THE EDITOR, Madam:
I WAS very much impressed by the dramatic Lurie's news cartoon showing Yasser Arafat with his hands full of blood (The Gleaner, Nov. 2, page A4).
That bias vision of what is going on in the Middle East contrasts with the balanced position adopted by Jamaica when voting the United Nations Security Council Resolution of October 7.
As Dr. Paul Robertson pointed out, the October 7th Resolution reaffirmed previous Resolutions recognising the State of Israel and its right to exist, along with the rights of the Palestinians. I am glad that my Government voted in favour of the candidacy of Jamaica to the UN Security Council. With the Jamaican position, we are witnessing again the highly respected diplomacy The Gleaner recognised in one of its editorials.
It is important to remind your readers that after the occupation by Israel of Arab territories in June 1967, the only balanced draft resolution presented to the UN General Assembly during the Special Session convened to deal with that crisis was the draft presented by the Caribbean and Latin American Group. That draft resolution was rejected by the Afro-Asian Group in support of the Arab position. The Arab countries rejected the draft because, according to them, it implied recognition of the State of Israel, recognition that they were not ready to accept at that moment.
Few months after the rejection of the Caribbean and Latin American draft, the Arab countries accepted the UN Security Council Resolution No. 242 that contains the two main elements of the Caribbean and Latin American draft. Those two elements were: the withdrawal of Israel of the occupied Arab territories and the termination of claims of belligerency by all parties.
It is always wise to keep in mind historic basic documents when analysing a situation. The following paragraph of the Palestine British Mandate of 1922 is relevant:
"... Whereas the Principal Allied Powers have also agreed that the Mandatory should be responsible for putting into effect the declaration originally made on Nov. 2, 1917, by the Government of His Britannic Majesty, and adopted by the said Powers, in favour of the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, it being clearly understood that nothing should be done which might prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine..."
I am, etc.,
JOSE LUIS VALLARTA,
Ambassador of Mexico.
