Sen. Jacob K. Javits assured Israeli leaders yesterday that President Richard M. Nixon will not change his friendly attitude toward Israel. The New York Republican, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, arrived here Saturday on a three day private visit. He was received by Premier Golda Meir and Foreign Minister Abba Eban. Sen. Javits met briefly with newsmen at Lydda Airport yesterday. He conceded that there has been a deterioration in Israel-American relations but claimed it was due principally to misunderstandings and not to a diminution of American support for Israel.
Sen. Javits said his trip to Israel was to “gather more facts” on what he viewed as a “drifting apart” of Israel and the United States. He said Secretary of State William P. Rogers’ Dec. 9 statement of U.S. Middle East policy was “not the last word on the subject by any means” and that the U.S. position had “by no means crystallized.” Mr. Rogers alarmed Israelis when he proposed Israel’s withdrawal from virtually all occupied Arab territories in return for a binding commitment to peace from the Arabs. Israelis were also upset by his suggestion that Jordan be given a civic and administrative role in Jerusalem and by subsequent U.S. proposals concerning territorial issues with Jordan.
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