718 



League. Beginning in 1951 and continuing to the present, the con- 

 troversy is almost as old as WHO itself. The contestants do not bring 

 tlieir difTerences into the meetings of the World Health Assembly, and 

 there is no contest in the Regional Committee because it is hi effect and 

 in practice non-exi'=stent. Tlie Arab State representatives simply refuse 

 to meet vx'ith Israel in sessions of the Regional Committee: there are 

 no sessions, excei^t as an Arab subcommittee, wliicli excludes Israel, 

 mav regard itself as flic Committee for tlie Region. A delegate from 

 Lebauon frankly expressed such a ^'iew as early as 1955.^'" 



According to Berkov, the problem arose in the following manner: 



"When the First World Health Assembly delineated the 

 area of the Eastern Mediterranean, it included in that area 

 the teiTitory known as Palestine, then under British mandate. 

 WJ^en Israel emerged as a state and was duly admitted to 

 memberehip in the United Nations, she also sought admission 

 to WHO and was accepted without debate. Even when she 

 requested assignment to the Eastern ]\Iediterranean region, no 

 objection was raised in the Health Assembly, and the action 

 was completed by Assembly action on June 21, 1940. Israel 

 representatives attended the meeting of the Regional Com- 

 mittee for the Eastern Mediterranean at Geneva in October of 

 1949, and again at Istanbul in 1950, and the record gives no 

 indication of any controversy in regard to such attendauce. 



In 1951. however, the Arab League states decided not to co- 

 operate with Israel in any manner, and the Arab staffs rep- 

 resentati\'es in the WHO region for the Eastern Mediterra- 

 nean declined to meet Avith Israel representatives in sessions 

 of the Regional Committee. The Committee held no session in 

 1951, and tliere have been no sessions since.^"^ 



It goes without saying that this situation remains unresolved, that 

 blame for the condition amon<r member states of the regions is assigned 

 in accordance with their political sympathies, and that the Executive 

 Board and Assembly have been forced to experiment with solutions to 

 the problem. Obviously the time and money could be spent better on 

 the health problems of the region, which have been and still are 

 considerable. 



The Arab States had proposed that Israel be transfei-red to WHO's 

 European Region, but this idea was unacceptable to Israel, perhaps 

 on the ground'^ that the motive was political rather than a substantive 

 health f>drninistration matter. The Health Assembly ^-^ constitutionally 

 empovored to redefine the member composition of "\"\T^IO's recional 

 areas, but apparently has not been disposed to remove Israel from the 

 Eastern Mediterranean resrion for political convenience or expedien^p. 

 Once again, therefore, while the World Health Assembly has exercised 

 diplomacy in handling political problems related to health, it con- 

 tinues to reject political solutions to political problems. In the mean- 

 time, health services as requested of T\TFTO have been provided to all 

 of iihe countries involved, and the United States continues to cooperate 

 with both Is^-ael and the Arab States on health matters throufirh various 

 bilateral instrmnents. 



104 "Offioiil ■Rp'^ords nf WHO " n!i!rr>« 4'>fi-427. 



i<« Kohort Berkov. "The World Hpalth Organization: A StiKlv in Decent rnlizod Inter- 

 Tiati'innl Administration' ^Geneva. T/ibrarie K. Droz. If*")?), paces 183-4. 



