Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s declared evenhandedness on the Arab-Israeli conflict is welcome, a U.S. State Department official asserted, but the United States still awaits actual proof of a shift from the Soviets’ pro-Arab policy.
In his new book “Perestroika,” Gorbachev claims that “nonexistent anti-Israel prejudices are ascribed to the Soviet Union.” He stresses that the Soviet Union was one of the first countries to recognize the State of Israel and its legitimate right to exist.
Soviet Anti-Zionist Committee deputy chairman Samuil Zivs also tried to project the evenhanded image last week during the summit here between Gorbachev and President Reagan. Zivs said the Kremlin’s substantial military assistance to Syria “has nothing to do” with Soviet-Israeli relations.
A policy statement released during the summit expressed the same viewpoint. In it, the Soviet Union argued that it does not “seek any unilateral privileges or selfish advantages in the Middle East” and that it “has never been biased to any Mideastern country because of its political system or way of life.”
The statement added that the Soviets do not intend to set up “military bases or military blocs” in the Middle East.
A State Department official said that while the United States welcomes many of these Soviet statements, the Reagan administration is looking for “action, not words” from the Soviets. The Soviet Union, so far, has been “obstructionist,” and not a “facilitator,” to peace in the Middle East, the official added.
For example, noted the official, the Soviet Union has been “dragging its heels” on prodding Iran to accept U.N. Resolution 598 that calls for a cease-fire in the Iran-Iraq war and direct negotiations to end the war.
The official explained that the State Department is looking for concrete actions including improved Soviet Jewish emigration, increased ties with Israel and a “more responsible arms policy” in the region. The official declined to elaborate on that point, but the Soviets have been heavy suppliers of weapons to Syria for many years.
On the question of increased contacts with Israel, neither Gorbachev’s book nor the Soviet policy statement foresee it until the beginning of a peace process.
Gorbachev promises in his book, however, that “as for the contacts already existing between our countries, we will not abandon them.”
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