Israel’s ambassador to Washington is disputing reports of a growing rift between the United States and Israel over the Middle East peace process, despite Secretary of State James Baker’s apparent failure to produce any breakthrough during three recent swings through the region.
“The relations now, after the war and the crisis, have proven once again the close links between our two countries and our two peoples,” Zalman Shoval told reporters after an address Sunday morning to the 85th annual meeting of the American Jewish Committee.
Shoval said that while there are disagreements between the two countries “on certain points,” there is general agreement on the basic thrust of the peace process.
“If you are all part of the family,” he said, “you can afford to have certain disagreements, and hopefully all these disagreements will be settled.”
Shoval also denied that Israel felt it was being singled out by the United States as an obstacle to the peace process. “We haven’t felt that Secretary Baker or the U.S. government as a whole puts the blame for the present situation in the peace process on Israel,” he said.
But the perception that Israel is being blamed unfairly is clearly held by a number of officials in Israel and many supporters of Israel in the United States.
CHENEY SPEAKS OF U.S. COMMITMENT
Defense Secretary Dick Cheney was questioned by AJCommittee leaders on the subject last Thursday night, when he addressed their annual meeting.
He replied that he felt the United States had taken a “balanced approach” to the peace process, blaming one side no more than the other.
But he called the U.S. mediation effort a “thankless task” and warned that the United States “cannot impose peace in the Middle East.”
In words clearly intended to soothe rather than blame, the defense secretary also spoke of America’s long-term interest in a strong Israel. “Let there be no question about it,” he said. “America’s commitment to Israel’s peace and security is unshakable.”
But nonetheless, U.S. officials have expressed displeasure with Israel’s position on Middle East peace negotiations.
Most recently, Israeli Housing Minister Ariel Sharon, a Likud hard-liner who opposes territorial compromise and favors the construction of additional settlements in the West Bank, was snubbed last week in Washington when a meeting with his American counterpart, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Jack Kemp, was protested by Baker.
The United States’ post-Gulf war peace effort has run into trouble from both Israel and the Arab countries, with neither side so far willing to make sufficient concessions on the structure and content of the proposed peace negotiations.
The main sticking point now concerns the exact nature of the peace conference, to be jointly sponsored by the United States and the Soviet Union.
Israel wants it to be a ceremonial opening that immediately breaks down into direct negotiations with Arab countries, while the Arabs are pushing for a conference with greater scope and longevity.
According to U.S. officials, Baker’s efforts to bring Israel and the Arab countries together were also made more difficult by the two new Jewish settlements that were established in the West Bank immediately prior to Baker’s last two Middle East visits.
The United States has repeatedly stated that it views new settlements in the administered territories as obstacles to peace, while Israeli officials say Jews have the right to live anywhere in the Land of Israel.
“But this doesn’t necessarily have any automatic implication with regard to the legal status of the territories,” explained Shoval, who said he personally opposes a separate Palestinian state.
“What is still needed, of course, is to see a change of attitude on the part of the Arab world, and if that happens, I believe peace can be achieved,” said Shoval.
BACKING FOR $10 BILLION URGED
During his address to AJCommittee, Shoval also called upon U.S. Jewry to support Israel’s upcoming request for up to $10 billion in loan guarantees from the United States to aid in Soviet Jewish resettlement. Israel is expected to make such a request this fall.
One million Soviet Jews are expected to arrive in Israel by the end of 1993, and Shoval said that it will cost Israel an estimated $40 billion over the next five years to fully integrate them into the economy.
He said this amount of money is beyond Israel’s financial capabilities, and that Israel would also ask other countries for financial help for Soviet resettlement.
“The world does owe Israel a debt and owes the Jewish people a debt, to normalize Jewish history,” he said.
“So we are going to approach the American government and we can only hope and pray,” he said, that the response “will be a humanitarian one and that this will not be linked with political considerations of the moment.”
There is some worry among Israeli officials that the United States, which gives Israel $3 billion a year in military and economic aid, may use the new loan guarantee request as a way to pressure Israel into making some sort of compromise in peace negotiations.
Sharon, during his trip to the United States, warned against pressure on Israel to trade “land for Jews,” meaning territory in exchange for money to help resettle immigrants.
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