Israel Assured U.S. Will Not Use Aid As a Form of Political Pressure

A top Carter Administration official assured Israel today that the U.S. will not use aid as a form of political pressure. James McIntyre Jr., director of the Office of Management and Budget, made that pledge after a meeting with Premier Menachem Begin at which he issue of Israel settlements in the occupied Arab territories was raised. The American official is understood to have reiterated the U.S. position that the settlements are an obstacle to peace.

McIntyre, accompanied by a delegation of four Congressmen, members of the House Budget Committee, are in Israel for a detailed study of its aid needs. He told reporters that “the U.S. does not intend to use its aid as a way to pressure things that should be handled through diplomatic means.”

There was speculation here that punitive U.S. aid cuts may have been hinted in the apparently stiff letter Begin received from Secretary of State Cyrus Vance yesterday in connection with the Cabinet’s decision in principle last Sunday favoring the establishment of a Jewish presence in Hebron.

The contents of the letter were not divulged Sources here said Begin took it home to mull over and Israel Radio said he would bring it to the Cabinet’s attention this Sunday. At his meeting with the American delegation this morning, Begin reportedly defended his settlement policy on security grounds. Rep. Robert Giaimo (D.Conn.), chairman of the House Budget-Committee, told reporters afterwards that the Hebron affair and settlements in general were regarded as prejudicial to peace. But he affirmed McIntyre’s assurance that this would not affect U.S. aid to Israel.

However, Giaimo made it clear that Israel’s requests for increased aid stood little chance of a favorable hearing. “This is a particularly tough year for the U.S. meeting its budgetary needs and a good portion of that aid budget involves the regular amount of money to Israel,” the Congressman said. The Carter Administration has allocated $1.985 billion in economic and military aid for Israel in the next fiscal year beginning Oct. 1. Israel has asked for $3.45 billion.

SERIOUS VIEW OF U.S. CRITICISM

Regardless of the assurances that aid will not be used to pressure Israel, the Cabinet is expected to take a serious view of the public upbraiding Israel has received from Washington on the Hebron issue when it next meets on Sunday. The effects the American expressions of displeasure will have are unclear.

Conceivably, the U.S. attitude could strengthen the arguments of Cabinet moderates that a Jewish return to Hebron at this time would be provocative. It is considered more likely that the ministerial hawks will have been sobered to some extent by the tough American stand and the disapproval of American public opinion to any Hebron move. In that case, the Cabinet may find a way to quietly shelve the issue.

The government is under heavy pressure, meanwhile, from nationalist and religious militants to open Hebron to Jewish settlement forthwith. Leaders of Kiryat Arba, the Gush Emunim stronghold next to Hebron, have already engaged an architect to draw plans for an extensive “Jewish quarter” in that West Bank Arab town consisting of about 100 new housing units and communal facilities at an estimated cost of IL 140 million.

Informed observers believe, however, that there is no Cabinet majority at this time for such an elaborate project or for settling any Jewish families in Hebron at present. A possible compromise that may be raised at Sunday’s Cabinet meeting is the establishment of some sort of institution of higher learning in Hebron as a symbolic Jewish presence.