President Reagan, in his weekly radio address yesterday, praised Tunisia and President Habib Bourguiba’s role in seeking to bring about a resolution of the Arab-Israel conflict.
“There is a particularly bitter irony about events of the past week because President Bourguiba was one of the very first to urge a negotiated settlement of the Arab-Israel conflict, “Reagan said. “Our hearts go out to him and to the innocent Tunisians swept up in this violence.”
“In this horror, our hope lies in statesmen like President Bourguiba and King Hussein, President Mubarak, and Prime Minister Peres. They are men of vision and peace who deserve our support and our prayers.”
The President’s address seemed an attempt to mend the frayed relations with Tunisia in the aftermath of the Israeli air attack last Tuesday on Palestine Liberation Organization headquarters in Tunisia. At least 60 persons were reported killed in the attack.
Reagan also expressed “shock and dismay” at “the murderous attacks on Israeli civilians,and in response an Israeli military raid on a PLO headquarters in a country that is an old friend of the United States.”
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.
