Mideast situation – Letter from Lebanon

DOCUMENT S/10670

Letter dated 31 May 1972 from the representative of Lebanon to the President of the Security Council

On instructions from my Government, I have the honour to bring the following to your attention.

International press agencies have reported details of the incident which occurred on 30 May 1972 at Lod airport in Israel. The incident, which resulted in the death of a number of civilians, was reportedly perpetrated by three armed Japanese nationals who boarded a commercial aircraft at Rome.

Various statements emanating from Israel, some of them by Israeli officials, have attributed responsi­bility for the incident to a Palestinian organization. These statements have mentioned Beirut as being the operational headquarters of this organization.

Mrs. Meir, Prime Minister of Israel, made a similar allegation concerning Beirut in her statement in the Knesset today.

It is evident from all these statements, as well as from the propaganda disseminated by Israel, that the intention of the Israeli Government is to attribute responsibility for the Lod incident to Lebanon. There have even been threats made against Lebanon.

The Lebanese Government condemns acts of violence which imperil the lives of innocent civilians. It most categorically states that Lebanon is not in any way implicated in this occurrence and rejects as unfounded all explicit or implicit accusations against it which would attribute any responsibility whatsoever for the incident to Lebanon and distract world public opinion from the true facts.

Furthermore, the attempt of the Israeli Government to impute such responsibility to the Government of Lebanon is such as to aggravate the situation in the Middle East.

Basing itself on similar unfounded accusations, Israel has on several occasions in the past launched acts of aggression against Lebanon, including the attack against Beirut international airport in December 1968. The Security Council has in each case adopted a position condemning the Israeli acts of aggression against Lebanon and, by so doing, rejecting the unfounded accusations of the Israeli Government against my country.

In bringing these facts to the knowledge of the Security Council, the Lebanese Government would draw the Council's attention to all the possible consequences.

I should be grateful if you would have the text of this communication circulated as a Security Council document.

(Signed) Edouard GHORRA

Permanent Representative of Lebanon

to the United Nations