Jackson: Arabs Should Now Be Ready to Work with U.s., Israel for ‘rational Accords’ in the Mideast

Sen. Henry Jackson (D. Wash.) said today that the defeat the Arab world has suffered in the Iranian-Iraqi war and in Lebanon should make them more agreeable to work with the United States and Israel for “rational accords” in the Mideast.

“Thoughtful Arabs should be more susceptible to negotiations,” Jackson said in an appearance on CBS-TV’s “Face the Nation.” He said the current situation puts the U.S. on the “thresh-old” of being able to work more successfully toward negotiations in the Middle East.

Jackson expressed the hope that an autonomy agreement could now be reached which would leave defense and foreign policy of the West Bank under Israeli control. He said that is “the only way that is going to work.”

The Senator said that the situation in Lebanon demonstrates that there is a greater need for Israel to consult with the U.S. on what it is going to do. He said that there had been “substantial erosion” in the United States for Israel because of the invasion of Lebanon but at the same time, “frustrated Americans” look with admiration that when the Israelis “seek to do something, they get it done.”

CONCERN ABOUT THE BEGIN GOVERNMENT

On NBC-TV’s “Meet the Press,” two other Senators denied that there has been any lessening of support for Israel in Congress. “I don’t think so,” Sen. Orrin Hatch (R. Utah) said. He said Congress will always support Israel. But Sen. Alan Cranston (D. Calif.) said that there has been a lessening of the “willingness to go along with Israel” but added that the concern is about the government of Premier Menachem Begin and not a lessening of the “fundamental support” for the State of Israel.

Jackson said, “technically there has been a violation” by Israel in the use of American-made cluster bombs in Lebanon. Cranston said that if Israel used cluster bombs against civilian targets in Lebanon, this would have been “inappropriate.”