Israeli Premier Yitzhak Shamir expressed confidence Friday that the United States will strive to “make a gaint step” to solve the issue of Soviet Jewry during next month’s summit meeting here between President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
After meeting with Reagan at the White House for about 15 minutes and then spending about two hours at the State Department with Secretary of State George Shultz and his senior aides, Shamir said he was “really encouraged” about the “more than sympathetic attitude” about the problem shown by Reagan and Shultz.
“We hope that Secretary Gorbachey will come away (from the summit) with the understanding and conviction that Soviet Jews must be given their rights.” Shamir told a gathering Friday sponsored by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
He outlined these rights as allowing “those Jews who wish to do so to leave the USSR and come to Israel” and permitting all Jews in the Soviet Union to have schools and synagogues, learn Hebrew and exercise their religion and culture.
After the State Department meeting, Shultz stressed that achieving these rights was a “joint concern” of the United States and Israel.
Shultz is scheduled to meet Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze in Geneva Monday and Tuesday to discuss final plans for the summit. He will be putting the final touch on the various issues discussed with the Soviets recently by his senior aides.
Shamir said he was briefed by Ambassador Max Kampleman on arms control, by Deputy Secretary of State John Whitehead on the human rights discussions he recently had in Moscow, and Michael Armacost, undersecretary of state for political affairs, on the regional issues discussed with the Soviet Union.
The Israeli premier expressed the hope that agreements will be reached on controlling nuclear arms. He note that the Jewish people especially hoped that efforts to avoid a global conflict would succeed, since Jews lived both in the West and the Soviet bloc.
DISCUSSED PEACE PROCESS
The Middle East peace process was also discussed at the White House and State Department, Shamir said. He reiterated his opposition to an international conference.
Both Shamir and Shultz stressed that the only way to achieve peace was throuhg direct negotiations between Israel and its Arab neighbors, but Shultz repeated the administration’s position that it was not “ruling out” any means of achieving direct talks, including an international conference.
Asked about reports that there was a proposal for Reagan and Gorbachev to invite Israel, Syria and Jordan to come to the summit for peace talks, Shamir said he knew nothing about it. He also denied reports that he had met recently with King Hussein of Jordan.
Shamir said that he had praised the United States effort in the Persian Gulf to both Reagan and Shultz. He said the countries in the area understand they “owe their stability and security to American readiness” to guarantee the freedom of navigation in the gulf.
The Israeli premier said the United States effort in the gulf also had a “very clear” impact on the recent Arab summit in Amman. He said that summit demonstrated that the moderate countries now had the upper hand.
He expressed especial pleasure that the summit decided to allow Arab states to restore ties with Egypt.
At the White House, Shamir said he expressed concern that the budget cuts in the United States might result in reducing the $3 billion in economic and military grants Israel receives from 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.
