Eban; U.S. Policy in the Mideast Has, on the Whole Been Successful

Former Israeli Foreign Minister Abba Eban told a meeting of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations at 515 Park Avenue this morning that on the whole, American policy in the Middle East has been successful. He suggested ways and means by which both the U.S. and Israel can keep it that way, including new proposals by Israel to avoid an imposed solution.

Eban told the American Jewish leaders that it was excessively optimistic to have believed that the bilateral Israeli-Egyptian talks conducted by Kissinger last month could succeed because Egypt was being asked to cancel a state of war for 50 kilometers and Israel was being asked to give up essential positions for something far less than peace.

The Israeli diplomat said the U.S. had overreacted to the collapse of the Kissinger talks, A personal and subjective element entered into the American reaction which was reflected in President Ford’s “chilly remarks” last night on a CBS television interview, Eban observed. He said Kissinger still regarded the failure of his mission as a personal setback and holds Israel responsible but the need now is to go beyond that.

FOUR POINTS FOR THE FUTURE

Eban offered four points for the future: Abandon the inquest into who was at fault and look to the future, not the past; do not give the American people a false picture of the so-called failure of American policy in the Middle East. In that connection, Eban observed that U.S. policy has bees successful; its influence in the Arab world has increased; America has massively re-armed Israel; and even the collapse of the talks did not lead to war because foundations had been built.

Eban’s third point recommended that the U.S. select its commitments to other nations on the basis of their viability; the recipient has to be a nation that will not squander its aid in futile corruption; the U.S. should act to defend nations, not civil wars and the aid has to have a feasible chance of success. He said Israel wants zero percent of the manpower and only a fraction of the dollars the U.S. poured into Vietnam.

Finally, Eban said Israel must present new ideas and a specific policy because diplomatic nature abhors a vacuum. He said that in the absence of Israeli proposals, the possibility of an imposed settlement increases with America proposing, if not imposing, a solution instead of continuing its mediation role.

ALLON’S FAREWELL TO JEWISH LEADERS

Israeli Foreign Minister Yigal Allon said before returning to Israel last night that the “resumption of the U.S.-Israeli dialogue has begun but it may be a long one.” Allon spoke extemporaneously to 50 leaders of the Conference of Presidents in the E1 A1 lounge at Kennedy Airport before boarding his plane for Tel Aviv. He expressed gratification over his three-hour long meeting with Kissinger and the fact that he and the Secretary agreed on the main point–the necessity to preserve the momentum toward peace in the Mideast.

Ending his cross-country tour on behalf of the United Jewish Appeal last Friday, Allon told more than 600 American Jewish leaders from eight eastern states, “I go back home with the true feeling that we are one,” He added, in his statement to the UJA leaders meeting in New York: “Our togetherness means more than organizational unity… as long as we are together, we will live together.”