The House of Representatives special subcommittee on the Middle East headed by Rep. Melvin Price (D.Ill.), in its Feb. 5-17 visit to the Middle East, appeared profoundly impressed by the determination of Israelis to defend their land and survival as a nation.
“One thing that becomes plain from a visit with the Israelis is that their resentment and intense feeling about the history of their people is such that they will never surrender their country without a bitter fight,” the subcommittee’s report, issued yesterday, said. “Such a conflict risks the involvement of other nations of the world beyond the Middle East.”
Discussing the prospect for a settlement in the area, the subcommittee said “it is important to recognize” that “the official Israeli position does not claim that the land held as a result of the 1967 war (except for Jerusalem) should belong to Israel. The Israelis feel they need it for the protection of their country or as a bargaining chip for peace.”
The Israeli military, the report said, pointed out that Israel would be in “an unacceptable defense position (on the Golan Heights) without the capacity for early adequate warning,” if it did not control the high point east of Kuneitra since the Golan Heights form a plateau and are not a mountainous region. Similarly, the Israelis believe they require high points west of the Jordan River “it would seem clear that the bottom line for the Israeli military would be retention of radar warning sites on the high points along the West Bank with adequate defenses” since Israel’s narrow belt north of Tel Aviv would otherwise be subject to surface-to-surface missile attack.
The report affirmed that the U.S. cannot “cast aside” or turn over its responsibility in the search for peace to another power “because only the United States has the trust and confidence of the Israelis” and “the United States has developed trust and confidence on the Arab side by attempting to follow an even-handed policy.” (By Joseph Polakoff)
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