Sen. Jacob K. Javits, New York Republican, declared in the Senate today that the time had come “to launch a major international effort to consolidate the shaky Middle East peace and remove a possible source of conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union.” He said the United States should take the lead in such an effort.
The Senator made the statement in a Senate speech in which he proposed that the United States “invite the Soviet Union to a conference for the purpose of ending shipments of arms and materials of war to the Middle East. ” He warned that the arms race involved not only the Arab states and Israel but also the many disputes among the Arab states.
He also declared that all possible steps should be taken to promote an understanding between the Arab states and Israel, He proposed the use of “all diplomatic channels open to us to urge the convening of a conference of all nations of the Middle East and all other nations with vital interests in this region in the quest of peace and to make practical plans for the development of the entire region.”
The Senator also took a stand of opposition to reported United States plans to and favored nation treatment of Israel for economic aid on grounds that Israel could no longer be considered an underdeveloped country.
The Senator said that the “present lull” in actual hostilities in the Middle East was “deceptive.” He called the Middle East “still a smouldering fire which can be whipped into a disastrous conflagration by any of the winds of discontent which continually sweep the area, “He asserted that the fuel for such an outbreak was the continued supply of arms to the area and “the ambitions” of Egyptian President Nasser.
SENT JAVITS CITES TASHKENT; SEES POTENTIALS FOR ARAB-ISRAEL TALKS
Asserting that the “potentials for peace” were equally present with the “prospects of a devastating war,” Sen, Javits told the Senate that “the world climate favors negotiations as a solution to international problems. ” He cited the cease-fire worked out at Tashkent between India and Pakistan with Soviet mediation and the statement in Kuwait by visiting Hungarian Premier Gulya Kallai in favor of Arab-Israeli negotiations; A similar effort, he said, could and should be made in the Middle East. “The United States,” he stated, “should now plainly and strongly indicate its willingness to pursue such an effort and make every endeavor to persuade the Soviets to join.”
Citing the United States-British-French tripartite declaration of 1950, guaranteeing the Arab-Israel armistice lines, Sen; Javits said that there had been a “most significant change” in the status quo since then; “In 1950 the world did not have to contend with a significant Soviet presence in the Middle East” but at the present time, the Soviets were family established in the Middle East “principally through their trade in the goods of war, ” He cited estimates that the Soviet Union had sent more than $1,000,000,000 worth of arms to Arab countries during the past decade.
CALLS FOR “PERSISTENT” EFFORTS BY THE U.S. FOR MIDDLE EAST PEACE
The Senator said that a “major criticism” of the Administration “has been its reluctance to be persuasive with the Arabs to come to the peace table. ” He ascribed this to “a fear that the Arabs would resent such pressure. ” But, as West Germany demonstrated just last year, such fears rest on weak foundations, he pointed out. He cited the fact that West Germany had recognised Israel despite Arab threats and that now West German relations with the Arab world “remain strong” and Arab-West German trade “is growing rather than diminishing.”
“Persistent and continuing efforts by the United States for a Middle East peace are vital, for such continuing efforts are needed to build up public opinion–in the Middle East itself as well as in the West and East–which will rise in support of finally laying to rest the threat of war in the Middle East, ” he stated. Admitting that “an effective resolution” to the Middle East conflict “cannot be brought about overnight or through one single dramatis effort” and that the climate “must be carefully created and world opinion mustered in support, ” the Senator declared: “The United States must lead the way; especially since the United States missed its opportunity when it failed to support the United Nations effort of 16 African and Latin American nations in January 1962 to bring the Middle East dispute to the conference table.”
STRESSES ISRAEL STILL NEEDS AMERICAN ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE
He noted that the United States had made arms available to Israel recently to offset the continuing flow of Soviet weapons to the Arabs but, he added, for Israel the needed defense expenditures were “an enormous drain on its overstrained economy and a drag on its development.”
He then referred to reports that because Israel had developed economically, the United States was considering cuts in economic aid. The Senator said that among the factors cited in support of such cuts was the fact that Israel’s hard currency reserves now approximated $700,000,000. He pointed out, however, that Israel’s reserves were not accumulated from any favorable balance in its international trade.
“These reserves stem from the sale of bonds, which must be repaid, from West German restitution and reparations, which are coming to an end, and from United States Government economic help which has been much reduced, ” he pointed out. He also cited Israel’s foreign currency debt of some $1,200,000,000, “the highest per capita foreign currency debt in the world” for which Israel must accumulate reserves. ” He said such factors “argue forcefully for the continuation of U.S. economic aid.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
