Eclipsed by the ceremonies marking the inauguration of Ronald Reagan and George Bush to the helm of the American government and arrangements for the release of the 52 Americans held hostage in Iran for 14 months, the Israeli Cabinet decision to hold elections in July received relatively scant attention.
No questions were asked today at the State Department at its public briefing about the effects of the decision on the Middle East peace process of the decision to put Premier Menachem Begin’s policies before the electorate.
Informed sources had long speculated that even were Begin not driven into an election before his term expired in November the chance were remote that the Reagan Administration would attempt to further the peace process during the first few months. America’s economy, the country’s defense forces and energy sources is said to comprise the new Administration’s basic priorities.
Another factor that is considered delaying Reagan action until after the Israeli election is the sudden decision by Harold Saunders to retire not only as Assistant Secretary of State for Middle Eastern Affairs but to leave government service except for a period as consultant on the Iranian hostage situation.
SPECULATION ON NEW PERSONNEL
For the time being, the acting Assistant Secretary is Peter Constable, the senior deputy assistant secretary in the bureau, whose primary responsibility is Iran. Speculation on Saunders’ successor is centering on Nicholas Veliotes, a foreign service career officer who is now the U. S. Ambassador to Jordan, and Henry Rowen, a “whiz kid” in the Defense Department in the 1950s when Robert McNamara was its Secretary.
Rowen, a defense economist, and a former director of the Rand Corp., the research group in Santa Monica, Calif., is now a consultant on energy and defense matters. Before going to Amman in August, 1978, Veliotes was deputy director of the State Department’s policy planning staff and for four years deputy chief of mission at the U. S. Embassy in Tel Aviv. A Californian, Veliotes joined the Foreign Service in 1955.
JEWISH REPUBLICANS FETED
Meanwhile, close to 100 leading Jewish Republicans in Washington for the inaugural ceremonies were entertained at the Capitol by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee headed by executive director Thomas Dine. Among those unable to attend were Theodore Cummings of Los Angeles and Max Fisher of Detroit, the honorary chairmen of the Reagan-Bush Coalition that was organized last July in Detroit during the Republican National Convention. Both Cummings and Fisher were reported pressed by personal matters and their absence completely unrelated to political circumstances.
Among those attending were Ivan Novick, Gordon Zacks, George Klein, Maxwell Rabb, Leonard Goldfine, Jacob Stein, Richard Rosenbaum, Paul Borman, Stanford Adelstein, Norman Bremen, Richard Fox, Irwin Levy, and Bud Hackenberg.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
