Israel claimed today that its retention of the Golan Heights had at least the tacit approval of a previous American Administration. Foreign Ministry sources said that Premier Menachem Begin had shown a note to that effect to President Carter from his predecessor, President Ford, to the then Israeli Premier, Yitzhak Rabin.
According to the sources, Ford said the U.S. would understand an Israeli refusal to withdraw from the entire Golan Heights.
Rabin, responding to questions today, would not confirm the details. But he said that both as Ambassador to Washington and as Prime Minister he had conversations with American officials to assure Israel greater freedom of action for political maneuver in talks on the future of the Golan Heights.
(In Washington today, State Department spokesman Dean Fischer said “We are looking into it” when asked to comment on the reported letter from Ford to Rabin.)
Rabin said the Americans obviously did not mean that Israel could hold on to the entire Golan area. He said the law adopted by the Knesset December 14, in effect annexing that territory, had not “helped the situation.”
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