Dinitz Says Nixon’s Trip Will Cement Agreements

Israeli Ambassador Simcha Dinitz stated his views today of what President Nixon’s trip to the Middle East will accomplish. Addressing a National Press Club luncheon shortly after Nixon took off on a 12-day trip that will include visits to Israel and four Arab countries, the Israeli envoy said, “What has been achieved is still fragile and needs cementing. His (Nixon’s) visit will do Just that.”

Dinitz was referring to the disengagement agreements Israel achieved with Egypt and Syria through the diplomatic efforts of Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger. He said he believed Nixon’s visit to the Middle East would further negotiations for a broader settlement and “institutionalize relations” between the U.S. and Israel. Dlnltz did not elaborate on his “institutionalize” comment. It is understood that Nixon and Kissinger who is accompanying him, will commit the U.S. to a long term military aid program for Israel when they are in Jerusalem, replacing the year-by-year aid projects that have been the practice since Israel’s independence.

Dinitz referred to the Nixon trip as “another milestone” in building a Middle East peace. Nixon himself told reporters before his departure this morning that he was leaving on “What I hope and believe is another journey for peace.” But he said he did not expect his trip to produce any spectacular results. “One trip is not going to solve difficulties which go very deep and go back many years, in some cases centuries,” he said. He said he would reaffirm U.S. support for the initiatives taken-by Secretary Kissinger and would also “explore better ways for new and better relations with each nation in the area to have better relations with each other.” The President will spend tomorrow in Salzburg, Austria as the guest of Chancellor Bruno Kreisky before flying to Cairo Wednesday, his first Middle East stop.

DISCUSSES PALESTINIAN ISSUE

Dinitz, making his first appearance before the National Press Club since he succeeded former Ambassador Yitzhak Rabin, now Israel’s Prime Minister, made the following points in his speech and in response to questions from his audience of journalists: The issue of a Palestinian state “can only be handled” within the framework of peace negotiations with Jordan; according to the understanding with Egypt on disengagement Israel has “assurances” that the principle of free navigation will prevail when the Suez Canal is re-opened and will apply to ships carrying cargoes to and from Israel; and to Israel-flag ships once a permanent peace is achieved; The possessions left behind by Jews forced to flee Arab countries will be taken into consideration when the matter of compensation for Arabs who left Israel is discussed.

In that connection, Dinitz agreed with a questioner that the approximately 600,000 Arabs who left Israel equals the number of Jews who have arrived In Israel from Arab countries.

Dinitz said Israel was appalled by the description as “moderates” applied in some western circles to such Arab leaders as Yassir Arafat, head of the Palestine Liberation Organization and El Fatah. He said these were the same leaders whose terrorist gangs were responsible for the Munich massacre of Israeli athletes in 1972; the murder of American and other diplomats in Khartoum; numerous hijackings and most recently the Kiryat Shemona and Maalot massacres. He said that a terrorist captured by Israeli forces only last week admitted that he and his companions had been briefed by Arafat before leaving on a mission of terror against Israeli civilians which Included plans to blow up a movie house.