President Anwar Sadat assured Rabbi Alexander Schindler, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, “that Egypt guarantees the security of Israel.” In a conversation yesterday at his rest home here with the American Jewish leader, Egypt’s President expressed awareness of American Jewry’s concern for Israel’s security–and made determined efforts to allay anxieties. On the fear of an eventual Soviet-backed Palestine Liberation Organization rule on the West Bank, Sadat said: “We don’t want them there any more than you do.”
Schindler is returning to Israel and to the U.S. with a three-point message from Sadat: that his desire for and commitment to peace is earnest and sincere; that the present negotiations are a “unique” opportunity which, if not seized, could be last forever; and that Egypt appreciates Israel’s security concerns and can vouch for Israel’s security after peace is signed.
Schindler for his part stressed that only Israel can be the judge of what its security requires, and that American Jewry would back the Israeli government’s decision on security–whatever it might be.
In their 45-minute talk, Sadat and Schindler stuck mainly to the broadly acceptable verbiage of peace and security and apparently steered clear of controversial specifics. The presence of Sadat’s wife, Jihan, and of Schindler’s wife, Rhea, gave the occasion a social rather than intensely political aura. Schindler himself told reporters later that the conversation had not dwelt “specifically” on the Palestinian issue.
Schindler stressed to Sadat, it was learned, his belief that the peacemaking process would be drawn out and arduous–and Sadat appeared to agree. He replied that where matters of (Israel’s) security were concerned he would have unhurried patience.
ARAB STATES WOULD FALL INTO LINE
Sadat stressed several items that Egypt could proceed completely un{SPAN}###{/SPAN} in the Arab world, and implied that if an agreement were reached with Israel the other Arab states would quickly fall into line.
He swept aside Schindler’s contain observation that “You are not–forgive me–the only leader in the Arab word….Israel is ### Israel “at least one-third of the Arab world,” and that beyond numbers and fractions Egypt was the linchpin to the fate of the conflict.
The Egyptian leader also exhibited an acute awareness of the political power and influence of American Jewry. (It was this awareness, indeed, which had presumably motivated his invitation, through his Washington Ambassador Ashraf Ghorbal to Schindler to visit him.)
While he did not directly urge Schindler to bring his influence to bear on the Israeli government in a particular direction, the consciousness that American Jewry has such influence permeated the entire conversation.
SCHINDLER MEETS WITH THE PRESS
After the meeting, Schindler held an impromptu press conference on the lawn of the guest house for the 40-odd local and foreign newsmen present. “My message to the President,” Schindler told the reporters, “was of U.S. Jewry’s concern for Israel’s security, and of its appreciation for what he has done in the cause of peace.”
Schindler steered delicately through a barrage of tough political questions from some of Cairo’s top correspondents, warning against “sloganeering from afar” and expressing his confidence that both the Palestinian problem and the question of the settlements would find their solution in the peace talks.
“Is is only the question of Israel’s security that worries the American Jewish community?” Al Ahram’s Hamdi Fuad asked disingenuously. “That above all else is our concern,” Schindler replied. Fuad: “Not Arab security?” Schindler (not disconcerted): “Well, of course. It’s reciprocal. Arab security, too. I don’t think there is a Jew in the world or an Israeli–except perhaps some madman–who has an expansionist idea.”
Asked about Palestinian self-determination, Schindler replied pointedly that he shared “the general preception that an independent state–at the moment at least–would prove a security threat. And I haven’t heard anything publicly from President Sadat which makes me believe that it (a Palestinian independent state) is something that he particularly desires.” Interestingly, there was no dissent to this from among the assembled Egyptian correspondents.
The Schindlers and Yehuda Hellman, executive director of the Presidents Conference, flew down from Cairo in midmorning in a special jet carrying Vice President Husni Mobarak to Aswan for consultations with Sadat. Mobarak took part in the meeting with Schindler. “He’s a very good and wise Vice President,” Schindler said of him to Sadat as reporters took pictures and recorded their small talk before the meeting. “He spent entire hours singing your praises. I myself was a vice-president once…” Sadat seemed enormously pleased and amused at this and laughed lustily.
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.
