A Leading Republican Leaves Connally’s Fold in Protest Against His Middle East Proposals

The first official fallout of former Texas Governor John Connelly’s Middle East plan which links United States oil supplies to the Arab-Israel conflict is the departure of a leading Jewish Republican from his campaign for the 1980 GOP Presidential nomination.

Rita Hauser, a New York lawyer and the United, States representative on the Human Rights Commission during the Nixon Administration, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency today that she has resigned from the 10-member steering committee for the Connally campaign because of Connally’s Mideast proposals which he made last Thursday in a speech at the Washington Press Club.

SAYS SPEECH CAME AS TOTAL SURPRISE

In a telephone interview with the JTA, she said Connally’s speech came as "a total surprise to me." In his speech, Connally called for Israel’s withdrawal to the pre-1967 borders except for "minor" changes, a decision by the Palestinians whether they wanted an "independent entity" or to be part of Jordan, U.S. military presence in the Mideast, and a flow of cheaper oil from the "moderate" Arab oil-producing states in return for Israel’s withdrawal.

Hauser said that while a solution for the West Bank is open for argument, she considers the linking of the Mideast conflict to oil prices as "false, dangerous and pernicious." She said even if Israel completely pulled out of the occupied territories, it would not lower oil prices.

The New York lawyer said she told Connally that the real threat to U.S. oil supplies came from the Soviet Union and radicals in the Mideast. She said she urged him to support the beefing up of U.S. military power in the Persian Gulf area which would protect Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

Hauser said she urged Connally to also praise Israeli Premier Menachem Begin and the Camp David accords in his speech last week. At the Washington Press Club, Connally called the Israeli Premier "dedicated, smart, intelligent and tough." He said Begin is "the type of leader every nation in the world would like to have." But he said the Camp David agreements were now "without form or affect."

OTHERS ALSO TAKEN BY SURPRISE

Other prominent Jewish Republicans, such as Max Fisher of Detroit, and George Klein of New York, were also taken by surprise by the Connally speech, Hauser said. She said Fisher called her last week to ask about the speech. Fisher was not available for comment today.

But Klein, in a telephone interview with the JTA, also criticized Connally for linking oil with the Arab-Israeli dispute. He said Connally’s thesis was." wrong for Israel, wrong for the United States and wrong for democracy." He said the high oil prices cannot be blamed on Israel. Israel’s strategic value to the U.S. is "unquestioned," Klein stressed. He said Connally’s thesis would damage this support for the U.S.

Hauser said she has no plans now to join the campaign of any of the other Republican candidates. "I will just sit still for a while," she said. But she said she believes Connally has a good chance for the GOP nomination with the race being between him and former California Governor Ronald Reagan. She said this might change if former President Gerald Ford enters the race.

Meanwhile, at least three other GOP Presidential hopefuls have attacked his Mideast plan. The latest to do so was George Bush who, in a speech to the National Conference of Christians and Jews in Cleveland, said the U.S. "must and will continue" to support Israel. Over the weekend, Connally was also criticized by Sens. Howard Baker (R. Tenn.), the Senate Minority Leader, and Robert Dole (R. Kan.), both of whom scored the linking of oil with the Arab-Israeli conflict.