required for Assembly adoption. On
July 4 the Assembly voted on the Soviet resolution, section by section, and
rejected all parts.* The United States decided not to press its own resolution
to a vote. The resolution submitted by Albania, Communist China's unofficial
spokesman in the UN, was even more extreme than the Soviet in that it
contained a condemnation of the United States and Britain for their "incitement,
aid and direct participation" in the Israeli aggression, and a proviso,
leaving to the UAR "alone to decide whether or not it can permit the passage
of vessels of the Israel aggressors through the Suez Canal and the Strait of
Tiran." The Albanian resolution was rejected by a vote of 71 to 22, with 27
abstentions. It was supported by 10 Communist states (with Rumania and
Yugoslavia abstaining) and 10 Arab states (with Libya, Morocco and Tunisia
abstaining) as well as by Cambodia and Mauritania.
Other Proposals
Anticipating the defeat of its proposals, the Soviet Union threw its weight
behind a draft resolution introduced by Yugoslavia and 16 "non-aligned"
states. The Yugoslav resolution explicitly called on Israel to withdraw all its
0 For tabulation of roll call votes, on July 4, on the Soviet and other resolutions see: US
Monthly Chronicle (United Nations Office of Public Information), July 1967, pp. 78-79.