B. The Arab-Israel Dispute

[See also ante, docs. VII-1 et seq.]

Document VII-10

United Nations Emergency Force-Authorization of Expenses for the Period January 1 to December 31, 1964: RESOLUTION 1983 (XVIII), ADOPTED BY THE U.N. GENERAL ASSEMBLY, DECEMBER 17, 1963 1

The General Assembly,

Recalling its resolutions 1089 (XI) of 21 December 1956, 1090 (XI) of 27 February 1957, 1151 (XII) of 22 November 1957, 1337 (XIII) of 13 December 1958, 1441 (XIV) of 5 December 1959, 1575 (XV) of 20 December 1960, 1733 (XVI) of 20 December 1961,2 and 1874 (S-IV)3 and 1875 (S-IV) of 27 June 1963,*

Having considered the reports of the Secretary-General on the cost estimates of the United Nations Emergency Force for the period 1 January to 31 December 19645 and the report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions thereon,

Expressing the hope that this ad hoc assessment will be the last one to be presented to the General Assembly and that the Working Group on the Examination of the Administrative and Budgetary Procedures of the United Nations will be able to recommend to the Assembly, at the nineteenth session, a special method for the equitable sharing of the costs of peace-keeping operations involving heavy expenditures,

Taking into account that the economically more developed countries are in a position to make relatively larger contributions and that the economically less developed countries have a relatively limited capacity to contribute towards peace-keeping operations involving heavy expenditures,

1. Decides to continue the Special Account for the United Nations Emergency Force;

2. Decides to appropriate an amount of $17,750,000 for the operations of the United Nations Emergency Force for 1964;

3. Decides to apportion:

(a) The amount of $2 million among all Member States in accordance with the regular scale of assessments for 1964,7

1U.N. General Assembly Official Records, Eighteenth Session, Supplement No. 15 (A/5515), pp. 62-63. This resolution, sponsored by the representatives of six member states, was adopted by a vote of 77 (including the U.S.) to 11, with 20 abstentions.

2

See American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1963, p. 585, footnotes 3-8. 2 Text ibid., pp. 97–98.

7

See American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1961, pp. 105-107.

(b) The $15,750,000 balance of the amount appropriated in paragraph 2 above among all Member States in accordance with the regular scale of assessments for 1964, except that each economically less developed country shall be assessed an amount calculated at 42.5 per cent of its rate under the regular scale of assessments for 1964,

provided that this apportionment shall constitute an ad hoc arrangement for the present phase of this peace-keeping operation and shall not constitute a precedent for the future;

4. Decides that, for the purpose of the present resolution, the term "economically less developed countries" shall mean all Member States except Australia, Austria, Belgium, the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Finland, France, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Romania, South Africa, Sweden, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America;

5. Recommends that the Member States named in paragraph 4 above make voluntary contributions in addition to their assessments under the present resolution in order to finance authorized expenditures in excess of the total amount assessed under this resolution, such voluntary contributions to be credited to a special account by the SecretaryGeneral and transferred to the Special Account for the United Nations Emergency Force as and when an economically less developed country has once paid to the credit of the latter account its assessment under paragraph 3(b) above or an equal amount, the transfer to be of an amount which bears the same proportion to the total of such voluntary contributions as the amount of such payment bears to the total of the assessments on economically less developed countries under paragraph 3(b); any amount left in such special account on 31 December 1966 shall revert to the Member States that made such voluntary contributions in proportion to their respective voluntary contributions;

6. Appeals to all other Member States which are in a position to assist to make similar voluntary contributions or, alternatively, to forgo having their assessments calculated at the rate mentioned in the exception contained in paragraph 3 (b) above:

7. Decides that the voluntary contributions referred to in paragraphs 5 and 6 above may be made by a Member State, at its option, in the form of services and supplies acceptable to the Secretary-General, furnished for use in connexion with the United Nations Emergency Force during the period 1 January to 31 December 1964, for which the Member State does not require reimbursement, the Member State to be credited with the fair value thereof as agreed upon by the Member State and by the Secretary-General.

1285th plenary meeting.

