Arrow and Head of UNESCO Will Meet on Israel Question

Kenneth J. Arrow, professor of Economics, will meet with the Director General of UNESCO "within the next couple of weeks" to discuss possible practical methods of reinstating Israel in UNESCO, Arrow said yesterday.

UNESCO, United Nations Economic, Scientific and Cultural Organization, expelled Israel from its European regional group last November, after condemning it for undertaking archaeological excavations which allegedly endangered Moslem holy sites.

Since membership in a regional group is a prerequisite for participation in the organization, the move was tantamont to expelling Israel entirely.

The executive board of UNESCO voted Wednesday to recommend to the next general conference of the organization that procedures be adopted to prevent Arab nations from excluding Israel from a regional group.

Arrow, a leader of a group of 100 Harvard academics who formally protested UNESCO's anti-Israel measure, said he is pleased by the executive board's vote, and hopes to secure the support of Amator Mahtor-Mbow, UNESCO's Director-General, for an agreement which would bring Israel back into the organization.

Arrow said "the general-conference clearly has to pull back" on the Israel membership question, but added that he hopes the Director-General will endorse a motion to provide a UNESCO presence in Israel to observe the excavations.

Arrow emphasized that he does not believe there is any reason to halt the excavations.

He said the meeting with Mahtar-Mbow will be held in New York and will be attended by other non-Harvard leaders of the UNESCO protest group