Kennedy Calls for Unequivocal U.S. Support for Israel; Raps U.S. Flirtation with the PLO

Sen. Edward Kennedy (D. Mass.) called for unequivocal American support for Israel and sharply attacked the Carter Administration’s policies toward the Soviet role in the Middle East, the status of Jerusalem and what he called its “on again-off again flirtation” with the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Addressing the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, here this afternoon, Kennedy, who is seeking the Democratic Presidential nomination, declared that U.S. support for Israel rests not only on ” a moral imperative” but on geo-political reasons and vital American interests. “Our alliance with Israel is an alliance based on common democratic ideals and mutual benefit, “he said. “in the critical region of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East, Israel is a rock of strength and stability and friendship.”

Kennedy, who was interrupted by applause many times during his 30-minute speech to the American Jewish leaders, recalled the Oct. 1, 1977 U.S.-Soviet joint communique calling for a Geneva peace conference to settle the Middle East conflict.

“Although President Carter’s awakening to Moscow’s global designs is quite recent, how could he have thought even then that it would be healthy and constructive to invite the Soviets to play a role in the peace process?” he asked. “A Middle East peace is the last thing Moscow wants. Only the outcry in Congress and President Sadat’s visit to Jerusalem derailed the Administration’s express to Geneva.” Kennedy declared.

VOWS NOT TO DEAL WITH PLO

With respect to the Administration’s attitude toward the PLO, the Presidential aspirant asked, “What lies behind President Carter’s on-again-off-again flirtation with the PLO? What lies behind the support he has received from Crown Prince Fahd (of Saudi Arabia) for his re-election, and behind Arab expressions of approval for his pro-Palestinian positions?”

Kennedy vowed that “No member of a Kennedy Administration will ever negotiate or in any way deal with representatives of the PLO committed to the destruction of Israel.” He claimed that “This (Carter) Administration is obsessed with the nation that the solution of the problems of the Middle East and southeast Asia depends on the West Bank and Gaza Strip. This facile panacea proved wrong in the past and remains wrong in today’s turbulent world. The presence of a Soviet-dependent PLO state would undermine even further the stability of the region and the security of Israel.”

He also criticized the Carter Administration’s “insistence” on calling the Old City of Jerusalem occupied territory. He said he recognized “The millennial Jewish identification with the City of David and I am committed to both an undivided Jerusalem and an Israel within secure, defensible and recognized borders.”

IMPORTANCE OF ALLIANCE WITH ISRAEL

Kennedy said that “As America prepares to defend its interests in the Persian Gulf region, the importance of our alliance with Israel grows.” He said the Carter Administration’s inability “to put together an effective energy conservation program and energy alternative program hurts America and hurts Israel.”

In that connection, he said one measure is gasoline rationing to reduce America’s dependence on Persian Gulf oil. Cutting oil imports from the Arab countries frees American policy from the threat of blackmail and is the best assurance that America will do what is right for Israel and what is in our long term national self-interest,” he said.

Kennedy’s speech was in large measure a reiteration of the points made with respect to the Middle East in his address at Georgetown University in Washington this morning. (See story Page 1) His appearance before the President’s Conference here was one of a series of appearances by 1980 Presidential hopefuls and his fourth appearance before that body since 1967.

Jewish leaders attending the meeting expressed satisfaction with his remarks. They told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that they hoped that Kennedy will continue his staunch support of Israel whether he succeeds to the Presidency or remains a Senator.