N.Z. backs Golan Heights resolution

Press, 3 February 1982, Page 3

N.Z. backs Golan Heights resolution

NZPA staff correspondent Washington New Zealand has come out in support at the United Nations of the Security Council resolution - declaring Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights null and void. New Zealand’s permanent representative, Mr H. H. Francis, told an emergency special session of the General Assembly in New York, however, that Israel’s attitude towards and actions in the territories occupied since 1967, other than the Sinai Peninsula, gave cause for concern. “New Zealand sees these attitudes and actions, and the provocative policies Israel has pursued in recent months, as major obstacles to the achievement of peace in the Middle East. “We see little chance of real progress towards a settlement until Israel is prepared to respect the rights and interests of the other states, in the region, and to live up to its responsibility to act as an acceptable neighbour. “At the same time there is little prospect of worth-while negotiations unless all parties are prepared formally to recognise Israel’s right to exist. “Unless intransigence is

replaced by negotiations that have repeatedly been called for by the Security Council, the region and its people will have little to look forward to but continuing violence and conflict,” he said. “That will be the case, too, unless all States in the area refrain from actions that increase tension and threaten peace. For Israel to rescind its decision of December 14 would be a good start.” Mr Francis also reaffirmed New Zealand’s support for the Security Council’s resolution 242 of 1967, which affirms the right of every State in the area to live in peace within secure and recognised boundaries, and emphasises the inadmissibility of acquiring territory by war. A team of four left Washington yesterday for Australia and New Zealand to negotiate details of Australasian participation in the American-backed Sinai peace-keeping force. Heading the Multilateral Force and Observers (M.F.0.) team is Mr Robert Dumling, director of the M.F.O. division responsible for relations with participating countries. With him are Ms Mary Noel Pepys, a lawyer, LieutenantColonel William Cook, the team’s military adviser, and

Mr John Hanley, a finance adviser. It is believed in Washington that New Zealand’s contribution will be limited to a small Air Force team, backed up by maintenance staff, and a senior officer who will be seconded to the operational headquarters. The New Zealanders will work in with the Australians. The over-all commitment is open-ended, but the Americans are thinking in terms of at least five years. The M.F.O. team will stay in Canberra until the end of the week to negotiate details of Australasian participation, then go on to Wellington for three or four days to decide details of the New Zealand effort. The peninsular strip Israel still occupies comprises about 12,000 square miles of mountains, desert, and coast. The international force will patrol a buffer zone about 15 kilometres wide up and down the Israeli border. .... This is flattish country, ‘meaning more checkpoints are needed than in the mountain passes of the edge of the occupied zone, where automatic troop sensors are now installed. Egyptian police, armed with light weapons, will also be present in the new buffer zone.