Barrage of Buzz Words

United Nations Security Council Resolution 465, on Israeli settlements in the occupied territories, might not strike the casual reader as an inflammatory document. Yet in the arcane world of diplomacy, its language is unusually severe. It "strongly deplores" the settlements, calls them "a flagrant violation" of the Fourth Geneva Convention and cites "the grave consequences" that this Israeli policy may have on attempts to negotiate a permanent peace in the Middle East. The resolution is also rife with politics-laden buzz words to which Israeli officials and their American-Jewish supporters are particularly sensitive.

Most provocatively, the text refers seven times to "Jerusalem," six times linking the city with the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights. Three times in the preamble, and three times in its key operative paragraphs, it uses some variation of the phrase "Arab territories occupied by Israel since 1967, including Jerusalem."

The main punch is in para graphs six and seven. The sixth paragraph "calls upon the Government and people of Israel to ... dismantle the existing settlements and in particular to cease, on an urgent basis, the establishment, construction and planning of settlements in the Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem." The seventh paragraph "Calls upon all States not to provide Israel with any assistance to be used specifically in connection with settlements in the occupied territories."

In two instances, the resolution also refers to "the Palestinian and other Arab territories;" The Israelis object to the wording, since it seems to prejudge a crucial question still to be decided by the parties involved in Middle East negotiations--just which territories can be considered as belonging to the Palestinians?

The only paragraph that was finally deleted from the resolution, at U.S. insistence, was one demanding that Israel "respect and guarantee religious freedoms and practices in Jerusalem and other holy places in the occupied Arab territories as well as the integrity of places of religious worship." In fact, Israel's observance of these guarantees has been so scrupulous as to defy criticism by truly neutral observers.

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