Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said last night that a successful outcome of the current autonomy negotiations will not be the “key” for solving all the other prob lems and aspects of the Mideast conflict. He hoped the autonomy talks between Egypt, Israel and the United States will succeed, but claimed that “even then we will be just at the beginning” over the nature of jurisdiction in the West Bank.
Kissinger spoke at a dinner at the Plaza Hotel here, given by the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, during which he was presented with the ADL’s 1980 America’s Democratic Legacy Award.
The former Secretary of State claimed that the most important challenge before the United States now is to bring Jordan into the negotiations to determine the final status of the West Bank. He said he did not believe while he was Secretary of State and he does not believe now that a Palestinian state can be the solution to the problems of the Mideast.
The Mideast needs least of all a “radical” Palestinian state controlled by the Palestine Liberation. Organization, Kissinger asserted; adding that a “West Bank solution” can come only through negotiations with moderate elements, such as Jordan.
The United States, he continued, should strive to restore the balance between the radical and moderate elements in the Mideast, a balance that has been increasingly shifting toward the radical side. He said this could be done by increasing American strength and U.S. determination to stand by its allies and friends in the area and elsewhere. He also said that America should separate the energy issue from negotiations on a Mideast settlement.
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.
