Ambassador Moshe Arens of Israel warned here this week that the world must never get the impression that the Arab states can drive a wedge between the United States and Israel.
“If that happens, what we have built together can fall apart like a house of cards,” the Ambassador told more than 900 leaders from major cities in the U.S., Canada and South Florida, at a gala international dinner held to welcome him to the United States Monday evening.
Referring to Israel’s evacuation from the Sinai, which is scheduled to be completed April 25, Arens said: “I feel that the United States is obligated to help us share the burden of this three-country peace treaty. I must add that if it had not been for this treaty, Israel today would be on the road to economic independence.”
“We have reason to expect that the United States government will help alleviate some of our financial problems,” Arens added.
The dinner climaxed the current phase of the 1982 Israel Bond campaign’s effort to enroll members in its Prime Minister’s Club and its Ambassador’s Society of Trustees, purchasers of $25,000 and $10,000 or more in Israel Bonds respectively.
Arens said that the immediate economic results of the withdrawal from the Sinai are a very heavy burden for Israel. He noted that many new roads and communities had been built in the Sinai and that a $6 billion expenditure is necessary to facilitate the evacuation. “That is more than 25 percent of our gross national product. Many other countries would not be able to shoulder this burden,” he said. He stressed that friends of Israel in the United States were needed to help in the task ahead.
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