50 years ago: Arabs emphatically reject peace. (Sound familiar?)

From the JTA Archives, fifty years ago.

September 30, 1963:

Rejection of any Israeli call for direct peace talks is a key aspect of unified instructions by Arab governments to their delegations to the current General Assembly of the United Nations, according to a report today in the Jordanian daily newspaper, El Jihad.

Quoting a “high government source,” the newspaper said that the governments have instructed their delegations to make “extraordinary efforts” to foil “Zionist and imperialist” plans so “sidestep” the Palestine issue at the Assembly.

Among the other instructions to the Arab delegations are orders to make an effort to change the attitudes of the United States, Britain and France, and to persuade France to adopt a pro-Arab stand. El Jihad reported that King Hussein launched such an effort in his recent talks with French President Charles de Gaulle.

Also September 30:

The first full-scale attack against Israel in this year’s General Assembly was voiced at a plenary session of the body this morning by Abdul Monem Rifai of Jordan. Previously, Israel had been attacked on charges of “Zionist colonialism” by the diplomatic spokesmen of Libya, Tunisia and Yemen, but Mr. Rifai devoted a very large section of his address at the Assembly to what he called “the aggression in Palestine.”

His intervention ran the gamut from the customary Arab characterization of Israel as “a foreign authority in an Arab environment illegally founded” to the Arab refugee question to a charge that Israel’s efforts to divert the Jordan River waters would “endanger peace in our area.”

“While the Arabs yearn for the restoration of peace in the Holy Land, we must point out that a situation in which wrong was legalized and aggression tolerated is a situation which does not provide a suitable atmosphere for peace.”

Meaning, that as long as there is a Jewish state, there is no "justice" and peace is impossible. Which is pretty much the same attitude as today, although it is hidden a bit better.

Keep in mind that the charges of "colonialism" and "aggression" are being made before 1967.

October 9:

Saudi Arabia today rejected Israel’s calls for peace between Israel and the Arab states. Rashad Pharaon, the new Saudi Arabian representative, replacing Ahmad Shukairy who was dismissed from his UN post by the Saudi Arabian Government a year ago, addressed the plenary session of the General Assembly. [Shukairy, of course, became head of the PLO soon afterwards. - EoZ]

He said that, while the Israel Government has called for peace, “Israel has shown no indication of any intention to abide by the resolutions of the United Nations and recognize the rights of the people of Palestine. There can be no peace in the Middle East until the Palestine problem is solved in accordance with the principles of law and justice.”

Salah El-Dine Tarazi, Syria’s permanent representative, addressing the Assembly yesterday, asserted that the solution of the “Palestine problem” is no longer a matter of “Arab-Israeli relations” but an issue concerning the “Arab people of Palestine.” It is up to the Arab people of Palestine, he said, to settle the issue. Declaring that the Arab people “had never bowed to the injustice committed against it” by what he called “Zionist imperialism,” he said: “No Arab government could allow a status quo based on injustice.”

Notice that no one calls anyone "Palestinians." 15 years after Israel was reborn, the word "Palestinian" was still highly associated with Jews, so the Arab countries referred to "Arabs of Palestine."

More history from October 1963 coming tomorrow, as we explore how Israel engaged in "X-washing" even before there was any "occupation."