Document VII-11

Israel Determination To Draw Water From Lake Kinneret Despite Arab Opposition: STATEMENT MADE BY THE PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL (ESHKOL) IN THE KNESSET, JANUARY 20, 1964 (EXCERPTS)

Eleven years ago the Arab States and Israel agreed to the mediation of the President of the United States, who sent the late Ambassador Eric Johnston to this part of the world as his Special Envoy to work out an agreed regional plan for the utilization of the waters of the Jordan, the Yarmuk, and their tributaries. At the opening of the negotiations, the Arab countries on the one hand and Israel on the other submitted separate plans for the allocation of the Jordan and the Yarmuk waters. For almost three years Ambassador Johnston conducted parallel and co-ordinated negotiations with the Arab Governments and with Israel.

10

After prolonged and exhaustive discussions, in which Arab, Israeli, and international engineers took part, Mr. Johnston produced a unified regional plan which was based upon accepted rules and principles of international law and procedure. This plan assured Syria and Lebanon of all the quantities of water demanded by them in the Arab plan, without any cuts whatsoever. The unified plan allocated to the Kingdom of Jordan all the waters required by it for the irrigation of its irrigable areas.

As Am

This allocation was based on a detailed, objective survey bassador Johnston testified in an article in the New York Times on Aug. 10, 1958, the Arab countries and Israel agreed to the unified plan from every point of view connected with its technical and other merits. In October 1955, however, the Arab League decided against ratification of the plan; not for any reasons pertaining to the quantities of water allocated, but on the deliberate principle of opposing any co-operation, even indirect, with Israel.

But the three years of negotiation were not in vain. An agreed allocation of water had been determined . . against which the parties concerned had made no objection. Now, in 1964-11 years after the beginning of the negotiations over the unified plan-Israel will begin to draw its share of water from Lake Kinneret (Lake Tiberias) in accordance with this plan." We have undertaken to remain within the framework of the quantities specified in the unified plan--and we shall honour this undertaking. . .

8 Keesing's Contemporary Archives, 1963–1964, vol. No. XIV, p. 19977.

9 See American Foreign Policy, 1950–1955: Basic Documents, vol. II, pp. 2231– 2236.

10 See ibid., pp. 2235-2236.

"Israel's Tiberias-Negev project, known as the National Water Carrier, consists of about 50 miles of pipeline, 25 miles of open canal, and 5 miles of underground tunnel with intermediate reserve and pump stations. Intake is at Eshed Kinrot on Lake Tiberias (630 feet below sea level) and the system ends in the Negev, carrying about 400 million cubic meters of water a year from the Jordan River for irrigation-the amount allocated to Israel under the Johnston plan, representing about 40 percent of the Jordan River system. (Keesing's Contemporary Archives, 1963-1964, vol. No. XIV, p. 19976.

Israel announced May 5, 1964, that the first water was flowing through the new pipeline from Lake Tiberias to the Negev Desert. Testing of the system had been going on for several days and would continue for several weeks preliminary to the start of full operation. Israel planned to take 30 billion to 40 billion gallons of water a year initially. About two-thirds of the water was to be used to replenish exhausted sources or to replace overpumped wells. The remainder was to go mostly to settlements that had not been receiving their full quotas; only a small part was to open new areas for irrigation. The announcement brought a storm of protest from the Arab press. Soviet Chairman Khrushchev, addressing the U.A.R.'s National Assembly in Cairo, May 11, 1964, denounced the plan (ante, doc. VII-6).

12

Israel will not be the first country to draw water from the Jordan-Yarmuk system. For the past two years the Kingdom of Jordan has been drawing considerable quantities of water from this system in the framework of its Yarmuk plan. This plan enjoys the support of international development agencies, which aim at advancing the full utilization of water resources in every country in pursuit of the goal of comprehensive regional development. . . This, then, is the situation: The Arab countries are utilizing the JordanYarmuk system to meet their needs, while they seek to prevent Israel drawing her share from this network. They believe, apparently, that what is permissible to them should be forbidden to Israel. Their aim is to injure Israeleven at the cost of injury to themselves. They wish to convince the world that, in the name of hostility to Israel, they are entitled to prevent the flow of the Jordan headwaters in their natural channels in Israel's territory. I note with satisfaction that the world in general has not been convinced by this theory of hostility and hatred. It is becoming clearer and clearer to the world that the arguments of the Arab countries have nothing to do with water, but are meant to deny Israel's right to exist.

In closing, I wish to clarify the position of the Government of Israel:

(1) Israel will draw water from Lake Kinneret within the limits of the quantities laid down in the unified plan.

(2) Israel will oppose unilateral and illegal measures by the Arab States and will act to protect her vital rights.

