President Ford was asked Thursday by a powerful bipartisan bloc of 20 Senators to take “appropriate measures” to combat International terrorism, including suspension of American traffic to any country harboring terrorists. (See related story page 1.)
In introducing the “sense of the Senate” resolution on the bloc’s behalf. Sen. Jacob K. Javits (R. NY) salt it should be taken “as an indication that the United States does not intend to tolerate the continued activities of terrorists and their accomplices.”
The resolution which was referred to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, urges the President to direct U.S. ambassadors to encourage foreign governments to suspend air service to any nation “aiding or abetting terrorism until the international community, in implementing the Helsinki accords, has been assured that the nation in question has ceased such activity.”
It also recommends that the President undertake negotiations to strengthen the “current minimum safety standards and improve airport security in “those nations with direct air links to any transgressor nation and in other airports servicing international air transportation.”
OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS OUTLINED
Other recommendations would have the U.S. suspend the rights by any foreign air carrier between the United States and any foreign nation that may involve terrorism and revoke operations by any airline that does not maintain “transportation security sufficient to meet the minimum security standards” established by the convention on international civil aviation.
The resolution also urges the President to conduct a comprehensive review of all U.S. trade and diplomatic relations to determine what further appropriate actions, including specific sanctions, may be taken to discourage any further support of international terrorism.
Among the cosponsor of the resolution are Senate Minority Leader Hugh Scott (R Pa), Deputy Minority Leader Robert Griffith (R Mich) Clifford Case, the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Walter Mondale and Hubert H. Humphrey, Democrats of Minnesota, Adlai Stevenson (D III) and Walter Huddleston (D Ky).
Case told the Senate that “there is overwhelming evidence that the Libya government has aided and abetted terrorists” and that therefore “it is time for the world to treat the Qaddafi government as one deals with an infected animal–by imposing a quarantine.” He urged the President to encourage nations to suspend service to Libya until “Libya no longer assists terrorists.”
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.
