Situation in the OPT/Jerusalem – SecCo debate – Verbatim record

OFFICIAL RECORDS

TWENTY-THIRD YEAR

1419th MEETING: 2 MAY 1968

NEW YORK

CONTENTS

S/PV. 1419

FOURTEEN HUNDRED AND NINETEENTH MEETING

Held in New York on Thursday, 2 May 1968, at 11.30 a.m.

President :Lord CARADON

(United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland).

Present: The representatives of the following States:

Algeria, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Ethiopia, France, Hungary, India, Pakistan, Paraguay, Senegal, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and United States of America.

Provisional agenda (S/Agenda/1419)

Adoption of the agenda.

The situation in the Middle East:

(a)  Letter dated 25 April 1968 from the Permanent Representative of Jordan addressed to the President of the Security Council (S/8560);

(b) Report of the Secretary-General under General Assembly resolution 2254 (ES-V) relating to Jerusalem (S/8146).

Adoption of the agenda

The agenda was adopted.

The situation in the Middle East:

(a) Letter dated 25 April 1968 from the Permanent Representative of Jordan addressed to the President of the Security Council (S/8560);

(b) Report of the Secretary-General under General Assembly resolution 2254 (ES-V) relating to Jerusalem (S/8146)

1. The PRESIDENT: In accordance with the decision previously taken by the Council, I shall now invite the representatives of Jordan and Israel to take places at the Council table in order to participate, without the right to vote in the Council's discussion.

At the invitation of the President, Mr. M. H. El-Farra (Jordan) and Mr. Y. Tekoah (Israel) took places at the Council table.

2. The PRESIDENT: The Council will now continue its consideration of the question before it. First I would ask Secretary-General if he has any report to make to us.

3. Before I call on the Secretary-General, the representative of Algeria wishes to speak on a point of order.

4. Mr. BOUATTOURA (Algeria) (translated from French): I wish to apologize to the President, to the members of the Council and to the Secretary-General for taking up a few moments of their time, but I should like to ask the President what action has been taken in response to the request made by the Algerian delegation at the 1418th meeting that the photographs to which the Jordanian representative referred in his statement should be appended to the record of that meeting, either as an annex or in whatever manner seems most appropriate. I have before me the record of the meeting, but I do not know what has been done regarding my request. Yesterday the President was good enough to say that he would report to us this morning on what would be done about it.

5. The PRESIDENT: I am grateful to the representative of Algeria for bringing up the matter which he duly raised yesterday. I made inquiries on the matter that he proposed to us, and I learned that the photographs to which he referred were previously circulated as an attachment to the representative of Jordan's letter to the Secretary-General, which was circulated this morning as document S/8568 of 1 May 1968 and also as a document in the General Assembly series. I had thought that since the same photographs had been fully circulated both to the Security Council and to the General Assembly that might meet the request of the representative of Algeria. I would wish to inquire from him whether he considers that adequate, or whether he wishes further action to be taken.

6.  Mr. BOUATTOURA (Algeria) (translated from French): I thank the President for his very explicit reply. However, for reasons of form rather than of principles and those reasons are very important to us-my delegation would like its request to be considered. I know that the photographs have been circulated to Members of the Organization in the document containing the communication from the Jordanian representative; but it seems to me that if a member of the Security Council makes a request to which there is no objection, it is only fair that it be taken into consideration. I could advance other reasons in support of my request, but I do not wish to take up the Council's time.

7. Therefore, for the reasons I have already given and for other reasons which I do not wish to enter into at this point, I wish, with all due respect, to repeat my hope that, since there are no objections, my request will be taken into account and the photographs in question appended to the record of the 1418th meeting.

8. The PRESIDENT: The Security Council will have heard that the representative of Algeria renews the suggestion he made to us yesterday that the documents in question should be circulated as an annex to the record of the 1418th meeting. I shall, therefore, seek any view any member of the Council may wish to express on this matter.

9. If there are no views which members of the Council wish to express, I shall take it that there is no objection to the proposal put forward by the representative of Algeria. Since there is no objection, I shall take it that it is so decided.

It was so decided.

10. I shall now turn to the Secretary-General and ask him if he has any statement to make to us.

11. The SECRETARY-GENERAL; The parade in Jerusalem which was the subject of Security Council resolution 250 (1968) of 27 April 1968 has been held today as scheduled. A further report on the details of the parade as requested of me by that resolution, presenting such information of a reliable nature as has been available to me, will be circulated in the Council early this afternoon.

12. The PRESIDENT: The Secretary-General was good enough to give me advance notice of the statement he has just made and I have had an opportunity of consulting a number of members of the Council. I think it is the general wish of the Council that we should await the further report from the Secretary-General before we continue our discussion. I would therefore seek the views of the Council on whether we should adjourn our meeting this morning and meet again this afternoon. I should also report to the Council that I have received a request that the Council meet as soon as possible after the report of the Secretary-General becomes available. A proposal has been put to me that the  Council should resume at 2.30 o'clock this afternoon, or as soon as possible thereafter. Unless there are any other views which members of the Council wish to express as to the best time for us to resume, I would therefore propose that we meet at 2.30 o'clock this afternoon, or as soon as possible thereafter. I would hope that we may use the time in the interval for valuable consultations on how the Council may hope to proceed.

The meeting rose at 12.25 p.m.