Vice President-elect Dan Quayle conferred last week in Washington with a delegation of Jewish leaders for a get-acquainted visit and an exchange of views on current developments in the Middle East.
The meeting took place in the George Bush-Dan Quayle transition office in Washington. Morris Abram, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, led the delegation.
Abram said Quayle was skeptical about the declaration issued at the recent meeting of the Palestine National Council in Algiers. The vice president-elect reportedly described PLO statements indirectly recognizing Israel and renouncing terrorism as entirely insufficient.
The Indiana senator recognized the PLO’s failure in Algiers to come to terms with the reality of Israel, Abram reported.
Quayle also said he rejected as “entirely inappropriate” any comparisons of the Palestinian uprising in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with the civil rights struggle in the United States or the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, Abram said.
Quayle registered particular concern about the danger of chemical warfare, which he noted had been introduced into the Middle East by Iraq during its war with Iran.
The vice president-elect told the group that the introduction of poison gas by the Baghdad regime is an ominous development that carries with it dangerous portents, not only for the Middle East but for international conflicts everywhere.
According to Abram, Quayle told the delegation that he is fully committed to the U.S.-Israeli strategic alliance; that he strongly supports U.S. efforts to win reversal of the U.N. resolution equating Zionism with racism; and that he hopes to emulate Vice President Bush’s role in American efforts to rescue Ethiopian Jews.
Quayle said he would closely examine reports of a shortage of visas for Soviet Jewish refugees seeking admission into the United States, Abram reported.
The vice president-elect also voiced concern at the fragility of Israel’s economy and expressed understanding of the problems Israel faces in seeking to promote trade and investment.
Abram also reported that Quayle has accepted an invitation to meet with the full Conference of Presidents shortly after he takes the oath of office.
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