Secretary of State Alexander Haig urged Americans today not to criticize Israel alone for the recent violence on the West Bank but to maintain a “level of objectivity” and keep the situation in “proper perspective.” He indicated that Jordan had to share the blame for the deteriorating situation in the occupied territories.
“I think it is important whether we are in the United Nations or here in our own nation’s capital that we attempt to maintain a level of objectivity on this vexing question,” Haig said in an interview on NBC-TV’s “Meet The Press.”
He noted that it was “measures taken” by the government of Jordan which “trigerred” the events on the West Bank. While Haig did not explain, he was obviously referring to Jordan’s recent announcement that any West Bank residents who cooperated with the Village Leagues set up by Israel would be tried for treason in absentia and executed.
Haig noted that some of the actions taken by the Israeli government were “not sources of confidence to this government.” But he rejected charges that Israel’s policies have resulted in “de-facto annexation” of the West Bank or that Israel was planning to annex Judoea and Samaria.
This statement was similar to one made last Friday by the State Department when it said that it did not believe that Israel’s handling of the current situation on the West Bank was a “prelude” to the annexation of the area. The State Department Friday also rejected the suggestion that the situation on the West Bank will have any effect on the autonomy talks or Israel’s final withdrawal from Sinai scheduled for April 25.
OPTIMISTIC ON RETURN OF SINAI TO EGYPT
In his television interview today, Haig pointed out that Israeli Premier Menachem Begin said that Israel will adhere to the Camp David accords requirement that the future of the occupied areas will be determined five years after the autonomy agreement goes into effect. He said he was “optimistic” that the Israelis “will be as good as their word as they will be with the return of the Sinai” to Egypt.
Haig said that progress on the autonomy negotiations has been difficult because both Israel and Egypt were focused on the Sinai. He stressed that this is a “traumatic period” for Israel since it was giving up both a “strategic buffer” and has to remove settlers who have “set down their roots over an extended period” in the Sinai.
But Haig stressed that he was hopeful that progress would be made on the autonomy agreements after April 25. He said the U.S. would continue as a “solid partner” in the Camp David process which he said is the only means for achieving further progress in the peace process, including an autonomy agreement for the residents of the West Bank and Gaza. He warned Americans against “excessive impatience”
which he said “can bring about the very outcome we are seeking to avoid.”
He said people seem to forget that it is anly three years since an “unprecedented treaty” was signed between Egypt and Israel which ended “three decades in animosity” and has begun the process of “normalization” between the two countries. Last Friday was the third anniversary of the signing of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty.
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