UN General Assembly
1957

97. The apparent passivity of the United Nations in the face of Arab political terrorism and obstruction is unfortunately reflected also in the regional activities of the United Nations. The ramified boycott operations of the Arab League against Israel extend into the fields of health, of education, of agriculture, science and economics. In this tireless campaign the Arab States seek even to involve the United Nations and its specialized agencies despite the fact that their constitutions expressly or implicitly outlaw every form of discrimination. As a result, on the economic side, for example, the Middle East is today the only one of the world’s regions without a United Nations economic commission. The regional office of the World Health Organization in Alexandria is inaccessible to one of the members of that region. The International Civil Aviation Organization, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations are other examples of bodies whose work has likewise been detrimentally affected. One is driven to ask whether the United Nations really has to accommodate itself to Arab tactics so that even its regional agencies are paralysed or severely handicapped in their efforts to secure higher standards of economic and social progress, of health and education for all.