Jorge Urbina, Costa Rica’s Ambassador to the United Nations, expressed surprise last night that his country would be honored by a Zionist organization for the decision to move the Costa Rican Embassy in Israel back to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.
“We do not expect any recognition for something we consider natural,” Urbina told the more than 2500 persons attending a banquet during the 69th annual national convention of Hadassah at the Washington Hilton Hotel.
Frieda Lewis, who was elected today to her fourth term as president of Hadassah, presented a citation to Urbina last night which said that Costa Rica’s decision “demonstrates appreciation of the significance of this great city (Jerusalem) in Jewish life, as well as respect for the right of Israel, a sovereign nation, to select its own capital.”
Mrs. Lewis also announced that El Salvador has decided to move its Embassy back to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv and will do it by September 15, its National Day. El Salvador was one of several countries with embassies in Jerusalem which closed it in reaction to the Knesset law in 1980 declaring united Jerusalem to be Israel’s eternal capital. Israel, meanwhile, said it will reopen its Embassy in San Salvador in October. Mrs. Lewis urged the U.S. to move its Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
SOLON CITES BASIS FOR FAILURE OF U.S. INITIATIVE
In the major address of the banquet, Sen. Joseph Biden (D. Del.) declared that the failure of President Reagan’s peace initiative has contributed to the improvement in Israeli-U.S. relations.
“The Reagan initiative was born out of the naivete shared by the last Administration,” Biden explained. He said it was based on King Hussein of Jordan, Palestine Liberation Organization chief Yasir Arafat and the Saudi Arabian regime being “capable of independent action” when even if they were positive toward negotiations with Israel, “they are not capable of independent action.”
Biden said that Hussein was expected to demonstrate a “courage” that he did not have to go it alone in the Arab world, while Arafat, “even if he wanted to, and I believe he does not, is incapable of bringing along the PLO on any negotiated settlement with Israel.” The Saudis have had to make “deals” to keep their oligarchic regime in power and are not “institutionally capable” at this time of supporting peace with Israel, Biden maintained. But he noted that if either Jordan or Arafat had agreed to go along with the negotiations, Israel would have been painted as intransigent because the U.S. public would not have understood the Israeli refusal to go along based on Israel’s knowledge of the inability of the three parties to negotiate peace.
Biden, who said he supported Israel’s efforts to destroy the PLO in Lebanon, said the Lebanese action brought U.S.-Israeli relations to an all time low last year. But he said the situation has improved now for two other reasons.
One is Moshe Arens replacing Ariel Sharon as Defense Minister. The other is the Israeli-Lebanese agreement for Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon which “made it crystal clear to the United States and to the world that the party that was intransigent was not Israel but Syria and the PLO.”
SAYS U.S. SHOULD TREAT ISRAEL LIKE A BROTHER
Biden, declaring that Israel is important to the U.S., said that the relationship should be kept on an even keel without the up and down swings in public opinion. The U.S. should be “more vocal in our agreement and more quiet in our dissent.” He urged treating Israel like a brother.
“I do not … when I have problems with my brother, I do not go out of my front lawn and argue with the whole neighborhood to hear,” he declared. “But I do and we should when we disagree have sometime violent disagreements in the basement or the den.”
ROSENNE: ISRAEL ALWAYS SOUGHT PEACE WITH ARABS
Israel Ambassador Meir Rosenne stressed to the Hadassah banquet that Israel has always sought peace with its Arab neighbors, even including this desire in its Declaration of Independence.
Rosenne said this effort did not begin with the establishment of the Jewish State. “From the very beginning of Jewish settlements in Palestine in the last years of the 19th century, Jews consistently sought out Arabs for friendship and cooperation.”
But he said the effort “was in vain” and the answer has been “jihad” (holy war) and with the exception of Egypt it has remained jihad. “Nevertheless, despite everything we remain wedded to peace, committed to reconciliation, dedicated to the prophecy of Isaiah, ready now for an embrace of friendship and cooperation with our Arab neighbors,” Rosenne declared.
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.
