The New York Times · New York, New York · 23 November 1974

CP-1974-022

…P.L.O. vs. UNESCO

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Transcribed from the clipping

In the name of “culture,” the Arab bloc and its obedient Communist and African allies have succeeded in politicizing the heretofore nonpolitical United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization by banning Israeli participation and cutting off the modest aid received for its museums, libraries and restorations—a sum, incidentally, that amounts to about one-eighth of Israel’s own contribution to UNESCO.

This shameful act, condemned by the United States, Canada and most of the Western European and Latin-American nations, in effect makes the Palestine Liberation Organization the censor of UNESCO’s activities.

Archeologists from Israel and other countries have been uncovering the debris of the centuries that has accumulated around the southwestern edge of Jerusalem’s Western Wall to reveal the history and artifacts of the ancient city of Herod without, however, touching any of the buildings or monuments belonging to any religious group.

Despite the recognized international nature of Israel’s and UNESCO’s activities, the P.L.O. forced the general conference in Paris to withhold aid because the “historical features” of Jerusalem have supposedly been altered.

The politicized bloc went beyond this—revealing that its aim was not preservation at all—by excluding Israel from the European or any other of the regional groups. Its Lebanese spokesman declared that Israel is “a state that belongs nowhere.”

When UNESCO took the initiative of organizing international action to safeguard ancient Egyptian monuments in Nubia at the request of the United Arab Republic and the Republic of Sudan, the nations of the world helped preserve these archeological treasures.

Millions of dollars were contributed by Western countries, without considering these monuments part of any political bloc or geographical region. UNESCO, like other specialized U.N. agencies, has up to now been above the battles in the General Assembly.

The P.L.O. would tear it all down and, with it, the work of educators and scientists who have cooperated across the curtains of the world. Not one historical excavation but UNESCO itself will collapse in ruins if the P.L.O. dominates the past—and the U.N.’s future.

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