Waldhelm Opened Doors for PLO in United Nations
PILON, JULIANA GERAN
Waldheim Opened Doors for PLO in United Nations The legacy of Kurt Waldheim's tenure as secretary-general of the United Nations is yet to be explored, and its practical implications are not yet...
...He even admitted that in trying to formulate a convention on terrorism, the United Nations is running into a "delicate" problem, for "movements such as the PLO . . . have to resort to armed struggle...
...To this day, Israel is excluded from one of the UN's principal organs, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC...
...I said to him: 'You have to say something...
...There are some rumors that the PLO has approached the UN Secretariat to request office space in the Secretariat building...
...The PLO, he said, falls in the former category...
...In a comprehensive critique of the studies produced by the unit, Professor Julius Stone of the University of Sydney lists distortions and even lies intended to prejudice the case against Israel...
...The myth of the Secretariat...
...Some armed movements have a just cause and others don't...
...He stated that there was nothing in the PLO program that he or his colleagues would not fully support...
...Juliana Geran Pilon...
...When they were winning, of course, he said nothing...
...When Egypt was advancing, he said nothing...
...may leave ECOSOC in protest unless Israel is allowed to participate, as mandated by legislation recently passed by Congress...
...He maintained a prolonged silence until the * Julius Stone, Israel and Palestine: Assault on the Law of Nations (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1981), p. 6. military situation turned to...
...Kurt Waldheim's actions as UN Secretary-General during the Yom Kippur War," says Rhodes-James, ' 'were designed to aid the Soviet Union and its Arab allies to the detriment of Israel...
...But evidently he did not seek them out...
...Do all of its employees have to be strong PLO supporters...
...The unit is widely viewed as a PLO front...
...The UN General Assembly's bias against Israel is common knowledge: the one-sided history of resolutions routinely condemning Israel while remaining completely silent regarding the Arab record against Israel speaks for itself...
...When I met Cuellar in 1982, he expressed his willingness to improve the image of the UN...
...The secretary-general promised to look into it...
...Israel is the only UN member that has been branded a "non-peaceloving state...
...It was appropriate when the Soviet Union and its allies were being defeated...
...Waldheim Opened Doors for PLO in United Nations The legacy of Kurt Waldheim's tenure as secretary-general of the United Nations is yet to be explored, and its practical implications are not yet understood...
...Whether one traces philosophical continuity between his youthful crimes as a Nazi soldier and his UN tenure, Waldheim's personal contribution to the demise of the UN as an impartial international organization is undeniable as is Waldheim's clear bias against Israel and in favor of the Palestine Liberation Organization...
...While he had to abide by the General Assembly's decision to establish the Palestinian rights unit in the Secretariat, he had very considerable discretion in its staffing and in the direction it would take...
...Siddiq, employed by the unit, admitted in an interview with me that ' 'everyone working in the unit believes in the ideals of the PLO...
...Surely he could have found people with a modicum of impartiality in the area...
...A war is raging.' " But Waldheim did not make a response...
...In fact, the U.S...
...His sympathies, however, are now clear: On March 19, 1987, speaking in his native Peru, Cuellar endorsed the PLO, giving his blessing to ' 'the armed struggle" of that organization...
...Could he not limit the size of that unit and its budget...
...The Secretariat, it is claimed, has done much to advance the peace process in the Middle East through its ' 'impartial" efforts...
...In an interview published in the Jerusalem Post, Rhodes-James charged that Waldheim "failed to act impartially" during that war...
...In December 1987, all UN members except Israel condemned the United States for planning to close the PLO's mission to the UN...
...Political Affairs Officer A.W...
...The UN Secretariat is a separate arm, however...
...he asked...
...Stone writes that it is "highly improper [for the UN] to commission, publish, and disseminate, as views of the organization itself, partisan theorizing in support of one side...
...This would further underline the intimate connection between the UN and the PLO...
...Waldheim's legacy remains in the actions of the incumbent secretary-general, Javier Perez de Cuellar...
...Israel's advantage...
...What can I do...
...impartiality has been dealt a further blow by recent revelations by Robert Rhodes-James, Waldheim's former private secretary, currently a British Conservative member of Parliament and a historian...
...What can any secretary-general do...
...I told him that it seemed to me that at the very least he ought to take a close look at the PLO stronghold in the UN, the Unit on Palestinian Rights...
...Which brings us back to former Secretary-General Waldheim...
...The claim is greatly undermined, however, when one considers that the PLO became a strong presence in the Secretariat in 1977 through the creation of the Division for Palestinian Rights, later to be promoted to "Unit," with its budget and influence increased...
Vol. 13 • April 1988 • No. 2