Document VII-12

"There Should Be an Accommodation Between Israel and Its Arab Neighbors": ADDRESS BY THE DEPUTY UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR POLITICAL AFFAIRS (JOHNSON) BEFORE THE CITIZENS COMMITTEE ON AMERICAN POLICY IN THE NEAR EAST, WASHINGTON, JANUARY 20, 1964 (EXCERPT) 13

Document VII-13

Completion of the Identification and Evaluation of Arab Refugee Immovable Properties in Israel: TWENTY-SECOND PROGRESS REPORT OF THE U.N. CONCILIATION COMMISSION FOR PALESTINE, COVERING THE PERIOD NOVEMBER 1, 1963-APRIL 30, 1964, SUBMITTED MAY 11, 1964 14

15

1. The United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine wishes to report that, as foreshadowed in its twenty-first progress report dated 1 November 1963, its identification and valuation programme has been completed. It has always considered this programme to be an important element relating to the mandate assigned to it by the General Assembly.1a

2. The Commission has requested its land expert to prepare a working paper containing a detailed description of the work accomplished in connexion with the programme, together with an exposition of the documentary material and basic data the release of which would be impracticable because of their variety

12 See ante, doc. VII-1 and footnote 54 to doc. VII-8, ante.

13 Ante, doc. VII-2.

14 U.N. doc. A/5700.

15 Text in American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1963, pp. 573–575.

10 For the establishment of the Conciliation Commission, see U.N. General Assembly Res. 194 (III) of Dec. 11, 1948; text in A Decade of American Foreign Policy: Basic Documents, 1941-49, pp. 851-853.

and magnitude." This working paper also describes the techniques developed for the purpose of identifying property holdings and determining consistent bases for establishing the values of individual properties.

3. Given the interest expressed in the past in the identification and valuation programme, the Commission believes that the interested parties will consider this working paper as a valuable source of information. The Commission also realizes that such parties would probably wish to make inquiries or comments concerning this document. It has therefore requested the Secretary-General to make available for the necessary period of time the services of Mr. Frank E. Jarvis as the Commission's technical representative for the purpose of receiving and answering inquiries of a technical nature.

4. The Commission's technical representative is prepared to answer inquiries from Member States about the basis of the work and such questions as might lead to clarification of this very complex programme. The Commission will also accept inquiries from individuals and will be prepared to answer these within limitations imposed by staff and budget.

Document VII-14

"U.S. Support for the Territorial Integrity and Political Independence of All Countries in the Near East": JOINT COMMUNIQUÉ ISSUED AT WASHINGTON BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (JOHNSON) AND THE PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL (ESHKOL), JUNE 2, 1964 18

Prime Minister Eshkol and President Johnson have completed two days of discussions on matters of mutual interest and concern. Both welcomed the opportunity presented by the Prime Minister's visit at the invitation of the President for a full exchange of views.

The President presented the views of the United States on various world problems, including those of the Near East. He emphasized the strong desire of the United States for friendly relations with all nations of the Near East, and its devotion to peace in the area and to peaceful economic and social development of all countries in the area. 19 He congratulated Prime Minister Eshkol on the progress made

17

U.N. doc. A/AC.25/W.84.

18 Department of State Bulletin, June 22, 1964, pp. 959-960. Prime Minister and Mrs. Eshkol visited Philadelphia May 31-June 1, Washington June 1–3, New York June 3-7, Cape Kennedy June 7, Houston June 7-8, Freeport, Houston, El Paso, Fort Bliss, Tex., June 8, Los Angeles June 8-9, Chicago June 9-10, New York June 11, 1964.

1 Prior to Prime Minister Eshkol's visit, diplomatic representatives of the 13 Arab League countries in Washington (see footnote 1 to doc. VII-1 ante) called on Secretary of State Rusk to express concern at the visit, May 25, 1964. The C.A.R. Ambassador (Mostafa Kamel) told reporters that the diplomats expressed fear Mr. Eshkol would seek to "destroy Arab-American relations in order to have liberty of aggression in the Middle East." State Department officials said that the Arab diplomats conveyed their hope that President Johnson's talks with Mr. Eshkol would not "upset" Washington's relations with their Governments, that the Arab envoys had not delivered anything which could be considered a "warning", and that Secretary of State Rusk told them the United States was aware of Middle East problems and would keep in mind the Arab concern. (Keesing's Contemporary Archives, 1963-1964, vol. No. XIV, p. 20164.)

(footnote 19 continued on next page)