Carter Assures U.S. Jewish Leaders U.S. Will Not Deal with the PLO

President Carter personally repeated assurances to American Jewish community leaders that the United States will not deal with the Palestine Liberation Organization until the PLO accepts Israel’s sovereignty and right to exist in peace. This assurance came at a White House meeting last Friday in which apparently the Administration sought to allay Jewish community apprehension following another upsurge in anger by the leaders that followed remarks by. Andrew Young, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, in which he said the U.S. should deal with the PLO whose representatives at the UN he found to be “friendly.” (Related story, P. 4.)

The White House invited Theodore Mann, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, and other Jewish leaders to the meeting that Mann later said “primarily” was to discuss the Iranian situation When he was asked whether Carter wanted the Jewish community to support the Administration on its Iranian position, he referred the questioner to the Administration.

Carter, Mann, and Edward Sanders, the President’s special assistant on Jewish and other matters, met privately for 10 minutes before they entered into a discussion that lasted for another 80 minutes with the 14 other Jewish leaders and Vice President Walter Mondale, Zbigniew Brzezinski, the National Affairs Security Adviser; his deputy, David Aron; William Quanat, the National Security Council’s Middle East specialist and Harold Sounders, Assistant Secretary of State for the Middle East.

Meeting with reporters on the White House grounds, Mann said under questioning that “we were assured by the Administration” its position not to have dealings with the PLO “stands regardless” of Young’s statements in New York, Mann noted that last month the Presidents Conference had protested when the Administration “publicly agreed with Egypt” on the peace treaty negotiations with Israel but “that is really behind us now.” He added “we were assured the Administration is working very hard to get negotiations back on the track and begin again and play the role of mediator and undoubtedly they (the Administration) are.”

Apparently during the course of the White House discussion, Saunders referred to the President’s statement to the new Israeli Ambassador, Ephraim Evron, when he presented his credentials Jan. 11, indicating the President supported Israel. As it happened, the White House earlier in the day made available to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency an extract of the transcript of Carter’s remarks to Evron that day.

CARTER STRESSES IMPORTANCE OF ISRAEL

In introducing Evron to his aides at the. White House, the President spoke of Evron’s representing “the great nation of Israel” and added: “I think all of you know of the importance of this country to us. Strategically, they mean a great deal to the security of our nation, to the stability in the Middle Last. They are friends and allies in the best sense of the word. We are very grateful, Mr. Ambassador, to have you here to represent your great country and your great people.”

Carter was reported last Friday to have told the Jewish leaders that he had full confidence in Premier Menachem Begin and appreciated Begin’s courage in dealing with his great internal problems just as he appreciated Egyptian President Sadat’s problems in the Arab world.

The President also was reported as having said that Sadat had sent a message to Begin to the effect that if the West Bank Palestinians or Jordan refused to negotiate on a self-governing authority on the West Bank, Egypt would take that into account and not penalize Israel for it Carter again stressed that Israel’s security was essential to U.S. policy.

Mann was reported as having said at the meeting that the American Jewish community was concerned over the Administration’s apparent desire for a comprehensive instead of the need to build an Egyptian-Israeli peace as a sort of demonstration peace for the area. Mann also, said that the Administration in the light of Young’s remarks still seems to be seeking ways to accommodate the PLO. Mann said that only encouraged the PLO and discouraged the development of any counter-group in the Palestinian movement.

Mann also pointed out that the American Jewish community was hurt by the Administration’s public chastisement of Israel for failure to meet the Dec. 17 deadline for a peace treaty with Egypt and the implication that territory was more important to Israel than peace. Israel’s goal is peace, Mann stressed, and for Israel to be accused in that way is not only harmful but unjustified.