The American Jewish Committee appealed to both Israel and the United States today to heal the sharp differences which have developed between them because of Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights and the Reagan Administration’s subsequent suspension of the U.S. -Israel strategic cooperation agreement.
Bertram Gold, executive vice president of the AJCommittee said, in a statement issued here: “We appeal to our own government and to the government of Israel to stop the dangerous escalation of harsh declarations and actions against one another. Only the enemies of both the U.S. and Israel can benefit from such escalation. It is less important now to assess blame for the present disarray than to get the governments back to positive, trusting discussions.”
Gold added: “We can understand our government’s disappointment over Israel’s Golan Heights action. We can also understand the anger and anguish that prompted Prime Minister Menachem Begin to issue his criticism of a series of American actions that have raised serious questions within Israel.”
WELCOMES HAIG’S STATEMENT
He welcomed Secretary of State Alexander Haig’s statement, in a nationally televised interview yesterday, “reaffirming that President Reagan recognizes ‘the vital importance of our obligations to the people of Israel and our guarantees to the survival of that state.’ We share the Secretary’s hope that the current storm clouds will quickly pass” and “urge that the punitive pressures and impassioned rhetoric swiftly give way to a resumption of full cooperation between the United States and Israel,” Gold said.
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