Former Secretary of State Alexander Haig, in his first address to a Jewish organization since he resigned from the Reagan Administration last June, denounced President Reagan’s “fresh start” plan for the Middle East.
Speaking without a text to 300 United Jewish Appeal leaders at the UJA’s “Hineni I” leadership meeting, Haig said last night the Reagan proposal for a freeze on Jewish settlements in the West Bank was “a very serious mistake.” He asserted that he had examined the record of the Camp David negotiations carefully and had concluded that “Israel never committed itself to terminate permanent settlements on the West Bank.”
Haig, in making his first criticism of the Reagan Administration, did not refer directly to Reagan’s September I nationwide television address, in which the President spelled out his proposals for further steps in the Mideast peace process, following the evacuation of PLO and Syrian forces from west Beirut.
The UJA has not taken a formal stance on Reagan’s proposals but frequent applause for Haig indicated strong agreement with his criticisms. He received a standing ovation when he concluded with the comment “when we are true to Israel, we are true to ourselves.”
CRITICIZES PROPOSAL TO REVIVE AUTONOMY TALKS
Haig also was sharply critical of the Reagan proposal to revive the stalled autonomy talks for the Palestinians of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in association with Jordan. He said the President’s idea posed the threat of a “gutting session” between Israel and the United States.
“When, by our policies, we cannot deal effectively with our friends in Israel, we are undercutting our effectiveness throughout the Arab world,” Haig said. Israel has formally rejected all elements of the Reagan proposals. He proposed that Israel keep responsibility for security on the West Bank, with governing authority for both the Arabs and the Israelis there. He said the future of the West Bank was a matter “for the local nations to decide, not for the United States to dictate.”
In rejecting the Arab League proposal for a Palestinian state controlled by the PLO, Haig said it was not in either United States or Israel’s interest “to have an enclave established on the West Bank which is susceptible to manipulation by foreign powers.”
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.
