Joining nations 1947-1990

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formation had been proposed in Stockholm, reported that it was hoping to organise an exchange of abstracts on the basis of linguistic families with the initial participation of four delegations representing different groupings. Ominous portents of future disagreements were evident in Toronto when the Executive Council proposed that the Governing Council should postpone until r 973 acceptance of an Israeli invitation for the r 975 Assembly, notwithstanding that no other invitations for that year had been received. This proposal was influenced by the presence on the Executive Council as a Vice-President of Professor Rykalin who was the principal antagonist of acceptance of the Israeli invitation. In the event, the Governing Council declined this prevarication and accepted the invitation from Israel. In doing so, it underestimated the perseverance of Professor Rykalin which, at the r 973 Assembly in Diisseldorf, J.ed to one of the few authentic dramas staged in the Governing Council. At its first meeting, Professor Rykalin questioned the advisability of holding an Assembly in Israel because of the uneasy political situation in the Middle East and said that it would be impossible for several delega– tions, among them that of the USSR, to attend. In reply Mr Yaron, for Israel, said that all delegations without exception would be wel– come in his country and other speakers deplored the precedent which would be created if an invitation once accepted were subsequently declined for political reasons, given that no country could guarantee permanent exemption from violent incidents of one sort or another. Thereupon the Governing Council rejected a proposal that the matter should be re-discussed at the end of the Assembly and re-affirmed its acceptance of the Israeli invitation. But that was not the end of the matter. Professor Rykalin made further representations to the Executive Council which, conscious of the need to respect minority rights, agreed to ask the Governing Council to settle the matter by secret ballot but without raising tension by further discussion. This proposal was approved and the result of the ballot was to confirm acceptance of the Israeli invitation by r6 votes to 9 with 3 abstentions. Those present on that occasion will remember how, when the results of the vote were announced, Professor Rykalin shook hands with Mr Yaron and congratulated him on the outcome. But the incident illustrates, like that, already referred to, which took place at Delft seven years previously, what problems the IIW faced during the Cold War, in maintaining a spirit of co-operation among delegations