Sen. Henry M. Jackson urged today that the U.S. government drop the “formula” of Secretary of State William P. Rogers as a means to resolve the issues in the Middle East. ” If we wish to promote serious negotiations in the Middle East we must drop the Rogers formula,” the Washington Democrat said in a speech here before the World Affairs Council. Jackson said that continued support for the “Rogers formula” has now become “the major obstacle to progress in the efforts to negotiate stable peace in the Middle East.” He added that the formula’s “principal effect has been to shake the confidence of our friends, deepen the intransigence of our enemies and discourage genuine negotiations.” Jackson described the formula as providing that “any settlement should be based on Israeli withdrawal from virtually all occupied territory.” He said that “only a failure to appreciate Israel’s determination to negotiate secure and defensible borders can explain the administration’s persistence in this shortsighted plan.” He also said that “our energetic diplomacy aimed at reopening the Suez Canal is extremely dangerous.”
Jackson observed that “once the canal is opened the effectiveness of the growing Soviet military and merchant fleets would be doubled” and contribute to the “ongoing Soviet penetration of Africa.” Moreover, Sen. Jackson said, the U.S. could well find itself “undertaking to prevent, by force if necessary, a Soviet-Egyptian movement onto the East Bank of the canal” which is held by Israeli forces. “In my view,” he added, “the reopening of the Suez Canal should only be negotiated as part of an overall settlement and not in order to obtain fragile interim arrangements of doubtful value.” Israeli views on reopening of the canal were provided to the U.S. on Monday in Jerusalem and Washington. The State Department is to make them available to the Cairo government which provided its own proposals about three weeks ago on this facet of the Middle East situation. Pointing out that Western Europe is “still not making a reasonably proportionate contribution to the common defense effort,” Sen. Jackson warned that “a more confident Soviet Union can be expected to throw its weight around more vigorously on behalf of its great power interests.” He said “this growing Soviet boldness is evidenced in the Middle East” and advised that “looking ahead, the need for the forces and firmness of the Atlantic Alliances is more compelling than ever.”
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