Country Files - Israel
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UN Secretariat Item Scan - Barcode - Record Title Page 82 Date 14/06/2006 Time 9:23:27 AM S-0899-0008-04-00001 Expanded Number S-0899-0008-04-00001 items-in-Middle East - country files - Israel Date Created 16/01/1976 Record Type Archival Item Container s-0899-0008: Peacekeeping - Middle East 1945-1981 Print Name of Person Submit Image Signature of Person Submit m cc: SecGen v CONFIDENTIAL . REG JJ Meeting in the Secretary-General's Office at 12.30 p.Ft. on Tuesday, 11 December 1977 Present: Secretary-General Ambassador Herzog Mr. Yosef Lamdan Mr. Brian 'Urquhart ' Ambassador Herzog said that" he had been in Israel to discuss whether or not he should run for the Knesset. Another, and probably better, possibility was that he should stay on at the United Nations until after the elections and then conceivably serve as Minister. The' Secretary-General said that, from his personal point of view, he hoped that Ambassador Herzog would stay at the United Nations. ' Ambassador Herzog described the current political situation in Israel. The' Secretary-General said he had read with interest Prime Minister Rabin's statement that the electoral process would not interfere with efforts to start the negotiating process on the Middle East problem. The timetable for the Secretary-General's visit to the Middle East was then discussed. It was agreed that Ambassador Herzog should communicate with the Israeli authorities on the basis that the Secretary-General would arrive in Jerusalem by road from Amman at 9.30 a.m. on Thursday, 10 February and would leave early on Saturday, 12 February, for Cairo. "-•>. "f§** It was not excluded that he might come back to Israel from Cairo if that was necessary. -v- _' Ambassador Herzog repeated that the Secretary-General would . be visiting Israel on the. basis of resolution 338 and not of the General Assembly resolution. It would help if, in his 'first public appearance, the Secretary-General could re-emphasize the importance of resolutions 242'and 338. The question of the leader of the Labour Party would not be decided until the - 2 - end of February, which might present certain difficulties as far as the Secretary-General's visit was concerned. There was no question that Shimon Peres would run for the Office of Prime Minister-. Ambassador Herzog felt personally that the beginning of June was the most practical date for the Geneva conference to open. The Secretary-General mentioned that there had been suggestions that the ceremonial opening could take place before the Israeli elections. ""•' Ambassador Herzog said that-, as far as negotiations over the Sinai and Golan were concerned, there was no debate in Israel. The big issue was whether or not the West Bank was negotiable. MapaHi (left-wing Labour Party) was insisting that the West Bank be included, although most people in Israel were open ' • prepared to leave the matteivfor the time being. The Secretary-General said his trip was primarily to investigate the procedural aspects of the reconvening of the conference. .Jjt,r-L_- ----- ' • Ambassador Herzog said that another reason for delaying his visit would have been that the Palestinian Council was meeting at the end of February. He personally felt it unlikely that- this meeting would result in a change in the Palestine Covenant. There was no indication of such a change from the PLO represen- tatives with whom various Israelis had met in the past weeks. Moreover the Arabs had never stated that the 1967 borders were in fact the line on which a peace settlement could be agreed. Nonetheless, Mr. Allon felt that the present situation did present certain opportunities. As regards the participation of the PLO in the Geneva conference, Israel ;jwould wait for the Palestinian Council, which was unlikely to dojanything. Arafat was at present resisting efforts to fill up the Arab Council with other Palestinian representatives, and the question was how many new members the Arab Governments could force Arafat to accept. There was a gradual split emerging between the emigre Palestinian leadership and the leadership in the actual territories. Jordan was quietly making its influence felt in this process. - 3 - The Secretary-General said that he did not exclude the necessity of having to return to Israel on Sunday, 13 February. Ambassador Herzog said there would be no objection to this ' -provided that it was on the basis of his role as Secretary-General. He saw no possibility of acceptance 'of PLO participation in the conference as long as there was no change in the Palestine Covenant. Israel was against a single Arab delegation because specific problems would in any case have to be discussed with those particularly concerned. He understood that the Soviet Union also opposed a single delegation. Israel felt that the PLO issue was becoming irrelevant as the PLO was far less important than it had been and had roused antagonism in Syria, Jordan and Egypt. Syria was making strong efforts to change the member- ship of the Palestinian Council and get the control for Saiqa. As far as Jordan was concerned, the King was anxious to get the Rabat decision out of the way as soon as possible. For all these reasons there were great dangers in pushing the conference too fast. In any case, its work would be a matter of years rather than of months. It was important to stress this aspect in all conversations. The Secretary-General said that this was one reason why he felt that working groups were a good idea as they could make their own programmes and continue for as long as necessary. ' Ambassador Herzog said there was at present a struggle for leadership in the Arab world, where nothing ever seemed to be permanent. The position of Saudi Arabia was a new element in the situation, although Israel was worried about the vast amounts of armaments now being bought by Saudi -Arabia. On the other hand, it was clear that the Saudis were worried about the PLO and that the religious fanaticism of the previous regime was now abating. .^ v D ? r-. i s c _ o i ! £_ i_ _' i\ S_ >/ it. i. 25 ; Cii ai 7CD :;i_i-i_!? iSi. ! &!•-. W O; CM /UDT\ __ DD7!KC hi 1 ;.! f C 7 C D U 7 T"?UOy D uD T =1 CA;;AU7Mr{: UD ; 7UC 1 v t— i•.'_<_' « «. : —S " ;L .. H L .i —5 T! j '-. .U — ! . i.*' . i i :\; .i H:• 3!i ;_ « i i. ;i «if i ii .&_• —i Li . s}*\A J .! 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RHBIH TOLD REPORTERS. 3:HS LOHG flS THIS GOVERKHEN IN POWER, THERE SHOULD BE NO ILLUSION IN THE WORLD" THfiT ITS POLICIES flRE GOING TO CHflNGE, HE SRID. i BUT WITH THE NfiTIOHRL RELIGIOUS PftRTV OUT OF THE COfiLITION; RfiBIN MILL HfiVE MORE FREEDOM TO NEGOTiaTE POSSIBLE TERRITORIflL OR POLITICftL CONCESSIONS IN EKCHflNGE FOR fl PEftCE SETTLEMENT NITH THE RRflBS. THE LfiBOR PfiRTV IS COMMITTED TO SUBHIT flNV PEflCE fiGREEHENT TO THE VOTERS IN ft REFERENDUM OR IN GENERflL ELECTIONS.