When US threatened to leave WHO
raised serious objection to a portion of the operative paragraph of the draft resolution which, if accepted, would have the effect of cutting-off the membership rights and services of Israel. He announced that if this matter was discussed any further, he was under instruction to state that his country “here and now suspends its budgetary support” (which was about half of WHO’S annual budget) and withdraws from WHO. As soon as Bryant completed his statement, delegates from Israel and several other countries stood up and pronounced full support for the US’ stand. Delegates from Palestine and many Arab and African countries stood up and voiced support for the Palestinian cause. The ensuing pandemonium was unprecedented.
I kept striking the gavel and calling for order till there was a lull in which I announced a break to consider how WHA could proceed further. After a brief exchange with Mahler, I stepped into the assembly hall and for the next hour-and-a-half held discussions with the leaders of the warring groups. I found that there was no ready meeting point and also realised that if the situation was allowed to go unchecked, there would be grave consequences for WHO, besides the failure of my chairmanship. It was already past the lunch hour. Getting back on the dais, I informed WHA that my parleys would continue and the commission would reassemble next morning at the scheduled time. For the next 12 hours, I held intensive discussions with protagonists on both sides and also met several eminent health ministers (attending WHA). I also met the iconic Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat arrrived late in the evening.
After several rounds of negotiations with the Arab, African, Israeli, American and other delegations concerned, I managed to soften their earlier positions. Also, in the course of these discussions, I had virtually redone the original draft resolution. In the early hours of the next morning, I called a senior secretariat staff to arrange for copies of the revised draft resolution to be distributed before WHA commenced its work.
An uneasy calm prevailed in the hall when I called the meeting to order. I spoke briefly about my efforts since the previous day and about the agreed changes made in the original draft. I read out the revised resolution and asked if there were any observations from any quarter. There was silence. I announced that the resolution was passed and struck the gavel to move on to the next agenda item. There was a perceptible sigh of relief . WHO had been saved.